"Reads" Blog & Goodreads Update

Long time no chat! I know I had all these grandiose plans back in December and January. And I was on target in January, I truly was.

Reading Recaps

January 2021 Reading Recap

I completed my selection for The Uncorked Librarian 2021 January Challenge: Truth Bomb Nonfiction. That was You Can't Touch My Hair and Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson. While it was a struggle to get through and it really wasn't my cup of tea (mostly due to not connecting with her writing and comedy style). I listened to the audiobook from my library read by the author, and I also purchased the book from Amazon. Because I do not understand and cannot relate, I don't think I will be reading other books by Robinson. I still objectively rated it at 4 Stars, because it's good. I promise, it's good, just not enjoyable for me. 

I also finished Toni Morrison's Beloved for The Uncorked Librarian 2020 January Challenge: A Book That Changes Your Perspective. (I was trying to do the first year's and this second year's challenge at the same time. Didn't work out well.) The book was wonderful and it certainly enhanced my perspective on the topic. I listened to the author narrated audiobook, again from my library and it was the best choice ever. (Also purchased from Amazon.) Still gives me chills thinking about the girl Beloved. CAWPILE equaled out to a 4 Star rating.

But the big winner of my January was The Girl in Red by Christina Henry for the GirlXOXO Monthly Motif Challenge: Once Upon a Time. Again, I listened to the audiobook version from my local library, but also purchased the book on Amazon. I wrote a dedicated post for my main blog and then decided to build this one, so it has migrated over here, but I also wrote a review on Goodreads.

February 2021 Reading Recap

I just didn't. I purchased the books from Amazon, attempted to find time to sit and crack them open. I even tried the audiobook versions. I just had no gumption to read. All three of my chosen books are still on my TBR Current shelf, I am hanging on to the books, and I'm hoping to get back to them.

March 2021 Reading Recap

Again. I just didn't. I started reading The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais via the library's audiobook copy. I'm very happy I did not buy this book. I did not enjoy it at all. The premise is fine, and it was the Girl XOXO Monthly Motif Challenge: Countries & Cultures, but it just didn't work for me as a book. There were probably several factors that played into this. Too many cultural words and phrases that I had no frame of reference for, the descriptions just didn't help me visualize what was happening, and then there also was the narrator. DNF'd at 37%. I kept falling asleep if I stayed in one spot too long. Maybe it'd be a good cure for my insomnia? Nah. I'd rather not wake up cranky. The upside is that there was a movie adaptation that might suit me better so I can still enjoy the story.

For The Uncorked Librarian challenges, 2020 was a Mulan retelling and 2021 was Historical Fiction Novel Featuring Inspiring Women. Yay Women's History Month! I chose Warrior Maiden by Melanie Dickerson and Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly respectfully. I finally finished listening to the Mulan retelling today. I'm hanging my head in shame right now. Never got around to Lilac Girls. Still on my TBR though. I love World War I & II books about life for women. Especially the espionage stuff.

April 2021 Reading Recap

I made a little more progress in reading, but not as much as I'd have liked and not using my challenge choices. I got my hands on the ebook copy of Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas. Again. I've been borrowing it off and on since September. I don't do well with ebooks, as we have well established. I keep running out of time and having to wait my turn to borrow it again. Plugged away at Heir of Fire, Warrior Maiden, The Cat Who Saw Red, started Such a Fun Age (a February challenge book), and broke down, borrowing John Gwynne's Malice. Didn't finish a single one.

Goodreads & Book Tracking

So now that we are up to speed on my pathetic Quarter One reading habits and the first month of Quarter Two, let's move on to my Goodreads account. There's some good news there. See what I did there? Eh, eh?

It is a minefield of book selections! And there's still scraps of paper and pages in journals with lists that haven't been added yet! For years I saw books that looked interesting and added them to Want to Read. I added every book from every series I have read and enjoyed entries from. I added the rest of the authors' catalogs. I added books I was recommended to read by friends, The History Quill's Book Club, and BookTube. It was an unruly and carnivorous plant. Going to my Want To Read list when I was trying to decide what to read next was near impossible.

There are books in that list that were added in 2014 when I migrated from Amazon's Shelfari to Goodreads when they purchased the site. There's got to be at least 2-300 books from February 23, 2016 when I apparently went on an adding spree!

It was completely out of control! There had to be a way to trim the fat, sort logically, weed the garden. I've been working on formulating a plan for months. Today I listened to and finished Warrior Maiden (Goodreads review) while systematically cataloging every book into a spreadsheet, trimming off books in series I'm only giving 1 more chance (I'm looking at you Stephanie Plum! #5 better be good), adding newer published books in series I adore and WILL finish that weren't on the list the last time I went on an adding spree. 

I did that crazy ADHD Hyperfocus thing. I sorted by author surname. I started at A and just started H. I typed by hand, no copy pasting here, every single book title, author, and series with # if applicable. I bounced around a bit though when it came to series that are multi-author, especially like the Harpers series in the Forgotten Realms universe. I wanted the series to all be listed in order in my spreadsheet.

Thus far I've skipped Terry Brooks' entire Shannara universe. I'm not sure I'm going to continue it and I want to investigate if I shouldn't just delete them all. I liked the MTV show, but the first trilogy? Eh. Take it or leave it. In fact, give me a moment. I'm going to go delete them right now. I can live without reading them. 

Some time later...

Holy Moley! I'm under 1,000 books for the first time in years! I'm also therefore about halfway through transcribing the books over! 986 Want To Read books, with 454 already cataloged! Not bad for a day's work!

I also started work on "The Skulls", which meant a little bit of painting with acrylics, but that is a post for another day. It's an additional project that is designed to help me weed through the Want To Read books. Inspired by G's Cabbage Pot and Jade the Bedtime Bookworm's TBR Jar.

Last but not least, I spent quite a bit of time this morning making a TBR sorting ideas spread in my Archer & Olive Clever Fox Ideas BuJo. I've never really utilized the shelves to their full potential and after watching part one of Worldhoppers' TBR tag video the other day, I thought I'd give it a shot. But again, I have that ADHD problem where I will name a shelf or box or notebook with some clever title, and then forget what it means and what is supposed to go in it. Thus the TBR spread in the BuJo. Pictures will be forthcoming when I unveil The Skulls. I even decorated it to make it pretty. My journals and spreads have to be pretty or I'm not going to go back and look at them. It's just the way it is.

Until next time, Readers... 

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