1tanyaferrell
Hi all! I'm new to the group, a 35-year-old singleton who loves to read and write in the midwest. Even though I had a good reading year in 2022 according to my stats, it didn't feel like a good reading year, so I'm looking to change things up a bit. I'm not exactly sure what that'll look like for the rest of the year, but here's what I do know...
Goals:
- Read 120 books
- Have 40% of my books come from non-white authors
- DNF 40% or less of the books I pick up
- Maintain an average rating of 3.5 on the books I finish
I'm feeling pretty skeptical of the first two as my reading has slowed down a lot and I've been trying to hit goal number 2 for two years now, but we shall see how 2023 pans out!
Sub-goals / Tasks to Shape my TBR
- Read the 2022 Lambda Literary Award Winners
- Read 10 Book Riot My TBR recos
- Read 10 Just the Right Book recos
- Read 2 books in all ongoing series
- Read 1 book by all my favorite authors
- Clear my bookshelves of unread books
Some of these will take more than a year, that last one will probably take ten.
Goals:
- Read 120 books
- Have 40% of my books come from non-white authors
- DNF 40% or less of the books I pick up
- Maintain an average rating of 3.5 on the books I finish
I'm feeling pretty skeptical of the first two as my reading has slowed down a lot and I've been trying to hit goal number 2 for two years now, but we shall see how 2023 pans out!
Sub-goals / Tasks to Shape my TBR
- Read the 2022 Lambda Literary Award Winners
- Read 10 Book Riot My TBR recos
- Read 10 Just the Right Book recos
- Read 2 books in all ongoing series
- Read 1 book by all my favorite authors
- Clear my bookshelves of unread books
Some of these will take more than a year, that last one will probably take ten.
2tanyaferrell
This message has been deleted by its author.
3tanyaferrell
One thing I've decided to try this year is to tackle my reading five books at a time, choose five books within the same genre and focus on reading those over a couple of weeks, before choosing another genre based on my mood. I'm calling them sprints because I've worked in corporate america for too long.
The weather has had me feeling so lazy and hermit-like, which makes it feel like a good time to delve into some mindless romance, so here we go...
Sprint 1: Romance
Excellent Sons: A Love Story in Three Acts: This one I'm nervous about, it's a Lambda Award winner. This is my first time intentionally reading the entire list and it's getting me to pick up things I usually wouldn't which is cool, but I've also heard negative things about their romance picks.
Headmistress: Another Lambda pick I'm nervous about.
Only Enchanting: A series I'm enjoying but I'm not super excited about.
Shameless: Super excited about this one, I really loved the last book, though there have been some duds in the series.
A Turn of the Tide: This one I have low hopes for. I DNFed the last book in the series.
Last year, I DNFed about 65% of the romance books I picked up so I need backups!
Back-Up Picks
Jude's Law: Lori Foster was the first romance author I ever read and loved, I have a few of her books and am looking forward to seeing if I still enjoy her writing. The contemporary alpha hero isn't something I typically pick up nowadays.
A Family for the Holidays: This was one of the books in an impulsively purchased mystery bag of romance at my library bookstore. Really hoping for some cozy Christmas vibes.
Kiss Me, Katie: I bought this assuming it'd be a Taming of the Shrew retelling, not sure if it is, but I really like the concept of this one.
The weather has had me feeling so lazy and hermit-like, which makes it feel like a good time to delve into some mindless romance, so here we go...
Sprint 1: Romance
Excellent Sons: A Love Story in Three Acts: This one I'm nervous about, it's a Lambda Award winner. This is my first time intentionally reading the entire list and it's getting me to pick up things I usually wouldn't which is cool, but I've also heard negative things about their romance picks.
Headmistress: Another Lambda pick I'm nervous about.
Only Enchanting: A series I'm enjoying but I'm not super excited about.
Shameless: Super excited about this one, I really loved the last book, though there have been some duds in the series.
A Turn of the Tide: This one I have low hopes for. I DNFed the last book in the series.
Last year, I DNFed about 65% of the romance books I picked up so I need backups!
Back-Up Picks
Jude's Law: Lori Foster was the first romance author I ever read and loved, I have a few of her books and am looking forward to seeing if I still enjoy her writing. The contemporary alpha hero isn't something I typically pick up nowadays.
A Family for the Holidays: This was one of the books in an impulsively purchased mystery bag of romance at my library bookstore. Really hoping for some cozy Christmas vibes.
Kiss Me, Katie: I bought this assuming it'd be a Taming of the Shrew retelling, not sure if it is, but I really like the concept of this one.
