Friday Fives | Books to Read in February

January 28, 2022 TheNonbinaryLibrarianLeave a comment

As per usual, I started Friday Fives back when I started up the blog again and wanted to make sure I kept at least one regular post a week. This was, of course, before I knew there were others out there. But I decided to keep it, especially since I have the whole year planned out. In December, I decided to change it to Friday Fives instead to have more room for topics.

One of my reading goals is to make a significant dent into my owned TBR pile. So in that vein I’m trying to think about what books I’d like to read at the end of each month for the next month. I’m not going to be posting this at the end of each month, but it will be something I write in my journal for myself. Here are some of the books I hope to get to in February.

This is the book club pick for one of the clubs I’m in, and it’s one of the Austen books I haven’t read yet. So I’m really excited to get to read it.

I bought this book last summer, and I’m only now getting to it, seems about right. I’ve been getting into other religious for a few years, and I’m starting to read into paganism (specifically Celtic paganism). This one and others are on my TBR.

I’m kind of glad I didn’t read this one till now, so that way when the second one comes out in May, I hopefully won’t have forgotten what happened.

If you have not seen the book without the book jacket, go find one and look at it. It’s gorgeous! Besides that I’m super happy to start reading this one.

I preordered this! I’m halfway done with Hang the Moon, and I cannot wait to read this one!

Happy Reading Darlings!

A Year in Review

January 1, 2022 TheNonbinaryLibrarianLeave a comment

The following questions are from Perpetual Page-Turner’s 11th Annual End of Year Survey-2020 Edition post.

Best Book You Read In 2021? Malice by Heather Walter was a fascinating retelling of the Sleeping Beauty tale that makes you fall in love and then rips your heart out and bake it at 350 degrees.

Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? Okay, I know I’m in the minority, but The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was just not as good as I was expecting after all the hype.

Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read? When You Look Like Us (I expected a much more horrible ending)

Favorite new author you discovered in 2021? TJ Klune

Book You Read In 2021 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year? I’d like to re-read Malice again before the second book comes out.

Favorite cover of a book you read in 2021? Once There Were Wolves

Most memorable character of 2021? Kyoshi is an adorable, klutzy, hopeless gay and I just absolutely love her!!

Most beautifully written book read in 2021? A Woman is No Man is a book that everyone should read and is just absolutely beautiful prose.

Most thought-provoking/life-changing book of 2021? Just Us: An American Conversation is a thought-provoking and challenging book to read but definitely another book that everyone should read.

Favorite passage/quote from a book you read in 2021? “We were aliens. We were like the last people on earth. If – in any sense -language determined how we thought then I could never have been any other way than the way I am. And the language I grew up speaking was one no one else spoke. So I was always going to be isolated, lonely, uncomfortable in the presence of others. It was in my language. It was in the language you gave me” (136).

OTP of the Year? Alyce and Aurora

Favorite non-romantic relationship of the year? Linus and the all the foster kids, in particular Lucy

Favorite book you read in 2021 from an author you’ve read previously? Good Girls, Bad Blood

Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2021? Rangi, I’m sorry but if you don’t love this little ray of sunshine and love (although she’ll never show it except to Kyoshi) then we can’t be friends!!

Book that put a smile on your face or was the most fun to read? The House in the Cerulean Sea

Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2021? Malice

Hidden gem of the year? Dreamland Burning

Book that crushed your soul? Malice

Most unique book you read in 2021? Everything Under

Book that Made you the most mad? Malice because why did you have to break my heart like that!?!?

Happy Reading, and New Year, Darlings!

2020 Wrap-Up

January 8, 2021 TheNonbinaryLibrarianLeave a comment

The Year

The Year of Covid was such a strange and wild year, and one I’m likely not to forget. Personally, not much changed in my life. The university library I work at didn’t close, we were allowed the option to work from home, yet the work I do buying and processing the books that come to the library along with weeding our collection which isn’t really possible to work from home. Thankfully, my office is in an area that social distancing is possible and the library was implementing all the social distancing and masking guidelines.

A Year in Reading

I did manage to read 50 books, which was my goal for the year. However, I was worried that I wouldn’t manage it, especially during the later months of the year. The most read genres for the year were young adult, fantasy, and mystery. Not surprising considering I was wanting to have escapism throughout the year.

Total Books Read – 53

Total Pages Read – 17,993

Average Rating – 4.04

Top Rated Books

Least Favorite Books

A Year in Blogging

One of my goals for 2021 is to post 4 times a week. When I first brought back my blog in the spring of 2020, I had myself post 3 times a week. I follow a good number of blogs but hope to have more interactions with other bloggers and to be more intentional about keeping up with the blogs I follow. Thank you all who follow this blog and have liked or commented on my posts. It definitely made this year (in general) better!

Happy Reading and New Year Lovelies!

