#2019 Bookish Favorites

[catastrxblues]

INTRODUCTION !!

currently shadowbanned which means i can't interact in ANY way at all through this blog so sorry if you replied to my posts or mentioned me and i haven't responded 😭

“our sheer capacity for a feeling has got to be so unwieldy that we staggered under it, like atlas with the weight of the world.” — oliver marks, if we were villains.

palestine : masterlist | to help | thepalestineacademy | boycott | free palestine

⛧ okay so hi! i’m nadine. she/her. muslim. student. apparently an isfj. virgo. afternoons enthusiast. #1 full machine by gracie abrams enjoyer. think about everlark a lot.

┏ i like to read, watch, and sometimes write. but nowadays i really just prefer rotting and decaying on my bed because school is absolutely exhausting and i have no better idea than to use all my spare time for simply sleeping.

┏ STEM at heart, but sometimes all i really want to spend the rest of my life doing is reading, pondering over poems, learning to bake, crying over songs, writing in an immense amount and is good at it, working at a bookshop, collecting so many books that i have sagging bookshelves on the walls of my room, watching the moon, examining the stars, and enjoying the afternoon sun in a meadow or hills or somewhere with running creeks and flowers (but that's unrealistic so)

┏ i come on here to reblog, read fanfics, and rant about my obsessions (and also my life so sometimes this actually does feel like my little messy personal diary- that's a warning by the way)

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-> currently reading : the ballad of songbirds and snakes by suzanne collins, six of crows by leigh bardugo,

-> currently watching : gilmore girls s2, brooklyn nine-nine s1, the summer i turned pretty,

-> some favorites :

(books) the hunger games, percy jackson / riordanverse, a good girl’s guide to murder, hp & the marauders, nevermoor, if we were villains, anne of green gables, djats & tshoeh, keeper of the lost cities

(artists) taylor swift, gracie abrams, phoebe bridgers, lorde, conan gray, sabrina carpenter, olivia rodrigo, maisie peters

(movies) mcu, romcoms, little women, thg adaptations, legally blonde, clueless, bridge to terabithia, lady bird, barbie, heathers, before sunrise

(tv shows) bridgerton, stranger things, heartstopper, jatp, asoue (show), disney channel shit (both), alexa and katie, nhie, lost in space (2017)

*(the italic ones are the ones i currently actively (and sometimes intensely) hyperfixate on on this blog!)

(+) fictional characters

[ i also will like to add that i am a peeta mellark, katniss everdeen, percy jackson, annabeth chase, anne shirley, jo and amy march, pippa fitz-amobi, and ravi singh enthusiast & i will defend them to the end of the earth thank you <3 ]

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sideblogs & others

┏ i have a writing blog!! (@kitchentablebillsaredue) it’s not exactly a fanfic blog, just a blog to post all of my miscellaneous semi-personal mess <3 (it’s collecting dust right now because i didn’t realize how hard it will be to get myself to post some writings on even a small corner of the internet whoops)

┏ i created another (actual) sideblog because i was bored and i thought why not. it’s @andillwatchh (as in a reference to that famous little women 2019 scene) and it’s for some movies/shows insanity etc.

┏ another one thank you. @iborrowlibrarybooks mostly for bookish things & moodboards.

by no means this is a consistent fandom blog by the way, i'm just really annoying and can't stop talking. but yeah that's it!

[lucy-the-cat]

Why do you think RQ and Maven/Mareven didn’t stand up to time in regard to being a popular YA/Romance in bookish spaces? Like Cardan/Jurdan from TCP or Warner from Shatter Me? I can’t say it’s because those books were romance forward bc TCP isn’t at all. I can’t say that it’s because they weren’t endgame because there are popular ships where that’s the case as well. Maven even fits the dark hair, light eyed look girls prefer in book boyfriends

