Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you all well.
The pseudo-almost-reading slump that I had last week started to continue into this week, but some of my library holds picked up significantly after that, as well as some of the holds that came in on my Kindle. Now I have my haul from my Christmas gift card to look forward to, and I’m so excited for that!
Outlining for the second draft of my sci-fi WIP has been pretty slow going, but I’d say that I’m making steady process. (The fact that I’ve had another light school week has certainly helped.) I left a whole bunch of comments during the initial edits I did on the first draft, and occasionally I’ll just find one that cracks me up.
Other than that, I drew a bit, caught up on WandaVision (OKAY EPISODE FOUR DEFINITELY PICKED UP), and watched The Hunt for the Wilderpeople with my family. The latter made me cry like a baby, but it was 100% worth it. Also, I’m learning “Quicksand” by David Bowie on the guitar 🥺 what a beautiful song
Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you all well.
After how overwhelming last week was academic-wise, I had a blessedly light homework week. So I felt a whole lot better overall. I spent the day off on Monday not doing a whole lot other than reading, which was a good break.
As far as my reading week…is there a word for a book slump that’s momentarily interrupted by one (1) 5-star read, and then goes back to being a string of meh reads? Because that’s what happened this week…I didn’t enjoy The Novice (for my book club), then had a 5 star read, then the last two books I read this week were a 2 star and a disappointing sequel. Sigh…
But hey, things might be looking up! I got another great library haul on Friday afternoon, and my digital hold on I’m Thinking of Ending Things (I’ve wanted to read it ever since I watched the movie), and I was finally able to pick up the three books I bought with the gift card I got for Christmas! So hopefully my reading will pick up from there…
Other than that, I’ve steadily been outlining the second draft of my sci-fi WIP, listening to a lot of 6ths, and eating pizza and fried rice. It’s been a peaceful week, I’d say. And Joe Biden’s in office now! Good news! (Also, I CAN’T NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE BERNIE MEMES…they never seem to get old…)
Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.
As I mentioned earlier, the beginning of the week was rather overwhelming, so I had to take a short break from posting so I could get my schoolwork done. But things are quieting down for the time being, so I have a bit more time to wind down.
I *accidentally* got a huge library haul last week (a bunch of my holds came in when I least expected them to), so I had a lot to read. It was definitely a little bit hit-or-miss, but I’m glad to say that some of my most anticipated releases lived up to the hype! I also have some books that I ordered with my gift card that should be ready soonish, and I can’t wait to read them…
I’ve also been steadily working away at editing my main sci-fi WIP, and I finished up my initial edits on Friday! From here, I’ll be doing a whole lot of tweaking for my outline and some other research, but in a few months’ time, I’ll be on my way to writing my second draft!
Other than that, I finished up season 2 of The Mandalorian (*sniffles*), watched Barton Fink, and listened to a whole lot of Julien Baker. I’m also going to start WandaVision tonight with my family, and I’m SUPER excited! (I’ve always had a soft spot for the Vision…)
Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope these first few days of 2021 have treated you all well.
My last reading week of the year was definitely a surprisingly good one–almost all of what I read, I ended up rating in the 4-5 star range! I never really plan out my monthly TBRs, but I have some great reads in my cart from the gift card I got to my local bookstore, as well as a bunch of holds from the library that have started to trickle in. I don’t want to jinx it, but January seems like it’ll be great for reading.
I also finished my 2020 reading challenge with 279 books! I put my goal at 275 this year, so we’ll see how it goes.
And I forgot to mention this in my 2020 post (linked below under “posts and such”), but I have one more resolution: Read more books from marginalized voices! I feel like I’ve tried to do that for a few years, at least, but this year, I definitely want to make more of an effort.
Other than that, New Year’s Eve/Day were both fun; my family always does a movie marathon for NYE, and we did some Christopher Nolan movies this year. Of course, since both of them were pretty lengthy, we only ended up watching two movies. Interstellar was depressing but beautiful, and it was a lot of fun to rewatch Tenet. Even if the latter still confuses me to no end. We also watched Wonder Woman 1984 on New Year’s Day, which was…disappointing, to say the least. It’s honestly shocking to me that it’s the same director that made the triumph of a movie that Wonder Woman (2017) was. Sigh…
I’ve also been listening to a bunch of music–I downloaded Julien Baker’s Turn Out the Lights and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds; I haven’t listened to the latter in full yet, but the former was decent. Not as good as Sprained Ankle for me, but still good. And then there’s the matter of the Fargo and Legion scores…[cries]
A few months back, I was looking through my diary, and I stumbled upon an entry from around early December 2019. I was thinking about all of the movies that were (supposed to) come out this year, and I wrote something along the lines of “2020 is gonna be my year!”
