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Category: GENERAL RAMBLES

MARCH WRAP-UP: Another Hard Month, But Two New Favourite Books!

Hello, everyone! March has been a month of so many ups and downs I’m exhausted just thinking about it. My brain was very overwhelmed with everything that happened, so that I started falling behind on my reading, especially in the ARC department. I spent all of March feeling like I had to constantly play catch up, which made me want to read even less. Thanks, brain, very helpful! However, March also brought me two new favourite authors and books: Victoria Lee’s The Fever King, and Katherine Locke’s The Spy With the Red Balloon, which I both highly recommend.

I didn’t DNF anything this month, but I decided to create a new Goodreads shelf for books I’ve started but don’t have the brainspace to continue at the moment. I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me sooner, but it felt good to move my paused books from the Currently Reading to the Paused shelf, since I don’t want to DNF them. Overall, I read 9 books in March, which isn’t bad at all, but I hope I manage to read more in April!

Read

The Brilliant Death (The Brilliant Death #1) by Amy Rose Capetta
Review — Rating: Rating of three-and-a-half out of five stars represented by bumblebees (3.5 out of 5)

Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore
Review to come — Rating: Four star rating represented by four bumblebees (4 out of 5) — subject to change as I want to reread this one before giving it a final rating

The Fever King (Feverwake #1) by Victoria Lee
Review — Rating: Five star rating represented by five bumblebees

The Ice Princess’s Fair Illusion by Lynn O’Connacht
Rating: Three star rating represented by three bumblebees (3 out of 5)

Once & Future(Once & Future #1) by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy
Review — Rating: Rating of two out of five stars represented by bumblebees (2 out of 5)

The Girl With the Red Balloon (The Balloonmakers #1) by Katherine Locke
Review to come — Rating: Five star rating represented by five bumblebees (5 out of 5)

A Blade So Black (A Blade So Black) by L. L. McKinney
Review to come — Rating: Four star rating represented by four bumblebees (4 out of 5)

The Spy With the Red Balloon (The Balloonmakers #2) by Katherine Locke
Review to come — Rating: Five star rating represented by five bumblebees (5 out of 5)

Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean
Review to come — Rating: Rating of three-and-a-half out of five stars represented by bumblebees (3.5 out of 5)

Paused Books

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time by Howard M. Sachar

Currently Reading

We Set the Dark on Fire(We Set the Dark on Fire #1) by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Frida of the Month

Frida dog, a small brown dog with long fluffy fur, is curled up into a loaf, eyes mostly shut, with her tongue peeking out

I swear she does things other than snooze, but she’s just so cute when she’s snoozing! Look at that blep.

How was your month? What have you been reading? Let’s chat in the comments below!

TOP TEN TUESDAY: My Favourite Musicals

TTT-NEW

To learn more about Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly book meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, click here.

This week is an audio freebie, so I decided to mix it up a little and talk about my favourite musicals! I’ve been hugely passionate about musicals ever since I was in my early teens, and I used to travel a lot to go and see my favourite ones, back when I wasn’t broke and housebound. I miss going to the theater, but even just listening to musicals brings me a lot of joy, and to all of my neighbours who’ve had to listen to my sing-alongs: sorry not sorry.

It was really hard to whittle my choices down to ten musicals since they’re pretty much all I listen to music-wise, and I love them all! But these are probably the ones I listen to and come back to the most.

Ciske de Rat

This musical, y’all. It’s a Dutch musical based on a book series by Piet Bakker. It follows Cis, nicknamed “the rat” because of all the mischief he gets up to. He is abused by his mother and stepfather and kills his mother in a fit of rage when she destroys a book that a now dead friend gave to him. When he is drafted to fight in WWII he is still grappling with his childhood trauma. I had the opportunity to see Ciske de Rat in Scheveningen once, and it was absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking.

Elf

Christmas is my favourite time of the year, but I can listen to this Christmas musical all year round. It never fails to cheer me up.

Hamilton

Surely everyone has heard of Hamilton by now, right? It’s a hip-hop musical about founding father Alexander Hamilton, and it’s explosive, emotional, and amazing.

In the Heights

In the Heights was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first musical, and while it didn’t reach the same hype level as Hamilton, it’s still really good. The beautiful songs tell the stories of people living in the Latinx NYC neighbourhood the Heights.

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre has always been one of my favourite classics, so when I saw that there was a musical based on the book, I had to have it. Music-wise, it’s one of those musicals that lean a bit more towards the classical, which really lends itself to very dramatic sing-alongs. Again, sorry not sorry, neighbours.

Les Misérables

Are you even really a musical fan if you don’t love Les Mis? I mean yes, because gate-keeping is bullshit and there’s a wide range of musicals for every taste. But it’s not for nothing that Les Mis is one of the longest-running musicals in the world. I’m personally partial to the Dutch cast recording from 2008 because that’s what I listened to first, and I also had the opportunity to see the very same cast in Amsterdam in 2009, so it’s the version that lives in my heart.

Newsies

SANTA FE, MY OLD FRIEND, I CAN’T SPEND MY WHOLE LIFE DREAMING, THOUGH I KNOW THAT’S ALL I SEEM INCLINED TO DOOOOOOOOOOOOO—whoops, sorry about that. This is another one of those musicals that I don’t have to be in a specific mood for because it always hits the spot. I really hope that I get to see it live some day.

RENT

RENT is a true cult classic, and such a wonderful celebration of queerness, love, and life.

Urinetown

Urinetown is one of the most underappreciated musicals in my opinion. It’s inspired by absurdist theater and it’s just delightfully absurd, but the music is amazing as well, and you’ll find yourself crying to lyrics like, Ours was a love that never bloomed. Yet in that love there lives a brand new hope, it’s calling out to you. Its call is soft and gentle, tame and fine, it’s docile and benign, a pickle in the brine…

Wicked

 

Anytime I’m asked about my favourite musicals, Wicked will always be on the list because it lives in my heart. I’ve seen it six times, and listening to the cast recording brings back wonderful memories of travelling and staying with friends, and being transported to Oz every time that overture nearly gave me a heart attack, heh.

Are you a musical fan? What are your favourite musicals? Let’s chat in the comments below!

FEBRUARY WRAP-UP: The Importance of Mood Reading and DNF’ing

My February reading was supposed to be drawn mainly from my F/F February Reading Challenge TBR. However, I failed to predict all of the things that February was going to throw at me, from more financial issues, to severe depression, and chronic illness flare-ups.

I quickly lost steam for completing the reading challenge and felt myself sliding into a slump. I was miserable and all I wanted to do was to immerse myself in the comfort of rereading Kate Daniels. I fought it for a while, but in the end I realised that having a set TBR was too restrictive for me, and that mood reading is a huge part of what makes reading so good for my mental health.

So I quietly failed out of the F/F February Reading Challenge. I don’t really see it as a fail though because it taught me something valuable about my reading patterns. Another thing that really helped me this past month was rigorously DNF’ing books that weren’t doing it for me, and even though I can’t help but feel a sense of failure when I do, ultimately it always feels freeing. (ETA: I totally forgot to mention this, but this post about good reading habits by Kaleena @ Reader Voracious played a huge part in my realisation that I fare better with mood reading than with a set TBR.)

All in all, I read 9 books in February, compared to the 14 books I read in January, but to be fair, February is like, only half as long as January. I managed to finish a bunch of ARCs that needed reviewing and to cross a couple of books off my F/F February TBR after all, and given my mental health struggles, I’m honestly glad I managed to do any reading at all, let alone as much as I did. To see what I read in February, take a look at my Goodreads Challenge or read on below! Clicking the book titles will take you to each book’s Goodreads page.

