My reading goal for this year was originally 15. I moved it up to 20 in the summer and I ended up reading 28 books this year. That probably isn’t a lot to most people, but I work 6 days a week and often work 8-10 days straight. I’ll take it!
I’m still working on unhauling my books and cleaning up my tbr. I see a few people on here do the “Down the TBR Hole” posts, but does anyone else just do a mass delete at the end of the year? I just deleted any Kindle book from my Amazon wishlist that had been on there for longer than 5 years (Added in 2018 or earlier) and removed them from my Want to Read shelf on Goodreads. There were 41. I’ve also gotten rid of a few more physical books since my last post about unhauling. Of course, I’ve purchased more too.
My main reading goals for 2024 are:
-Read 20 Books
-Stick to a book buying ban
What are your reading goals for next year? Do you set reading goals?
Do you ever look at all of the books that you own and think, I’m not going to read all of these? Or why am I keeping some of these? That’s basically where I’m at.
I keep a list of all of the books that I physically own that I haven’t read yet and, after adding the last few books that I bought, I was at 430 unread books. There are books that I got at the thrift shop probably 10 years ago that I haven’t read yet. I was talking things over with a friend that I trust and decided to get rid of some.
I went through my Goodreads and made a list of anything that’s rated under 3.5 stars and also got rid of some that I know I just won’t read. For books that I’ve already read, I just got rid of things that I won’t read again. I’ve gotten rid of about 50 books so far and there are still 50 on my list. I did the same thing with my Kindle books and deleted 62. I still have 52 to go.
Is this something people would be interested in me updating my progress in? How often do you unhaul your books?
“Can a love triangle have only two people in it? Online, it can… but in the real world, it’s more complicated. In this debut novel Marisa Kanter explores what happens when internet friends turn into IRL crushes.“
I won this in a First Reads giveaway on Goodreads, but all opinions are my own. I really enjoyed this book and, even though it took me a month to read, it’s will be a quick read for most people. The only thing wrong with this book is that the main character organizes her books in reverse alphabetical order. It almost set my OCD off.
The characters are really well done in this book. Each one has their own unique set of goals, fears, and issues to overcome. Whether it’s family issues, college admissions, overcoming grief or anxiety, everyone is dealing with something.
The relationships in this book are all very well done. First you have Halle and her brother Ollie, who are great siblings. Next the siblings and their Gramps who start off rocky and eventually become a great little trio. At school, Halle becomes part of “Le Crew,” Nash’s friend group. They’re a bit messy at times, but they become important to her. Kels and Nash, who are online best friends, but have never met in real life (and Nash is in love with Kels). The best one, in my opinion, is the relationship between Halle and Nash. They become friends and then more, but he doesn’t know she’s Kels. There’s also the relationship that quite a few characters have with their Jewish faith. I’m not Jewish, but I like that the author knows that in CT, there’s no school on certain Jewish holidays. It shows she did her homework.
Halle’s secret life as Kels is a very relevant topic with how much of our lives we live online nowadays. It’s great that it showed the effect that lying can have in virtual and actual friendships. I’ve made some great friends online and I love that this book normalizes that. It also made me stop and think about how I act online versus real life, but there’s really no difference. It could be different for others. I really enjoyed the focus on book blogging in this book as well. You can tell how much Halle loves being Kels and running One True Pastry, but Kanter also covers book Twitter, booktube, bookstagram and book drama. I’m super far on the outskirts of any of it, but I do enjoy some of those things. Not the book drama.
At just 12 pages, there’s note much here. There’s barely an introduction into the Jessica Jones character, but the reader can kind of get a sense of what she does. This is a tie-in to the now canceled Netflix series of the same name. The art and dialogue are well done.
For someone like me who doesn’t know much about the character, it was ok. Actual fans probably won’t get much out of this.
It’s free on Amazon if anyone would like a copy:Â Here
I gave this 3/5 stars for being a quick, easy, free read.
Almost, Maine starts off with a girl named Ginette going to see her best friend, Pete, whom she likes. When their date doesn’t go as planned, she walks home and we get a side story set in each place that she passes on the way.
At first, I really liked the writing style. It flows well and I love the author’s descriptions. I felt I could see the people and places. By the 3/4 way point, it started feeling a bit repetitive. I get it. It was 19 degrees.
Some of the situations seem almost possible and others are pretty far fetched. It’s not something I’d read again, but it was pretty good. If you like romance with some magical scenarios and the northern lights as a backdrop, this could be the book for you.
I won this book in a First Reads giveaway on Goodreads. All opinions are my own.
This short story is about the baristas at The Street Bean coffee shop (Josh aka Muscles, Jenna aka Princess and the sort of main character Abe aka Goggles) as they start their day on what they think is a typical Monday. Unfortunately, the zombie apocalypse hits their town. Luckily they’re prepared!
I like that the reader gets a glimpse into each characters’ personality and what daily life is like at the coffee shop pre-apocalypse. I really enjoy the author’s writing style. He mixes humor with horror and his descriptions are great. I could clearly see the shop and everything that was happening. The ending is great too.
I really enjoyed this book. I found myself laughing out loud a few times and I smiled quite a bit while reading the emails between Simon and Blue. They’re funny and cute. I love Simon’s interactions with his friends too, especially Abby.
Even though some things in the book suck (being blackmailed, being outed, not always knowing what’s going on with your friends) they are handled well with not so horrible side effects here. Albertalli has a very good grasp on what it’s like to be an adolescent on the cusp of adulthood. It reminded me of that time in my life. *Whooshing senior year flashback sounds* It was nice to read a book where nobody dies and there’s a happy ending for once.
Mine is the Movie Tie-In version, so it has an interview with the director and the actor playing Simon, a little bit of the script and previews of two of the author’s other books.
I would recommend this book to lqbtqia teens and to anybody who likes young adult love stories with a happy ending.
Frank’s Night Out is a fun short story about a zombie named Frank who wakes up one night and decides he wants more from his life, or death and does something about it.
I like that the story is a metaphor for how we can be complacent in our lives or jobs until something sparks a new interest or motivation for us. It’s well done and light-hearted.
The book has illustrations that are done by the author and I feel like they added to the story. I’d recommend this to anyone who like zombies and smiling.
The Riverdale Student Handbook is fun, quick read. It’s set up like an actual student handbook that has been altered by the characters of the show before it’s been given to you. They’ve written comments on the school, characters and things that go on in town and it looks like are newspaper clippings and flyers taped into it. I would recommend it for fans of the show.
I finished this two days ago and I’m still not sure if I even liked this book. The main character/narrator is Jumper and he’s not the best guy. He’s a high schooler who drinks a lot and gets stoned while living in his deceased father’s high rise apartment New York City. One night, he decides to end it all and jump off the roof, but instead he meets a girl dancing on the ledge. He calls her Gypsy and they agree to act out a whole relationship over the course of one night while being honest with each other (but how would the reader know?), thus starting a crazy, alcohol and drug infused adventure. We never learn their real names and the ending was ok.
I honestly bought this book at the thrift shop based on the fact that the cover is neat and it’s signed. That’s not usually why I buy books, but it was this time.
Tanie's Reviews 