January - March 2023 | Reading Wrap Up

Hello all!

Since I’m no longer reading enough to do monthly wrap ups (much to my chagrin, life continues taking over and I’m fighting from my corner), I thought I’d do a three-month one instead 😅

Code: books read in English are in black, books read in Spanish are in red and the book I read in French is in blue.

JANUARY (1)

• Loathe to Love You (The STEMinist Novellas #1-3) - Ali Hazelwood → 3.5/5

My year began pretty disappointing, with only one book (a collection of three novellas) to show for the whole of January.

The good: very fun, fast and easy to read. It was also a buddy read with a friend, so I had someone to chat with!

The bad: all three books I’ve read by Ali Hazelwood have been exactly the same tropes, characters, and basically plots over and over again. Which, I enjoy them, but reading three of the same thing in a row, even if they were short, was a bit too much.

FEBRUARY (2)

• The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - Sangu Mandanna → 4/5

• Mysteries of Thorn Manor (Sorcery of Thorns #1.5) - Margaret Rogerson → 3/5

Two very good and enjoyable books marked my February! I really enjoyed Sorcery of Thorns back when I read it in 2020 so it was nice to go back to the world for a little bit, and Sangu Mandanna’s was lovely, peaceful, and a nice pick-me-up in dreary weather. I’ll definitely look out for other books from the same author!

MARCH (5)

• L'Énigme de la chambre 622 - Joël Dicker → 1/0

• Los Cinco y el tesoro de la isla (Los Cinco #1) - Enid Blyton, translation by Juan Ríos de la Rosa → 3.5/5

• Otra aventura de los Cinco (Los Cinco #2) - Enid Blyton, translation by Juan Ríos de la Rosa → 3/5

• The Answer You Are Looking For Is Yes (A Witch Way Anthology #1) - Olivie Blake → 4/5

• Clara and the Devil - Olivie Blake & Little Chmura → 3.5/5

It took me THREE MONTHS to finish Joël Dicker’s so I think that alone speaks for itself. I really enjoyed his Harry Quebert book when I read it back in 2016, so that’s what prompted me to buy this other one, and it was just… So terrible. So, so bad. If I could rate it negative points, I would. At least I bought it second-hand in a book fair so it only cost 2€ because what a disappointment otherwise!

In happier notes, I went back to my childhood and read two Famous Five books that were around in my family’s house, in their original Spanish translations. Questionable translation decisions aside (how have the times changed!), I did enjoy this little trip down nostalgia lane, which, to be entirely honest, was partly forced by my E-reader dying after seven faithful years of service… RIP.

But not all was dire, because I bought a new E-reader (an Inkbook Calypso Plus, if anyone was curious) and used it for the first time to read Olivie Blake’s five romantic novellas/short story collection, which was an absolute delight. Some novellas I enjoyed more than others, but overall it was honestly really fun. While I was Olivie-ing, I also gave graphic novel Clara and the Devil (available in Webtoon, drawings by Little Chmura) a read. It was short but a bit generally unsatisfying.

And this was mostly it! On top of the Forgotten YA Gems book club over in Goodreads (wonderfully managed by Carrie), I also joined a book club in Spanish called La vuelta al mundo en 80 libros. It’s managed by my good friend Cris, so if you can read in Spanish and are interested in diversifying your readings by country, do give it a try! (To be entirely honest, I haven’t read anything related to any of those book clubs in 2023 yet. But hopefully soon I’ll get the chance!)

How has your reading in 2023 been? Any highlights? Talk to me, since I’m barely on here and don’t know what everyone is doing!

Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a lovely entrance to 2023 and has a joyful year full of the things and people you love. May it be better than the last, in every single way!

In my case, after giving my brain a break in 2022, I am BACK with all of my goals and my detailed lists, including, of course, reading ones. So here are my 10 goals for 2023:

1. Reading (at least) 55 books (follow me along in GR & SG!)
2. 12 books in French
3. 12 books in Spanish
4. 12 non-fiction books
5. 12 LGBTQ+ books
6. 12 books by European writers (excluding British ones)
7. 12 books by African/Afro-Caribbean writers
8. 12 books by Asian writers
9. 4 books by writers from Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, etc.)
10. 4 books by Latin American writers

You could ostensibly go, “Andrea, why the focus on the continents/nationalities of the authors?” to which I would answer the same thing as I do every year: I read a lot of US/UK writers. Like, a lot. Easily 95% of my yearly reading is taken up by US-UK writers. Which is GREAT, don’t get me wrong, and if I didn’t like them I would simply not read them -but it also means that there are a lot of vital experiences and narratives that I miss out on. I want to expand my reading pool and discover new authors and new ways of telling stories, and if to do that I need to literally sit down with a list of all the countries in Europe and start researching writers I will do that. Just hand me a map and some pins, we’re reading the world this year!

To begin with, I’m tackling two books that I bring over from 2022:

• L'énigme de la chambre 622 - Joël Dicker [GR] -> I’ve been reading this for a week now but it’s super long and it’s in French, so it’ll take me a good ten days more probably…
• Ship of Magic (Liveship Traders #1) - Robin Hobb [GR] -> I started reading this end of October, read about 20%, and didn’t touch it again. I’m finishing this in January come what may, I can’t keep lugging it around!

As always, I’m open to any and all recs you may have, but in the meantime, tell me -what are your 2023 goals, if you have any? How is the year looking?

Hello hello hello -yes, I’m alive and I still remember my Tumblr password! Good news all around on this the last night of the year :)

2022 has been a year of many changes, personal achievements, and several moves (one including to another country!) and start-overs, so while on a personal level it has been extremely satisfying and full of plans, my reading and reading-related activities took a setback. I went MIA on bookblr, I disappeared on poor Carrie in the Forgotten YA Gems book group in GR, I have no idea what has gone on in the publishing world, and I definitely didn’t read as much as I wanted to. But sometimes life is just like that, and we don’t have the emotional energy to do 1482459 things at once (much as we’d like to…), so I’ll say that it was okay and it was what I needed for 2022. I hope 2023 will be different so I can come back and pester y'all once again! I miss my online reading spaces as much as I miss the books themselves.

But let’s not start being melodramatic… I DID READ SOME THINGS. Let’s recap!

As I mentioned on my 2022 is here post, this year I set myself no goals other than “vibes”…. And to read 90 books, which should have been more than fine to achieve but, for the first time in four years, didn´t happen.

Goodreads has been shaming me for the entire year…

That said, 52 books is still quite a lot (one book a week!) so here are my top 5:

• La suma de los días - Isabel Allende [link to GR]
• El peligro de estar cuerda - Rosa Montero [link to GR]
• The League of Gentlewomen Witches (Dangerous Damsels #2) - India Holton [link to GR]
• The four books of the Wayward Children saga I read this year, by Seanan McGuire [link to saga]
• Love on the Brain - Ali Hazelwood [link to GR]

I also participated in the Reading the World and the 2022 Summer Bingo Challenges!

If you’d like to see for yourself what I actually read so you can ask for reviews or comments (or tell me your own thoughts!), you can find me on Goodreads and Storygraph. I keep them very updated so everything is there!

And now, on to you: how have you been? How were your reading years? What are you loving, what are you reading, what has been published and you loved/hated, what is going to be published and you can’t wait to get your hands on it? Tell me everything!

And a happy start to 2023 for all!

[Summer Bingo I] [Summer Bingo II] [Summer Bingo III]

I completed this challenge on July 25th, so here is my wrap-up! It’s the first time in the fourth years since this challenge exists that I haven’t gone for a full card, but since I’ve been having a terrible reading year (my Goodreads challenge WEEPS) I decided to instead go for the Diverse Small one.

And here it is!

1. Indie/small press: The Untold Tale (The Accidental Turn #1), by J. M. Frey -> 3/5
2. Disability/mental illness: El peligro de estar cuerda, by Rosa Montero [Untranslated] -> 5/5
3.  Author of colour: Fatal Fried Rice (A Noodle Shop Mystery #7) - Vivien Chien -> 3/5
4. LGBTQ+: Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children #5) - Seanan McGuire -> 4/5
5. #ownvoices: Hot and Sour Suspects (A Noodle Shop Mystery #8) - Vivien Chien -> 3/5
6. Translation: Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything - David Bellos -> 3/5 
7. Non-American author: Peregrinas (Andanzas) - Joaquín Berges [Untranslated] -> 3.5/5
8. YA Gems BOTM: The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman -> 3/5

I miiiiight have taken a few liberties with some prompts (the YA Gems BOTM book I read was from a couple of years ago, for instance) but hey, whatever works! I’m quite happy with what I read because I finally crossed off many books from my TBR that had been there for a long time, and even if most things were just okay, I enjoyed mostly everything!

As always, I’m not leaving reviews, but I’ll be very happy to discuss any of those books :)

How are you doing? Are you taking part in this challenge as well?

Hiiiiiiiiiii :)

After a long LONG break, I am posting something again, this is very exciting. Life has been incredibly hectic since the year started and I’ve barely had time to live, much less read, so booklr took several steps back in my priorities list… My life is still very much tornado-like and regular posting is definitely not planned yet, but it feels good to at least say a little something. Thank you to everyone who got in touch with me during my absence -I missed you a lot!