Boy, I had no way of knowing how astronomically wrong I was about that.
But you’ve heard everyone say how unprecedented and generally awful this year was. And a lot of it sucked for me too–grieving, doing school online, general paranoia about the state of the world, and, well, the ongoing global pandemic. So I think we can all agree that 2020 definitely sucked on some level.
But I’m not here to talk about all that. For even though this year was awful for everybody, there were still some bright spots. I read some amazing books, discovered new music, got introduced to some amazing movies, discovered my new favorite show (Fargo!), and I even finished the first drafts of not one, but two of my WIPs!
And in terms of this blog, it’s been a pretty good year, I’d say. This was my first full year doing this whole book blogging (mostly) thing semi-seriously, and now I’m almost at 350 followers! I started getting eARCs through Edelweiss as well, so that’s been an adventure. Along the way, I’ve found so many like-minded souls and discovered so many unique and wonderful blogs. So thank you all for helping me get through this trash fire of a year. Lots of love to all of you. 💗
Now, as with last year, I have a few new year’s resolutions for this blog:
I’m going to start putting trigger warnings/content warnings for the books I review. I really should’ve started this earlier, but I think it’s a great way to inform readers of what they’re in for, and if there’s certain elements that they would react negatively to. Again, should’ve started this earlier…whoops…
I might do monthly wrap-ups, probably starting at the end of January. I already do weekly updates, but I like the idea of compiling everything I’ve read in the span of a month sounds fun. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how much I actually read in the span of a month…
But other than that, you can probably expect what I usually do here. I’ll try to do more original posts soon (I have one planned, so stay tuned!), but I promise that this blog in 2021 will have lots of bookish (and non-bookish) content and more.
So let’s get through 2021 together. Good or bad, we can all support each other to move past the dumpster fire that this year was. Let’s better ourselves, be kind to others, spread all the love we can, and for the love of all that is holy, PLEASE JUST WEAR YOUR MASKS AND LISTEN TO THE SCIENTISTS. IT REALLY ISN’T THAT HARD.
[ahem] anyway, I suppose this concludes 2020. We can do this, everybody. As always, lots of love. 💗
The final song of 2020:
That’s it for this year! (good riddance…)
As always, have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves. And a happy new year to all.
I’ve been wanting to do this post ever since I finished Aurora Burning, because ever since May, there have been OH SO MANY THOUGHTS RUNNING AROUND MY BRAIN. As a reader, I’m not really the best at predicting plot twists and theorizing about the actual content of books (and judging from That Ending, I’m even more clueless than usual), but I’ve had a lot of fun thinking of who the cover might feature.
So, prepare for a lot of incoherent thoughts here, folks…
Let’s begin, shall we?
Now, FAIR WARNING: This post is guaranteed to be CRAWLING with spoilers for both Aurora Rising and Aurora Burning, so please be careful if you intend to read them and haven’t yet!
THE COVER, AND WHO MIGHT BE ON IT
First, there’s a few characters we can probably eliminate from the pool for the star of the cover:
Auri: Our favorite Space Rogue had the gorgeous cover of book 1 all to herself.
“Check a mirror, Elrond…”
Kal: Same deal–his lovely face was on the cover of book 2.
Cat: [ahem] apologies for putting salt on the wound here, but…unless Kaufman and Kristoff decide to tear our hearts in two again and just put Ra’Haam Cat on the cover (which I highly doubt), Zero’s out of the running.
Gone, but not forgotten…[sad harmonica]
So now that we have those three characters out of the running, let’s see who else might make an appearance:
Tyler: Personally, my last choice for the cover, but hey, a lot of people like him. (For the same reason people adore Captain America, I guess.) By the end of book 2, he’s separated from the rest of the Squad, so if he’s on the cover, that might allude to one last, grand finale hero act for him, proving his eternal loyalty to Squad 312 above all else.
I also had a dream where Tyler was on the cover of book 3, and no offense to all his fans out here, but that’s a dream that I’d prefer not to come true. I don’t hate him, or anything, he’s grown on me a lot, but he’s my least favorite of the Squad.
“Ease off, legionnaire!”