The powerless author clearly loved it a lot to take RQ and mix it with a few other things… and her book is a hit so idk

hmm . . . I mean, the series is almost ten years old at this point, and the last book was released in 2019 (2018 if you don't count the novellas). TCP may not be romance-forward but the subplot it has is very intense and fills a hyper-specific niche that happens to have quite a large audience. I don't think the niche Marecal fills is particularly large, and Mareven is a bit too . . . asexual for booktok I think. It's similar to Darklina, but Darklina has the advantage of having Six of Crows, a separate, critically acclaimed series set in the same universe that can draw people in, and from what I understand (I have not read King of Scars) you have to read Shadow and Bone to understand the sequel series to Six of Crows. Plus there was a HUGE netflix show adaptation even if it got cancelled. Also there's the Glass Sword problem . . . even if you like Glass Sword (I don't), it's not a very commercial book and you need to read it to get to King's Cage, which is most people's (including my) favorite. Second books can make or break a series, bc people are a lot more willing to give up a series at book 2 than they are book 3, book 4, etc. As for Powerless . . . having a current small fandom doesn't mean it wasn't big at one point or had no influence. Maybe VA's new series will draw attention to her older projects, or maybe, say, a successful ACOTAR adaptation like Margot Robbie is hinting at will invigorate Peacock's interest in adapting it again idk

[veronicaleighauthor]

The Heroine After My Own Heart

For awhile now, I have wanted to write a post on Jo March and the whole Should She Have Married Laurie, or Was She Right in Marrying Friedrich Bhaer? We all have different opinions and mine actually varies depending on the source. If I’m reading the book, I kind of wish Jo had remained single as Alcott originally intended. If I’m watching the 1994 or 2019 adaptations, I’m Team Bhaer all the way. If I’m watching the 2017 adaptation, I’m Team Laurie. I’ve come to realize I have nothing really new or enlightening to say on the subject of Jo’s romantic prospects or marriage. I also realized the whole Laurie versus Bhaer doesn’t even matter. In the end, what’s important is that I’m Team Jo and I should be grateful Alcott created such a fantastic heroine. Is she hetero, part of the LGBT community, Asexual? Who knows? She’s open for interpretation – and I love that. There’s no single way to view her because Jo defied societal norms from beginning to end.

This post will rather be about my love for Jo, how I was introduced to her, and the impact she’s made on my life.

I was fourteen and I had agreed to help with a church yard sale and I did. It wasn’t super busy, so I wandered about and stumbled upon a VHS copy of “Little Women” 1994 for sale. Louisa May Alcott‘s autobiographical account of her life with her three sisters in Concord, Massachusetts in the 1860s. With their father fighting in the American Civil War, sisters Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth are at home with their mother, a very outspoken woman for her time. The story tells of how the sisters grow up, find love, and find their place in the world. Intrigued by the cover and the description on the back, I bought it. When I watched it, Jo March became The Heroine After My Own Heart. I had been writing seriously for three years and was astonished that I had yet to be published (I was convinced I was going to be a best-selling author before I was out of my teens, lol!). Throughout the movie, Jo’s single-minded ambition to be a writer and published and make money, resonated with me. I wanted that. I wanted to write myself into money.

I went to my Home Away From Home, BooksAMillion, and bought a copy of “Little Women.” The movie was different from the book in many ways, but it captured its spirit. I devoured the book, a couple of series connected to it, written by modern authors. I bought the soundtrack, other books by and about Alcott, and watched other adaptations. Jo – tomboyish, odd, comical, bookish, klutzy, weird Jo – was my literary idol. She was one of the first literary She’s not like other girls. I mimicked Jo in many ways, adopted her beliefs, borrowed from her story for my juvenilia, and wanted to be her more than anything. I was much shyer than Jo and didn’t really struggle with a bad temper, but Jo made it okay for me to embrace my own interests and weirdness. Others may not understand, others may laugh, others may criticize – but there’s nothing wrong with being different.

Years passed and I met other literary heroines who I fell in love with…but Jo was still The Heroine After My Own Heart. I return to her time and time again, for inspiration and hope for my own brilliant literary career. Unfortunately for me, it took a little longer to figure out my writing niche, than it took Jo. I’m getting there. I’ve also accepted that I’m shy and an introvert and I don’t have to mimic my favorite heroine. My personality, beliefs, mannerisms, quirks, etc are fine. One of Jo’s best qualities is that she always remained true to herself, and we should too.

So, check out “Little Women” 1994, I’m sure you’ll fall in love with it.

Until next time.