It’s June 1st, so as tradition, the Forgotten YA Gems’ Summer Reading Bingo Challenge is back, fourth edition! Absolutely nothing can impede me from taking part in it, so even if I’m choosing the smallest card instead of my usual big one, the game’s on and I wanted to share it with everyone.

(If you don’t know what I’m talking about link here).

The first book I’m starting with is The Untold Tale, by J.M. Frey, for the indie/small press square. It’s been on my TBR for years, so it’s about time I got round to it…

But enough about me! How is everyone! What are you reading? What joyful news do you have? Please do share with me everything I might have missed!

Hopefully back soon,

Andrea xx

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a joyous beginning of the year and are looking forward to what this year may bring (hopefully good things… We sorely need more of those!). I spent half of 2021 in some kind of reading slump and struggled with a lot of my goals (you can see my annual recap here!), so this year I’m changing strategies: no reading goals! No monthly TBRs! Just vibes!

We’ll see how long that lasts because I am the type of person who desperately loves making lists and needs goals to function, but I think starting the year by giving my planning brain a break and just reading whatever I feel like will be good to get into the reading groove again. If you’re curious, I’m going to start with Glow from Within, by Joanna Vargas, a non-fiction book about skincare; paired with Well Matched, the last of the Well Met trilogy by Jen DeLuca. I’m really looking forward to both!

However, I do have one goal: at least 90 books! Normally I up my reading goal number by 5 books each year, so this year I should’ve upped it to 95, but I barely read 95 in 2021 and I don’t want to stress myself with a too high deadline that I might not reach. Follow me along on Goodreads and StoryGraph to see my progress!

What are your reading plans for this year?

BOOKS READ (6)

• The Spanish Love Deception - Elena Armas –> 3/5
• The Laugh of the Medusa - Hélène Cixous –> Not rated because I’m not too sure I understood it well enough to rate anything…
• Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier –> 3/5
• Mother Ireland: A Memoir - Edna O’Brien –> 3/5
• Tales from Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle #5) - Ursula K. Le Guin –> 3/5
• Player (Red Lipstick Coalition #2) - Staci Hart –> 3/5

TO SUM UP DECEMBER

Well… Clearly there wasn’t anything stellar in there. But at least I didn’t hate anything, and the two rom-coms I read were laugh-out-loud funny so even if the quality wasn’t there, the enjoyment was. And I read more books that in October and November, so that’s good as well! Not an amazing month by any means, but also not terrible -simply okay. 

And now, under the cut, my 2021 Annual Review! I had a lot of fun making it and it features lists, graphs, and statistics because I am a nerd, so enjoy if you’re a fellow nerd!

Keep reading

[Don’t know what I’m talking about? EXPLANATION LINK HERE]

One of my (many) 2021 goals was to participate in the Beat the Backlist 2021 challenge, because I’m a simple person: I see book bingos, I want in. I chose the 24-square bingo to start off easy, and I finished it on 22nd July, so I of course went right in to the full 52-square bingo with bonus prompts included… After a bit of struggling, I finished it yesterday! Challenge complete, yay!

Here’s the completed bingo card, and under the cut you can find the list of what I read:

Keep reading

I was tagged by @aliteraryprincess, thank you!

Did you reach your reading goal for the year (if you had one)?

I did, yes! I had several different goals and not all of them have been met, but I set my reading number to 90 this year and have read 94 so far (will finish a book tonight so 95!). 

What are your top 3 books you read this year?

Ooooh difficult. Today’s top three is El infinito en un junco, by Irene Vallejo (not available in English), Jane Austen at Home, by Lucy Worsley, and The Travelling Cat Chronicles, by Hiro Arikawa (my version was translated by Philip Gabriel). But I’ve actually read several 5-star, 4.5-star and 4-star books this year, so if you ask me at another time I might have a different top three!

What’s a book that you didn’t expect to enjoy quite so much going in?

The Binding, by Bridget Collins. I absolutely loved it but going in I thought it was simply going to be an okay-ish book. I was more than pleasantly surprised!

Were there any books that didn’t live up to your expectations?

Oh, plenty of them! To give an example, The Siege of Troy, by Theodor Kallifatides (my version was translated by Neila García) was incredibly bad, and I wasn’t expecting it to be because it had actually been a rec from my mum… Yikes.

Did you reread any old faves? If so, which one was your favourite?

No re-reads this year at all!

Did you DNF any books?

Nope. I am simply physically incapable of it. Very bad, I know!

Did you read any books outside your usual preferred genre(s)?

