Monthly Intent

Monthly Intent | May 2022

Hello and welcome to a bit of a planning post for the month of May! This month I am planning on doing quite a few things, but also trying to make it a priority not to do too much and get overwhelmed. It is really easy with the beautiful weather to say yes to too many things.

Reading Plans

Unfortunately, last month I did not get to read Berserk Deluxe Vol. 1 in its entirety. Due to this I really would like to get that completed. Other than that I don’t have any specific books I want to read in May. I have been doing well with not really saying I need to read X,Y,Z the past few months. Since it is working so well, I don’t want to mess with it.

Crochet and Knitting Plans

This month I really want to finish working on my Out-Stranding by Christie Archer, which is a color work and textured shawl. I am planning on finish it within the first half of the month so I can move on to a bigger project. The project I want to get started after that is the Body Language Cardigan by Knits N Knots, I have not worked on a crochet project in a while and I have had the yarn for this sitting around since late last year. I want to get it done so I can wear it in the fall and maybe a bit before the Summer fully hits. Other than that I am just working on some vanilla socks.

Random Goals

This month I really want to have a picnic. I know it is a really silly goal, but I really enjoy having a good meal with good people outdoors enjoying the beautiful weather before it gets way to hot to function. I also would love to get my tomato garden all set up and reading to go as well. Every year I grow tomatoes and I am planning to continue this year. I just need to get new planters and soil, mine ended up breaking last year because they grew too large.

I hope you all have a really amazing May ahead of you! Do you have any fun plans coming up this month?

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Wrap Up

Wrap Up | May 2021 & #BasicallyReadathon

Hello and welcome to another wrap up, this time for may 2021! I did not post a Middle Mark this past month because I wanted to change some things up behind the scenes a bit and needed to take some time for that. The good news is my reading mojo came back full force this month, which I am beyond thrilled about. Anyway, I am just going to get right to the books. Also, this month my reviews of the reads are mostly just going to be start readings because I didn’t take a lot of notes. Just a heads up, next month it will be back to a short blurb for each book as well.


Assassination Classroom, Vol. 05: Time to Show Off a Hidden TalentAssassination Classroom, Vol. 05: Time to Show Off a Hidden Talent by Yūsei Matsui
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Continues to be a great series.

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Assassination Classroom, Vol. 03: Time for a Transfer StudentAssassination Classroom, Vol. 03: Time for a Transfer Student by Yūsei Matsui
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Continues to be a great series.

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Assassination Classroom, Vol. 06: Swim TimeAssassination Classroom, Vol. 06: Swim Time by Yūsei Matsui
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Continues to be a great series.

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Assassination Classroom, Vol. 04: Time to Face the UnbelievableAssassination Classroom, Vol. 04: Time to Face the Unbelievable by Yūsei Matsui
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Continues to be a great series.

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Assassination Classroom, Vol. 07: On Island TimeAssassination Classroom, Vol. 07: On Island Time by Yūsei Matsui
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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The AgonistThe Agonist by Shastra Deo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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An Echo in the Bone (Outlander, #7)An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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PachinkoPachinko by Min Jin Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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The Once and Future WitchesThe Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy, #1)A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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My Brilliant FriendMy Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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The Story of a New Name (The Neapolitan Novels #2)The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (L'amica geniale, #3)Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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The Story of the Lost Child (The Neapolitan Novels #4)The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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I took part in the BasicallyReadathon this past weekend and actually ended up reading the entire The Neopolian Novels series, which was a huge accomplishment and I did end up enjoying the series. I am so happy my aunt gifted those to me and I was able to read them all together, I feel like it really added to it because able to just sit there and read them all.

I managed to read a total of 14 books, 5,203 pages. Thirteen of those books were fiction and I read no nonfiction books this month. I read 2 ebooks, 1 hardcover book and 11 soft cover books. I have 5 – 5 star read, 4 – 4 star read, and 5 – 3 star read this month.

What was your favorite book you read this month?

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To Be Read

To Be Read | Basically 24 Hour Readathon May 2021

Hello and welcome to a quick little post sharing my TBR for the upcoming Basically Readathon hosted by @BrittAlsemgeest on twitter, you can find the readathons twitter account at @BasicallyReadtn. This round as all the rounds goal is to read or start some books that have been on your TBR the longest. Below I will copy the details directly from the announcement video for your convivence as well, but I encourage you to watch it here. I personally follow Britt’s time zone since that is 6am to 6am my time, it just works better, but I love that you can be flexible with this readathon.