[bloody-wonder]

2023 reading wrap up

sort sort sort i love to arbitrarily sort😌📚

*i decided to get even more creative this time and named the tiers after different things from the books featured on this list. see explanation below🙃 **the following series i read in full are represented only by the first book: the aurelian cycle, the radiant emperor, the winnowing flame, sorcery of thorns, monk & robot, lilywhite boys

so in 2023 my reading was heavily curated: i challenged myself to finish at least 5 series i started a long time ago, to start at least 5 new ones, to read at least 10 classics, at least 5 dark academia books, at least 10 books not in english and to re-read at least 5 books i've been meaning to re-read for some time - and i did well at all of these challenges except for the last two (missed the goal by one book in each case). it's still difficult for me to find books in languages i can read other than english which i actually want to read as well as prioritizing re-reads over new exciting books😒🤷‍♀️

but overall i would say this was a good way to organize my reading year. i like planning, i like structure, i like crossing things off different lists so completing these challenges gave me a great sense of accomplishment. but more importantly, i feel like they achieved their respective purpose: i returned to stories i fell in love with years ago and finally followed some of those journeys to their end. i discovered new fun journeys - some of them so exciting i had to finish the series immediately and some that will last me for a few more years to come. i finally feel like i trained my classics brain muscle back to its glory days and i can't express how pleasantly surprised i am to see one of those dusty tomes i read by the dozen as a teen on my top 5 again. i rediscovered my love for dark academia. i did read books in different languages and some of them ended up quite high on my tier list as well.

at the same time i had plenty of opportunities left to mood-read. boy parts, my favorite book of the year, for example wasn't a part of any challenge. the same goes for semantic error which i picked up at random during the bl manhwa revival i experienced at the end of 2023. so my top tiers ended up being a mix of different genres, the new and the old series and books, the expected and the unexpected faves.

i wasn't trying to read a certain amount of books this year but surprisingly i managed to read even more than last year (when it comes to the page count). and as for the quality, i do have a better feeling than i had in 2022 too. while i didn't manage to regain the heights of literary enjoyment from the golden era of 2019-2021, i think i'm on my way there :)

here's another curious wrap up thingy @magpiefngrl tagged me in! very representative of my reading tastes, though i must say i have only 6 unread kj charles books left and i'm starting to get concerned about what i'm going to do when i inevitably gobble them up in 2024😬

what about you guys? please tell me about your reading year! you can do a tier list (if you're a virgo) or the my year in books overview (if you regularly update your goodreads) or just write a post, if you want to. or you can also ignore me and go have a fantastic year😉🍾🎉🎆🎄

@figuringthengsout @fugitoidkry @pinkasrenzo @fandomreferencepending @counterwiddershins @magpiefngrl @sugarbabywenkexing @weirdsociology @theodoradove @doh-rae-me @venndaai @sixappleseeds @oliviermiraarmstrongs @bookish-moony

goodreads │ old yearly wrap ups 2020 2021 2022

explanation of the tier titles under the cut (if you even care)

spermaceti is a precious substance derived from the head of the sperm whale that may or may not be the whale's sperm. these are the books i absolutely loved. the vibe is that scene from moby dick where they are all on deck slicking each other with spermaceti and chanting "sperm!🙌" (that's how i remember it anyways)

toy excavator is the source of his strongest positive feelings for the main character of semantic error chu sangwoo. these are the books that i loved too but not on the spermaceti level, you know. the vibe is that scene where sangwoo realizes he's in love with jaeyoung and is like,, damn. this feels exactly like that time they gifted me a toy excavator🤔😒 (he's autistic)

skyfish is the least cool type of dragon in the aurelian cycle. the hufflepuff dragon, if you will. but it's still a dragon so these were some good books i still enjoyed😌

defekta are sentient furniture in nino cipri's sci fi novella defekt. now, in this book the concept of defekta very much serves the purpose of questioning what things we see as defective and the ethics of of how we treat them. for the purposes of this tier list however defekta are the books which range from good to great but which at the same time have some big issue that made me want to throw them at a wall. that's why the radiant emperor is ranked twice lol it has to be on my top 5 bc i'm obsessed but also ragsghhjdsgjhjbbdsd

kerinne is a made up drink the characters of mca hogarth's cozy sci fi series the dreamhealers like to drink. in 2023 i found out that i am not immune to cozy sff but one genre-specific thing i will forever remain indifferent towards is foods & beverages - i don't care about them too much irl so when they're fictional i care even less. these are the books that were just whatever🤷‍♀️

holism is art's annoying coworker we're introduced to in system collapse. a totally overrated guy, just like these books🙄

green varnish is a resin-like substance a certain type of creature in the winnowing flame excretes after consuming everything it finds in its path so that entire towns together with their residents get entombed under it forever. it's also transparent so the areas attacked by these creatures basically turn into see-through graveyards brrrr. these were The Worst books i read in 2023😬

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 Good evening, bookish bats! We FINALLY got our tree. To make today shine even brighter, the amazing Jo @radio.reader sent me A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum @etafrum. I had the great fortune of reading this book in 2019, but now that I have a physical copy, I can't wait to dive into this story again.

