Books and Backpacks

In the first half of the year, I read 41 out of my 52 book goal for the whole year; or, as I've been looking at it--about half the number I was at last year at this time. Around the middle of May, I got stuck in the worst reading slump that I'm just starting to get out from at the beginning of July. As such, I don't really have a lot of really good books to highlight here, unfortunately. But there are some! Best book so far:  American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis This book is so magnificent, I just can't. Read it now. Especially if you love the movie. The vibes are immaculate.  Best sequel:  Visions - Kelly Armstrong I am in love with Kelly Armstrong for writing the entirety of the Cainsville series. It has one of my favourite worlds and, more importantly, one of the best love triangles I've ever read. Ever. Gabriel has my heart forever.   That being said, it was only the first two books in this series that got 5 star ratings from me, the last three novels got 4-s...

By: A. D Sparks    The first time I ate human flesh was for my 27th birthday. I became aware of the idea after hearing a story about how some guys in Germany met up online and one said:   “ I have the funniest craving! Some human meat would really just hit the spot right about now.” And then some other guy popped online and said:   “Well gosh-darn-it, what great timing! I sure would like to be eaten.”    So they met up, and the first guy killed the other, and stored him in his freezer, and slowly ate him. Obviously, he was eventually caught, otherwise we would never have heard the story.   But I was inspired by this man’s, admittedly stupid, actions.        I met some random guy on some dating app or other. I picked him because he said he didn’t drink or do drugs (which I figured would sour the meat) and he wasn’t too big; that was it. I wasn’t the strongest, at that point in life, and I thought that if I could find someone a bit ...

  April was a great month for reading for me. I was writing finals for the majority of it, so I didn't get a ton of reading time for the first three weeks and for the last part of the month I was moving. Needless to say, this has been the busiest month thus far this year. As such, it was also the first month I didn't reach my self appointed reading goal. Usually, I aim for between 5-7 books for each month, and this month (since I was expecting to have the last couple of weeks to just relax), I aimed to read seven. Although, I only read 6 of my goal of 7 books for this month, I also read a couple of my favorite books of the year (so far) this month.  1. Near the Bone- Christina Henry. Read for my women in horror month selections.  2. The Deep- Nick Cutter.                                                     ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 The on...

 In the first three months of the year (AKA the first quarter or Q1), I read 24 books. The vast majority of these were in the three star range (14 of these, or 58%) and 75% total were rated under three stars. I'm happy, thus far, with the number of books that I've read (with February being my best month at 12 books). However, I wish I had more than 3 five-star ratings, with two of those being in one series and the last being cheating out of the ordinary rules. Now, it should be said, that in ranking these books I started by dividing them by what I ranked them-- Class A with 5-stars; Class B with 4-stars; Class C with 3-stars; etc.-- and then ranked them within each of these classes. In order to put together these classes, however I rounded down my rating out of 5-stars. That is, if I originally gave a book 3.75 stars out of 5, then it became a part of the 3-stars, or class 3.  The only exception being my top-read of the quarter, in which I felt so strongly about being my favor...

  In March, I finished six books and Did Not Finish 2. I'm a little underwhelmed with this month's reading, but am looking forwards to April to try and find some books better suited for me.  1. Rituals - Kelly Armstrong:                    ⭐⭐⭐.75 The last book in one of my new favourite series, and written by--as I discovered whilst looking for more of her books at my local library-- a Canadian author! I thought this book as a wrap-up to a series was okay, it felt kind of weird to have 100 pages left in the last book in a 5 book series and have so many things unresolved-- and, as a result of the limited pages at the end-- the ending felt a bit rushed. I think Armstrong should've either cut the last book, or added a 6th one to the series. Preferably the latter so I can get more Liv and Gabriel.  The love triangle in this book was also kind of weird, like our main girl (Liv) spends like 3 of the five books with one guy...

With the recent announcement of Roberto Acguirre Sacasa's True Blood reboot , I was inspired to revisit one of my favorite TV series-- the original, 2008 True Blood . As a lover of the beautiful American South  and all things paranormal romance, True Blood was right down my alley. While I was too young to watch it when it was first airing, I watched it all on streaming services a few years later and instantly fell in love. A show centered around vampiric love triangles and all set in Louisiana? How could I not love it.  So, when they announced in December of 2020, they were rebooting the show, I was ecstatic. Then I saw who the show runner was, and I got less excited. And then I read some of the books and became even less excited. Not because the books weren't great (because they were), but because I started to see and remember some glaring issues from the show.  However, since that December 2020 announcement it's been difficult to find any more recent updates on the show...

The whole day was a massive, and very successful, publicity stunt. Actually, the majority of “The Inventor”, as he was colloquially known, was in order to create and maintain the shroud that permanently encapsulated him. Nothing was known about him except his accomplishments. Nothing was published about his company other than those minute details in the posts on his website that were deigned to be shared with the public. Most of the time, those little posts were just pushing whatever Zosia’s newest project was. He never made a press release. He never held any public meetings. Everything known about him had been published in blog posts on his company website. People only knew as much as he allowed. As one might imagine, the curiosity around him had quickly made his moniker infamous. Rumours promptly spread over who he was and why he remained anonymous. So, the day that infamous tech genius and trillionaire announced the opening of his new amu...

Violet My father would die soon. Tonight was Victor Van Camp Senior’s 90th birthday party. To me, that is the official notice that my father was nearing the end of His life. It was also the notice that it was time for me to move on. Forgive Victor Van Camp, forget Viola Van Camp, and more than anything, let go of childhood. Eyes closed and taking a deep breath, I sink down into the crimson crushed velvet couch behind me. I spent the vast majority of my life in this house, but I no longer recognize it.   Huntley’s hand rests gently on his daughter’s shoulder, as he stands beside her chair. His head twists towards Ezra and I. Our stares meet and my brother’s blood-shot eyes give me a knowing look. I take another steadying breath, relaxing further into the furniture.   My husband settles in next to me.   “Are you ready for this?” He leans in to whisper to me.   As I’ll ever be, I guess. I think, but merely raise my eyebrows to him as response enough.   “Ah, childre...