Not a bad month of reading at all! Even though I didn’t read any 5 star books, I still managed to get a lot done. It was also a great combination of audio and physical/e-book. I’m absolutely loving The Storygraph for tracking my reading. If you’re looking for more friends to add over there, you can check out my profile. Happy reading!
I love making lists and tracking all of the things. For the past few years I’ve done this in a bulletjournal, combining all of my ‘stuff’ into a single book – however – for 2025 I’ve decided to go ahead and make a dedicated reading journal, just for books (well, sort of, it’s for books, tv shows, movies, and tracking things that I enjoy like knitting).
I figured I’d post a few pages here on the book blog to showcase how I’ve got it set up this year. I’m taking a lot of inspiration from other reading journals out there, and just customizing it a bit to suit my own needs / designs. In the picture above, is my TBR pile (to be read) for the year, along with my rating system. Whether or not I actually make it through all of these books will be another story. I plan on crossing them off as I read them (if I read them), and then of course further on in the book I’ll have the actual reviews written.
Since I’ve joined a book club, it will also give me space to track challenges and events with that. I’m excited! It’s nice to have it all in one place, physically, besides just keeping it around on GoodReads (which I have been trying to move away from a bit).
Do you keep a reading journal? Let me know in comments!
It’s not quite the end of the year yet, but I managed to finish my reading goal: 24 books in 2024. I read some incredible books and I don’t plan on stopping there, I’ll continue to read and see how many more I can add to the list before 2025.
Some of my absolute favourites include The Saint of Steel series by T. Kingfisher (so happy I found this author, I love many of her books, and read a lot of them this year), and The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. I was happy to see a fair amount of diversity in my readings, and while I did stick to a lot of my usual fantasy/romantacy genres, there’s some other genres tossed in too. I’m excited to start up the 25 in 2025 reading challenge and hopefully I am a bit better about writing reviews and other book-related posts here.
A very interesting book that had a lot of informational facts that I didn’t know. Alex Trebek led a fascinating life, and I loved the ‘just an ordinary man’ perspective that the book came from, but, while reading I personally found a lack of flow. It read like a book of disjointed facts that were about the same person but didn’t really fit together. Each chapter was a ‘fact’ and some were explained in great detail and others left me wondering. The first half of the book read much different than the later half when he started talking about his career. It was probably on purpose, it almost felt like he was uncomfortable talking about himself (he states numerous times that the game should never be about the host) and he spends a lot of time paying homage to the wonderful contestants he had over the years.
I feel like that could have probably been an entire book all in itself, and not in his autobiography where I was there to read about him. Still, the book was an enjoyable quick read and my first Canadian autobiography.
3/5 Stars
In the past, I used to power through a book even if I wasn’t enjoying it, thinking I had to finish what I started. However, that’s no longer the case. My time is valuable, and there’s simply not enough of it to waste on books that don’t bring me joy or satisfaction. Now, if I’m not engaged with a book, I have no problem putting it down and moving on to something else.
This shift in mindset doesn’t necessarily reflect poorly on the author. Sometimes a book just isn’t meant for me; I’m not the target audience, and that’s completely fine. When I decide not to finish a book, I won’t leave a star rating. After all, how can I fairly rate something I haven’t completed? For me, the key to sticking with a book is a sense of enjoyment. I don’t need a masterpiece of literary prose, but I do need the story to flow well and keep me interested.
Occasionally, I’ll mention books I didn’t finish on social media, not to criticize them, but to share my experience with like-minded readers who might relate. It’s interesting how some of the books I don’t finish are quite popular, which makes me wonder if it’s just me who didn’t connect with them.
As a result, there are a few books on my GoodReads list marked as “completed” but without a star rating, flagged as DNF (did not finish). This is more for my own organization, so I don’t mistakenly add them to my to-read list again. Ultimately, it’s important to remember that it’s perfectly okay to stop reading a book if it’s not bringing you enjoyment. Life’s too short to spend on something that isn’t worth your time!
Ah goodness, I’ve fallen behind with this site – but I did manage to complete my GoodReads reading challenge for 2023, and I’ve read 20+ books! Here’s the list, and in the future expect a lot more reviews.
I imagine a few more books will make the list before the end of 2023, but I’ll write about those as a ‘year end’ type of post. Over all, it was a pretty good year as far as books go. Some big winners and some not-so-great books, too. I think next year I’m going to aim for a higher goal. Maybe 10 more, or so. I really didn’t dedicate much time to books this year, and I want to change that for 2024. I also plan on tossing in a lot more audiobooks while I do things like knitting.
I am also currently participating in two beta reads, and I can’t wait to talk about them in the future, so watch this space!
Happy reading!
I picked up this book back in March on the recommendation of a friend, and I’m so glad I did. I didn’t intend on binge reading, but it was fantastic and exactly what I was looking for at the end of the day. The book had just enough action to keep me turning pages, and at a time where stress is everywhere, I felt like I could let go and relax a bit into Travis’ world. For a debut novel, Travis hit it out of the park, and I can’t wait to see where this takes him next.
We follow the story of Viv, an orc barbarian, who is trying to give up her heated battle forged ways and open a coffee shop. She (of course) comes up against trials and tribulations, and makes (and loses) some friends along the way. If you’re a fan of high fantasy worlds but want to see a lighter side, I highly recommend giving it a read.
4/5 Stars
I know it has been a while since I made a post here – but that doesn’t mean I’ve slowed down in the reading! My goal of 20 books read for 2021 is almost complete, and while it’s a far cry from the 50 books that I used to read pre-kids, it’s still something. I am a firm advocate for reading – period. It doesn’t matter what you’re reading, so long as you read. Comics, romance books, magazines, they all count in my eyes. I’m currently making my way through The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and I am absolutely loving it. I knew a bit of what to expect since I read (and loved) the Night Circus many years ago, and while this novel is a bit confusing (it involves many timelines that sort of merge into a central one) the world building is constantly what draws me in.
It’s exquisite, to put it bluntly. I always feel like the world is alive, that the author is able to create a flow that just speaks to me. Even if the story itself is something that I find difficult to follow along with, the writing is superb. I appreciate that.
2021 has been a particularly lucrative one as far as reading ‘good’ books goes (for me, personally). Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan was fantastic, and I had a great time reading The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso. I was able to delve into a handful of novellas by Martha Wells that were all great reads of their own merits, and the comic ‘Sunstone’ by Stjepan Šejić was beauty on every page.
I was also able to take some time to read some ‘just for me’ books, The Book of Hedge Druidry, by Joanna van der Hoeven, and The Witch’s Shield, by Christopher Penczak. While these books were not exactly what I was looking to find, it was nice to round out some knowledge and there were portions of each book that spoke to me.
My TBR pile keeps growing, and that’s always a great thing. Up next I’m hoping to read The Hidden Palace, by Helene Wecker (#2 to the Golem and the Jinni), and The Color of Dragons, by R.A. Salvatore and Erika Lewis. I even managed to read a few Canadian authors this year, something I attempt to remind myself of as often as I can. They’re not always books I completely enjoy, and I know that life is too shore to waste it reading bad books – but they don’t have to be 5 star reads in order for me to complete them and learn from them. I’ve branched out a little bit but of course there is always more room when it comes to reading. With any luck I’ll discover even more authors that I’ve never heard of who have gems to share with book worms like myself.
In any case, I’m sorry for the lack of posts. Some days are more difficult than others when it comes to reading (I’ve had to put my physical books away during multiple sclerosis relapse days because it is too painful to hold them) and sometimes it just slips my mind. That being said, books are (and have always been) an important part of my daily routine, even if blogging is not, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
One of my favourite books is The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wrecker, and I first read it way back in 2013. Much to my excitement, I learned that there is now a follow up book, The Hidden Palace. I instantly added it to my ‘want to read’ pile, which varies little to my TBR (to be read) pile. I don’t really plan out which books I want to read, or what order I want to read them in. I tend to go by emotion / mood alone, and if I find that I’m not actually into that book after all, I’ll speed my way through it or it will fall by the wayside. I do tend to continue on with books even if I don’t enjoy them – except for one book that I just couldn’t read any further and I just gave up. I think I even wrote a review for it here some place. I know time is valuable, but I’ve always felt like in some weird way I almost owed it to the book to finish it. I know that makes absolutely no sense, but that’s how I felt.
Any way, my TBR pile is quite short these days because I haven’t the faintest idea of what books are releasing, or when. I haven’t actually browsed for books in a while and most of what I add to my pile is word of mouth and suggestions from others more than actually looking for myself. I’ve also wanted (once again) to get into some audiobooks but most of them are very expensive, and I just don’t see myself being interested long term. I know there are some sites that offer free trials of their audiobooks and I might look into that, and NetGalley also now has some audiobook options. It would be nice to be able to listen to a book while I knit, I’m curious if it would have the same effect on me it usually does – when I listen to audiobooks I tend to fall asleep almost instantly.
In any case, this is definitely a book that’s very high up on my ‘next to read’ list, if not at the very top. I’ve finished a few more books that I’ll get reviews up for in the future (we’ll see about that) and I’m currently reading Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan which is fantastic so far (I’m only a few chapters in, as a word of caution). What’s everyone else reading these days? What does your ‘to read’ pile look like? Do you have a physical collection or are you more likely to keep a digital collection of books? Let me know in comments, and happy reading!
How did I manage with those July book goals? Well:
I actually managed to complete all of my goals for July! I made sure to spend time each night reading before bed, and fit in some reading here and there throughout the day, too, which is no easy feat with a 3 year old and a 5 year old constantly underfoot (side note, I should add the kids books to my reading goals too, we read every night together before bed).
The goal to update my book pledge on the Canadian site I’m a part of completely fell through because they announced that they’re shutting down and moving on to a new project! I was heartbroken to hear that, but I understand. They were running the site in their spare time, and I don’t imagine it was much of a money maker for them. I’ll be interested to see what they come up with next.
My August goals include:
I think this should be a fairly manageable list to acomplish. I might slack a bit on the blog posts because I tend to be bad about that, but I’m trying to stick to it and make it a positive habit. Age of Myth is a joy to read, aside from the fact that I decided to purchase a physical copy, which means it’s not quite as easy to sneak into bed and read (I tend to use my kindle more than anything else) especially when my 3 year old daughter still has her crib in my room. I feel like this is a good year for reading, and I’m proud that I’ve been making time to enjoy it again. It’s important to me, even if it does end up being just a few pages here and there.
Happy reading!
The Nomadic Reader 