December Wrap-Up

December Snapshots

Not my dogs.

Christmas night.

Attempting the #Bookstagram thing. Am I one of the cool kids now?

1. Christmas trash guilt. The garbage men got me a Christmas card, and then I felt bad because I only got them garbage, and I give them that every week, so it wasn’t very special. Next year, I will be prepared.

2. I thought you were my friends! I think I mentioned before how much I love my space heater? Well, my beloved space heater tried to murder me in December. First, the heater started making weird crackling sounds. Then it was suddenly on fire. While I was trying to deal with the space heater fire, my dog climbed on the table and ate my Christmas cookies. It was like the dog and the heater conspired against me. Basically, it wasn’t one of my more-successful days. 

3. Things that happened on Twitter. So, I’m really bad at commenting back on blogs, even though I try. I’ve also noticed that some bloggers never comment back. Like, I’ve left a hundred comments on their blogs over the years, but they’ve never commented on mine. I wondered how the blogosphere felt about this, so I turned to that rubbish heap of human opinions, Twitter. Here are the results:

4. Google translating my bed. My parents got me a new phone and a new blanket for Christmas. The blanket has French words on it, so I used the phone to Google translate the blanket. Then I used the phone to take a bunch of photos of stuff on the blanket. I think I’ve used the phone for everything except making phone calls. It’s brilliant.

Stuff on blanket.

Also, the phone needs a name. Anyone have suggestions for good phone names?

5. Shameless plug. Since I have a phone now, I can use Instagram! Follow my account for high-quality content, such as:

• Photos of random dogs I petted.
• Some nature.
• Some nature with books.
• Anthropomorphic Christmas decorations with unfortunate backstories.

Wayward Googlers

Cait @ Paper Fury does this thing where she posts the amusing Google searches that led people to her blog. The searches that bring people here aren’t nearly as hilarious as the ones that bring people to Paper Fury, but I have gotten some strange searches recently. Here are a few people who probably didn’t find what they were Googling for.

“Is my asexual friend in love with me?” Maybe you should ask your friend? It would be really creepy if my blog knew that information. 

“Do I have to read diversely?” You don’t have to do anything, but I recommend giving it a shot. It (probably) won’t kill you. You might even learn something. 

“One must educate oneself.” YES! Exactly! Please tell that to the Googler upstairs.

Books I read

I read 7 books in December. Not my best reading month, but I was busy putting out (literal and metaphorical) fires. Also, I was distracted by holiday food, so . . .

The Penelopiad – Margaret Atwood

The Psychopath Test: A Journey through The Madness Industry – Jon Ronson

Agents of Dreamland – Caitlín R. Kiernan

A Darker Shade of Magic – V.E. Schwab (reread)

A Gathering of Shadows – V.E. Schwab (reread)

A Conjuring of Light – V.E. Schwab

The Wolf Road – Beth Lewis

Best Books of December

Basically, this whole series:

A Darker Shade of Magic – V.E. Schwab (reread)

A Gathering of Shadows – V.E. Schwab (reread)

A Conjuring of Light – V.E. Schwab

Most-Viewed December Reviews

1. Escape from Eden – Elisa Nader

2. The Girl Who Drank the Moon – Kelly Barnhill

3. A Parcel of Patterns – Jill Paton Walsh

Most-Viewed December Non-Reviews

1. Top Ten Tuesday: Places That Should Be Book Settings

2. Discussion: How A Book Gets A DNF From Me

3. Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books of 2017

All The Things!

All The Things! (AKA number of books on my TBR shelf) = 63 books.

I’m currently reading Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey, and The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night by Jen Campbell.

What did you do in December?

November Wrap-Up

November Snapshots

1. Adulting level: maximum. November started with a letter from my health insurance company. They informed me that they are raising the price of my insurance to $417 a month next year. Um . . . What?! No! Not going to happen. That’s hundreds of dollars more than I’m paying now. Do insurance companies realize how many books I could buy with $417 a month? So, I spent most of November in the mystifying world of insurance. It all worked out in the end, but this is the third time I’ve had to buy entirely new insurance since I got kicked off my parents’ plan. Is this what adulthood is? Just constantly buying insurance? I can’t handle it, guys. It’s too boring. Kill me now.

2. I ran out of stuff to read, but it’s okay, I fixed it. You know that goal everybody has of getting their TBR pile down to 0? I actually accomplished that in November. The day after I accomplished it, I acquired 59 books. That’s not an exaggeration. It was a perfect storm of Black Friday sales and a year spent hoarding used bookstore credits. My TBR went from 0 to 59 in one day. I planned on being reasonable about my TBR, but nope. I basically walked into a store and started flinging credits everywhere. “Noble book merchant, I will take all your finest used books.”

My new TBR pile.

3. Tweet more. I read some articles about how to increase your blog traffic, and they said Tweet more! Share your unique thoughts! I tried to Tweet more, but I came to the conclusion that my thoughts are better off staying inside my head. Most of them are . . . profoundly dumb. I apologize to all of humanity.