🇵🇸 Etaf Rum is by far my favorite Palestinian-American author, and as a Palestinian writer myself, I've never felt so inspired to get my own story of growing up as a Palestinian-American published. If you haven't already, you NEED to grab this book!

🌙 The New York Times bestseller and Read with Jenna TODAY SHOW Book Club pick tells the story of three generations of Palestinian-American women struggling to express their individual desires within the confines of their Arab culture in the wake of shocking intimate violence in their community.

🌙 Palestine, 1990. Seventeen-year-old Isra prefers reading books to entertaining the suitors her father has chosen for her. Over the course of a week, the naïve and dreamy girl finds herself quickly betrothed and married, and is soon living in Brooklyn. There Isra struggles to adapt to the expectations of her oppressive mother-in-law Fareeda and strange new husband Adam, a pressure that intensifies as she begins to have children—four daughters instead of the sons Fareeda tells Isra she must bear.

🌙 Brooklyn, 2008. Eighteen-year-old Deya, Isra’s oldest daughter, must meet with potential husbands at her grandmother Fareeda’s insistence, though her only desire is to go to college. Deya can’t help but wonder if her options would have been different had her parents survived the car crash that killed them when Deya was only eight. But her grandmother is firm on the matter: the only way to secure a worthy future for Deya is through marriage to the right man.

🌙 But fate has a will of its own, and soon Deya will find herself on an unexpected path that leads her to shocking truths about her family—knowledge that will force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, the past, and her own future.

🧿 A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist for Best Fiction and Best Debut 🧿 BookBrowse's Best Book of the Year 🧿 A Marie Claire Best Women's Fiction of the Year 🧿 A Real Simple Best Book of the Year 🧿 A PopSugar Best Book of the Year All Written By Females 🧿 A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice 🧿 A Washington Post 10 Books to Read in March 🧿 A Newsweek Best Book of the Summer 🧿 A USA Today Best Book of the Week 🧿 A Washington Book Review Difficult-To-Put-Down Novel 🧿 A Refinery 29 Best Books of the Month 🧿 A Buzzfeed News 4 Books We Couldn't Put Down Last Month 🧿 A New Arab Best Books by Arab Authors 🧿 An Electric Lit 20 Best Debuts of the First Half of 2019 🧿 A The Millions Most Anticipated Books of 2019

[anathecowgirl]

FBF to my 2017 MIBF tickets! 💙

How I miss shopping for books during MIBF. The first time I attended was 2011. There were lapses before I became consistently present starting in 2016. The last time I've been there was in 2019 where I get to meet up with Scion Marion and sign her copy of my book, "Attention". 😍😍😍

I hope everyone enjoys this once a year event. I hope you find great deals and the copies of books that you've been eyeing for or written on your to-buy list. I hope you find hidden gems too, the books you never planned on buying but end up buying anyway! I hope you get to meet your favorite authors too, have selfies, and have them sign your copies of their books! Last but not the least, I hope books binds your friendships and relationships stronger! Join this fun bookish event when you can! It's worth experiencing even if at times, it gets too crowded because, I guess, we Pinoys just love books a lot, hehe~ ♥️

As for me, I will be looking back (for now) on the exciting experiences that I had during every MIBF events that I attended at. ⭐ But I know that one day some day, I might be able to experience MIBF again. With a plus one, I think 😉

ANAxoxo

[leafy-m]

Oh no problem! *pulls up a chair and some tea* I am Always here to dish on Daevabad.

So I wanna preface this with that I didn't get into the series & fandom until the end of 2019, meaning I read CoB and KoC together before joining the fandom & that wait for EoG. Which I think is a very different experience from the earlier fans who read CoB alone and then had that long hiatus before the other books came out. I think a lot of early fan expectations were built around CoB (and ignoring those red flags or expecting Dara to earn his way back), that got challenged by KoC and then destroyed in EoG.