TTT | Favorite Books of 2020

December 29, 2020December 29, 2020 TheNonbinaryLibrarian18 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly topic hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week she provide a topic and you are free to use that topic and/or variations of that topic to make your top ten list. A full list of the weekly themes can be found here.

Somehow I made it through the dumpster fire that was 2020, and so did you! Good job, keep it up! I actually didn’t read more than usual because I was actually working on site this whole time (the library I worked at didn’t close). Despite this horrible year, I actually read a lot of great books this year. They are not listed in any particular order cause you can’t ask me to rank my favorite books!

This book was just too cute for words! Fake dating, parents being the worst, friends being awesome, and two men falling in love with each other.

A heartbreaking and joyous book about gender and identity, and how parents are sometimes the worst. Ben is so beautiful and I just want to give him a hug. Nathan and Ben’s friendship turned romance is so adorable and lovely.

Such a fun mystery and game that billionaire Tobias Hawthorne leaves his grandsons and Avery Grambs. And I need the second book after that ending!

A mysterious gothic house set in the Mexican countryside. This was gorgeous and Noemi was such a fun character who loves both parties but is intelligent and independent. The whole mystery was so satisfying and I just loved the ending of the novel.

What I loved the most about this book was seeing the improvement of Maureen Johnson’s writing from 13 Little Blue Envelopes to Truly Devious.

A hearbreaking book, but one so important for the simple fact that there are thousands upon thousands of girls that go missing every year and most of them don’t get a movie, show, or podcast about them. But they are also loved.

Another important book on the idea that just becomes someone is different or doesn’t fit into the community’s white, straight, and Christian standards does not mean they committed the act of murder. That as the old adage says “we can’t judge a book by its cover.”

New Orleans, murder, vampires, and all set in the late 1800s. Ahh, I loved the mystery and the characters, especially Celine and Sebastien.

As a Jane Austen fanatic, I loved learning about how the novels played out and the meanings behind some of greatest literature.

Oh my word, this novel is so amazing! I loved the relationship Addie had with death and how she navigated through her endless life.

Happy Reading Lovelies

TTT | Books I Hope Santa Brings

December 23, 2020December 23, 2020 TheNonbinaryLibrarian2 Comments

Today’s topic is books that are on my winter TBR. I’m super excited because my Christmas break starts tomorrow, and I’ll have 18 uninterrupted days of reading (this does include weekends).

I’m a sucker for the fake dating trope and this one sounds super adorable!

Goodreads

A boarding school mystery in the New England area? Sign me up!

Goodreads

A ya novel centering around a transgender teen falling in love for the first time! I cannot wait to read this.

Goodreads

An essay collection about the mysteries of gender and desire, of identity and class, of the stories we tell and the places we call home. With how I grew up and my own feelings on these topics, I’m positive that I will connect with what the author writes.

Goodreads

A young teenager who has to go back into the closet when her dad moves them to small-town in Georgia is bound to be fun (while also frustrating).

Goodreads

A teen thriller sounds like a fun, entertaining read for this time of year.

Goodreads

Small town Texas that is obsessed with football but is gripped in the disappearance of a young teenager. I mean this is basically my hometown.

Goodreads

I’ve been getting into short stories lately, so it’ll be fun to add this one, that deals with people living on the fringes of America, to my collection.

Goodreads

Because god forbid we learn about LGBTQ history in school, so I have to do it on my own.

Goodreads

I just really, really, really love Abby Wambach!

Goodreads

P.S. I’m on vacation and totally forgot to post this yesterday!

TTT | Books On My Winter 2020-2021 TBR

December 16, 2020 TheNonbinaryLibrarian3 Comments

Today’s topic is books that are on my winter TBR. I’m super excited because my Christmas break starts tomorrow, and I’ll have 18 uninterrupted days of reading (this does include weekends).

Just checked this out from the library today and will probably start reading it tonight.

I’ve had a difficult time trying to read this. I’ve read about 70 pages, but I absolutely hate what my baby (Aelin) is going through. But I’m hoping to get through this over the break, and then start reading Sarah J. Maas’s new novel House of Earth and Blood.

An advanced ebook I have that I am super excited to read!

Another eARC that I need to read. I actually have started it just need to finish it. This month has just been too busy.

I checked this out from the library as well tonight, and I cannot wait to read it!! Sci-fi western with lesbians, yes please!

At the library I work at, some of us review books for the Heart of Texas Literature Quarterly. This is one of the books I’m reviewing. It’s about when American troops killed four American students protesting the Vietnam War. From what I can tell flipping through the pages, it’s mostly told through poems and free verse.

As with Kent State, this is also a book I’m reviewing for the Heart of Texas Literature.

I really need to get on top of my eARC’s. Here’s another one I’ll be reading over the winter season.

A book that I’ve placed on hold and hope to be able to pick up before the library closes.

Last week this was on my TTT Holiday themed TBR, this week I remembered that I actually own it. So, I’ll definitely be reading this.

TTT | Holiday TBR

December 8, 2020 TheNonbinaryLibrarian9 Comments

Today’s topic is a holiday freebie one, and I’m not one to read a lot of any holiday themed books. So, here are some holiday books that I would like to read.

I love the Victorian era and Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories sounds like so much fun to read with a cup of tea on a cold winter night! I also just found out that there are multiple volumes of this!

Definitely not the normal holiday read, but it sounds like a fun read around the holidays when everything is so stressful.

I love love love Agatha Christie so of course , I had to include Hercule Poirot’s Christmas on the list.

Christmas, poetry, Maya Angelou what more needs to be said?!

The Family Stone is one of my favorite Christmas movies, and this seems to have a similar theme. What can go wrong at Christmas when everyone is forced to quarantine together?

I’m not just choosing this one because the character has the same name as me…

A retelling of the classic A Christmas Carol but in YA form and the Scrooge character is already dead!

I’ve known about the Christmas Truce for years, but it would be nice to learn a bit more about it as I only know that it happened.

Love Madeleine L’Engle, and this is sure to be amazing!

I’m a sucker for books about self-care, but I’m also interested in this to see what it says about getting back to the authentic meaning of Christmas. I’m especially interested since I’m not a huge believer in God.

I’m all for learning new things, and as I’ve never actually thought about the reason behind our Christmas traditions, it’ll be nice to learn all about it.

Happy Reading Lovelies!

TTT | Books I Want to Read Again

December 1, 2020 TheNonbinaryLibrarian17 Comments

Today’s topic is books I’d like to read again…at some point when I have time.

Pride and Prejudice – I work in a library and just ordered the Harvard UP’s annotated Jane Austen books, so I’ll probably re-read Pride and Prejudice again once that comes in.

Children of Blood and Bone – I really want to read the second book in the series but it’s been so long that I forgot what happened in the first one. Bookdragon problems!

The Thirteenth Tale – one of my favorite books and such a great book about books, but it’s been so long since I read it (middle school) that I’d love to read it again sometime soon.

Stalking Jack the Ripper & Hunting Prince Dracula– another series that it’s been so long from reading the first two that to finish the series I need to go back and re-read them.

The Diary of a Young Girl – another book that I read so long ago (8th grade) that I definitely need to revisit now, especially as I know more about their story and the Holocaust as a whole.

A Woman Without a Country – this was assigned for a poetry class I had in grad school and because of that it was read in a hurry instead of really taking the time to go through and really absorb and enjoy the poems.

The Shadow of the Wind – another book about books that I’d love to delve into again.

The Vagina Monologues – it’s a book I reread regularly and I think it’s time for another reread.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – This book is one of my favorite (it actually replaced To Kill a Mockingbird for me which is shocking)!

Unclobber – a book I’d like to read again to really delve into it, explore, and research what the author talks about.

Happy Reading Lovelies!

TTT | Halloween Freebie

October 27, 2020 TheNonbinaryLibrarian12 Comments

Today’s topic is a Halloween freebie, so here are my top ten favorite Halloween reads or Halloween inspired-ish.

Witches, vampires, magic, and a book that only appears to one Diana Bishop. Definitely a fun, witchy, and romantic Halloween read.

You can find my review for this book here! Haunted Houses are par for Halloween and High Place doesn’t disappoint. Also, be careful of any mushrooms.

I mean, you can’t go wrong with a Neil Gaiman book for Halloween. This one is equal parts haunting and tragic!

1600s, and the devil seems to be coming after the people on the voyage to Amsterdam. A detective based on Sherlock Holmes and a mystery on the high seas is sure to be a great Halloween read.

A young boy picks up a book by Julian Carax and is pulled into a mystery. Set after the war in Barcelona, Spain, this is definitely a mystery to dive into during Halloween.

“Reader, I murdered him.” So begins Jane Steele, the reimagined tale of Jane Eyre, if she was a serial killer. And anyways, is it really Halloween if no deaths occur?

Vampires have taken over the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1872. Yet, young girls are murdered in gruesome ways and who is to blame? The vampires. Or is there a serial killer trolling the streets of New Orleans?

Any Shirley Jackson book or short story are perfect for Halloween. The Haunting of Hill House is a classic one with a haunted house, things that go bump in the night, and a possession or two.

Of course, The Queen of Mystery had to make one appearance on the list. Reading a good mystery by Agatha Christie is a great way to spend Halloween (or any fall day).

Another classic novel: Frankenstein delves into the idea of acting like God and trying to create your own person. We are left to wonder, what is man and who is truly the monster?

Happy Reading, Lovelies!