READ

  1. Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand Four star rating represented by four bumblebees (4 out of 5, REVIEW)
  2. Gunmetal Magic (Kate Daniels #5.5) by Ilona Andrews Four star rating represented by four bumblebees (4 out of 5, Reread)
  3. Magic Gifts (Kate Daniels #5.4) by Ilona Andrews Five star rating represented by five bumblebees (5 out of 5, Reread)
  4. Ash by Malinda Lo Four star rating represented by four bumblebees (4 out of 5, REVIEW)
  5. Sparks of Phoenix by Najwa Zebian Four star rating represented by four bumblebees (4 out of 5, REVIEW)
  6. Magic Rises (Kate Daniels #6) by Ilona Andrews Five star rating represented by five bumblebees (5 out of 5, Reread)
  7. Descendant of the Crane by Joan He Rating of four-and-a-half out of five stars represented by bumblebees (4.5 out of 5, REVIEW)
  8. Magic Breaks (Kate Daniels #7) by Ilona Andrews Five star rating represented by five bumblebees (5 out of 5, Reread)
  9. Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo (2 out of 5, REVIEW)

DNF

  1. Marriage of Unconvenience by Chelsea Cameron (DNF @ 30%, REVIEW)
  2. Huntress by Malinda Lo (DNF @ 27%, REVIEW)
  3. Feminine Rising: Voices of Power and Invisibility by Andrea Fekete, ed., Lara Lillibridge, ed. (DNF @ 50%, REVIEW)
  4. Mirage by Somaiya Daud (DNF @ 23%)

CURRENTLY READING

  1. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (43%)
  2. The Brilliant Death by Amy Rose Capetta (5%)

(Oops, I clearly need to work on making some progress with Hamilton.)

FRIDA OF THE MONTH

In order to make my blog a little more personal, I’m trying something new: monthly pictures of my dog Frida! Let me know if you like it so I know whether to make this a regular thing!

My small brown dog Frida curled up on a white shaggy rug, sleeping with eyes closed. She's bathed in sunlight and her long fur looks shiny and soft.

How was your February? What did you read? Let’s chat in the comments below!

JANUARY WRAP-UP: Reading multiple books at once, rereads, ARCs, and I guess I’m legit now

January wasn’t a great life month for me, but an amazing reading month. I had some rough patches and short reading slumps because bureaucracy continues to try and kill me and the anxiety of waiting for my powerchair and financial aid is occasionally so overwhelming that I can’t focus on anything. But ultimately, reading and running this blog and starting to immerse myself more deeply in the book blogging community kept cheering me up. (BTW if you ever want to put a smile on my face and you can afford to, I have a Book Wish List!)

I had originally set my Goodreads Reading Challenge at 75 books, but things were going so well that I almost immediately increased it to 100 books. By now, I’ve read 14 books, so I’m going to officially set my final goal at 150 books. I might revisit that number again depending on how things go in the coming months, but I do want to leave myself some breathing room, so it’s unlikely that I’ll increase my goal again. (Famous last words?)

But now on to what I’ve read this month! I decided to try something new this year and start reading multiple books at once, and it helped me read so much more than I otherwise would have. Whenever I wasn’t in the mood for one book I was reading, I would pick up another one for a while, where usually I just wouldn’t have been reading at all. I also realised that sometimes I don’t have the brain space to read something unfamiliar to me, but I still wanted to read something, and that’s where rereading came in handy. Some of these are novellas or poetry collections, but I’m still pleased with the amount I’ve read this month!