  • Date – Sat May 29 at noon to Sun May 30 at noon
  • Goal – Read a book that’s been on your tbr forever Timezone – Follow your own or mine! (Amsterdam/CEST time)
  • Use the #BasicallyReadathon

This round I am going to try to tackle one to two of the books of The Neapolitan Novels. I have two reasons why I am picking these books. The first being that my aunt gifted these to me in December for the holidays so I have been looking at this series for a while without picking them up. The second being I have the entire series of sorts ready to go through and I wont need to go out and pick up an other one if I end up wanting to jump right into the next. Actaully, I lied there is a third reason. I want to tell me aunt my thoughts on this series, but I have a feeling they will be good. My understanding of order of this series is My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and lastly The Story of the Lost Child. I will be honest, I know nothing about this series other than my aunt really liked it. We tend to like similar books, so I think this will be more than promising!


I am always a sucker for a 24 hour readathon so of course I wanted to take part in this one again. I hope some of you are able to join. Share your TBR in the comments if you are!

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Hauls & Unboxings

Read 5, Buy 1 | May 2020 | Book Haul

Read 5, Buy 1

Hello and welcome to my May Read 5, Buy 1 challenge recap and haul. Earlier this month was my birthday and I did a seprate haul, which you can read here: Haul | Birthday 2020 . I am not counting these books towards by challenge because, well I didn’t buy them. Pretty amazing people were kind enough to buy them for me. But, that does not mean I didn’t buy anything for myself. I can never go a month without adding to my TBR myself! Now, on to the breakdown.


The Breakdown

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

The Magicians Land by Lev Grossman

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker

  • The Book of Longing by Sue Monk Kidd

 

 


Extra Books

After I posted my birthday haul I actually got another book as a present and I was very pleasantly surprised. It was The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold thanks to Reg!  I have been interested in this story for as long as it has been out it seems like. Thank you!

So, did break my Read 5, Buy 1, but only by one book. I ended up picking up A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon. The reason being is that with this series I always buy the next book in the series when I start reading one. So, I just ordered it without really thinking about it oops.


 Overall, I think I did pretty darn good! I only bought one extra book this month for myself and my owned TBR is down to 26 books, which is a great amount and it heading downwards still.

What does your TBR look like?

What books did you recently haul from the library or bookstore?

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Wrap Up

Wrap Up | May 2020

Wrap Up

Hello and welcome to this months reading wrap up! This month has been a stand out for me for this year and not for the best reasons. This year I have managed to read double digits every single month before this month, this month I struggled to read what I did read. I am not really sure what the reason was, I was not in a reading slump. I think I was just tired, I am not really sure how to explain it. I tried to turn it around in the later part of the month by doing a challenge, you can read about that in my post called, Challenge | One Week Reading Before Bed. This was nice because it kind of restarted my habit of reading, I am thankful I gave it a go. Well, even though this was not the best reading month, I still managed to read a few books and here they are!


Read 2

The Fiery Cross (Outlander, #5)The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Since this is the fifth book in the series, I don’t want to say so much. But, I will say that this is a wonderful continuation of the series. As always the writing is wonderful, the research put in is apparent, and the characters are still written amazingly.

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The Taming of the Shrew (Barnes  Noble Shakespeare)The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Overall, this was a pretty alright read. There were parts that I really disliked about this play. First how t8765423533523242e “shrew” is treated really kinda pissed me off to no end. I might have annotated this with a few “WTF!” throughout. I did like the other aspects such as the “pretending”, I wont say more than this because I don’t want to ruin this play for others. Honestly, part of me wants to rate this lower than I have as more time passes. Might come back and do that.

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MooncakesMooncakes by Suzanne Walker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was such a wonderful graphic novel. I loved the relationship characters, a plot through and through.

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MiddlegameMiddlegame by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I actually wrote up a whole review on this book for a my series called, Someone Picks My Books. If you want to hear all of my thoughts and why I enjoyed it so much please check out my review here: Someone Picks My Books | Evelyn Reads | Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

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The Magician's Land (The Magicians, #3)The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a fantastic end to the series and it took some surprising turns and new characters. I felt like a lot of growth happened between book 2 and 3 for quite a few characters as well. I really liked how a lot was resolved, but also the ending leaves a lot open as well to let you think of what might have happened.