4drneutron
Welcome, Tanya! I like your idea of sprints. Sounds like a great way to shake things up a bit.
5PaulCranswick
Wishing you a comfortable reading year in 2023, Tanya.
Welcome to the group and I will be interested to see how your reading plan pans out.
6thornton37814
Hope your year is filled with good books!
8curioussquared
Hi Tanya! Welcome -- interested to see how your romance sprint goes!
9tanyaferrell
What a flop. Lots of DNFing and unhauling in this Romance sprint. I feel myself heading into a reading slump, so I'm gonna switch gears and get into some contemporary / literary fiction.
Romance Recap:
DNFs: Excellent Sons: A Love Story in Three Acts, The Headmistress, A Family for the Holidays
Unhauls: Too Much Temptation, The Cabin (Carriage House), Triple Threat, The Hijacked Wife
Finished:
Jude's Law: 3 stars. Good chemistry between the two main characters, but the hero was too domineering for my taste.
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon: 2.5 stars. The main female character was too quirky for me and I wanted the heavy themes this story touches to be taken more seriously.
A lot of these were acquired through $1 bag sales so it's no big loss, but after diving into all of these, I wasn't in the mood for the historical romances on my TBR list, so on to contemporary / literary fiction.
Contemporary / Literary Reading List:
Lambda Award Picks: Skye Falling, We Want What We Want
Favorite Author Picks: The Living is Easy, Quicksand
Recommendation Picks: Songbirds, Monster in the Middle
Bookshelf Picks: Peyton Place, Burning Ground
Romance Recap:
DNFs: Excellent Sons: A Love Story in Three Acts, The Headmistress, A Family for the Holidays
Unhauls: Too Much Temptation, The Cabin (Carriage House), Triple Threat, The Hijacked Wife
Finished:
Jude's Law: 3 stars. Good chemistry between the two main characters, but the hero was too domineering for my taste.
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon: 2.5 stars. The main female character was too quirky for me and I wanted the heavy themes this story touches to be taken more seriously.
A lot of these were acquired through $1 bag sales so it's no big loss, but after diving into all of these, I wasn't in the mood for the historical romances on my TBR list, so on to contemporary / literary fiction.
Contemporary / Literary Reading List:
Lambda Award Picks: Skye Falling, We Want What We Want
Favorite Author Picks: The Living is Easy, Quicksand
Recommendation Picks: Songbirds, Monster in the Middle
Bookshelf Picks: Peyton Place, Burning Ground
10curioussquared
>9 tanyaferrell: Better luck with your next picks!
11FAMeulstee
Happy reading in 2023, Tanya!
12tanyaferrell
>10 curioussquared: Thank you!
>11 FAMeulstee: Thank you!
One thing that's been nice about grouping my reading by genre has been to see how long I can sit in a genre. I read pretty broadly and always struggle with picking my favorite genre when asked.
It definitely isn't contemporary. I read Skye Falling, DNFed We Want What We Want and quickly moved onto Fantasy last weekend and I can see myself staying here for awhile.
I gave Skye Falling 3.5 stars. It's about a mess of a woman in her thirties/forties who meets the child that resulted from an egg donation she'd practically forgotten about. I loved the egg donor / kid relationship but felt that the romance shoved in there was a let down and the mess of a woman reformed too quickly.
For a book club, I recommended and re-read My Sister, the Serial Killer.
Even though I didn't really enjoy this book, I think it's worthy of recommendation. It's a quick read with a compelling premise and very good writing. It's really a story about the relationship between two sisters and how their parents, their father in particular set them up to have this sort of toxic, co-dependent relationship. If you like family dramas this may be for you. I gave it 3 stars.
As for my Fantasy sprint.
So far, I've read The Deep and re-read The Little Prince. I didn't enjoy The Deep because I disliked the protagonist. 2 Stars. And I gave The Little Prince 3 stars.
I read this book as a teen and remember liking it. It was still on my bookshelf many years later and I read it to see if it was worth keeping. I loved the ending, I love books that end on permanent goodbyes. I really enjoyed the beginning too. But the middle was a slog, which is saying a lot given how short the book is. I'm also not sure I agree on some of the author's thoughts on some things.
On top of those I've also started and DNFed Slade House, Siren Queen, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, and Where the Wild Ladies Are, the first because of writing style, the second for plot, and the last two because I found them a bit boring.
I'm about 15% into Moon Called and really enjoying it. Also on my Fantasy TBR are as follows:
The Talisman: Daughters of the Moon: Book 10/13 of a YA series I loved as a kid and am rereading now. Very excited to see how it wraps up because I bailed at Book 8 or 9 as a kid.
The Lunatic Cafe: Book 3/28 in a series I'm enjoying. Read Book 11 in college and decided to give the series a serious try last year.
No Gods, No Monsters: Lambda Award pick.
Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club: A LibraryThing rec.
There are more, but we'll see how I do on these first.
>11 FAMeulstee: Thank you!
One thing that's been nice about grouping my reading by genre has been to see how long I can sit in a genre. I read pretty broadly and always struggle with picking my favorite genre when asked.
It definitely isn't contemporary. I read Skye Falling, DNFed We Want What We Want and quickly moved onto Fantasy last weekend and I can see myself staying here for awhile.
I gave Skye Falling 3.5 stars. It's about a mess of a woman in her thirties/forties who meets the child that resulted from an egg donation she'd practically forgotten about. I loved the egg donor / kid relationship but felt that the romance shoved in there was a let down and the mess of a woman reformed too quickly.
For a book club, I recommended and re-read My Sister, the Serial Killer.
Even though I didn't really enjoy this book, I think it's worthy of recommendation. It's a quick read with a compelling premise and very good writing. It's really a story about the relationship between two sisters and how their parents, their father in particular set them up to have this sort of toxic, co-dependent relationship. If you like family dramas this may be for you. I gave it 3 stars.
As for my Fantasy sprint.
So far, I've read The Deep and re-read The Little Prince. I didn't enjoy The Deep because I disliked the protagonist. 2 Stars. And I gave The Little Prince 3 stars.
I read this book as a teen and remember liking it. It was still on my bookshelf many years later and I read it to see if it was worth keeping. I loved the ending, I love books that end on permanent goodbyes. I really enjoyed the beginning too. But the middle was a slog, which is saying a lot given how short the book is. I'm also not sure I agree on some of the author's thoughts on some things.
On top of those I've also started and DNFed Slade House, Siren Queen, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, and Where the Wild Ladies Are, the first because of writing style, the second for plot, and the last two because I found them a bit boring.
I'm about 15% into Moon Called and really enjoying it. Also on my Fantasy TBR are as follows:
The Talisman: Daughters of the Moon: Book 10/13 of a YA series I loved as a kid and am rereading now. Very excited to see how it wraps up because I bailed at Book 8 or 9 as a kid.
The Lunatic Cafe: Book 3/28 in a series I'm enjoying. Read Book 11 in college and decided to give the series a serious try last year.
No Gods, No Monsters: Lambda Award pick.
Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club: A LibraryThing rec.
There are more, but we'll see how I do on these first.
13tanyaferrell
I have to talk about this DNF because I got over 25% into it and I'm so annoyed.
I was really enjoying Moon Called and then my favorite side character suddenly got killed off! Now we're supposed to follow the mediocre main as she hunts down the most annoying side character with the help of all the slightly less annoying side characters!
Side character slaughter always does me in. I feel just as betrayed as I was when Barb was killed in Stranger Things, when Wells was killed in The 100. I tried to push on but the vibe is already ruined. It'll never be the same. #RIPMac
.
I was really enjoying Moon Called and then my favorite side character suddenly got killed off! Now we're supposed to follow the mediocre main as she hunts down the most annoying side character with the help of all the slightly less annoying side characters!
Side character slaughter always does me in. I feel just as betrayed as I was when Barb was killed in Stranger Things, when Wells was killed in The 100. I tried to push on but the vibe is already ruined. It'll never be the same. #RIPMac
.14tanyaferrell
Another DNF, not annoyed at all about this one. Sin Eater is an incredibly beautiful story. I got about 26% in before deciding it wasn't for me.
It's about a young girl who receives a punishment for stealing that involves "eating the sins" of others. It's a slow moving book that feels more like a character study set in a world foreign to us. The blurb says a plot is coming, but it comes too late for me and I'm not sure I actually care about the characters that have been introduced. I moreso care about the world and mythos that's been built and now that I understand that, there's not much more for me to hold onto.
Very good book though, just not for me.
It's about a young girl who receives a punishment for stealing that involves "eating the sins" of others. It's a slow moving book that feels more like a character study set in a world foreign to us. The blurb says a plot is coming, but it comes too late for me and I'm not sure I actually care about the characters that have been introduced. I moreso care about the world and mythos that's been built and now that I understand that, there's not much more for me to hold onto.
Very good book though, just not for me.