READ

  1. Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann Rating of three-and-a-half out of five stars represented by bumblebees (3.5 out of 5, REVIEW)
  2. Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1) by Ilona Andrews Four star rating represented by four bumblebees (4 out of 5, Reread)
  3. Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #2) by Ilona Andrews Five star rating represented by five bumblebees (5 out of 5, Reread)
  4. The Girl From Everywhere (The Girl From Everywhere #1) by Heidi Heilig Five star rating represented by five bumblebees (5 out of 5, REVIEW)
  5. Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels #3) by Ilona Andrews Five star rating represented by five bumblebees (5 out of 5, Reread)
  6. The Ship Beyond Time (The Girl from Everywhere #2) by Heidi Heilig Five star rating represented by five bumblebees (5 out of 5, REVIEW)
  7. Magic Mourns (Kate Daniels #3.5) by Ilona Andrews Four star rating represented by four bumblebees (4 out of 5, Reread)
  8. Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels #4) by Ilona Andrews Five star rating represented by five bumblebees (5 out of 5, Reread)
  9. Magic Dreams (Kate Daniels #4.5) by Ilona Andrews Five star rating represented by five bumblebees (5 out of 5, Reread)
  10. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Rating of two out of five stars represented by bumblebees (2 out of 5, REVIEW)
  11. Blood Heir (Blood Heir #1) by Amélie Wen Zhao one (1 out of 5, eARC, REVIEW)
  12. Magic Slays (Kate Daniels #4) by Ilona Andrews (5 out of 5, Reread)
  13. The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in This One (Women Are Some Kind of Magic #3) by Amanda Lovelace Rating of two out of five stars represented by bumblebees (2 out of 5, eARC, REVIEW)
  14. Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo Four star rating represented by four bumblebees (4 out of 5, REVIEW)

DNF

  1. The Crown’s Game (The Crown’s Game #1) by Evelyn Skye (DNF at 20%)

CURRENTLY READING

  1. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (43%)
  2. Feminine Rising: Voices of Power and Invisibility by Andrea Fekete, ed., Lara Lillibridge, ed. (eARC)
  3. Gunmetal Magic (Kate Daniels #5.5) by Ilona Andrews (13%, Reread)

TBR ASAP

  1. Painting Dragons: What Storytellers Need to Know About Writing Eunuch Villains by Tucker Lieberman (review copy provided by author)
  2. Descendant of the Crane by Joan He (eARC provided by author)
  3. Shadowblade by Anna Kashina (eARC provided by NetGalley)
  4. Sparks of Phoenix by Najwa Zebian (eARC provided by NetGalley)

I feel incredibly lucky to be receiving eARCs and review copies and I’m excited to delve into them. I’m starting to feel like a real book blogger!

I hope you’ve all had a fantastic month. What did you read this January? Have you read any of the books mentioned in this post or are any of them on your TBR? Let’s chat in the comments!

2019 Reading and Blogging Goals

Happy 2019, everyone! This post is a little late because my start into the new year was rather slow and miserable due to a chronic illness flare-up. I’m doing a lot better now, so I thought I’d share my 2019 goals for this blog!

My main goal for this year is to read as much as possible. I completed my 2018 Goodreads Challenge of 55 books without much of an issue, and since I’ve also taken up book blogging, I want to up the ante for this year’s challenge. I’ve set my goal at 75 books with a tentative stretch goal of 100.

I also want to continue to try and read more broadly and diversely. The library membership gifted to me by a generous friend last year will definitely help with that. However, I also want to delve into the world of ARCs and review copies so I can read and review books when they come out without having to wait for my library to acquire them.

Since I can’t afford to buy any books for the foreseeable future, I’ve also created a Book Wish List for titles my library doesn’t own or that make more sense to read as physical copies (i. e. graphic novels). I’d be infinitely grateful if anyone would like to purchase something for me off my list, and of course if you would like a review for something you got me, just drop me a note and I will do my best to make it happen!

Speaking of reviews, I’m going to try and write a review for most of the books I read if not all. And that brings me to my blogging goals!

I started this blog in November 2018 and I’m still trying to find my footing with regards to content and tone. I want this blog to be a positive space and resource which means I’m going to have to rein in my snarky tendencies. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any negative reviews or rants, but the main focus will be on things that I enjoy and think you will too.

Health allowing, I’m going to try and write at least one blog post per week, and more if I can. Most of these will probably be book-related, though I do want to try and produce more disability-related content as well. I am a little scared of splitting my content down the middle since I know that might make it more difficult to gain a solid readership, but the book blogging world can be an ableist sphere, and I really want to challenge that and make it a more inclusive space for other disabled people. So far, I only have a couple of half-baked content ideas, so if there’s something in particular you’d like me to discuss, drop me a comment or come chat to me on Twitter!

I’m excited about sharing the new year with you all and growing with the challenges it will bring.