March 2014 Reading Update

My original plan for this blog was to have 4 genre-focused weeks a month. That leaves us with some extra weeks in between. I thought I'd take this week to interject one of my old-fashioned Reading Updates and miscellaneous posts while I work on some upcoming things for April.

On my time away from this blog, I still did my usual reading, though I didn't keep up with the reading updates. At this point, there are far too many books to do a 3-month collaborative update, so I'll just stick to March.

I didn't spend much of this month exploring. Reading one David Sedaris book led to an addiction. And starting two different comic book series, led to more.

Keep reading to find what books have been occupying my time.

(all photos below courtesy of Goodreads)

Top 20 Reads of 2013

Those of us on the west coast are still waiting for 2014 to ring in. And as I wait, I will quickly finish up this post I've been meaning to put up for the past several days. Let's hope next year involves less procrastination, yeah?

If you read my very-detailed post on everything I read in 2013, then you'll remember that I read nearly 130 books. Because of this relativity large quantity, I'm allowing 20 books to be chosen in this list of Favorite Reads of 2013.

Some notes on this post before I dive in:

• only new reads of 2013 will be included (this will keep all-time favorites from reappearing on every list)
• favorites will be split into categories based on genre
• other than the genre categories, the list is completely at random (i.e. I don't want to make the difficult decision of listing in any other order)

I love making lists such as these. So I hope you enjoy.


**all book cover photos are courtesty of Goodreads

The Year In Books: 2013

The Goliath of reading updates- I present to you, my summary of 2013 in books!

Below, you will find the complete list of books I've read for the last 12 months.

Though I won't be listing my favorites (look for that in a future post!!), the book nerd in me will submerse you in book statistics like you never dreamed possible.

Curious what percentage of books I read were prose vs. graphic novels/comics?
Want to know what genre I read the most of? or what my most read author was>

Keep reading, because this post will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about my reading habits.

December 2013 Reading Update

I can't believe this is the last reading update for 2013.

Time flies by too quickly.

For December. I spent most of this month rereading the entire Harry Potter series, so there wasn't much in terms of other novels.

However, I was able to finish off a few new novels that I have been meaning to read for quite some time.

I'll keep this reading update short and sweet since there are a couple more book posts left to post before the year is up.

As usual, links will be provided.
All photos below are courtesy of Goodreads.

November 2013 Reading Update

I love November. It's the month when the holiday season begins, families gather, and the weather (in CA) finally gets cooler.

This past month has been another decent month of reading. I don't post as often on this blog anymore, but if there are two things about me that have never and will never change it's that
1. I will always be reading, and
2. I always want to talk about what I'm reading.

So, if you enjoy these monthly updates, fear not, because they are unlikely to stop in the near future.



(This entire reading update is spoiler free and all photos below are courtesy of Goodreads.)

October 2013 Reading Update

It's November! I hope everyone celebrating had a safe and fun Halloween. I, personally, had work yesterday. So I came home, did some Halloween-themed reading and watched the vampire episode of Doctor Who.

I didn't get to as many Halloween-themed books as I wanted this month. But the beauty about Halloween is that it comes every year. So when next year rolls around, I'll have a slew of books to choose from.

This month was mostly composed of 3 different elements:

• Halloween reads
• Allegiant!!!
• reading more books off the longlist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature

Keep reading to find out which books I loved, which books I didn't, and which ones fell in between. Oh yeah, and no spoilers.

(all photos below are courtesy of Goodreads)

August & September 2013 Reading Update

Another two-month collaborative reading update!

I apologize for my lack of updates lately. I have no real excuse other than life itself. I started a new job and I find myself much more drained. I'm still adjusting. Hopefully there will be more frequent posts in the future.

For the months of August and September, much of what I read was fairly random. I read some new releases, reread some old favorites, and finished a few books that I've had lying around my room for quite some time.

Enough with the intros. Let's get into the update!

(All photos below are coutesy of Goodreads)

June & July 2013 Reading Update

So..I skipped my June Reading Update. Not intentionally. About a week into July I realized my mishap, shrugged (the chaos of June didn't allow much reading) and decided I'd just do a collective one for both months.

I've been trying to take charge with my dreams and passions lately and that, in itself, is a full time job. I still squeeze in time for reading, but it's not as much as I was reading before. You can't win at everything, right? Right? Wrong. I try anyway.

Anyway, if you read my May Reading Update then you know I started getting into more graphic novels/comics/manage/etc. I've definitely been incorporating more of that into my reading lately. It's just fun to experience different methods of storytelling. Prose, however, will always be my first and truest love.

On to the reading update!

(The usual: books listed in the order finished, blah blah blah, use links as needed)
*all images below are courtesy of Goodreads

May 2013 Reading Update

May is over. And man is the year passing by quickly.

I normally post these reading updates at the end of the month (as opposed to the beginning of the next) but I've been so busy these past couple weeks I almost forgot about these updates entirely.

This past month has definitely been the most sporadic month in terms of book choices. A large chunk of these books are comics/manga. We also have a couple picture books, a little bit of non-fiction, and of course my old reliable, YA. I can't get through a month without reading some of that YA. It's been a fun month.

As usual, I'll mostly talk about my reactions to each book. If you want a synopsis, use the links.

And without further ado, here are the books I read in May, in the order finished.

April 2013 Reading Update

Hi everyone.
Another month gone by, another pile of books read.

I always enjoy drawing some sort of theme with monthly reads, but I can't think of much for April.

I did read two books with two individual friends in the book club spirit (a first for me). I've never imagined being able to be part of a book club since my reading can be rather spontaneous and random depending on my mood, but that experience was rather enjoyable. So maybe a theme about sharing experiences...or....yeah I got nothing. Let's just get on with the update.

As usual, I'll list the books in the order finished, followed by my reaction and links if you're interested to learn more. Enjoy!

March 2013 Reading Update

March was another good month for books. I found I had more free time to read than February, and got to make it through many books. My overall reading list remains infinite, but I'm happy with my progress. Every month should be like this.

If February was the month of new beginnings, I'm not quite sure what March is. I continued 3 series (Gone, Delirium, Ruby Oliver), and returned to adored authors (Austen, Green, Valente). Maybe it'll be the month of comfort and familiarity.
Instead of new beginnings it's like an old friend.

As usual, I'll list the books in the order finished, followed by a few sentences on my feelings toward each book. I won't summarize all of them, since that will take up a lot of time. So, instead, I provided links for you to read the summaries yourself in you're interested.

And without further ado, here is my reading update for March!

February 2013 Reading Update

Hi again!

It's the end of February. And for such a short month, it felt incredibly long.
I found myself increasingly busy this month, and as such, my reading update will be shorter as a result. However, I do still have fun books to talk about. I feel like all of February was about exploring fun new books. I started 3 different series, and continued two from last month.


Like I did for the January Reading Update (which if you haven't seen and are curious about you can find here), I will do a brief summary of my reaction to each book. I won't provide an actual plot summary for each one. If you want that, just utilize the links I provide. 

So, in the spirit of keeping introductions light, let's go into the reading update!
Here are the list of books I read in February in the order finished.

January 2013 Reading Update

Hey everyone!

I originally noted in my 2013 Reading List post that I would do quarterly reading updates, but as you can guess from the title of this post, I decided to change it to monthly. My decision to do this stemmed primarily from the desire to proclaim a "favorite book of the month." I found that I was reading at a decent pace and came to the conclusion that if I didn't update until the end of March, it would be difficult to give a fair amount of the books any spotlight. Even doing weekly book reviews can't accommodate for all the books I want to talk about. So, without further ado, I want to get into what books I read in January, which book was my favorite, and possibly some books that I wanted to add onto my reading list.

This post would turn into a painfully long read if I tried to do a mini-review on every book so I'll allow myself a maximum of 4 sentences on each.

Also, I won't be posting full book reviews on all these books (simply because there are still so many books I read last year that I want to do reviews for as well), so as you're reading through this post, if you come across a book you would like me to do a complete review on, then request it and it shall be done!

And without further ado, here are the books I have read so far in January 2013, in the order completed: