NorfolkBookworm

It’s already February! Time feels like it’s flying and moving incredibly slow at the same time. 📖 My TBR for this month: Everless by Sara Holland Reread Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones Reread Scythe by Neal Schusterman Thunderhead by Neal Schusterman A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge 📖📖 What’s on your “to-be-read” list for this month? 📖📖📖 #allthebooksfeb #tbr #bookstagram #epicreads #goodreads #bookphoto #bookphotochallenge #everless #scythe #thunderhead #wintersong #shadowsong #askinfulofshadows

January wrap up: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern The Archived by Victoria Schwab The Unbound by Victoria Schwab Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao 5/65 📖 1814 pages average 58 pages a day 📖📖 26 book photos 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #bookstagram #epicreads #goodreads #bookphotochallenge #bestnine

My book haul for January! 📖 I found a copy of Ruin and Rising at a used bookstore and it’s one of the series’ I plan on adding to my collection this year. Now I have to hunt down the first and second books. 📖📖 I just started Everless yesterday, so no thoughts about it yet. I read Forest of a Thousand Lanterns over the weekend and it’s an interesting twist on the origins of Snow White’s Evil Queen. Set in an Imperial China inspired world, Xifeng is destined for greatness, but battles an inner conflict over what kind of greatness it will be and how she will achieve it. It’s Game of Thrones meets The Forbidden City. 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #bookstagram #epicreads #goodreads #ruinandrising #forestofathousandlanterns #everless #bookhaul #winterreads #bookphotography #bookphotochallenge #retelling #snowwhiteretelling #evilqueen #grisha #grishaverse

My first little keychain funko would, of course, be Harry Potter. He’s adorable. 📖 #allthebooksjan #funko #harrypotter #bookstagram #epicreads #goodreads #timeturner #sorcererstone #harrypotterandthesorcerersstone #funkopop #keychain #bookish

As much as I love fantasy books, I do enjoy a good action/adventure set in the real world once in a while. James Rollins’ Sigma series is the longest series I’ve kept up with. 📖 At around 14 novels, Rollins’ Sigma series follows the adventures of a covert arm of DARPA. Operatives of SIGMA specialize in investigating strange events around the world in case the event could be a threat to the U.S. The books follow the team on country-hopping excursions, using advanced technology to uncover ancient threats resurfacing. They battle against various secret societies, spies, assassins, and traitors. The team is always split into different groups around the world investigating various leads. 📖📖 The stories are fun, fast, and informative about ancient artifacts and events, scientific oddities, and the effects of the advancement of technology. If you want to start the series, they are meant to be read in chronological order, so start with Sandstorm. The most recent is Seventh Plague. 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #longestseries #bookstagram #epicreads #goodreads #jamesrollins #sandstorm #seventhplague #sigma #sigmaseries #actionadventure #thriller

I am typically not a fan of stand alone books. I get far too invested in characters and worlds and one adventure just isn’t enough. The Night Circus, though, was just perfect. 📖 The Night Circus enthralled me from the beginning and thankfully I had a snow day to read it because I could not put it down. It’s visual descriptions, country-hopping plot, nonlinear storytelling, fantastical use of magic, and the wondrous setting of the mysterious Night Circus worked so well to tell an enchanting tale of dueling magicians hidden among illusionists and acrobats. 📖📖 I am definitely adding this to my personal library soon. 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #newbook #thenightcircus #nightcircus #bookstagram #epicreads #goodreads #erinmorgenstern #bookphotochallenge

I LIKE BIG BOOKS AND I CANNOT LIE You other readers can't deny When a good book walks in with A good plot base And a big spine in your face You get sprung! Wanna get out your notepads 'Cause you noticed that book Was dense. Deep in the book I'm reading, I'm hooked and I can't stop Speeding, through Baby I wanna get that literature, And Instagram that picture, My teachers try to train me But that book you've got Makes me so brainy! (Baby got books!) -Ihazahapee 📖 No for real though, this spinoff series by @cassieclare1 is literally massive with 700ish pages each. 📖📖 I couldn’t get into the original Mortal Instruments series, but look at these gorgeous covers! Sadly, i have to wait until December for the next installment, Queen of Air and Shadows 😩 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #spinoffseries #spinoff #bigbooks #cassandraclare #ladymidnight #lordofshadows #queenofairanddarkness #darkartifices #goodreads #epicreads

