Monthly roundup: February 2019

I swear, the last time I looked up, it was January. And now February's gone. Whaaaaaaaaat???

Actually, I know what happened. I spent the entire month with my face shoved in various books.

Which isn't a bad thing, lemme tell you.

It's been another great month of reading around these parts, and a good month for all things bookish in general. I finished listening to all the back episodes of the What Should I Read Next podcast, and in my search for what I should listen to next, I stumbled upon All the Books, a weekly podcast from BookRiot about new book releases, hosted by the always funny Liberty and Rebecca. I'm super in love with this podcast and have been listening when I try to fall asleep, and when I'm in the kitchen getting dinner together. Be warned, though, your TBR list will explode like a fire hydrant that's been knocked over by a Mack truck. (And for more TBR-ruining fun, BookRiot has a TON of podcasts with hours upon hours of back episodes. Enjoy!)

And with that, here's a recap of all the amazing books I plowed through during the bitter cold of February 2019.

1. Humming Whispers- Angela Johnson

2. Assimilate or Go Home: Notes from a Failed Missionary- D.L. Mayfield

3. My Favorite Half-Night Stand- Christina Lauren

4. Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating- Christina Lauren

5. Heretics Anonymous- Katie Henry

6. The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story- Hyeonseo Lee with David John

7. Bear Town- Fredrik Backman

8. Hamartia- Raquel Rich

9. Ration Book Cookery- Gill Corbishley

10. Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks- Annie Spence

11. Called to Be Amish: My Journey from Head Majorette to the Old Order- Marlene C. Miller

12. Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction- Gabrielle Moss

13. All We Ever Wanted- Emily Giffin

14. Lucy and Linh- Alice Pung

15. Destiny's Embrace- Beverly Jenkins

16. Hidden Figures: The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation Into Space- Margot Lee Shetterly

17. Time Zero- Carolyn Cohagan

18. We'll Fly Away- Bryan Bliss

19. The Woman in Cabin 10- Ruth Ware


We also had a discussion on all the strange and interesting places we've read!

I may be a tad bit obsessive about reading lately, eh? But hey, it's been cold out. All the better to huddle under my heated throw and turn page after page after page.

My February reading felt amazing. Compared with last month, I have a more diverse group of authors, which is definitely something I'm aiming for. And I've got a good mix of fiction and nonfiction, which is awesome. Only three of these books came from my Goodreads TBR list, which is fine by me; one was a review copy; several were books I'd been meaning to read for a while; quite a few were new-to-me authors.

I also attended my first library book discussion group meeting! I was a nervous wreck (my anxiety knows no bounds and absolutely extends to social situations. Part of going to this group is my attempt to get more social interaction outside of the people I've married and/or have given birth to, which has seriously been like 99.99999999% of my social interaction for, oh, about the last twenty years or so. Not exactly healthy, even for an introvert), but it was AWESOME. I engaged in so much book banter and impressed them with the binder in which I take copious notes on everything I read (which prompted the librarian to jokingly offer me a job!). I'm so happy that I pushed my boundaries and joined the group; I already can't wait for next month and am lamenting the fact that I'll miss May's meeting, since my son has a choir concert that night.

So how'd I do for challenges?

As far as the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2019 Reading Challenge, I'm two-thirds of the way through 'Three books by the same author;' one more Christina Lauren and I'll be able to cross that one off fully. And I managed to tackle 'A book in translation,' which I expected to be a lot more difficult (having had some weird experiences with books in translation in the past); Bear Town was amazing. So here's where I'm at with this list:

I've already managed to cross five items off the list of Book Riot's 2019 Read Harder Challenge, which is pretty huge for me! #12, a book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character, has been covered by reading The Adventures of a South Pole Pig by Chris Kurtz last month, and #9, a book published prior to January 1, 2019 with fewer than 100 reviews on Goodreads, was covered by reading Hamartia by Raquel Rich. #6, a book by an author of color set in or about space, was fulfilled by finally reading Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, and #16, an historical romance by an author of color, was fulfilled by reading Destiny's Embrace by Beverly Jenkins. We'll Fly Away by Bryan Bliss, which absolutely gutted me, counts as #1, an epistolary novel or collection of letters. Not bad for a challenge I only decided to take up on February 21st. And here's my Book Riot list:

Onward to great reading in March!

How was your February???

Monthly roundup: January 2019

January is almost always a good month for reading for me. It's cold, we're stuck in the house, and my Goodreads yearly reading challenge tally has been set back to zero (nooooooooooooooooooo!). This year is no different- I breezed through thirteen books this month (although two years ago, I managed to tackle twenty or twenty-one. Yay, stress-reading!), but something feels different. Reading feels really exciting these days.

And that excitement stems from the amazing What Should I Read Next podcast. I'm new to podcasts, only having really recently started listening to them. What Should I Read Next is my second podcast; first was Let's Talk About Sects, which is great if you like weirdo cults and extremist groups. I listen sometimes when I'm making dinner, but more often, I turn the podcast on when I get into bed. I used to listen to BBC radio as I was falling asleep; there's something very calming and soothing about the British accent and the hushed vocal tones that made it easy for me to pass right out (and coming from someone who has struggled with insomnia on and off her whole life, this is huge). But after the 2016 elections, the news just got so awful that I could no longer relax enough to fall asleep. I loved the idea of podcasts, but the podcast apps I tried would stop playing after one podcast, and so I just gave up, until I discovered Podbean. Podbean plays the podcasts from newer to older or older to newer, without stopping, which was just what I was looking for.

What Should I Read Next has revamped my reading life entirely. Reading is such a solitary activity that it sometimes feels we're the only ones doing it. But Anne Bogel's podcast has helped me to feel not so alone in my constant reading. Other people are just as obsessed with turning pages and cramming the world into their head via the latest bestseller as I am, and that alone has sparked some serious joy for me. If you've never listened to this podcast, I can't recommend it enough. I often fall asleep long before the end, but I do go back and listen to what I've missed!

So I've had a great reading month. I've spent the last two years trying to read down my skyscraper-high Want To Read list on Goodreads, which has meant that I've plowed through a metric book-ton of nonfiction (I started at 332 books; with a crapload of reading under my belt, cleaning up the list to remove a few things that no longer interested me, and putting a few other items not available to me via the library into my Bookmarks for later, it's down to 97 books!). I'm now totally jazzed about reading more fiction and even trying some books in new-to-me genres. This is going to be a great year for reading!

Here's a list of all the things I read this past month.

1. Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity- Emily Matchar

2. The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom- Helen Thorpe

3. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea- Barbara Demick

4. This Dark World: A Memoir of Salvation Found and Lost- Carolyn S. Briggs

5. The Cult Files: True Stories from the Extreme Edges of Religious Belief- Chris Mikul

6. The Magdalen Girls- V.S. Alexander

7. Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper- Hilary Liftin

8. Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids- Kim John Payne with Lisa M. Ross

9. Switch and Bait- Ricki Schultz

10. A Crazy Kind of Love- Mary Ann Marlowe

11. The Adventures of a South Pole Pig: A Novel of Snow and Courage- Chris Kurtz

12. How Does It Feel to Be Unwanted?: Stories of Resistance and Resilience from Mexicans Living in the United States- Eileen Truax

13. I'll Be There For You: The One about Friends- Kelsey Miller


So how did I do for the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2019 Reading Challenge this month?

A book I've been meaning to read: The Cult Files came from my Goodreads list, so I can cross that one off!

I'm always fascinated by why people leave religious groups, so Carolyn S. Briggs's This Dark World fits that category.

Mary Ann Marlowe was a new-to-me author; I'm glad I stumbled upon her at the library.

And you know, I've put some thought into it, and I'm going to count The Adventures of a South Pole Pig for the genre outside my comfort zone. I still really don't care much for animal stories, but this really was adorable and I'm glad I took the chance. I'm still planning on challenging myself in other genres this year. Probably no more animal stories, though. ;)

Four categories crossed off in a month isn't half bad. We'll see how long it takes me to get to the rest!

I don't think I could even pick a favorite out of these if I tried. Reading was such a joy for me this month, both thanks to Anne Bogel's podcast and the authors who wrote these amazing books. I can only hope the rest of the year goes as swimmingly (begone with you, evil lurking reading slumps!).

How did your reading month go? Do you find January to be a great month of reading, or do you get hit with a nasty case of the winter blahs? What have you read and loved this month?

A reading challenge for 2019

In the past, I haven't been much for reading challenges. I've always been more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, what's-new-at-the-library-this-week kind of reader, and over the past two years, I've been more of a why-is-my-Goodreads-want-to-read-list-THAT-long-let's-read-it-down kind of reader. But after feeling a bit bloated on nonfiction from that, I've decided to jump right in with a 2019 challenge that will hopefully shake up my reading life a little.

Enter the 2019 Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge. This seems doable, doesn't it? Even for the most challenge-resistant, like me. ;)

I already have some books from the library on a topic that fascinates me, and I guess another one of those books in my stack (which came from my Goodreads Want to Read list) count as a book I've been meaning to read, so I'm already off to a good start, I think!

Are you planning on any challenges this year?