December Snapshots
1. Insta-nope.
December started with a series of vaguely sexual messages from random dudes on
Instagram. Does anyone else get these? The messages say things like, “Hey
babe,” or “You’re hot,” or just heart-eyes and kisses emojis. I only have one
photo of myself on Instagram, and it’s not even sexy! Do dudes just message
every woman-shaped-object on the internet and hope that the odds are in their
favor? Why is this happening to me? Are dudes lonelier in December or something?
2. The lump of Trump in my Christmas stocking.
Speaking
of “Why is this happening to me,” my parents know how much I dislike Donald
Trump. That’s why they get me Trump-themed gifts every Christmas. They like to
torture me. This year, they got me a Trump calendar. It’s not a puny monthly
calendar. It’s a daily calendar. I
now own 365 photos of Donald Trump. One for every day of 2019. *Sigh.* Does
anyone want some Trump? I have enough of him to share.
Despite the 365 Trumps, I had a fun Christmas with my mom and sister and dog (and food).
3. It’s done! It
took several late nights, but I did it! I hit my reading goal for 2018!
Wayward Googlers
Here
are a few amusing Google searches that led people to Read All The Things! last
month. I’m sorry to the unfortunate souls who ended up here instead of finding
what they were Googling for.
In
December, the Googlers watched Bird Box
and promptly got confused by it. I’ve only read the book, but let’s see if I
can help them out:
“What do.they see in bird box.” I don’t.know! This is one of the many reasons why I disliked Bird Box. I’m not afraid of something that I know nothing about.
“Why could someone not wear blind folds in bord box.” Bord box? That pretty much sums up my feelings about the book.
“Why can’t they takeoff their blindfolds?” Because they’ll become homicidal or suicidal. I don’t know why. Maybe because horror stories that make sense are overrated? It’s scarier to stumble around in the woods blindfolded for mysterious reasons.
Books I Read
In
December, I read 11 books.
The Last Time We Say Goodbye by
Cynthia Hand
The Mothers by
Britt Bennett
How It Went Down by
Kekla Magoon
Far From the Tree by
Robin Benway
City of Ghosts by
Victoria Schwab
Let It Snow by
Maureen Johnson, John Green, Lauren Myracle
If I Was Your Girl by
Meredith Russo
The Blue Girl by
Laurie Foos
Best Books Of December
1.
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
3.
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
Most-Viewed December Reviews
Most-Viewed December Non-Reviews
All The Things!
Number
of unread books on my TBR shelf = 43 books.
I’m
currently reading = The Power by Naomi Alderman.
What did you do in December?
I frequently get emails from African women offering themselves to me, thinking I'm a rich western man. Yeah right! Not male and no money! Congratulations on your Goodreads goal! I know you had to work hard for it so I'm glad you got it done!
ReplyDeleteHaha, that’s hilarious. I’ve gotten a few of those as comments on my blog, but I’ve never had them email me.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
CONGRATS ON COMPLETING YOUR GOODREADS GOAL!! I too pulled some late nighters! XD So tired...
ReplyDeleteCity of Ghosts sounds like such a good read! I haven't read any of Victoria Schwabs books before (though I've been meaning too !!!!) and they all sound so friggin' good!
Happy New Year!!
Happy Reading!! <3
Thanks! I hope you hit your goal. I stayed awake until 1 in the morning on Christmas Eve because I wanted to catch up on my reading.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I'm glad you had a good Christmas despite the Trump calendar (which I hope you burn!). Congrats on getting to the Goodreads goal!
ReplyDeleteSo I keep my Instagram private - it doesn't help me grow very quickly or gain followers easily, but at least I can control who contacts me!
Keeping Instagram private is probably a good idea. I mostly post photos of books, so I didn’t think I’d get so many creepy dudes.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
A Trump calender? Oh, the horror! I wouldn't like that either!
ReplyDeleteI don't have that problem on Instagram but somehow people do find my blog through let's say sexy websites, no idea how or why or how to change this. Also some accounts that follow me on Bloglovin are similar and I don't know how to remove those. It's a little disturbing, actually.
I'm glad you liked City of Ghosts, it's on my TBR! So far, I've liked everything written by Victoria Schwab!