Scarlett: I would LOVE to see her on the cover, but I’m not sure what the authors have planned for her. There was that reveal in the last few pages of book 2 that her *diamond* necklace might have far more importance than the others once thought, so that could give her an interesting role in trying to save the universe. Scarlett’s played an essential part in each novel, but she’s never fully had the spotlight, so maybe book 3 could be her time to shine?
Zila: I’m thinking that this one has SO much potential for book 3. Other than the fact that we haven’t seen how her gifted hawk earrings factor into it (most of the Squad’s gifts from Admiral Adams have had a crucial role to play, like Kal’s cigarillo box and Scar’s necklace), it’s not unlikely that she could have an answer to all this intergalactic chaos. Her quick wit has gotten the Squad out of many a bad situation, and since we’ve started to see her character arc develop in book 2, I think she could finally come into herself in the final installment in the trilogy.
And honestly? I would be 100% here for it. I adore Zila. Short girls UNITE! Plus, a sapphic, Black girl on the cover? SIGN ME UP!
Last but not least…
Finian: At this point, a good 80% of the fandom is willing to hand over their entire life’s savings to Kaufman and Kristoff for the chance to have him on the cover, so the chances here are…interesting.
The entire fandom @ Finian
And to be honest? I ABSOLUTELY understand the sentiment. Aside from Auri and Kal, he’s my favorite of the Squad, and such a wonderful balance between comic relief and a genuinely complex character. Beyond that, I think he might have an important role to play–after all, we haven’t seen how he uses the ballpoint pen, and how the “tell her the truth” note plays into that.
Also, as with Zila, wouldn’t it be great to have his representation on the cover? He’s bisexual and has impaired mobility, so that would be amazing to have him front and center.
PERSONALLY? I’d like to have either Scar, Finian, or Zila, but more so the latter two.
SEMI-LOGICALLY? I think that Zila or Tyler have the best chance of being on the cover, judging from their previous roles. Of course, they’d face the wrath of the Finian side of the fandom, but will that stop them? I doubt it…
In conclusion, I really haven’t been able to get this series off my mind. At all. May 2021 can’t come soon enough, but it’ll certainly be bittersweet, knowing that this will be the final book in the trilogy. Judging from what happened last year, we’ll likely get the title by October and the cover reveal by November, so I’ll check back then to see how my scatterbrained ramblings match up.
So stay tuned, folks…
Today’s song:
That’s it for this post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles, and happy New Year’s Eve!
I have this book to thank for (partially) getting me through finals, so that’s an automatic three stars right there. Just kidding, but seriously.
Though I had mediocre expectations for it, The Gilded Wolves was ripe with intricate world-building, unique characters, and lavish and unforgettable writing. Unfortunately, that made for a bit of confusion and convolution, but for the most part, that was overshadowed by all of its other aspects.
Enjoy this week’s review!
The Gilded Wolves
In an alternate, 19th century Paris, trouble–and magic–is brewing.
Séverin has been harboring a deep grudge ever since the line of his House was deemed dead, and his power stripped away. He now ekes out a living as a hunter of artifacts, stealing from Paris’ magical elite. But his reputation hasn’t gone unnoticed: the Order of Babel, an all-seeing organization that oversees all the world’s magical elite, soon hunts Séverin down, and forces him into finding an artifact more famed than anything he’s ever hunted. His reward? The resurrection of his House, and the reclamation of his birthright. Calling on a band of unlikely misfits, he must scour all of Paris to uncover this artifact, before time runs out.
The only thing that irked me about The Gilded Wolves was that I often found myself having to second-guess myself and try to remember wait, why are they doing this? Maybe it’s more of my fault than the book’s, but the plot did feel rather convoluted at times.
Other than that, The Gilded Wolves was most definitely a success! The world-building was so intricate and lush, and I loved exploring the alternate, magical Paris that Chokshi dreamed up. The characters worked so well together, and the prose was flowery, but not so much that it was unenjoyable. Overall, The Gilded Wolves was a hit with me! Solid four stars.
The Gilded Wolves is the first in a trilogy; the sequel, The Silvered Serpents, is slated for 2020 (!!!), and there is currently no information about the third and final installment, other than the fact that it’s likely to be published in 2021.
That’s it for this week’s Book Review Tuesday! Have a great rest of your day, and enjoy your New Year’s Eve!
![Jenn's Pick: The Very Best of a Very Bad Year [Contributor: Jenn] ~ Just About Write](https://i1.wp.com/uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/john-oliver-2020.gif?w=650&ssl=1)
The Bookish Mutant 