I’ve read Kindred by Butler twice and the Parable series has been on my list for a while now. I think I’ll read it in January because the series starts off in 2024. It might be cool to read the book for the first time in the year that it takes place, even though it’s pretty depressing and scary how accurate Butler’s predictions are turning out to be. Love this spread. Love the spooky vibes.
Well... I removed a book from my Master TBR.. way too many things in The Parable of the Sower.. While I do read to learn more about the world, I also read to escape it and that book sounds like a nightmare to me. Thank you for actually saying what it's about instead of just praising it like I've seen a lot of other people do (why it was on my TBR in the first place). I would have been so mad if I bought that book - you saved me! 😊
It’s definitely not a book to read for a light escape, that’s for sure! I loved it but it’s HARD to read. This is exactly why I do my best to share extensive trigger/content warnings when talking about books, because I want everyone to be able to make informed decisions about what they read and protect their mental health ❤️
Parable of the Sower is an incredibly tough read. Dystopian novels are already tricky for me but PotS is just too close to real life and I read it at a time I really shouldn’t have. Totally don’t blame you for dropping it.
Wow, I absolutely love watching your reading journal spreads. You are so creative! I've read Parable of the Sower and loved it, despite the content. I have had Monstress on my TBR for a while and now I will be moving it up due to your review. Thank you for sharing!!
so many five star ratings!! very happy for you 💖 parable of the sower has been on my TBR for ages, and i'm definitely also adding monstress. i'm looking forward to the next reading vlog video!
I love that! Of course, there’s nothing wrong with mostly reading what we know we love, but sometimes it’s wonderful to get outside of our comfort zones and reading something different that challenges us ❤️
I hope when you finish this journal, you decide to publish it. I would love to read it, in its entirety. This is the most and best detailed book reading journaling I've come across. Your entire channel is interesting and intriguing. Thank you for sharing a piece of it with us. ❤️❤️
You do SO much writing! I don't think I'd be able to write one page like this all at the same time anymore--my hands cramp up with arthritis. Thanks for sharing your creativity and your quotes. And Shades of Gray--I loved the book!
Love your videos! Your layouts are always such an inspiration and yours lists always give me at least one book to add to my TBR. I really look forward to a video on how your make everything, would also love to know what printer you use to print off everything, your book covers look a lot better than the ones I've printed off.
Sometimes I'm doing something else and I played your videos in the background because your voice calms me. Thank you =) BTW I love your journals, you're so creative!!
I love watching these as a slow start to the day in bed with a coffee! Such a lovely mood and introduces me to so many books I wouldn't see otherwise! Have added Monstress, Hester and Shades of Grey to my TBR. I'm ADHD and haven't read either of the non-fics so really interested to hear what your thoughts are in the upcoming vid :) I enjoy all your videos so much, thanks so much for making them :)
If you enyoyed Jasper Fforde's writing and humour, I very highly recommend his Thursday Next's series (the 1st one is The Eyre Affair). It's hilarious, unbelievably smart, and is clearly written by a book-lover for book-lovers 😊. Time traveling like i've never read about, jumping inside books, making dodos and mammoths from adn-kits... it's crazy and lovely, and the heroin is sooo relatable.
Yaaaay, I love these videos! Not only did you do some beautiful spreads this month but your commentaries/reviews were so well written. I've definitely added Shades of Grey to my TBR as I'm very intrigued by a dystopian written as a comedy!
I gotta say, Jasper's Thursday Next series is one of my favorites (and my favorite within the series is the third one ;) ) The Eyre Affair is a bit of a set-up novel but by the time he gets to The Well of Lost Plots he's on a roll📚
Oo good to know! I picked up another book of his from my library that seemed to be a standalone but I’ll have to look into that series, too. I have a feeling he could be a new favourite author for me!
For reading around the world, I recommend you the brilliant Polish science-fiction writer Stanislaw Lem (yes, I'm Polish 😁). I've enjoyed every one of his books so far, but my most favourite are Solaris, His Master's Voice and The Invincible. I think you would enjoy them ☺ Great video as always! ❤
I’m right with you on the waiting! 😂😂😂 Monstress is one of my favorite ever and I keep track of when they release the dates because I need to know how long I’ll be waiting. It’s so good
I have just found me the book I want to read for my "released when I was born" reading goal: Parable of the Sower, 1993. Sounds right up my street, and like the most worthy book to reach this goal with. Thank you!
I am going to have to check out Shades of Grey. I’ve sort of rediscovered my enjoyment of sci fi (Thanks Becky Chambers) in the last few months and have been keeping an eye out for recommendations that aren’t *too* dark
Oo I think you’ll love it if you enjoy Becky Chambers! It’s not quite the same vibe (less wholesome, more tongue in cheek) but there are similarities there ❤️
I loved Shades of Gray and I am very excited the sequel is finally happening! I’m probably late to the party with this recommendation but The Eyre Affair is just pure bookish joyful nonsense and I think you will enjoy the heck out of it.
Thank you! I use the CAWPILE method to rate individual aspects of the story like characters and plot in combination with my gut feeling based on 1 star being a book I hated or thought completely failed at its goal, 2 stars for books that missed the mark and/or I didn’t enjoy, 3 stars for books that were good but not exceptional, 4 stars for great books/books I really liked where something is missing or there’s one or more significant issue I can’t get past, and 5 stars for books I loved that have flaws which weren’t enough to diminish my enjoyment. I hope that helps!
I just love your reading journal videos! Where did you find the map for your Around the World Challenge? I've been trying to find a good map for coloring in countries and am having the hardest time.
I think I may have linked it in my original video creating my first reading around the world spread! That’s my “five more reading spread ideas” video ❤️
Ah yes, the pain and anticipation of having to wait for the next comic/manga release is all too real! I have one series I've been wanting to finish for probably 10 years or so that the last few volumes aren't available in translated editions. I own the non-translated copies now and can't read them 😅
I have read Monstress (volumes one and two-the second one came from my library) and I really loved them (forgot to review them though) and I might read the rest of them once I get a chance. Thank you for sharing!! 📖
They’re fantastic! I’ve never really read comics and I wasn’t sure what to expect (I read a short story collection by the author that I loved and wanted to read more of her work) and have just been blown away, honestly ❤️
I cut out a bit of a ramble of me explaining why I didn’t do that 😅 I realized I would need colours that layered well enough to show which books I read from both last year and this year, or a pattern/overlay of some kind that would likely be time consuming to draw by hand (and hard to distinguish when looking at the many teeny tiny countries on the map!) I think I’m just going to make a list to track them countries I read from each year (I already do this in a spreadsheet but I might add it into my reading journal as well) and use the map to track the overall goal!
If you want to read something from The Netherlands (for your reading around the world spread) you could try Hersenschimmen by Bernlef. I think there’s an English translation of it. It’s written in the perspective of a man who gradually gets more and more demented (I think that’s how you say it in English lol) Bernlef wrote it for his father I believe, who suffered from dementia. Such a heartbreaking good book. It’s quite short too:)
Off the wall question here but what is the name of the nail polish you have on? You always have the prettiest colors and I can never find those colors!!!
I've recently started my reading journal, but I feel like I can't really start until I get every single piece of paper and sticker and stamp available to make it look remotely decent
I started reading The Parable of the Sower not long before you, got to about 50% and saw you were reading it on Goodreads. I'm still on 50%, I just struggle to go back to it. It's so dark! I've realised recently that I look at trigger warnings in a really lax way. I should just not read books that hurt the soul. Thank you for this video. 😊 Sorry for the ramble. xx
Not that book 1 is bad by any means (gave it 4 stars), I actually much preferred parable of the Talents. it is however way too real, especially the political environment. If I didn't know Butler wrote this in 1998 or that she died in 2006, I would have guessed it was her answer to the current political climate
Butler really had a knack for intuiting how the future would play out, didn’t she? I had a tab colour dedicated to marking the places where she predicted the future a little too well for comfort 😳
Rodrigo Ray Rosa! I mentioned that I finished Severina this month and included it in this month’s stats, but created the spread for it last month since it was our book club pic for March ❤️
I’ll be talking about that in my reading vlog! I didn’t know anything about him before I started the book and only learned about that when I was halfway through or so.