It was also a small online fandom back then with very vocal Dara stans who did their best to control the narrative. An awkward place for Ali and Nahli fans (and just regular Dara fans), and when fandom spaces expanded, things got really ugly. (one of several reasons why most of the old fans on both sides have moved on to other series)

I don't know how much of it survives because a lot of posts were on Twitter or bookblogs or discord, but there was A Lot of denial in the lead-up to EoG and in EoG arc reviews because those fans were stuck in their old expectations and refused to see the series and its characters for what they actually were. (there was also a lot of hate towards other fans and using comments on the characters as way to lash out at them, and just straight-up misrepresenting the text in order to rile up outrage or mislead people who didn't know the books to believe their batshit takes)

As for your questions: Yes, Shannon got a ton of harassment. She's vaguely mentioned on IG and in old livechats about weird djinn summoning requests and people upset about Dara and upset about Nahli, and wishing pain on her/her family so she understands the pain she caused them -- a lot of insane shit. Even other authors know about it. There was a virtual book launch post-EoG where Shannon told who her favorite Daevabad character was and then immediately tried to take it back/Tell No One; and the other authors in the vid were murmuring about how yeah she has to be careful about her fanbase. That video recording is still locked to link-only, even though all the other book launches by that publisher were posted publicly. Coincidence? Maybe, but it's no coincidence that it's been years after EoG's release before Shannon has begun to admit such basic book concepts like 'Dara is an antagonist' or that he didn't redeem himself in EoG and etc. Which, to me, says volumes.

As for the neglected Ali merchandise, that comment was specifically referring to the Dutch translation of CoB which had (whitewashed) romantic artwork of Nahri & Dara on both endpages, while completely ignoring Ali's half of the plot in both art and the book marketing. But it's also true that Ali has been very ignored in all of the bookish merchandise except for when the merchandise is specifically highlighting the three main characters. I've put a lot of the Daevabad merch photos on the wiki (Daevapedia.fandom.com), and there's a lot that's just Nahri or Nahri and Dara but very rarely is there anything that's just Ali. (and usually when there is, it's because it's a private creator who likes him.) Most of the Ali artwork online was made or commissioned by Ali fans.

And yeah, it's mind boggling to me that a series that celebrates Islamic culture and folklore and history and specifically has Ali as the awkward but devout Muslim hero will be demonized by fans as being a religious fanatic who 'should have lost his faith as the series went on' and the prejudiced guy who chose to commit genocide multiple times 'is the real hero.'

I mean, have your favorites. You do you! But understand where that fits in the series??? It's not a failure of canon because your guy's actions weren't hand-waved away because he's hot and loves someone??

Though to be fair, Shannon wrote some misleading things. For every subtle red flag she planted she had a reversal card planted elsewhere. Shannon's a great writer but she Really didn't understand fandom or the power she wields and it got Messy. I'm one of those obsessive fans who reads closely and collects series details and interview comments and etc and it drives me nuts how Shannon will Say Something in one scene and then undo it in another. It's my biggest problem with EoG.

So while absolutely there are readers with shit comprehension and/or are just riding on the book vibes and their own wants and then get mad because Oops this series is doing its own thing; Shannon could have also been a lot more clear on certain things rather than leaving it so widely open to interpretation that you can literally point to specific sentences that collaborate opposite end of the spectrum opinions and be like, 'See? The book supports this.'

@leafy-m Yeah you got it. Admittedly EoG has issues, but a huge part of the review divide is from upset Dara stans. (it probably doesn't help that the author never expected there to be Dara fans in the first place, so when she made his ending better than it should have been to help appease them, it wasn't enough because they expected him to be the top dog/first love interest wins & all that. Which completely fails to understand what the series is about, but what else is new).

Thanks for the reply bc I was itching to speak with someone who read the books as they came out. I really want to know what went down bc from my brief research the author was subject to abuse bc of Dara stans, and publishers neglected printing merch of Ali??? Honestly, it's as if those folks were reading a completely different series because HOW? how can they treat the second largest main pov character of the series like this? No kidding Shannon was confused and I'M CONFUSED bc she laid the red flags on thick right from the beginning. Like Shannon wrote books based on Islamic mythology so she could be free to write and headline a character like Ali for Muslim readers, not bc she wanted she wanted to pump out yet another genocidal xenophobic edge lord for ppl to thirst over. Unfortunately, large parts of her audience are shallow and honestly lack reading comprehension skills.

[inspiredbyabook]

favorite books of 2019 » the kingdom of copper by s.a. chakraborty

you don't stop fighting a war just because you're losing battles.