That’s referral spam. My blog gets that, too. People aren’t actually finding book blogs through porn sites. Robots are just trying to get bloggers to click on the porn links in their stats. I have the same issue with Bloglovin'. I don't know how to make the sexy bots stop following me!
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Glad I'm not the only one! Wish I could delete those profiles though, but I guess I'll survive :)
DeleteUgh, those Instagram messages would get really annoying really fast. -_- Beautiful photos though! I love that you share the Google searches! Bord Box! XD I keep forgetting to check mine. City of Ghosts sounds so good! I really need to get my hands on a copy of that! I hope your January is fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThe Wayward Googlers are my favorite. People search for some really weird stuff.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
hahaha no I don't get these messaged on IG but my pic is not a selfie so maybe there is that! Now your parents are plain evil AJ LOL
ReplyDeleteMy parents are evil! Changing my profile pic might stop the creepy dudes. Then they won’t know what I am.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I keep thinking that I am missing something by not being on Instagram but maybe I want to miss certain things. You had a good reading month. I was not impressed by The Bird Box when I read it but watched the movie anyway. I thought the movie was okay and better than the book. I hope you have a great January!
ReplyDeleteI was not impressed by Bird Box, either. I don’t have Netflix, so I can’t watch the movie. I probably would. It might be fun.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure (ahem) of the insta-dudes. I’ll consider myself lucky.
ReplyDeleteThe Trump gifts make me feel mildly nauseated.
Kudos on making your GoodRedas goal. You deserve a cookie or seven.
Thanks! I was a little nauseated when I realized that I was holding a box of 365 Trumps.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Be sure to thank your parents for giving you the gift that will allow you to wad up a photo of Trump and toss it in the trash can daily! Happy New Year and congratulations on finishing your reading challenge.
ReplyDeletewww.thepulpitandthepen.com
Haha, they’ll be going in the recycle bin for sure. I might save a few for campfires this summer . . . .
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
How soft is the calendar? Could it be used for toilet paper? ;) Just shaking my head here and glad she sends me a check. She got me an SSD this year. I'm sure she doesn't know what that is but it's much better than a Trump calendar. LOL! Congrats on reading all the things. :)
ReplyDeleteHaha, I don’t want him anywhere near my body! He would be good for starting campfires, though.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
There's a good idea! LOL! I'm still shaking my head over them giving you Trump gifts.
DeleteI don't get sexy IG comments, but I get some new followers that when I go to their profile to follow back the photos are all "sexy" selfies. 😂 I have even gotten some from girls who like to take selfies of their butts. 😆
ReplyDeleteYou could do a burn a tRump a day morning voodoo ritual with your calendar. 🔥🍊🔥 My friend bought a tRump gift for her son, but it was toilet paper with his face on it. Much more appropriate! 😁
Congratulations on hitting your Goodreads goal! 🎊🎊🎊🎊 I did the late night thing getting my Better World Books challenge finished. 👍✨
Happy New Year! 🎉
I saw that toilet paper on Facebook! I get followed by “models” on Instagram, too. I prefer following people who wear clothes in their photos!
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
"woman-shaped object" lol. Yeah I don't know what it is with guys sometimes. And wow- all the Trump love from the parents. I have a little of tht in my family too. I don't get people.
ReplyDelete"bord box" :):)
I was.thinking about- what if I didn't have my contacts in and I "saw" whatever the evil things are- they'd just be blurry? Would I still go nuts? I mean, do you have to "see" see them, I wonder? Questions, questions. And I thought it was hilarious when they tried to drive blindfolded. Seriously???
OMG, I wondered the same thing! My eyesight is so bad that glasses can’t even fix it. Do I still have to wear a blindfold?
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Those vague insta comments are soo uncomfortable. I wish there was a way to adjust your settings so only people you know can leave messages.
ReplyDeleteI looovee your insta posts though.
(Boo trump gifts)
That would be a good idea. It would be nice if only mutuals could send messages.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Congrats on hitting your goal! The daily calendar is hilarious. I'm so sorry you have that now. Also, I feel you on the Instagram thing. Even my mom regularly tells me about the weird things she gets--she finds it hilarious. Glad you liked City of Ghosts! I've been seeing a lot of mixed reviews on it, though I haven't read it myself. Hope you're enjoying The Power and glad you had a good Decemeber!