@veschwab is one of my new favorite authors. I started with her Monsters of Verity series in the fall and moved right into her Shades of Magic series soon after. Now, I’m halfway through her Archived series and it’s a huge bummer the final book won’t be published until 2020. 📖 When I think about the way I connect with authors, it’s a bit weird. I have trust issues with authors, I won’t just read anything. The books I choose, for me at least, I see it as entering into an agreement with the author where I am willingly entering a part of their imagination and they willingly enter into mine. An odd sort of intimacy. 📖📖 It’s an odd thing to think about really, how important imagination can be and who you trust to form these worlds that exist only in your head. 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #currentlyreading #victoriaschwab #veschwab #thearchived #theunbound #strangerthings #snowball1984 #epicreads #goodreads #hawkinsmiddleschool #bookstagram

I love a good bookmark. I cringe when I think about how many books I dog-eared in the past. 📖 I found this beauty a few years ago when I was volunteering at the Union Mission in Norfolk. We were organizing donated books that would go into their thrift store and I found it in a book of poems. Before finding it, bookmarks were just bits of cardstock to me. No big deal. 📖📖 Finding this beauty, I had to have it. I asked the volunteer coordinator how much it was and she gave it to me for free! Ever since then, I’ve been on the hunt look for unique bookmarks, paper or metal. 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #bookmark #kingscage #theunbound #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookmarks #bookphotochallenge #redqueen #antiquebookmark #antique #volunteer #thriftstorefinds

It’s #stacksaturday and here is my library haul for January. Libraries are wonderful places. I’ve heard them be called temples of knowledge, vaults of civilizations, homes of enlightenment. To me, they are the gateways to new worlds. I can’t enter a library without finding 2-3 new books to take home. 📖 I want to highlight Norfolk Public Libraries because they have given me so much. They were my summer haunts away from the heat. I would wander the stacks finding new things to learn about or new adventures to have. During college, they were my places of quiet solitude where I could work. Now, they are my respite from the ugliness of this world. 📖📖 Slover Library, Norfolk’s newest, is what modern libraries have come be. It is so much more than a place for books. They have equipment for photography and videography that can be used by members. They have gaming systems you can play with, DVDs to rent, and host free events for the community. They have beautiful art on display from local artists. And of course, stacks and stacks of beautiful books. 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #library #norfolk #norfolkpubliclibrary #sloverlibrary #libraryhaul #epicreads #goodreads #bookstagram #bookstagrammer (at Slover Library)

Gary Haugan has been on of the best speakers I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing and the founder of the International Justice Mission, an NGO that works with local law enforcement to fight against human trafficking, help prosecute human traffickers, and rehabilitate victims of human trafficking. As a Christian organization, one of their core commitments is Isaiah 1:17 “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” 📖 I rarely read nonfiction and this book has been sitting in my TBR pile for three years now, mainly because I’m afraid of it. I know this book is going to destroy me because it’s real. This is the real world and the effects of everyday violence on the poor is the biggest hurdle to cross in order to help lift people out of poverty. Nothing shields the world’s poor from violence and that is the problem. 📖📖 As one of my goals for this year, I will finally read this book and listen to the message God has for me. As much as I love living in my own head, there is a world out there hurting and my ultimate purpose is to be what God needs me to be in His mission to save the lost. I know I’m destined to do more than what I am doing now, so it’s time I embrace it. 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #normallywouldntread #thelocusteffect #locusteffect #garyhaugen #ijm #internationaljusticemission #humantrafficking #poverty #violence #justice #bookstagram #epicreads #goodreads #nonfiction #faithandworks #christianity #isaiah117