[theheelerbooklifereads]

Part 1: Favorite Books of 2019

[aschenink]

They sat on the bank. It was better to tell such stories close to the river than in a drawing room. Words accumulate indoors, trapped by walls and ceilings. The weight of what has been said can lie heavily on what might yet be said and suffocate it. By the river the air carries the story on a journey: one sentence drifts away and makes room for the next. -- Once Upon a River, Diane Setterfield

A  girl arrives dead in the arms of a gravely injured stranger at The Swan, an ancient inn on the river Thames. Hours later, the girl is breathing. How is it possible? And, equally pressing--to whom does this mute girl belong? 

Combining historical fiction, folklore, magical realism, mystery, and a large cast of lifelike characters, Once Upon a River is a beautiful read, as sweepingly stunning as water itself. 5/5★. Read my review ↝

[solaceinprose]

February 2019 Reading Summary

February was a very good month reading wise. I stuck with mostly romances since it was February. I saw a recommendation about Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, gave it a shot, and as you can see, I kind of jumped into the deep end of Christina Lauren books. A lot of them were on Scribd, so it was nothing for me to read them on my tablet or phone while I was at lunch or at home. Christina Lauren has become a fast favorite, and I believe she’ll be an automatic buy from now on.

There were only two major duds for me, and that was All’s Fair in Love and Cupcakes and A Royal Pain. AFiLaC was basically Christian romance disguised as contemporary romance, and the characters drove me insane with their lack of communication skills. There was way more introspection than actual conversations, and I didn’t see the chemistry between them. A Royal Pain was just mental illness disguised as fluff and quirkiness. 

As far as book buys last month, I spent a lot of money (all in one weekend at that) on books, but I got books I’ve been wanting, so I can’t really complain. I also ended up getting a book at the convention I went to last weekend, because that’s what Amy does. She’s a local author, and if I can shell out money for Sherrilyn Kenyon’s books, I can support local authors. Her name is S. Usher Evans. A review of her book will follow as soon as I read it. 

ONTD 2019 Reading Challenge:

February (Love is Lit): Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating/Roomies/Love and Other Words/The Wicked Seasons series - Christina Lauren

Pop Sugar 2019 Reading Challenge:

A Book By Two Female Authors: All the Christina Lauren’s books                   

A Book That Contains the Word Sweet/Salty/Bitter/Spicy: Sweet Filthy Boy - Christina Lauren                                           

Book Published in 2019: King of Scars - Leigh Bardugo                                   

A Debut Novel: Made You Up - Francesca Zappia                                       

Book with "Love" in the Title: All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes - Betsy St. Amant; Love and Other Words - Christina Lauren 

[the-forest-library]

March 2022 Reads

Going Postal - Terry Pratchett

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis

Etiquette & Espionage - Gail Carriger

Bitterblue - Kristin Cashore

Kiss & Tell - Adib Hkorram

So This is Ever After - F.T. Lukens

Daughter of the Deep - Rick Riordan

The Shape of Thunder - Jasmine Warga

These Deadly Games - Diana Urban

If I Disappear - Eliza Jane Brazier

All That's Left in the World - Erik J. Brown

A Novel Obsession - Caitlin Barasch

The Roughest Draft - Emily Wibberley

Meet Me in Paradise - Libby Hubscher

The League of Gentlewomen Witches - India Holton

No Words - Meg Cabot

No Judgments - Meg Cabot

A Brush with Love - Mazey Eddings

One Italian Summer - Rebecca Searle

The Bookish Holidays of Nina Hill - Abby Waxman

Olga Dies Dreaming - Xochitl Gonzalez

The Maid - Nita Prose

The Impossible Us - Sarah Lotz

Ghosts - Dolly Alderton

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting - K.J. Charles

To Trust Man on His Oath - K.J. Charles

Paper Girls, Vol 1 - Brian K. Vaughn

Barbarian Alien - Ruby Dixon

Breath - James Nestor

The Hilarious World of Depression - John Moe

Hangry - Sarah Fragoso & Brooke Kalanick

Brave, Not Perfect - Reshma Saujani

Present over Perfect - Shauna Niequist

The Nineties - Chuck Klosterman

ADHD 2.0 - Edward M. Hallowell & John J. Rates

Plant You - Carleigh Bodrug

Bold = Highly Recommend Italics = Worth It Crossed out = Nope

Thoughts: Ok, I don’t remember reading a third of these books and for many others, it seems like I read them years ago. Time is weird. Also weird? The 90s. I really enjoyed Chuck Klosterman’s trip through the decade of my most formative years.  

