Tag: january

#WrapPost – January 2021!

The Biblioshelf6 Comments

Happy February Bibliofriends!

Life Update

Lockdown 3.0 has definitely put the kibosh on any kind of social life this month so I’ve been taking the opportunity to enjoy some down-time and catch up on things. Even though I’m still going into work every day, a habit that I have definitely tried to keep up so far is to make sure that I get outside and take myself off for a daily walk, even if it is just around the village. We had some snow in the middle of the month which was super exciting and it was wonderful to see our picturesque landscape become even more magical and beautiful!

As far as the blog goes, I’ve definitely been more active this month than I was for the last three months of 2020! I haven’t been reviewing many books though – I think I’ve kind of hit my reviewing wall where it sometimes feels that although I’ve got a lot of thoughts about a book, I’m just not sure how to even write them down or if I even should! Anyone else get reviewers block? What do you do to combat it? #tipsplease!

What I’ve Been Reading in January

January has been a pretty great month for reading! I’ve managed to finish five books and am almost finished my 6th. I pretty much stuck to the TBR I set out myself at the start of the year with the addition of a couple extra.

  • The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna (Physical ARC from FairyLoot)
    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    This book had such a brilliant main character. I loved the concept of the plot and the way the heritage and traditions of another culture were interwoven with the magic and folklore of the story. One of the main things that shone for me was the fact that all of the girls in the story were from various backgrounds and races yet their differences were completely cast aside; they all brought something unique and special to their group in order to face the evils they had to contend with in the story. It was really empowering to have a cast of characters who showed their vulnerabilities yet supported each other to be strong and courageous at the same time. The Gilded Ones publishes on February 9th 2021!
  • How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black
    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    As soon as this arrived I had to read it straightaway! I was head-over-heels for the Folk of the Air Series so this return to the world of Elfhame to read more of Jude and Cardan’s story was an absolute auto-buy. The illustrations were so beautiful. It reads as more of a short story style novella as we experiences different snapshots of Cardan’s life at various time intervals with one over-arching storyline plot which is tied together at the end. I gave it 5-stars purely for the nostalgia of being back in a series which I loved so much!
  • Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    When I first read a sampler of this pre-publication I knew I would be adding this book to my TBR straightaway and I’m king of annoyed with myself that it took me so long to get round to reading the rest of it. The first part of the story is so rich in setting up the world and the mythology of Aritsar that I was captivated. I had been looking for fantasies that would appeal to my needs for diversity and different cultures and this one definitely stepped up to the plate. I can’t wait for the sequel!
  • Locke and Key, Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez (Artist)
    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    I don’t usually tend to read comics or graphic novels but… after spending an entire weekend bingeing the Locke and Key series on Netflix I just had to investigate the original inspiration as soon as the final episode credits rolled. I think I’ll be doing a series vs graphic novel post about it so I won’t say too much here but the Netflix series blew my mind!!
  • Requiem by Daniel Ståhl (Author Request)
    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
    I was so pleased to be contacted by Daniel to read his poetry book Requiem which was published in December 2020 and is soon to be coming out in paperback. I’ll have a review coming up later this month with more information but the meticulous way Daniel crafted out his crowns of sonnets was so intriguing and unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It’s absolutely brilliant!

What I’ve Been Watching in January

January has definitely been a much more settled month after the chaos of moving house and Christmas at the end of 2020. We were without a TV for a while so I have very much enjoyed being able to unwind with Netflix and Disney+ again!

I finally finished my marathon of Hannah Montana episodes! I had seen the movie aaaggggeeeeess ago – so long in fact that I couldn’t actually remember what happened or who was even in it! When I got Disney+ I started watching all of the episodes of the TV show again with the aim of finishing off with the movie. It was around halfway through the final season where Hannah reveals herself as Miley that it suddenly dawned on me ‘how did she make a movie as Hannah if she’d already revealed herself to the world as Miley…?’ then I found a Reddit forum where it outlined the timeline of the shows and when the movie fitted in – it was such a face palm moment!

As I mentioned earlier in my reads section, I totally binged Locke and Key on Netflix. Magical keys in a big spooky house – wowzers!! And the ending… 😱 I will be needing the next series in my life. So. Very. Soon.

The series I most recently finished was Lupin; a series about a thief who wants to avenge his father’s suicide and takes his inspiration from the novels about the French Gentleman Thief Arsène Lupin by Maurice LeBlanc. Omar Sy is absolutely stellar as the lead character. Although I could see a couple of the plot twists coming, there are still enough unsolved questions for me to still be curious and in anticipation of Part 2! If you’re an Ocean’s Eleven / Sherlock Holmes fan then this would probably be right up your street!

#ConfessionTime – I’m also very hooked on The Masked Singer on ITV. I know it’s complete cheese TV but I just can’t help switching it on to try and guess who they all are! I’m adamant the Sausage is Sheridan Smith (p.s. I’m writing this on the last Saturday of Jan and there’s a double elimination tonight so if Sausage gets booted out, then my above sentence is still contextually accurate and I’ve probably been too lazy to come back here and edit it out! 😂 🙈)

I have managed to avoid everything Bridgerton at the moment, even though I love Shonda Rhimes, but I think I’m just fooling myself and will probably end up watching it soon… Should I??????

What I’ve Been Listening to in January

It’s pretty much been a literal never-ending shuffle play of Folklore, Evermore and Plastic Hearts…

What I’ve Been Doing in January

  • Very little – and loving it!
  • Reading, reading reading!
  • Discovering that Biscoff Apple Crumble is actually a very real and oh so delectable pudding! 😍
  • Walking!
  • Continuing my shiny quest in Pokémon Go – I’ve caught 6 in Jan: Jigglypuff, Machop, Weedle, Mareep x2 and Eevee, but no Sneasel or Miltank 🙁!
  • Becoming a Microsoft Teams / Remote Learning Aficionado – (who am I kidding?!) 😂

What I’m Looking Forward to it February

  • Finally being subscribed to Illumicrate! I took out my book-only subscription earlier in Jan so I’m hoping that I’ll be getting this month’s book!
  • Half Term holiday!
  • More adventuring in the great local outdoors and hopefully some more Pokémon shinies too (not gonna lie, sometimes it’s the only reason I go for a walk!) 😂

And that’s a wrap! What have you been reading/watching/listening to/doing in January? What are your anticipated reads for next month? How are you coping with Lockdown 3.0?

As always, drop me a comment to chat! ☺️

T xx

#SixforSunday – Bookish Hates

The Biblioshelf4 Comments

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

It’s the end of January and strangely this feels like such a short month in some respects (Lockdown 3.0 I’m looking at you 🙄) but then in others it seems to have gone at a nice tranquil pace…! The snow has kickstarted my love for the great outdoors so I’ve been making sure to take myself out for a walk as soon as I get home from work. Our village has these lovely trees along the High Street which are all lit up with beautiful white fairy lights so it’s very pretty to walk around in the evenings.

This week’s Six for Sunday was quite a tricky one for me as I found the theme very broad. Today we’re thinking about Bookish Hates and I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to go for tropes I found annoying, bookish pet peeves or other random things I don’t like to do with books – so this might all be a mish-mash! For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Bookish Hates!

  1. Reading with the dust jacket on!
    I cannot read a hardback book and keep the dust jacket on it while reading. It just keeps moving around and then I worry about finger prints all over the artwork, or ripping/creasing the cover and I’m just so pedantic over it all that I end up taking the cover off to read the book. My pernickety-ness gets even worse if the hardcover is foiled because then I have to hold it so carefully to try not to rub the foiling off! 🙈

  2. Deja-Vu
    Now this one is probably by own fault because I read so much fantasy, but do you ever have that feeling when you’re reading a book and you’re sure you’ve read it before but you know you can’t have done as the book you’re reading only just came out…? There are so many times I’ve read a plot which is just like another plot and it just puts me into a reading slump. I end up needing to go to a different genre just to get my reading mojo back.

  3. Trending Titles
    Similarly to the above, ever since a book series seems to have gone interstellar there always seems to be releases afterwards which border on plagiaristic titles. Things like ‘A Court of…’ or ‘A ___ of ___ and ___’ (insert various birds, animals, collective nouns, weapons or weather elements here).

  4. The De-Facto Romantic Interlude
    Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the odd swoon every now again when a writer does romance and does it well. But I just can’t help from eye-rolling everytime the MC suddenly falls in insta-love with their sidekick who they’re now suddenly seeing in a new light… it feels like the romance is just shoved in as a tenuous sideplot because there’s clearly nothing else those characters can do in their story anymore. Whatever happened to mutuality and just great friendships?!
  5. The Cover-Swap
    Yes I am that person that has to have matching editions of a series. It really bugs me when cover designs change halfway through a series and it makes me not want to order the books anymore – either that or secretly order a new set with all matching covers and pretend that they looked like that all along! I have also been known to trawl eBay checking ISBN numbers before I buy – damn those stock photos! 😂

  6. The Photo Cover
    Don’t ask me why but I really don’t like it when there is a photograph of a real person on the cover of a book. It puts me right off and freaks me out a little bit for some reason. Drawings on the other hand, I can totally cope with! 🙃

What are your bookish hates? Feel free to rant and offload, get all that angry angst about spilled tea, cracked spines and mis-matched book series out… you know you want to! 😂
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Books I’m Excited For in 2021

The Biblioshelf2 Comments

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

Yet another week of lockdown done and dusted! This week’s Six For Sunday, continuing with our ‘It’s All About Books’ theme is centred around ‘Books I’m Excited For in 2021’. So I’m practically super excited for my physical 2021 TBR but I feel like I’ve already mentioned those books a load of times already. My ‘anticipated reads’ game has also been way off so far, mainly because I’ve been concentrating on getting through the afore mentioned TBR and finishing series rather than starting them! With that in mind, I’ve actually gone through my NetGalley Request list and added a few of those in here too as I’m obviously intrigued to read them when they are released later in 2021…!

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Books I’m Excited to Read in 2021!

  1. Written in Starlight by Isabel Ibanez – publishes Jan 2021
    I’m already a little confused as to whether this is a sequel or a companion novel? I purposefully haven’t read the blurb but I just remember loving Ximena’s magic and woolly animals in the first novel that I’m definitely going to have to Ibanez’s follow up. I’ve recently read some reviews digging a little deeper into the representation (or misrepresentation may be more accurate) Woven In Moonlight gave about Bolivian politics so I’m intrigued as to what this novel will be like.

    Blurb from Goodreads:
    An adventerous South American Tomb Raider! This hotly anticipated companion to Woven in Moonlight follows an outcast Condesa, as she braves the jungle to forge an alliance with the lost city of gold.
    If the jungle wants you, it will have you…
    Catalina Quiroga is a Condesa without a country. She’s lost the Inkasisa throne, the loyalty of her people, and her best friend. Banished to the perilous Yanu Jungle, Catalina knows her chances of survival are slim, but that won’t stop her from trying to escape. It’s her duty to reclaim the throne.
    When Manuel, the son of her former general, rescues Catalina from a jaguar, a plan forms. Deep in the jungle, the city of gold is hidden, home to the fierce Illari people, who she could strike an alliance with.
    But the elusive Illari are fighting a battle of their own—a mysterious blight is corrupting the jungle, laying waste to everything they hold dear. As a seer, Catalina should be able to help, but her ability to read the future in the stars is as feeble as her survival instincts. While searching for the Illari, Catalina must reckon with her duty and her heart to find her true calling, which could be the key to stopping the corruption before it destroys the jungle completely.
  2. Poison Priestess (Lady Slayers) by Lana Popovic – publishes April 2021
    I absolutely loved Popovic’s writing style and world-building in Wicked Like A Wildfire and although I’m yet to read the sequel to that duology, I’m still really excited to see what tales Popovic weaves in this second instalment of the Lady Slayers series.