So no snow day for me, at least for today. My faculty meeting this afternoon was cancelled, which is always a win. 📖 Something I discovered last year was the wonderful world of book fandom merchandise. I always knew there was movie merch, but after discovering book subscription boxes and trying one out, this whole new world was opened to me. 📖📖 Candles are my thing now, so I’m hunting for a candle subscription box specifically for books that I read. What’s nice about these boxes is that they contain products from small businesses that are run by book fans. They understand the draw of other worlds and epic stories. The amount of detail from books that are brought to life through these products is, for readers like me, validating and opens up new ways to appreciate amazing storytelling. 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #bookandcandle #fandom #fandommerch #bookcandles #acomaf #rhysand #sarahjmaas #briarwick #bookbox #bookstagram #epicreads #goodreads #bookphotochallenge

Snow day! Well, I wish it was a snow day. This was from the beginning of January when we had a week off of snow. Kinda hoping for another one this week ❄️❄️❄️ 📖 @sjaejones was an author I discovered last year when tumbled down the rabbit hole into her tale of Leisl and the Goblin King. I love a good Northern European-inspired story set in the underground kingdom of a trickster god. 📖📖 It’s funny the things that first draws you to a book. For me, it’s usually the cover but this time, it was the featured poem excerpt: "We must not look at goblin men, We must not buy their fruits: Who knows upon what soil they fed Their hungry, thirsty roots?" It reminded me of one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes “Midnight” so I figure a book featuring this cool and kinda creepy poem has to be good. As usual, I was right and the sequel, Shadowsong, comes out next month! 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #wintersong #snowday #bookstagram #doctorwho #goblinmarket #midnight #goblinmen #goblinking #epicreads #shadowsong #instabook #fairytale #sjaejones #bookstagrammer #goodreads #bookphotography #bookphotochallenge

Achilles’ tendon update: After a day staying off of it, using cold compresses, soaking it, doing little stretches, and massaging it, the tendon is basically pain free! Im going to continue the same routine today just to give it more time to heal, but thank you to everyone for their advice! 📖 Ive got quite a few books from debut authors on my TBR, and @sarahollandwrites “Everless” is my first debut book for this year. I’ve been seeing Everless all over social media for the past month and the premise of time being used as currency intrigues me. It reminds me of that one Justin Timberlake movie I didn’t watch but thought was interesting. 📖📖 This is the second book I’ve bought this year from authors unknown to me but had lots of positive reviews and good word-of-mouth. I hope their work will live up to expectations! 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #debutauthor #everless #sarahholland #debutnovel #books #bookstagram #instareads #epicreads #goodreads

Walked a fairly easy hike yesterday, but irritated the Achilles’ tendon on my left leg that was originally bruised or something on the last hike of 2017. Staying off of it today and snuggling up with this book, and this cat, for today. Anybody know what to do for a sore Achilles’ tendon? 📖 #allthebooksjan #snuggleupwithabook #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #catstagram #catsofinstagram #sundayfunday #goodreads #thearchived #veschwab #victoriaschwab

Going back to work after three weeks off is a tough transition and greatly affected my reading schedule, but I’m back at it. 📖 The first time I saw the Maze Runner in a bookstore, I was not impressed. This was at the height of Hunger Games mania, so I wasn’t looking for another dystopian/competition/government overthrow kind of story. 📖📖 Now that the movie adaptations are coming to a close and I saw the final trailer, I’m going to give this series a shot. I’m always up for a male protagonist to shake it up once in a while. 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramfeature #bookphotography #bookphotochallenge #allthebooksjan #bookadaptation #haventreadthebook #themazerunner #thescorchtrials #thedeathcure #epicreads #dystopia #dystopian #instareads #igreads #goodreads

I had to pair a book I hated with something I love so here is The Lie Tree with my firstborn, Pixel. 📖 The Lie Tree was the only book I did not finish last year. It’s premise was so promising: A tree that feeds on lies and produces truth, an island of odd characters, and a Victorian setting for a murder mystery. 📖📖 It was BORING. I give every book 100 pages to hook me and I gave this one 150 pages. At 150 pages, I realized that I did not care for a single character and the plot was going nowhere. I’m fine with a meandering plot if the characters are interesting. NOTHING. 📖📖📖 #allthebooksjan #bookstagram #bookstagramfeature #bookstagrammer #hatedbuteveryoneloved #thelietree #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram