Royal Morning Blue – The Bookish Mutant

Happy Saturday, bibliophiles, and happy New Year’s Eve!

Whew. This strange, chaotic year is coming to a close, but what matters most is that despite everything, we’re still here. Whoever you are, I’m proud of you for making it through another year. You did it!

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

December was certainly a little stressful at the beginning, what with my first finals season in college. Most of my classes were fine, seeing as all of my English *finals* were mostly essays and portfolios, but stats and bio anth were a little tougher. But in the end, I got out with good grades, and I won’t have to take a math class again in my college career. You have no idea how happy I am about that.

The great thing about being in college (in my case, at least) is that we have a really long winter break! After the chaos of finals, I’ve had a lot of time to settle down, relax, and spend the holidays with family. I’ve been in a major reading slump since finals, but the combination of some finds from my dad’s comic shelf, some Christmas gifts, and the haul from my Barnes & Noble gift card, I’m back into my regular reading rhythm! I’m so excited to read the rest of my haul!!

Other than that, I’ve been drawing more, putting together a puzzle (of David Bowie, who else would it be), watching Andor (SO GOOD), Glass Onion (I cannot stress enough how wonderful this movie is), and Decision to Leave (I still don’t completely know how I feel about this one), seeing The Smile live (CRYING CRYING CRYING), and enjoying spending time at home with my family over the break.

And yes, I know it’s New Year’s Eve, but there is a MUCH more important holiday going on today, and that’s Ringo’s first birthday!! My boy turns 1 today!! Everybody say happy birthday to Ringo

Also, I figured it might be fun to share some highlights from my apple music ~~wrapped~~, sorry, replay—I’ve always wished that apple music had a wrapped equivalent, so, uh, Christmas miracle, I guess?

unsurprising, given that I spent a 2-hour plane flight listening to “Metal Guru” on repeat and nothing else 🥴

I am nothing if not predictable (David Bowie was #6 and Radiohead was #7 lol)

Do I get Welsh street cred for this one?

READING AND BLOGGING:

I read 15 books this month! It was my worst reading month as far as reading goes, but it was also finals week, so it’s all fine. I completed my reading challenge of 200 books and read 224 books in all this year!

2 – 2.75 stars:

We Light Up the Sky – Lilliam Rivera (⭐️⭐️)
A House Between Earth and the Moon – Rebecca Scherm (⭐️⭐️)
Deep in Providence – Riss M. Neilson (⭐️⭐️)
Aces Wild: A Heist – Amanda DeWitt (⭐️⭐️.5)

3 – 3.75 stars:

Women Don’t Owe You Pretty – Florence Given (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2) – Martha Wells (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
A Venom Dark and Sweet (The Book of Tea, #2) – Judy I. Lin (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
The Genesis of Misery – Neon Yang (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Last Night at the Telegraph Club – Malinda Lo (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Hellboy: On Earth as it is in Hell – Brian Hodge (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

Vengeful (Villains, #2) – V.E. Schwab (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
City of Spells (Into the Crooked Place, #2) – Alexandra Christo (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Gleanings: Stories from the Arc of a Scythe – Neal Shusterman et. al. (anthology) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
DC: The New Frontier, vol. 1 – Darwyn Cooke (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
House of Hollow – Krystal Sutherland (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: Gleanings: Stories from the Arc of a Scythe – 4 stars

POSTS I’M PROUD OF:

I had fun reviewing A Venom Dark and Sweet and Gleanings!
I had fun doing the Winter is Coming Book Tag and the Random Number Book Tag!
I compiled all of my 5-star reads of this year!

POSTS FROM OTHER WONDERFUL PEOPLE THAT I ENJOYED:

SONGS/ALBUMS THAT I ENJOYED:

fantastic on its own, but it was incredible to hear live with The Smile!!

unpopular opinion—this is my least favorite Blur album that I’ve listened to so far, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. this is certainly the best track

I never thought I’d say this in my lifetime, but new Sparklehorse just dropped?? and it’s not sad??????

again, this was so much fun live, but it’s great to finally hear the album version!!

I stumbled upon this one while trying to cite On a Sunbeam for my final comics paper—according to Tillie Walden, this is the song that inspired the title! fits the vibe of the comic for sure

SUCH a creative cover, wildly different from the original but in the best way possible

a great album to end the year on!

It’s been a scary and jarring year, but it’s been wonderful too. I graduated high school and started college, and I pushed myself out of my comfort zone more than I have in ages. I made new friends, I went to so many amazing concerts and read so many fantastic books. It’s been weird and uncertain (and I cried a lot), but in the end, what matters is that we got through it. No matter how good or bad of a year you had, I hope 2023 brings hope, love, and good things to each and every one of you. We got this.

Have a wonderful new year. Spread love, be kind to each other.

— madeline

Today’s song:

came for the Gorillaz, stayed for the Suzuki flashbacks

That’s it for this month in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, take care of yourselves, and have a happy new year!

Happy Monday, bibliophiles!

2022 was a strange, messy, and transitional year for me—graduating high school, starting college, and all of the chaos in between. It’s been an unusual reading year for me too—I haven’t been able to read as much, what with college and finals throwing me off of my reading rhythm for most of the second half of the year. I didn’t have as many 5-star reads as I have in previous years (not counting re-reads, for which there were many), and that might be a consequence of how weird this year has been, but that maybe the more I read, the more selective I get with my 5-star ratings. It’s not every day that a book changes your life, rocks your world, or shifts you in some other way. But there were still several books that deserved that rating this year, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t give these truly wonderful books all my love as the year reaches its end.

(NOTE: re-reads that I previously rated 5 stars will not appear on this list.)

Let’s begin, shall we?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️THE BOOKISH MUTANT’S 5-STAR READS OF 2022⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Wide Starlight – Nicole Lesperance

My first 5-star read of the year, and an unexpected one as well; a beautiful story of northern lights, fairytales, and family.

Read my review here!

Art Matters – Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell

An essential read for anyone with creative aspirations of any kind. Neil Gaiman never misses.

Alone in Space: A Collection – Tillie Walden

A beautiful collection of vignettes and short comics from one of my favorite creators in recent years!

The Reckless Kind – Carly Heath

Another 5-star read from a new-to-me author, The Reckless Kind captured my heart with its tale of queer love and disabled identity.

Read my review here!

The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects – Mike Mignola

Another beautiful anthology from one of my favorite artists and storytellers. The Magician and the Snake always gets me choked up.

Call Us What We Carry – Amanda Gorman

At this point, Amanda Gorman is incapable of writing anything that doesn’t immediately awe me; Call Us What We Carry is filled to the brim with creativity, wisdom, and timely insight that will surely stand the test of time.

Honorable Mentions (4.5 stars):