One of my major goals for 2023 was to get my physical TBR down to 10 books. This includes anything I pick up during the year from book shopping or preorders that come in. I read four books from this shelf this past month, but then today I literally went out and bought three. Whoops.
January 2023--15 books.
February 2023--14 books.
Net: -1 book.
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I am not unfamiliar with the Westmorelands. Anyone who knows anything about category romance is at least aware of the existence of the Westmoreland series. But at some point I lost track of how far theyād spread, and how extensive the series had gotten. Brenda Jackson has been writing this series for half my life, and I have never picked one up. How had that happened?
So when I read a description of His Secret Son, I made a decision.
I was going to go back to the beginning, read Delaneyās Desert Sheikh, and make it to what would probably be number 35 by the time I made it back to the current day.
The end of March update to the TBR Shelf. One of my major goals for 2023 is to reduce my physical TBR to 10 or fewer books. This is obviously not a huge task if weāre only looking at whatās currently on the shelf. But I bring in new books every single month thanks to purchases and preorders. So, itās always a balancing act here. I did purchase books in the month of March, but almost all of them I actually read in March which works for this project... Just not a great choice all the time.
February 2023--14 books.
March 2023--11 books.
Net: -3 books.
I havenāt even finished my 40 Books Before 40 TBR and Iām already writing out a 50 before 50. Ugh. This is why we can't have nice things.
I really want my 50 before 50 TBR to be full of chunky, long tomes and series that are SFF and dense AF. I put so many quick and easy reads on my 40 before 40 TBR and I enjoyed most of them, but since Iāll have around 15 years between completing my 40 before 40 and needing to complete my 50 before 50 I really want to tackle some big books.
Yet another book crossed off of my 40 Books to Read Before 40 TBR. I had heard so many great things about Matt Haig and about The Humans in particular. There was no choice but to put that one on the list. But I have to say that this story fell kind of flat for me. For those who donāt know, The Humans is a story about an alien sent to Earth in order to kill a mathematics professor who solved one of the most important equations of all time. As well, the alien transforms into the professor in order to find out who else knows this information and to get rid of them. Iāve heard it explained as a look at humanity from an outsiderās perspective. Iāve heard people say this one is funny. Overall, I thought it was unimaginative.
For me, a lot of the things the alien sees as deeply human are things that humanity already knows about itself. The things the alien over explains in the narrative include poetry, art, kindness, knowledge, simplicity, nature. It feels like it should be deeply moving and it wasnāt. It was also never funny for me personally. As I was reading, I could see the parts of the story that were supposed to be funny. But they werenāt. There was also inconsistencies as far as the alienās knowledge of Earth and the different aspects of Earth culture. At first the alien doesnāt understand clothes or greetings, but a few pages later understands cops and cooperating with them and hospitals for mental patients. It was weird.
The best moments in the book were the dog (obviously) and the moments when the alien connected with the kid. Not as the kidās father who died, but as an alien and a human that the alien has come to care about. I think the honesty about how different they are but how their feelings about each other still connected them was beautiful. I saw what the book was trying to do and at moments it really accomplished it. I just donāt think they were the moments the author intended. Will I read Matt Haig again? Maybe. I think the book was easy enough to get through, but the emotional impact wasnāt there.
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Itās the middle of the year and I thought Iād check in on one of my reading goals for 2021. I made a list of books I wanted to either read this year or decide they weren't for me and get them off of my TBR Shelf. Out of the eight books on the list, Iāve read 6 so far. Which puts me ahead of schedule for the year. Iām glad Iām finally reading some of my TBR Vets, but I wish I was enjoying this project more.
1. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemiā Legacy of Orisha #1. 3 Stars.
2. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carsonā Fire and Thorns #1. 3.25 Stars.
3. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. DNF.
4. Red Sister by Mark Lawrenceā Book of the Ancestor #1. 3 Stars.
5. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Nganā Girls of Paper and Fire #1. 2.5 Stars.
6. Strange Fire by Tommy Wallachā Anchor & Sophia #1. 2.25 Stars.
7. The Young World by Chris Weitzā The Young World #1.
8. Blood Red Road by Moira Youngā Dust Lands #1.
Itās time for the final update for the 40 Books Before 40 Project! I 100% cannot believe that this project is over. And so soon. Thatās what happens when you hyper fixate and then get burnt out and can do nothing but read for 6 months. I will have the full list with the ratings down below as well as the overall average rating for the project.
36. Terrier by Tamora Pierce, Beka Cooper #1. Rating: 3 stars.
37. Across the Universe by Beth Revis, Across the Universe #1.Rating: 2.5 stars.
38. If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio. Rating: 4 stars.
39. Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson, Lumberjanes #1. Rating: 4 stars.
40. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Rating: 1 stars.
Overall, the project got 3.10 stars. Which isnāt bad considering I was trying to flesh out my project with things the book world seems to agree should be read. For the books I specifically chose for myself and myself alone, my rating is more along the lines of 3.66 stars. IĀ donāt plan on doing another big project like this any time soon, but Iām proud of myself for doing this and managing to see it through.
Iāve made some serious progress on this project this year. I only have 4 books left after DNFāing The House on Infinity Loop. Under the cut will be the full list as well as the rating Iāve given for the ones Iāve read so far.
37. Across the Universe by Beth Revis, Across the Universe #1. Rating: 2.5 stars.
38. If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio. Rating: 4 stars.
39. Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson, Lumberjanes #1. Rating: 4 stars.
40. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Rating: 1 stars.
The average rating for this project so far: 3.14 stars. Which isnāt actually that bad now that I think about it. I made the list from books I had my eye on and all of those book lists aboutĀ ā100 books to read before you dieā or whatever.