ReplyDeleteI can see why City of Ghosts gets mixed reviews. It’s a fun book, but it does have issues. It’s good to know that I’m not alone with the creepy Insta-dudes.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I get a lot of p0rn messages ont ehre wanting me to click on their links. I post almost exclusively books and my dog/cat so I'm not sure why they think I'm a good target lol
ReplyDeleteI only read 2 books in December :-( (but 157 for the year!)
Karen @ For What It's Worth
Same! All of my social media is about books. Why do people think I’m interested in porn?
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Omg I lol'd at number one, two, and the bord box question. Too freaking funny (though number one isn't actually funny, just really annoying actually). Great job hitting your reading goal to finish the year off, too!!
ReplyDeleteOh! The Power is on my list, can't wait to see what you think! I stayed up until god knows when for the last few days of December to reach my goal!
ReplyDeleteThe Power was okay. It starts off strong, but then really drags at the end. I hope you reached your goal!
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Congratulations on completing your reading challenge, and nope, never got any sexy messages, though, I have gotten spam on my blog for some x-rated type stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks! My blog has gotten some X-rated spam, too. Ironically, one of the sexy comments was on this post.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Your Instagram pics are always so pretty! Yay for completing your Goodreads Challenge! And I'm with Angela. I'd happily burn the Trump calendar, lol.
ReplyDeleteHaha, the burning will probably happen this summer. I always need paper to start campfires.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Congrats on your reading goal!! Don't you love it when your christmas gift is a prank? My dad put some money in water, froze it and gave it to my mom.
ReplyDeleteHaha, hopefully the money won’t be soaked when it thaws!
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Never had that problem on Instagram. Sorry that you did though.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on reaching your GR goal. Good luck with this years'.
Ugh I'm sorry you had some issues on instagram, that's so annoying :/ I hope this won't happen again!
ReplyDeleteI love your pictures so much, so Christmassy and perfect for that time of the year, too :)
Congratulations on reaching your goodreads goal and it seems like you had a good reading month! I loved Far From The Tree so much :)
Have a fantastic January! x
What is with internet men?! Who falls for those messages? :/ I'm sorry you had to deal with that.
ReplyDeleteYay for reaching your reading goal!
ReplyDeleteAnd those Instagram messages sound annoying! You wonder what these men expect is going to happen when they send those messages. No one finds Instagram creeps attractive! Surely no one ever replies to them!
Have a great January! :)
So glad I haven't gotten any IG messages like that but hopefully I'm not jinxing myself by saying that! Congrats on reaching your reading goal for the year!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on meeting your Goodreads goal. I also read City of Ghosts this year and loved it (first novel by this author). December favorite read for me was The Disasters. My last read of the year was Hidden Pieces. I think if you have a friend who has a rodent or bird, you could give your Trump calendar to them to line for feces collection. Suitable for Trump, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteThe search questions for my blog are never very interesting. I haven't seen oe read Birdbox, but it seems to be very popular--at least for discussion purposes.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a good December! Congratulations on meeting your Goodreads goal. :-)
Ugh. Trump gifts. I won't even buy them for my in-laws who are die-hard supporters of his.
I hope you have a great January in books!
LOVE your book photos!!
ReplyDeleteI've gotten some weird message because guys were mad that I play xbox and not playstation. It was very weird! So I don't think it's just you.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh we haven't gotten those types of messages on instagram. EEKS! But I have gotten some similar to that on Goodreads. They always make me shudder and I just delete them as fast as possible. *hugs* And I still need to read a Victoria Schwab book, hopefully this will be the year! :)
ReplyDeleteJen @ Star-Crossed Book Blog
Ughh I hate when that happens on Instagram. And it's like it all happens at once, as if they are all finding you in the same way for some reason. Block them and report them!!
ReplyDeleteYou have beautiful book photos. Congrats on meeting your reading goal. See what I read in December at Girl Who Reads
ReplyDelete