OMG! I can't believe it's the end of the year already. Time to get those end of year wrap up videos filmed and edited, and figure out what I'm going to do for my 2020 reading challenges.
But, today is about my Goodreads year in review, and boy, did I surpass my goals in 2019.
My goal for 2019 was to read 100 books (passed in February), so I upped it to 150 - nailed it! - and then I thought I'd really challenge myself and upped it again to 250 books. Well, jokes on me because I flew past that and ended the year with a grand total of 440 books and 123,817 pages!
I don't think I'll have that good of a reading year in 2020, but I'm determined to at least give it a red hot go. I'm so proud of what I accomplished in my reading year, although my reading challenges tanked, and I have so many ideas for next year that I really need to get myself sorted out.
Thanks for watching my videos in 2019. I appreciate your support, and until I see you next year,
Yah! I have finally been able to edit this and get it up - and all before the end of the first week of November, woo-hoo! Victober was a mixed bag. I did finish the two titles that made up the four challenges, but the other books I'd hoped to read... well, that didn't go so well.
Sorry this is so short. Hopefully as Christmas gets closer I can find the time to get some more blogging in. Until then, I hope you had a more successful Victober than I did. Let me know what your favourite book was in the comments, and until next time,
Okey-dokey, then. Just thought that I'd put together a super quick (for me) video to chat a little bit about where I am with my Victober reading - keeps me honest! - and about the latest book I'll be adding to my TBR shelves after watching Mara's "Where to Start with Classics" video.
One of these days I really need to do a TBR bookshelf tour to see exactly how many books I have that still haven't been read.
Sorry to run off so quickly, but I can hear a bit of thunder, and where there's thunder, there are appliances to unplug ;-D, so a big thank you for watching, and until I see you next time,
So, Amazon did a thing to my book that I'm a little peeved about.
Let me know if this has ever happened to you after ordering online. I'm genuinely curious as to how often this actually happens, if it does, or did I just get super unlucky?
Managed to get this filmed and edited yesterday, but just couldn't upload it. However, that means it is going up on the start date for the readathon, so... ?
Fingers crossed I can get through all these - plus my Victober TBR - by the end of the month.
Thanks for watching, and until I see you next time,
Yes, it is I. It is hard to believe that I have been absent from BookTube, and this blog, for about 2 months. I have had a rather difficult time with my health - darn that chronic pain! - and that has affected my ability to a) film videos, and b) to sit down for hours to edit them.
However, I couldn't let Victober pass without at least getting a TBR out there... so, here we go.
I have listed all the links to the hosts, and other various sites/videos, for your Victober pleasure, so I won't rehash all that. But, I will tell you about the books I have decided to read for this Victober. The first is ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ᴍᴇɴ ɪɴ ᴀ ʙᴏᴀᴛ by Jerome K. Jerome. Although I only read this book at the start of the year... oops, last August acutally!, and I still think about some of the passages. The language is beautiful, and the characters are memorable. I love the lazy storyline, it is so simple an idea and executed so well that I'm surprised that I hear so little about this book online. A great way to spend a few hours.
Next up is ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ᴍᴇɴ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴜᴍᴍᴇʟ, a sequel to his much earlier novel. Not surprising since I loved their first outing up the Thames. This time round, the hypochondriac trio are off to the Black Forest on a cycling tour, with Montmorency in tow. I don't know anything else about it, and I'm going to go into this with no expectations apart from expecting more beautiful prose.
And finally, there is the underrated, and new to me, offering of Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett with ɴᴇᴡ ᴀᴍᴀᴢᴏɴɪᴀ. Published in 1889, it is a contemporary of Three Men in a Boat, and as I perused the synopsis, I immediately stopped as soon as I saw 'dystopian', and I'm going into this with no idea what it is about other than that.
So, those are the three books that I'm going to be reading this October. Fingers crossed it all goes well, and I will be devouring other Victober videos so if you have made one, or have posted something on your blog about it, then leave me a link in the comments.
A big thank you for watching, and until I see you next time,
I finally fired up the ol' desktop today and while I was waiting for Norton to update all the anti-virus things, I thought I'd edit another video for you all.
July was a great month for bookmail - I only wish I hadn't ordered all this myself! There are still some items that are currently MIA, however, I have high hopes that the AbeBooks will arrive in the next week or so... but that Powell's order from the US is still not here, and I am getting rather antsy about it.
Okay, I'm off now. Hope your July reading was wonderful, and that you found something new and interesting, or rediscovered an old favourite. Thanks for watching, and until I see you next time,
Well, hello there. Hope you’ve had a wonderful day. My day was pretty average. It was a beautiful winters day with a painfully blue sky that makes you think if summer - but it was way too cold to even consider leaving the house!
Okay, enough of the social pleasantries. You’re here for the book stuff 😁 Here we go...
As you can tell by the title of this post, my issue regarding a used book I purchased from AbeBooks was resolved... but I’m not sure how I feel about it. As previously discussed on both my IG, and BookTube, I ordered what should have been the reissued edition of The Song of Susannah (Dark Tower 05) by Stephen King. I particularly wanted this book because on the matching covers that form a larger landscape image when put together. But anyhoo, when the book turned up in the mail on Thursday, 18/07/19, it was not the right edition. Yes, I know that sounds shallow and smacks of consumerism, but I want the edition that I’d paid for.
Seeing the error, I emailed the seller. They were lovely to deal with (so this isn’t a drama queen post about shitty customer service) and after me supplying them with the details they requested, I woke up to an email stating I was being refunded the full cost of my order (inc. p&h). Now, while this was expected, I would rather have received the correct edition.
So, the hunt for The Song of Susannah begins anew.
Wish me luck, and on that note I’ll bid you a fond adieu, and until I see you next time,
It was a beautiful winter's day yesterday, so I walked down to the post office. Thankfully I live close by as I came home with a few parcels - and one of those was something I was very eagerly awaiting.
Things did not go according to plan (as the thumbnail hints) and I'll get into that in the next post, but until then, I hope you enjoy the bookmail unboxing ;-D
Thank you for watching, and until I see you next time,
Woo-wee, is it cold! Thanks to an Antarctic front that's blustering up from the south, I am freezing my butt off. In an attempt to get a little bit of sun - and to try a different filming location - I rugged up and ventured out into the back yard. By more dumb luck than good management I happened to choose a time where the winds had died down for a good half hour, but it was still colder than it looks. Seriously, if the temperatures drop below freezing there should be mandatory snow. Winter here in rural QLD looks no different than high summer, except for the winter woolies I'm sporting.
On the bookish front, I have been rereading some of my urban fantasy series that have new books coming out soon. I also read a little bit more from The Count of Monte Cristo, which I'm hoping to finish next month, perhaps, and just listening to more audiobooks as I go about my daily routine. As it's been so cold here, I haven't spent any time in the office/library. I really need to start filming and creating extra videos so that I have a buffer for times like this.
Anyway, my fingers and toes feel like they are about to drop off, so I'm going to say thank you for watching, and until I see you next time,
Like I said when I posted this on IG, Yah! My Dark Tower bookmail is starting to trickle in 😊
I read The Gunslinger about 18 months ago, and just never continued on with the series as I didn’t have the next books. There was also the very real book problem of trying to decide which edition to get. Unfortunately by the time I decided on these US ones (in this very odd, tall mass market paperback format), they seemed to be going out of print for some of the titles.
Thankfully, these two were easily obtained from Amazon AU, while the rest had to be sourced from AbeBooks, and Powell’s (from America), which is a whole other story. Fingers crossed the used books I bought match this edition.
It’s been just over 6 weeks since I visited the local RSPCA shelter and came home with a new cat. Luckily, EG has been such a catalyst for settling the troubles between Evie Nyxx and Smokey. On his second night in the house he decided that he was not having anymore of this isolation sh*t, and he cried and kicked up such a fuss that I had to grab him late that night. He swanned into the bedroom with me, jumped up on the bed - much to the shock of Evie Nyxx and Smokey - and proceeded to snuggle down and purr up a storm. No one lashed out at him, and there were only a few grumbles and a small growl or two, and from that point on, EG was a member of the family.
Now, he gets into mischief with Phrynekinns, plays chase-me-Charlie through the house with the more recalcitrant Smokey, and has no fear about barging onto my lap, or chest, at night while I’m trying to cuddle Evie Nyxx. He’s a delightful bundle of energy that has make a rather tense threesome into a calm and interactive foursome. Looks like this time, the fourth cat was the charm.
I missed out on the first Barnes & Noble edition of the Stephen King omnibus, so this time round I was determined to get one. Sadly, it’s not available in Australia (well, at least from Amazon AU, Booktopia, Book Depository or any of the other online book retailers I’ve tried), so I had to go to the source and pre-order it from Barnes & Noble in the US.
The whole process was pretty pain free - although I was frustrated the 10% off coupon I had for signing up didn’t apply to international orders 🤨 - and after parting with over AU$50 all I had to do was wait for my order to ship, and then count the days till it arrived.
And today was that day, and I am delighted with it. I have yet to unwrap it, however the cover art, and the colour palette, are really eye catching. Even with the book on the shelf, the spine draws the eye. I’m not sure if there are any illustrations, but I’ll discover that when I get around to peeling off the plastic 😄
I did order one other B&N leatherbound edition, a 2011 copy of Jane Eyre, which arrived yesterday in fabulous condition, and in a twist which surprised me, this earlier leatherbound book was much smaller than the King omnibus. Although not my favourite classic, I did enjoy Jane Eyre, and this edition is gorgeous.
I’m not sure if I’ll be purchasing more of these leatherbound books as they are rather expensive here, but I would love to add a few more to my collection. I uploaded my ‘unboxing’ of the SK omnibus this morning if you’d like to see my reaction 😅.
So, that’s all from me at the moment. I now have to find shelf space for these two beauties, so until I see you next time,
Sorry I've been a little haphazard in the uploading department, but I did get around to editing the Mid Year Freak Out Tag video, and right on time as it turns out.
There are some new books, some not so new books, and a few books mentioned in more than one question, but so far this year - even though I've read nearly 300 books so far! - there have been more misses than hits.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video, and until I see you next time,
Well. This feels a bit strange. I haven’t ‘blogged’ in so long that this feels a little weird 😉
I’m running a little bit behind this month, but I thought I’d take a moment to put up my June TBR. After May was a complete disaster on the reading front, Audible has been a great way to ease back into picking up books. I caved and bought the Kindle editions of Swamp Sniper and Swamp Team 3 by Jana DeLeon. These are books 3 and 4 respectively, and I am having so much fun with this light-hearted series. Full of comedy, murder, mystery, and a dash of Southern charm, I would recommend this series to anyone, but if you love Stephanie Plum I think this will appeal to you.
So, with my urge to read kickstarted, I am hoping to get to a few of the books that I neglected in May. I need to catch up on my #aclassicamonth by reading The Picture of Dorian Gray (April), Persuasion (May), and June’s classic which has yet to be decided. On the Stephen King front, I’m hoping to read Different Seasons, or at least one or two of the novellas, plus perhaps dipping my toes into The Talisman. The Rook by Daniel O’Malley - which hid from me for about 6 weeks, don’t ask - is also on my radar because of the upcoming Stan series, and last, but by no means least, I really need to get started on The Count of Monte Cristo. That sucker is over 1,400 pages and I have yet to read one sentence (really wishing I had joined in last years readalong).
So, I have officially committed. It is here for everyone to see, and will hopefully motivate me to get threw all these books. If I get the time to film and edit a TBR video I’ll link it above, and I have plans to film and upload a few videos this week, including a ‘Meet Earl Grey’ update.
Anyway, that’s all for the moment. I hope you’re having a lovely day, and until I see you next time,
I tried to get this up last Friday, but thanks to more NBN maintenance - thanks Telstra! - I wasn't able to get it up. So I just ended up filming a wrap up of what I ended up reading instead.
If you have read any of these books, leave a comment below as I'd love to connect with fellow Constant Readers ;-D
Thanks for watching, and until I see you next time,
OMG, Winter is here. This morning was so cold and I didn't even want to stick my nose out from under the blankets. When I finally emerged it was to discover that the mercury had plummeted to -2.4°c (felt like -4.8°c) and that does not bode well for the next few months. It's at times like this that I really wish all houses in Australia came with wood heaters or radiators, because OMG it's so freaking cold.
On the book front, I have just filmed my book haul for May. Not sure if I'll use that, or re-film it on the weekend because those last stragglers could arrive in the next two days, couldn't they? ;-D Anyway, I'm feeling more upbeat about things, so hopefully that will translate into filming more, and actually editing the footage I already have.
In the meantime, I'm off to play with the new floof that I adopted on Sunday. Earl Grey, or EG (as I've already dubbed him), is such a ball of energy. He can be so relaxed and chill and then be zooming off somewhere to chase a leaf. Such a cutie.
Let me know what you thought of Elevation, and do you think King should stop publishing these novellas and just concentrate on his big ass novels? But I digress. I'm out. Thanks for watching/reading this, and until I see you next time,
Yep, I nearly brought home the most gorgeous Alaskan Malamute.
Sadly, she was more than I could handle at the moment (with my health issues), so I decided it wouldn't be fair to her to adopt her. However, I did find out that if she isn't adopted, she will be going to live with someone from an Alaskan Malamute Rescue group that will rehome this gorgeous old girl.
Instead, I came home with a new cat... my fourth cat!
He's a little hyper at the moment, so I'm going to wait a few days for him to calm down before trying to photograph and get some footage of him. All I can say is that he is a gorgeous black fluffy cat that has fit in so quickly with the other three.
Let me know if you'd like me to do a video on my cats below. And until I see you guys next time,