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Northanger AbbeyNorthanger Abbey by Jane Austen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really loved the use of novels and story telling throughout this novel and how it impacted the main characters imagination. This was a very good novel and I enjoyed reading it immensely. I might even like this more than Pride and Prejudice.

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Beat the Backlist 2

Start of 2020: 51

Current: 10


Reading Stats


What was your favorite book this month?

How did you do in your OWLs? 

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Hauls & Unboxings

Haul | Birthday 2020

Hauls & Unboxings

Hello and welcome to my birthday haul! This past week was my birthday, which was so weird since. could not do what. normally do. But, wow my friends came through with birthday messages, videos, and zoom chats. Once of my friends even was sweet enough to drop me off some delicious food! I am truly lucky when it comes to friends. I just wanted to take the time to share the books and such I got this year for my birthday.


So, if you follow me on twitter you know. I have a switch lite and play some animal crossing. But, what you might not know is I love classic Nintendo games. I have always had a Nintendo gaming system since I was younger. So, my family chipped in together to get my a carrying case for my switch lite, a set of joycons, and Super Mario Party. I am so thankful, it is comforting to go back and play an updated version of an old favorite!


Next up is the books! I will be honest,  I bought The Glass Hotel as a birthday present to myself since it was signed and I really wanted to support my local indie bookstore. Next is Mooncakes, which was gifted by Jenna and Celtic Mythology, which was gifted by  Ariel. Both are such sweet people! I also found out I have a delivery waiting for me from Reg, who is also amazing! The last two books were bought by my parents, Color Therapy and Korean Cooking Favorites. I am so excited to get into that cook book!


My grandmother was also very kind in gifting me a 3 month subscription to The Sill, so I will be getting 3 deliveries over the next three months of beautiful plants. A gift that keeps on giving!


Last, but not least is a new Kitchen Aid hand mixer from my boyfriend. He knows how much I enjoy to cook and such and wanted to get me a good one. I used it for the first time last night to make bread, IT CAME WITH BREAD HOOKS! It worked so wonderfully. I did not take a picture of it because I was way too excited to use it.


I know I am so fortunate to have received these things from such wonderful people.

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Bullet Journal Jottings, Writing & More

Bullet Journal | May 2020

Bullet Journal

Hello and welcome to my May bullet journal post! This is an exciting one, I started a brand new notebook this month so I have more to share than just my monthly spreads. This is going to bit of a long one, so I am going to just get into it!


Items Used

Archer & Olive A5 Garden Sliter Dot Grid notebook

SAKURA Pigma Micron Pen Set  01


So, here is my new bullet journal. This time around I went for basic black and this one has a snake on the cover. One thing I love about these notebooks is the fact they have simple decoration on the cover. To me it gives off a classic and elegant vibe.

The first page of my notebook s always a general dot grid spread. I have used this n my last three bullet journals, it is really helpful when setting up new and old spreads. I always forget how many spaces go across my page and the halfway mark so this is very helpful.

This time around I decided to add a movie tracker. This spread is inspired by cyrus.serendipity14. All I need to do now is to add all the movies I need to watch. On the second page I added a TV tracker.  This tracker is inspired by @birdybujo on Instagram. I like how simple it is, at this point Outlander is the only show added. Also, you will notice I doodled herbs and plants on each page, this will continue throughout. I thought it would be a good way to tie everything together. On these pages I have rosemary and basil.

This time around I am trying to be more away of my spending and ordering online. I have a few goals this year for myself so I want to get everything in order. This wishlist and waiting on is inspired by  bulletjournal.com. Just like the previous pages, I really want to keep everything simple with these spreads because a lot will be added later on. On these pages I added lavender and sage.

Now these two spreads are a little more involved. On the left I am adding a health centered spread to track measurements and weight. This is inspired by @bulletjournalnoob. I need to still add some gray to differentiate the lines, but I am still searching for my gray highlighter. On the right I decided I am going to draw a book for all the books on my owned tbr shelf, this is inspired by @bujoandbee. I added a few plants that are a zz plant, monstera, and thyme.

On the lefthand side I wanted a way to keep track of all of my crochet projects. I decided to make a tag for each one. On each will be the start and end date, pattern, who it is for, and yarn used. On the right I put a monthly spread layout  from emerald lotus divination. I am planning on doing this spread every month so I wanted to keep it on hand to make things a bit easier. On these pages I doodled a string of pearls and oregano. 

This is a bill tracker I used in my previous bullet journal. It is really helpful when you pay your bills you can just mark it and you don’t need to worry if you forgot. I also add what date it is due and what I pay it with. On this page I attempted to draw mint, not sure how I feel about it, but I am still glad I tried.

I have had a tracker for my followers for this blog and my twitter for the past two bullet journals, but I changed the layout this time around, I was inspired by @penspapersplanner. I just do it for every five new followers, nothing fancy. I am not much of a numbers person, but I like marking it. On these spreads I drew chives.

I will be completely honest, I took the easy way out on this spread. I just photo copied  from previous bujo because I loved how well it came out the first time I didn’t want to mess it up.

On the left I migrated by temperature blanket tracker, I have very much behind and I really need to get back to it. Maybe you will see it in my next crochet update, my latest update you can find here: Crochet Talk | April 2020. On the right I photocopied a moon doodle from the book Muse with the Moon by Jo Cauldrick. It is the perfect reference I needed to keep track of the moon and the phases in order. On this page I doodled cilantro.

I love buddy reads and I love keeping track of them. I decided to continue with a buddy reads tracker and I also just migrated my top reads of 2020 spread. I left it blank when I took this picture so you all can be surprised at the end of the year. On this page I added basil.

Now onto the monthly spreads. This spread was taken by @littleolivebujo. I really loved how simple and organized this monthly introduction was. I loved the idea of monthly goals and a place for bigger events and the such. On this page I doodled some thyme.

Now, you mostly likely know I am studying Korean if you have been reading my blog regularly. I ended up taking this study spread from @jeannestudies. On the right I am keeping track to random expenses that come up. I kept these simple because they are going to be very full of information soon enough. I added rosemary and chamomile to these spreads.

My TBR and pages read spread is the one I used last month, just migrated over. I figure if it works, why change it up? On the right is where I am going to take notes and record my monthly spread that I noted earlier. I left a lot of open room so I have a lot of room to reflect and revisit as the month goes on.

This month my weekly spreads are a bit different. I added a few trackers on the sides that include habit, weekly, hours sleep and weather. Unfortunately I pinned this a while ago on Pinterest, but the link is now broken. I don’t remember where it came from so if you know who did this please let me know! I want to give them credit. On this spread I added thyme and dill.


What theme are you using this month?

What do you have planned for May?

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To Be Read

To Be Read | May 2020

To Be Read

Hello and welcome to another TBR post! This month my reading is going to be a bit more relaxed than it was last month with the #OWLsReathaon. I still cannot believe I read so much! Anyway, I just have a few books on my TBR I really wanted to get to. Without more of a delay, on to the books!


Middlegame by Seanan McGuire, picked by Evelyn over at evelynreads.com.  I am really excited to be giving this a go this month. I have read about 4 of their books already and I really enjoyed them. I know this one has met some mixed feelings so I am really excited to see if I end up loving it or not.

The Canary Keeper by Clare Carson, gifted by Adrianna over at romancebookbinge.com. I am so grateful to be able to read this in May. I have been wanting to read this book for months, maybe even over a year? May is the month to get it read!

The Magicians Land by Lev Grossman, buddy reading with Reg from bookishinbed and Jenna from jkimexploring. I cannot wait to see what the last book in this series is going to bring. This series could easily become one of my favorites, I am so glad that we ended up reading this together because I might not have ever read it. Also, with that ending in book 2, I need to know what happens next!

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, I picked this up at my local bookstore because it was given the title of ‘April 2020 Indie Next List #1 Great Read’ on indiebound.org. The description confused me quite a bit, but it said a few of my key words; ghost, hotel, and island. So, I bought it to support my local store.

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, what can I say? This is book 5 in the series and I am ready to get it read!

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, this is my May Shakespeare as voted by on my twitter account. I actually know nothing about this play at the time of writing this, but since I loved Macbeth I am more excited about reading his works than ever before.


What are you reading in May? Are there any releases you are looking forward to?

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Wrap Up

Wrap Up | May 2019

Monthly Wrap Up

This month has been a really interesting reading month for me. I feel like my reading was all over the place, but at the same time not. I have read a lot of non-fiction or very large books the past few weeks, with only a sprinkling of thrillers from a buddy read and a novel from one of my 2019 reading challenges.

I am not quite sure why I tended to read a lot about Russian history or Russian influenced books, but I think I was really craving non-fiction and historical fiction. As to the big books, I think I have been in a mood to just pick up a book and just dedicate myself to reading it and really absorbing it, not just reading something and flying through it. Either way, I am really happy with the books I have read this month, without more of my ramblings and reflection, here are the books I read!

Divider 2

Read 2
Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana AlliluyevaStalin’s Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva by Rosemary Sullivan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a wonderfully written non-fiction account of the daughter of one of the worlds most notorious men. It was really enlightening to read about her relationship with her father for a few reasons. The first being it really gave insight into Soviet Russian elite, which to me seemed to not be so different with how the elite lived under the tsars, and how Stalin was as a husband and a father.

I also liked how this novel tracked her life following the death of her father and beyond. I think it was a very good nod to her because it seemed like she tried hard to be seen as her own person and this novel really does just that.

As I said earlier, this is well written. The style of writing is story like with a great deal of information, I think this is great for those who want to read more non-fiction but are intimidated by books being to “academic”. In addition to this, the organization and execution of this biography is wonderful. The flow was very natural and I never felt like I was jumping around in her story, even though we cover an entire lifetime in a single book.

This book also inspired me to look into Svetlana’s own books about her story and also read more from this author.

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BecomingBecoming by Michelle Obama

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing her story in her own words. If you have any interest, I highly recommend.

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Behind Her EyesBehind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a very thought out thriller and I can really appreciate that. I just wish one aspect of the story was more explored throughout the novel. While this was a well planned thriller, it is by no means bad, but it also isn’t one of my top ones.

The story will keep you on your toes and just like the dust jacket says, if you think you can guess the ending. I think your guess most likely will be wrong.

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The StandThe Stand by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am still surprised I was able to finish this book in a single month, but I am so happy that I read it. While it was long, I was not once bored and I never wanted to skip a particular part.

Overall, I really liked the wide array of characters in this novel. I was expecting to get them all confused and turned around, but they are so distinct and their motives for their actions are always true to them so I did not have a problem keeping them all straight. There were characters in here that I cried for and I cheered for. There were those I did not care for in the slightest. It really is interesting to see all the different ways humans deal with something like this.

I really enjoy this type of story from king, it is a mixture of ghosts, monsters, but also human nature and what it could be. Making is just enough real to make you uneasy. Also, whenever anyone sneezed I got anxious. I had to laugh at myself a bit, but according to the Stephen King subreddit, I am not the only one who this happened to.

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Middle Mark Books 2

If you want to read my review of the following books, please see my post; Middle Mark | May 2019.

Ask Baba Yaga by Taisia Kitaiskaia, Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Literary Witches by Taisia Kitaiskaia, Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


Beat the Backlist 2

Current TBR: 38

Current Backlist TBR: 9Divider 2

What was your favorite book you read this month?

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Hauls & Unboxings

Book Haul | April & May 2019

BookHaul12:17

Hello everyone, it has been some time since I posted a bookhaul. I didn’t realize it has been two months until I ran out of room on my cart where I put the books I need to haul officially. Then, I realized I put some on my shelves without actually hauling them… oops. It turns out I acquired more books that I thought I did between treating myself and my birthday this month. The good news is I already read some of the books I hauled and some are replacement copies. So my overall TBR isn’t being completely bogged down.

Divider 2

-The Books-

Literary Witches by Taisia Kitaiskaia, birthday gift and read.

You Asked For Perfect by Laura Silverman, unread.

If Walls Could Talk by Lucy Worsley, unread.

Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides, unread.

That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston, Thank-you Reg! Unread.

Blaze by Richard Bachman aka Stephen King, unread.

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien, replacement copy and gift

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien, replacement copy and gift.

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick, unread.

Peace and Turmoil by Elliot Brooks, unread.

Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan, gift and unread.

The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer, unread.

Classic Penguin by various editors, read.

The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects by John Tingey, read.

The Things I Would Tell You edited by Sabrina Mahfouz, read.

Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill, read.

Ask Baba Yaga by Taisia Kitaiskaia, birthday gift and read.

Divider 2So over the past two months I acquired 17 books, not to bad for a birthday month and for such a long period of time. Plus, I already read 8 of them already.

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Have you read any of these books? Which one should I read first?

What book have you acquired or borrowed this month?

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