Books and Backpacks

       In August, I aimed to read 5 books, but ended up reading 19. I actually ended up having to make a second page for the books I read in my reading journal. The other thing I did differently in my reading journal this month was I started writing down the quotes I liked from each book. I had 4 books on my tbr this month and I read 2 of them, DNF-ed one, and gave up on the last. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how much I read this month and what I read.  Pillow Thoughts- Courtney Peppernell  ... your name runs through my veins...  Honestly, this one was kind of forgettable, but pretty good based on my initial rating.  4/5 You are the sun, the moon, and all the stars. Shatter Me; Unravel Me; Reveal Me - Tahereh Mafi  I'm not afraid of you, my dear... I'm absolutely enchanted -Shatter Me These are the first three books of the Shatter me series that I re-read this month. Honestly, all I remembered from my first reading last year was Aaron War...

 May:  1.  Book of Night - Holly Black:                                                                  ⭐⭐.5 I don't fully understand why Black would ever leave her beloved world of fae, but I wish she hadn't. Although eventually, if this series continues (which I think it is), I'm confident she'll find a way to loop it in.  2. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen:                                                      ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fitzwilliam Darcy fucks. End of story.  3. You've Lost a lot of Blood - Eric Larocca:                           ...

I have gone through the reading slump of my life last month-- as in I didn't pick up a single book for the entire month of june. Because of that slump, it felt weird to write about what I'd read when I wasn't actively reading anything. Since the end of June, I've gotten a bit out of my reading slump, but I still don't feel my usual constant desire for people to leave me alone so that I can get back to my books.  I also, finally have a couple months off of school. So, in the time I'm not working, I'm pretty much not doing anything right now. You may see where this is going.  I will now attempt to vanquish-- once and for all-- my reading slump by finding a new favourite novel. In order to achieve this goal I will be reading 14 books over 14 days. Or trying to, at least. I have already made my list of what I'd like to read, but I am open to making all the changes my little mood-reader-heart desires over the course of the next two weeks.  Going into it, I am...

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...