4. Aversions and the 21^st century. If you’re a hardcore stalker of this blog, you may have noticed some intriguing new buttons over in the sidebar <--. One of them is for Instagram. I finally entered the 21^st century and got myself an Instagram account! Unfortunately, I don’t think I can post anything on it because I don’t own a phone or any mobile devices. I guess I haven’t gone very far into the 21^st century. I am able to look at other people’s accounts, so leave your info in the comments if you want me to follow you.

<-- The other new button is a tip jar (or money mug? It’s supposed to be a coffee cup, but I’m not allowed to drink coffee because it makes me squirrelly, so we’re calling it a tip jar.) You can put money in the mug if you like my blog. I honestly feel awful about asking the Internet for donations, but there are two reasons I got the jar:

Reason 1: I want to do more giveaways on the blog. The tips will be used to fund giveaways.  

Reason 2: I work volunteer and low-pay jobs. My dad says I’ll be broke forever unless I get over my aversion to being paid for my work. If I get tips, I can point to them and say, “See, Dad? I don’t have an aversion! I’m a perfectly functional human person!” Silly dad. He thinks people are supposed to get paid for work.

Books I Read

Health insurance websites don’t count as books, so I didn’t get much reading done in November. I only read 6 books. A few of them were massive, though.

Perfect Little World – Kevin Wilson

The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan

Marrow Island – Alexis M. Smith

The Odyssey – Homer (reread)

The Secret History – Donna Tartt

A Game of Thrones – George R.R. Martin

I also made progress on my reading challenges. Click here to see how I've done.

Best Books of November

1. The Secret History – Donna Tartt

2. A Game of Thrones – George R.R. Martin

3. The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan

Most-Viewed November Reviews

1. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage – Alfred Lansing

2. The Stranger beside Me: Ted Bundy the Shocking Inside Story – Ann Rule

3. Touching the Void: The Harrowing First-Person Account of One Man’s Miraculous Survival – Joe Simpson

Most-Viewed November Non-Reviews

1. Top Ten Tuesday: Harry Potter Presidents

2. Discussion: How a Book Gets Five Stars from Me

3. Top Ten Tuesday: Picture Books I’ll Force upon My Future Children

All The Things!

All The Things! (AKA number of unread books on my TBR shelf) = 58 books.

I'm currently rereading A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab.

What did you do in November?

October Wrap-Up

October Snapshots

Homemade Halloween cookies! Derpily delicious.

1. An irrefutably logical and highly scientific explanation for why my mom is always lost. October started with a snowstorm. The next morning, my mom opened her blinds and saw this oily body print on the window glass.

She insists that it was left by her Spirit Guide, which makes complete sense. My mom gets lost every time she leaves the house. No one else’s “Guide” would full-on splatter into a window.

Also, there were no dead Spirit Guides in the backyard, so whatever made this mark survived! Hallelujah!

2. I’m spreading like the plague. My own blog can no longer contain me. *Insert maniacal laughter here.* Two brave bloggers allowed me to guest post on their blogs in October. I had a discussion about the novel Dreamland Burning with Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction. And Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight kindly let me talk about my . . . um . . . unfortunate . . . mental health misdiagnosis on her blog.

3. Stuff happened on the Internet. In October, my blog reached 500 Bloglovin’ followers (thank you!), and my mom helped me set realistic goals for my future:

4. Happy 11^th birthday to the monster under my desk! On Halloween, the little monster who lives under my computer desk turned 11. I can’t believe it’s been 11 years since I used a computer with my feet on the floor. She hogs all the foot space.

Books I Read

In October, I read 13 books. Don’t be too proud of me. Most of them were short books that I read during Dewey’s and Autumn Readathon. (Random tangent: Why do nonfiction books have such long subtitles? How am I supposed to remember these things? I can barely remember what day it is.)

The Stranger beside Me: Ted Bundy the Shocking Inside Story – Ann Rule

State of Wonder – Ann Patchett

Touching the Void: The Harrowing First-Person Account of One Man’s Miraculous Survival – Joe Simpson

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit – Michael Finkel

Dreamland Burning – Jennifer Latham

The Edible Woman – Margaret Atwood

Turtles All the Way Down – John Green

Escape from Eden – Elisa Nader

The Girl Who Drank the Moon – Kelly Barnhill

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town – Kimberly Willis Holt (reread)

The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson

Fatty Legs: A True Story – Christy Jordan-Fenton, et al.

All the Birds, Singing – Evie Wyld

My 2017 reading challenges have been updated, and I’ve conquered Goodreads!

Best Books Of October

1. When Zachary Beaver Came to Town – Kimberly Willis Holt (reread)

2. Dreamland Burning – Jennifer Latham

3. Fatty Legs: A True Story – Christy Jordan-Fenton, et al.

Most-Viewed October Reviews

1. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry – Fredrik Backman

2. Dreamland Burning – Jennifer Latham

3. Fantastic Mr. Fox – Roald Dahl

Most-Viewed October Non-Reviews

1. Rant: Can We Please Not Make Assumptions?

2. Top Ten Tuesday: Foods I’d Eat If I Was Fictional

3. Top Ten Tuesday: Book Titles That Made Me Cringe

All The Things!

All The Things! (AKA number of unread books on my TBR shelf) = 6 books.

I’m currently reading Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson.

What did you do in October?