My favorite fiction read of the month was The Impossible Us. It’s a time travel/parallel worlds type story that really pulled me in. Going Postal and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader were also great, of course. And, if you are like me and are eagerly awaiting the promised sequel to I Was Born for This, Kiss & Tell might just fill that void a little. 

Goodreads Goal: 95/200

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads |

2022 Reads |

[dogmomwrites]

Favorite Films Tag

Got tagged by @the-finch-address to share some of my favorite movies! So of course I forgot every movie I've ever seen! Sorry it took me a while to get it done, but here's nine of my top favorite movies, most of which have been favorites of mine since I first saw them as a kid. Thank you so much for the tag, this was fun!

Passing it on by soft tagging @fearofahumanplanet, @penspiration-writing, @marinesocks, @houndsofcorduff, @writingpotato07, and @bookish-galaxy, as well as an open tag!

(From left to right, top to bottom)

The Fellowship of the Ring // 2001

The Two Towers // 2002

The Return of the King // 2003

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe // 2005

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl // 2003

The Aristocats // 1970

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed // 2004

Dragonball Super: Broly // 2019

Dragonball Super: Super Hero // 2022

[anamariaslibrary]

✑ what book are you most excited for? ✑ dear lord give me the strength to keep waiting for two more months. as some of you may know i love Ninth House, it’s hands down one of my favorite books. i remember reading it last years and thinking that either i was going to hate it or love it, and of course i loved it , but i was destroyed when i found that that the book came out in 2019 and there was still no sequel. well i’m happy to say that there is no reason to be sad cause Hell Bent is coming out January 10 2023, TWO MONTHS LEFT!! #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booknerd #bookworm #booklove #booklover #bookish #booksbooksbooks #bookcommunity #booksofinstagram #booksofig #bookshelf #darkacademia #lightacademia #bookphotography #bookaesthetic #aesthetic #photography #fantasyreads #academia #readersofinstagram #mybookfeatures #bookaddict #bookobsessed #bookblog #anamarias_library (at Yale University) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckx-F1rLD3u/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[fragrant-stars]

20 Questions Tag Game

thank you for the tag @athenixrose!

Rules: Answer the 20 questions, then tag 20 blogs you’d like to know better!

Name: N/A

Nickname: You can call me Star if you like :D

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Height: um, like. 5′1 maybe?

Languages: English, Bahasa Indonesia, some Mandarin. English is my primarily langugae though

Nationality: I’m Indonesian!

Favorite Season: Rainy

Favorite Flowers: Butterfly pea, currently, or sunflowers

Favorite Scent: Apple

Favorite Color: Red and Black

Favorite Animal: Elephant

Favorite Fictional Characters: Too many to count lmao. Longtime favourites include Uchiha Itachi (Naruto), Sesshomaru (Inuyasha) and Lelouch vi Britannia (Code Geass). More recent favourites are Lucifer (Lucifer) and Scorpia (She-Ra reboot).

Coffee, Tea, Chocolate:  Chocolate! Coffee with milk and chocolate is a close second though.

Average Sleep Hours: Uhhh ten, at least.

Dogs or Cats: Both

Number of Blankets You Sleep With: A nice and heavy comforter

Dream Trip: I wanna go to Europe again and really take in the sights. 

Blog Established:I started this particular blog in 2019 so as of today that’s... three years!

Followers: 677

Random Fact: I really love to cook!

Tagging: @lauriscrafty @rals-etc @thatwritererinoriordan @cysgod-always-in-my-heart @jeff-drake @autemtoday @ferics132 @azillionrandomtings @spookyabuki @inkthesans @rbright @bookish-quotes-and-stuff @my2browneyes @theblurrxdface @clamshellkindle @browniebatterfuckmyblatter @probablyjuno @demiboy-disaster @blahblahblahetcetc @flyingelectric​

[bookishluna]

Wrap Up | September 2019

Wrap Up | September 2019

Hello and welcome to my monthly wrap up! This month was a bit overwhelming, but I read a lot more than I thought I would be able to read and I even read a few 5 star reads! I still cannot believe we are now officially into fall and within the last three months of 2019. It is time to make sure all of these yearly goals done, but before that I need to share what I have read, on to the books!

Pum…