Yeah, actually! I read more non-fiction this year than any other year and I’m loving it, also a couple of graphic novels, and I definitely was more diverse than ever in terms of plots/countries/ideas so I think we can count that too.

What was your predominant format this year?

As always, ebooks!

What’s the longest book you read this year?

StoryGraph tells me it was Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov (my copy was translated by Amaya Lacasa), while Goodreads tells me it was Evelina, by Francis Burney. Both are around 510 pages so let’s say that.

What are your top 3 anticipated 2022 releases?

The League of Gentlewomen Witches, by India Holton, and Four Aunties and a Wedding, by Jessie Q. Sutanto. Sorry, I can’t provide a third book because I have no idea what’s coming out next year…

What books from your TBR did you not get to this year, but are excited to read in 2022?

Well, all of them, clearly! I dearly need to update both my GR and my StoryGraph TBR self, because I have a long physical list of books to read (yes I do things in paper…) but haven’t updated my internet ones in so so long. I’ll attempt to tomorrow, so I can star the year with an updated account!

I don’t know who to tag because I don’t know who has done this already so I leave this open! If you see this, you’re tagged! Please tag me in your posts, I want to see your asnwers :)

Hey everyone!

Remember when we were young and full of hope for the new year, and we made those lofty lists of goals…? Yeah, me too. My goals are not going great to be quite honest and I’ve mostly given up by now, but at least one of them is tackled! I finished my 21 in 2021 list yesterday, and here’s how it went!

1. Loki: Where Mischief Lies - Mackenzi Lee –> 3.5/5 (February)
   
2. The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves #1) - Roshani Chokshi –> 3.5/5 (July)
3. Diary of a Newlywed Poet - Juan Ramón Jiménez –> 2.5/5 (February)
4. Flame in the Mist (Flame in the Mist #1) - Renee Ahdieh –> 3/5 (August)
5. Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II - Liza Mundy –> 4/5 (November)
6. In Our Time - Ernest Hemingway –> 1/5 (April)
7. Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices #3) - Cassandra Clare
8. The House of the Spirits - Isabel Allende –> 3.5/5 (March)
9. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier –> 3/5 (December)
10. A Midsummer Night’s Dream - William Shakespeare –> 3/5 (May)
11. The Valiant (The Valiant #1) - Lesley Livingston –> 3/5 (November)
12. Jane Austen at Home - Lucy Worsley –> 4.5/5 (July)
13. The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) - Rick Riordan –> 3.5/5 (August)
14. The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo #5) - Rick Riordan –> 3.5/5 (September)
15. Making a Tinderbox (The Tinderbox Tales #1) - Emma Sterner-Radley –> 2/5 (March)
16. Night and Silence (October Daye #12) - Seanan McGuire –> 3/5 (April)
17. Ghosts of the Shadow Market - Cassandra Clare
18. El infinito en un junco. La invención de los libros en el mundo antiguo - Irene Vallejo –> 5/5 (April)
19. The Great Passage - Shion Miura –> 2/5 (March)
20. Tooth and Claw - Jo Walton –> 2.5/5 (February)
21. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century - Yuval Noah Harari –> 4/5 (September)

Cassandra Clare’s are crossed off because I decided around October or so to finally be honest with myself and admit that I wasn’t going to read any more Shadowhunter books. I didn’t technically read them, but still: crossed off the list, two less books!

How are your own goals going?

• Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
• The Laugh of the Meduse - Hélène Cixous
• Mother Ireland - Edna O'Brien
• An Equal Music - Vikram Seth
• Tales from Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin

Very short list so that should hopefully make it doable :)

What will you read this month?

Remember when I used to read 12 books a month…? Yeah, me too. Sigh.

BOOKS READ (4)

• Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II - Liza Mundy –> 4/5
• The Valiant (The Valiant #1) - Lesley Livingston –> 3/5
• The Siege of Troy - Theodor Kallifatides (Translation into Spanish by Neila García) –> 1.5/5
• Johannes Cabal the Necromancer (Johannes Cabal #1) - Jonathan L. Howard –> 3/5

I’ve also read a little less than half of The Spanish Love Deception, by Elena Armas, that I hope to finish tomorrow.

TO SUM UP NOVEMBER

So… November wasn’t the best reading month I’ve had, definitely. I’m mildly happy because I’m slowly tackling prompts and goals, so that’s good, and if we exclude Kallifatides (probably the worst book of the whole year, and that’s saying A LOT), the rest of them were entertaining enough. Code Girls was especially good. But still, four books is very little compared to what I’m used to and so I’m a little disappointed in myself :/ 

But oh well, this is a hobby, and I had fun with it, which is what matters. Hopefully December will be a little better though!

How was your month?