Category: TBR

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2020 TBR Update : Complete Fail (so far)

Back in January, I made a post of the 12 books I wanted to read before this year was over. If they were still unread, I had no choice but to unhaul them because they have been on my TBR for too long.

Here is the update on that.

Out of the 12 books, I have read 4 thus far.

A Man Called Ove

I really enjoyed this one. I listened to this on audio during my time off of work because of COVID. I laughed, I shed some tears, I enjoyed it.

4 Stars

The Goldfinch

This tome took me quite awhile to get through, but I finally finished this it. I started it in May I believe and finally finished it in July. I listed to this on audio and the narration was great. The story itself I am unsure about. This is something I may come back to in the future.

3.5 Stars

The Anatomical Shape of a Heart

This is quite embarrassing, but I don’t really remember much from this book. I do remember reading it pretty quickly and not hating it, which is something that I tend to do with YA. It was fine? Probably not something I will keep on my shelves to reread in the future.

3 Stars

The Nightingale

I don’t know why it took my so long to pick this book up. I loved it. It was so good. I listened to this on audio and I could not stop listening. I don’t know why I was afraid to read this. I love historical fiction and I loved The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, so this was a no brainer.

5 Stars

I did end up unhauling 3 books without reading them.

The Girl with all the Gifts

All My Puny Sorrows

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

To be honest, I just was not feeling these anymore. 2 of them I started reading but couldn’t get in to. The other I lost complete interest in.

That leaves me with 5 books that I either have to read or unhaul.

A Darker Shade of Magic

I have had this entire series soooo long. It was one of those purchases I made because of Booktube. I think I am going to pick this up on audio to help ease the anxiety of reading this. Sounds so weird but I am anxious because fantasy is sometimes hard for me. But maybe it will surprise me.

The Blinds

I am pretty sure this is my very first Book of the Month choice. And I have yet to read this. I have no excuse for this one since mystery/thriller is my preferred genre.

The Dragon Republic

This is a little different situation than the others. I have only had this book for about a year. But I do want to get to it since (surprisingly) I enjoyed The Poppy War.

The Lonely Hearts Hotel

I think I purchased this one because it was compared to The Night Circus. I do not know how accurate that is, but I still want to try it.

I Let You Go

Another one I have no excuse for not reading. This is terrible considering I have 3 books from this author, all unread.

I have 4 months to get through these 5 books. I am going to focus and get it done. I am thinking I am going to use audiobooks to help me out here. 3 of them I am very much interested in reading so I don’t know what y problem is.

Let me know down in the comments which book you would read first! Any that I should just unhaul all together? Let’s chat in the comments.

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Book Review : Catherine House

Catherine House – – Elisabeth Thomas

Honestly, I have no idea how I feel about this book. I think I was expecting one thing, and it turned out to be something completely different, but I am not mad about it.

The writing is not particularly ground breaking. It’s fine. Easy to read and not confusing. But overall, I am not really sure what was going on and what exactly happened. There was a theme that stayed throughout the book of heavy drinking (even during classes) and sex and all nighters and things that happen in college, but here were 10xs worse, or more involved. I thought that was going to play out with the outcome of the story but it didn’t. Which confused me on why it was there so heavily in the first place.

I originally thought this was a dark academia novel. And it was, for most of it. But then it started dipping into the Sci-Fi genre and stayed there until the end of the book. Which again, I don’t hate it.

I found the characters to be one dimensional with no growth. They all seemed to mesh together, which could just be how they were suppose to be because they are in this school that is very weird and pretty much drains everything out of the students. I didn’t hate the main character Ines. I think she could have been developed a little bit more. She had the start of an interesting background but that story never really took off. And I think it could have explained her actions and her character a lot more with just a bit more depth.

This is from a debut author, and even though I think you can tell that, I don’t think this book was bad. It had the makings to be really good. I just think it fell flat in parts.

My review is all over the place, but so are my feelings with this book. I found myself wanting to pick the book up and when I did, it would take nothing to read 100 pages in no time. I finished the last 100 pages before bed last night. I think my biggest issue with the book is I am just not sure what it is suppose to be about and what is it really. This may be a book I come back to in the future. I will also most definitely read from this author again. There is something there that caught my attention and I want to see where it goes and what else she has to offer.

3.5 Stars

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Weekend Reads : 8/15/2020

It is finally my weekend!

I am so ready to dive in to some books the next two days. My boyfriend is helping a friend move and it looks to be rainy so the couch is where I will be. Here is what I have in store for the next few days.

The Most Fun We Ever Had – Claire Lombardo

I am very much looking forward to reading this and I think I am going to enjoy it. I love long, lengthy deep dives into family drama and this looks to have that. At over 500 pages and a family of 4 sibling girls, I think this going to be right up my alley. I originally had heard about this book from the Book Riot podcast and it immediately caught my attention and I knew I needed to read it. The time has come and I am here for it.

The Splendid and the Vile – Erik Larson

This is my slow but steady book. I have this marked out to finish so many chapters a week, taking me about 2 months to read this. I love all things history and love reading both fiction and non-fiction historical books. This follows Winston Churchill in his first year as Prime Minister. It is a dense book, but interesting so far. This is a book that I can only read a chapter or two a night before I feel weighed down by it. I am a little behind on my own schedule with this, and hope to finish up the 6 chapters I have left for this weeks section.

I am still not feeling like listening to an audiobook right now which is a bummer because I was so in to them only a few months ago. I think once I get caught up on The Currently Reading podcast, I’ll feel like picking up an audiobook again.

What do you have planned for this weekend? Enjoying some reading or spending it outdoors for these last weeks of summer? Let’s chat in the comments!

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Weekend Reads : 7/25/2020

I went a little nuts at my library the past 2 weeks. I had a few books on hold and I browsed around a bit too. I want to work my way through as many of these as I can before they are due. I am hoping to read at least two of these this weekend.

Home Before Dark – – Riley Sager

I look forward to a book from Riley Sager every July. Luckily I got on my library’s hold list somewhat early and didn’t have to wait too long. This one seems to be right up my alley. I love haunted house stories and I am hoping this is a hit. I was not a fan of Lock Every Door but I do have high hopes for this one.

He Started It – – Samantha Downing

I am giving this author another shot because her debut novel My Lovely Wife was not my favorite, but I saw potential. So I am reading this to see if she is an author for me.

I don’t know a whole lot about this except it involves siblings recreating a road trip in order to receive their inheritance from their grandfather. As it is Samantha Downing, I am expecting something thrilling and fast to get through.

Wonderland – – Zoje Stage

I have a theme going on here; reading books from authors I previously disliked. I read and was meh about Baby Teeth. But again, I saw potential and I am interested to see what this author’s sophomore novel is like.

I believe this book follows a family who moves out of NYC into a home in the woods and there is something lingering outside the house. Interesting concept. I am intrigued .

Catherine House – – Elisabeth Thomas

I am going to be honest, I have no idea what this book is about. I saw it on a Booktuber’s video (I forget which one) and all I remember her saying is it is weird. I am feeling a little weird in my reading, so I picked it up from my library. It does not have the best rating on Goodreads, but I don’t pay too much attention to that. And I figure if it isn’t grabbing me in the first 50 pages, I’ll take it back to the library.

Out of my stack of books, these are the ones I want to make a priority because they have no renewals on them. I think I have about 14 days with them, maybe 21. This is definitely ambitious but I am feeling lazy this weekend, so I am optimistic I can make a dent in this pile.

Out of the ones that are not priority, I am really interesting in reading The City of Brass. I may abandon all plans and just pick that up.

Have you read any of these? Opinions on what I should pick up first? I love to read what you have to say in the comments.

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May TBR

So this is coming out a little later than I would like, but that’s okay. I have changed my TBR more times than I can count but I finally think I am content with what I have picked.

The biggest reason for the changes is because I have heard some news regarding some series I am currently loving and a series I loved way back on the day. With that news, I decided to do some rereading this month.

First things first. One of my most anticipated books has gotten a release date. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith comes out September 15, 2020 and I could not be more excited. This is the 5th book in the Cormoran Strike Series, which I absolutely love. To get ready for the release, I have decided to reread the first 4 books in the series.

The Cuckoo’s Calling – – Robert Galbraith

This is where we are first introduced to Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin. Cormoran is a disabled military vet who now works a private detective. Robin comes to work with him through a temp agency and they are hired to solve the murder of a supermodel. I just love the relationship between the two of them. Ideally, it is best to read these in order. Yes the crimes are solved within each book, but the relationship between Robin and Cormoran grows with each book. They also get darker and a little more gruesome. They are long reads, but they are worth it. And the audiobooks are PERFECT!

The next piece of news that had me switching up my TBR was the bit about a new prequel to Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I have not read the series since my first read through. I am not going to go in depth on my thoughts here because I am thinking of making a dedicated post to my thoughts on the whole Twilight news. I will say that I blew through all 4 books at the time, they were so captivating.

Twilight – – Stephenie Meyer

As hesitant as I am to reread this, I think I am going to do it. I can’t say if I will reread the whole series, but I am going to see if the first book sucks me in the second time around.

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan – -Sophie Kinsella

This is going to be my third reread of the month. This series is another one of my all time favorites. I own all the books and have loved almost all of them. I have decided to do a reread this year because Christmas Shopaholic came out this past holiday season and I just never got to it. I started my reread in enough time so I can end in December with Christmas Shopaholic.

Looking through my bullet journal spread, I have to say I am not too thrilled with what I have picked out to read. Of the 8 books I have written down, only 2 are speaking to me now.

The Lovely War – – Julie Berry

This is a Historical Fiction/Historical Fantasy novel. It takes place during two timelines, the mid to late 1910s and the 1940s. It is a romance book in a sense but the narrators are Greek Gods and Goddesses. All of that should add up to me loving this book. I am a little over halfway and I will say I am enjoying it. But it isn’t grabbing me like I would have hoped. I don’t know if that is the books fault or just because I am in a funk with everything going on in the world. I am excited to finish this up and have some fully formed thoughts.

A Dangerous Collaboration – – Deanna Rayburn

This is another series that I really enjoy. This is a Historical Mystery series that takes place in the late 1800s and follows Veronica Speedwell and Stoker. It also has one of the slowest of slow burn romances, and I am here for it. They are not in the work of detectives, but somehow find themselves solving crimes. I appreciate and enjoy Veronica so much. She defies what it means to be “proper” during this time, but without hammering in to your head. A YA series that is similar to this would be the Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco. But I think The Veronica Speedwell series is done so well. This is the fourth installment in the series and I can’t wait to read it.

My Dark Vanessa – – Kate Elizabeth Russell

I was browsing Hoopla and I saw the audiobook of this was on there, so I immediately downloaded it and started listening. I am almost 3 hours into it, and I have to say, I am not loving it. Usually, I am making up chores to do so I have a reason to listen to my audiobooks, but I find myself not wanted to reach for this. I don’t know if that is because the narrator is not my favorite or because I am just not intrigued by the story. I going to give it a little bit yet before I decided if I want to DNF or not.

Yeah, I am not super excited for reading this month, just in general. I think the event of the world have gotten to me, finally. It already the 7th of the month and I have not finished anything, which is very rare for me.

How is your reading going? Let me know in the comments!

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2020 TBR

Recently, I went through my shelves and picked out books that absolutely have to be read this year. The main reason for that is because I have had them on my shelves way too long. It’s time they either get read or I find a new home for them where someone will read and love them.

I have 12 books on my list.

I am currently reading All My Puny Sorrow. I am liking it, but it is a bit slow moving. But after that, I don’t know where to go next!

Have you read any of these? What should I make a priority? Anything I should unhaul? Let me know in the comments! I need all the help I can get.

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Book Review – – Dreamland

Nancy Bilyeau
Published: January 16, 2020
Genre: Historical Fiction

I originally requested this on Netgalley after seeing a review on Goodreads from someone I follow.  What immediately grabbed my attention was the mention of “The Night Circus”. Anytime that book is compared to something else, I have to read it.  So that is what I did. 

I am not sure how to summarize this book.  It is part historical fiction, part romance, and part mystery.  It has a lot of parts, but not a main focus.  

It is Historical Fiction because it takes place in the early 1910s in New York and Coney Island.  We follow a very wealthy family as they spend the summer at Coney Island. While 98% of the characters in this novel are fictional people, there are mentions of some important people that were alive during that time and are a big part of American history. 

It is part Romance because our main female character, Peggy, meets an immigrant, Stefan, during one of her visits to Dreamland.  She immediately falls for him and they start a “relationship”, but it is very brief and not well developed at all. 

Lastly, it is part mystery because there is a murderer on the loose and women’s bodies are being found on the beach and in Dreamland.  The book opens up with what is suggested to be mysterious behavior, possibly a glimpse of the murderer. 

While I did enjoy reading this book at the time, looking back, it was a bit of a mess.  Each individual element had potential. I am a huge Historical Fiction fan, but I have never read anything concerning Coney Island during the early 1900s.  Personally, I would have loved if this book focused more on the romance with the backdrop of Coney Island and Dreamland. That would have been an intriguing, beautifully written book that I would have been all about. 

What I could have done without was the murder mystery that was secondary, in my opinion, but popped up every once in a while.  In fact, I forgot there was a mystery going on because aside from the opening of the book, we didn’t hear about it for a while after that.  Mystery/Thriller is my most read genre, so I expect a lot out of it. This fell flat. It was very predictable and not at all shocking. Which, if I am being honest, 2019 was a year of disappointing reveals.  But if the writing is good and the path to the reveal is good, I can handle a mediocre reveal. Unfortunately, the lead up was all over the place. 

I think that is my overall experience and final thoughts of this book.  It was just all over, trying to be multiple things, but not succeeding at any of them.  

I am not sure if I would consider this an adult novel or a YA.  We are following Peggy, who is 20. Sometimes she is portrayed as very grown up, very smart. Then other times she is very juvenile, very child like. There could be a lot of factors to that.  Peggy is part of a very wealthy family, where they employ people to do a lot of their day to day things. There was one scene in particular where she went to draw herself a bath, instead of her maid doing it.  We got a narrative on how she was struggling to turn the faucet on, that she didn’t know how to do it. Whatever the author intended of this, my thought was “are you kidding”. Later on in the book we now have Peggy who is single handedly solving the mystery and figuring out who the murderer is.  It doesn’t make sense. It is like she has two different personalities, two different age ranges. Little things, but can take you out of a story. 

Overall, the story was okay.  I am disappointed because I think it had the potential to be a new favorite of mine.  It had some of my favorite aspects of a book. It just was a little messy and a little disjointed and confused on what It really wanted to be. 

Thank you to Netgalley, Nancy Bilyeau and the publisher for an advanced copy.  I have agreed to give my honest review in exchange for an early read.

3 Stars

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Friday Recommends – – The Heart’s Invisible Furies

I’ve decided to start a new series on my blog. Every Friday I want to recommend a book to you. These are books that I love and can’t stop thinking about. My goal is to introduce you to some books that you may not have picked up on your own.

I knew I had to start this off with a book that I read 2 years ago but still can’t stop thinking about.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies – – John Boyne

I LOVE this book. I ask everyone I know if they have read this book, and if not, I tell them they need to pick it up. I read this book in December of 2017 and I remember making a Facebook post that said if you only have time to read one more book for the year, make it this one.

To be honest, I really didn’t have a huge interest in reading this. I remember seeing it was a Book of the Month pick and it was featured on an episode of All the Books, a podcast created by Book Riot. I had mild interest, so I did put it on hold through Libby. I couple months later I received and email that it was available. Usually in November/December, I don’t read a whole lot. I am super busy at work and have little energy when I get home. So I wasn’t reading anything at that particular time so I decided to give this one a shot. And I am so glad I did.

This book follows Cyril Avery. It spans across his whole life; from the time he is in his mother’s belly until the last days of his life. The novel spans decades, and in that time we really get to know Cyril. We get to watch him with his adoptive parents and their very strange relationship. We get to be there with him while he struggles with who he is and where he comes from. We are there for him when he finally finds love and happiness. We are there through all the ups and downs through important times in history. You really get to live a life along with Cyril.

I went through every emotion when I read this book. There were laugh out loud moments. Cyril is a very practical and humorous character. You cannot help but love him. There were moments in this that I cried. I really felt for the characters in this and what they were going through. There were some tough subject matters in this book, but they were beautifully done.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies clocks in at just under 600 pages, but it does not feel like 600 pages. It was just so compelling and it sucks you in from the very beginning. You can’t help but fall in love with all the characters from the minute you are introduced to them. Sometimes when books are this long, you think some stuff could have been cut out because it added nothing to the story. This is not the case for this one. Everything in here makes sense and if it wasn’t there, you would think you are missing out. It all just works perfectly together.

Please do yourself a favor and read this book. Spend some time with Cyril. I had no expectations when I went into this and it became one of my Top 3 All Time Favorite Books. It is so good.

Have you already read this? Thoughts?

Are you interested in picking it up this year?

Let’s chat about it in the comments!

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Book Review – – If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood.

This book. I cannot explain to you the emotions I felt while reading this. I started this book on NYE, and finished it the next day; I could not put it down. I needed to know how this was going to end. I needed to know this woman got what she deserved.

GOODREADS BLURB

After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle’s talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now.

For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother’s dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders.

Harrowing and heartrending, If You Tell is a survivor’s story of absolute evil—and the freedom and justice that Nikki, Sami, and Tori risked their lives to fight for. Sisters forever, victims no more, they found a light in the darkness that made them the resilient women they are today—loving, loved, and moving on.

REVIEW

I am not sure how to go into this without giving spoilers. But I want to convince you to read this. I will start out with the trigger warnings. If you are triggered at all by abuse, OF ANY KIND, then do not pick this up. If murder or missing persons trigger you, then this is one I would skip. If you can handle a strong, tough subject matter, then please read this.

My first reaction was that this could not be real. No human being could or would choose to act like this, to inflict pain of this magnitude onto people, especially family and close friends. After I got over the fact that yes, there are people in this world who have minds that function they way this woman’s does, my next thought was why are these girls not speaking up. What are they not telling someone what is going on. In reality, unless you have gone through a situation like this, which I have not, you don’t know what your reaction would be. We don’t know the fear that these girls lived in. And I am sure there was confusion on their part. This is their mother, she is suppose to love them and care for them. Instead they were abused and treated like animals.

I was so angry reading this. Shelly, the mother, convinced everyone, including her ridiculous third husband, that what she was doing was out of love. Especially when it cam to the friends she moved into her home. Her husband made me the angriest. I understand that he didn’t live in the house during the week, but when she convinced him to do some of her dirty work when he was home on the weekends, you would think he would get a clue on what was really going on. It makes me furious now while writing this out.

I was not satisfied with the outcome of this. It is by no fault of the author, he is just reporting true facts. I did not think this woman had a harsh enough punishment.

I am so sorry if my thoughts are all over the place. This book was an intriguing read and very compelling. It read very fast and had my sucked in from the very beginning and I never lost interest. If you like True Crime, this is a must read.

4 Stars

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2020 Goals

Another year gone with another one right around the corner. With a New Year, come new goals. Just like most people, I have set some goals for myself. A few are geared toward my blog and the rest are for my reading life.

Get blog up and running

I started my blog in July of 2019 but I haven’t really put my all in to it. I was just doing the basics. 2020 is going to be my year of doing things that I enjoy and doing things that make me happy. Books and reading and writing are among those things. I am really going to focus on making this blog what I want it to be.

Post regularly

I have been very sporadic this year with posting. I have created a spread in my bullet journal where I will keep a schedule of what I want posted and when I want it up. I want to become more consistent with content.

Be more active on Social Media

This is a big one for me. I want to be more vocal on social media (in a positive way) rather than just being on the sidelines. For that reason, I have created a Bookstagram page. It is something I have been thinking about for awhile and finally did it. You can find me there at Bookish.ashley. All my other social media links are listed below.

Now, on to my reading goals for the year.

Read 50 books

At first glance, this number is pretty low for me. I have surpassed this number in 2018 and 2019. However, I am really focusing on reading books that I think are going to be top notch for me. Which leads me to my next goal.

Quality over Quantity

I do not want to read books just because. I don’t want to read them just to get my number up. I think this year I really discovered what I enjoy in a book, and I want to focus on that going into 2020.

Get physical TBR to reasonable number

I fall into the category of buying books to just buy them. When I decided I wanted to build up a library for myself, I was just buying anything and everything. Especially after discovering Book Outlet. Because of that, I have found that a lot of my owned books hold minimal interest to me. My goal for this year is to have my TBR at a comfortable number. To do that, I am going to focus on reading what I own for majority of the year. And if something does not interest me. then I am going to DNF and unhaul. I have plenty of clients that I can pass the books along to or I will donate them this spring for my city’s big used book sale.

Very strict on purchases

To help get that TBR number down, I am going to be stingy with what I purchase. Right now, I am thinking for every 10-15 owned books I read, I will be allowed to purchase 1-2 books. I will allow myself to purchase during the Book Outlet Black Friday Sale and of course the Big Book Bonanza my city has in July. But my goal there is to purchase books that I already read and loved and would like to have on my shelves. I want to be more selective when it comes to what is on my shelves.

Read more TOMES

I do love reading bigger books, especially if it is a genre I like or from an author I adore. I just choose not to read them because of the dreaded thought of “it will take too long” or “I could read x amount of books in the time it will take me to read this one.” These are thoughts I need to stop. This also falls into a previous goal of quality over quantity. I have so many books over 500 pages that I want to read. I am going to take the time to do it this year.

Utilize my Kindle

Its unrealistic to say that all my reading for 2020 is going to come from my physical TBR. There are going to be new releases that I will want to read but will not purchase. For that I want to use my Library and Kindle more. I do visit my local library branch, but I also use Libby/Overdrive/Hoopla. When I read on my Kindle Paperwhite, I love it. I also have an IPad with the Kindle app on it as well as the app on my IPhone. With limiting my book spending this year, reading ebooks is going to be a great alternative.

And there you have my 9 goals for the year. I am sure going into January I am going to think of a few more. When I do my mid-year check in, I throw those new goals in there.

What are your bookish goals for 2020? Share your links int he comments so I can read what you have going on for the New Year!

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