    Blurb from Goodreads:
    In 17th-century Paris, 19-year-old Catherine Monvoisin is a well-heeled jeweler’s wife with a peculiar taste for the arcane. She lives a comfortable life, far removed from a childhood of abject destitution—until her kind spendthrift of a husband lands them both in debt. Hell-bent on avoiding a return to poverty, Catherine must rely on her prophetic visions and the grimoire gifted to her by a talented diviner to reinvent herself as a sorceress. With the help of the grifter Marie Bosse, Catherine divines fortunes in the IIle de la Citee—home to sorcerers and scoundrels.
    There she encounters the Marquise de Montespan, a stunning noblewoman. When the Marquise becomes Louis XIV’s royal mistress with Catherine’s help, her ascension catapults Catherine to notoriety. Catherine takes easily to her glittering new life as the Sorceress La Voisin, pitting the depraved noblesse against one other to her advantage. The stakes soar ever higher when her path crosses with that of a young magician. A charged rivalry between sorceress and magician leads to Black Masses, tangled deceptions, and grisly murder—and sets Catherine on a collision course that threatens her own life.
  3. All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’ Donoghue – publishes July 2021
    Not gonna lie – the pretty cover drew me in and then the Tarot Cards had me sold on this one! I’m keeping my fingers crossed I get this arc request as it sounds like such a fun read!

    Blurb from Goodreads:
    Maeve Chambers doesn’t have much going for her. Not only does she feel like the sole idiot in a family of geniuses, she managed to drive away her best friend Lily a year ago. But when she finds a pack of dusty old tarot cards at school, and begins to give scarily accurate readings to the girls in her class, she realizes she’s found her gift at last. Things are looking up – until she discovers a strange card in the deck that definitely shouldn’t be there. And two days after she convinces her ex-best friend to have a reading, Lily disappears.
    Can Maeve, her new friend Fiona and Lily’s brother Roe find her? And will their special talents be enough to bring Lily back, before she’s gone for good?
  4. She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan – publishes July 2021
    The description of this book gave me such Mulan vibes and even better that it’s based on the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

    Blurb from Goodreads:
    Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy.
    To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything
    “I refuse to be nothing…”
    In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…
    In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.
    When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.
    After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother’s abandoned greatness.

    At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
  5. Rainbow in the Dark by Sean McGinty – publishes August 2021
    Yet again, I’m such a clickbait for taglines on books. Wizard of Oz meets Ready Player One *jaw drop*! I need this book in my life and cannot wait for it to come out! #praystothenetgalleygods

    Blurb from Goodreads:
    The Wizard of Oz meets Ready Player One in this darkly comic YA novel about identity, depression, giving up, and finding your way home.
    High school senior Rainbow is trapped with three other teens in a game-like world that may or may not be real. Together, they must complete quests and gain experience in order to access their own forgotten memories, decode what has happened to them, and find a portal home.
    As Rainbow’s memories slowly return, the story of a lonely teen facing senior year as the new kid in a small town emerges. Surreal, absurdist humor balances sensitively handled themes of suicide, depression, and the search for identity in an unpredictable and ultimately hopeful page-turner that’s perfect for fans of Shaun David Hutchinson, Adam Silvera, and Libba Bray’s Going Bovine.
  6. A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer – publishes Jan 2021
    This is one trilogy finale that I will be needing to read sooner rather than later! I loved the first two in the Cursebreakers series and after reading a sneak peek of AVSBAD from each character’s perspective then this one is definitely going to be added to the purchase list!

    Blurb from Goodreads:
    Face your fears, fight the battle.
    Emberfall is crumbling fast, torn between those who believe Rhen is the rightful prince and those who are eager to begin a new era under Grey, the true heir. Grey has agreed to wait two months before attacking Emberfall, and in that time, Rhen has turned away from everyone—even Harper, as she desperately tries to help him find a path to peace. 
    Fight the battle, save the kingdom.
    Meanwhile, Lia Mara struggles to rule Syhl Shallow with a gentler hand than her mother. But after enjoying decades of peace once magic was driven out of their lands, some of her subjects are angry Lia Mara has an enchanted prince and magical scraver by her side. As Grey’s deadline draws nearer, Lia Mara questions if she can be the queen her country needs.
    As two kingdoms come closer to conflict, loyalties are tested, love is threatened, and an old enemy resurfaces who could destroy them all, in this stunning conclusion to bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer’s Cursebreaker series.

What books are you looking forward to reading in 2021? What do you think will be your most anticipated read of the year?
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Books I Wish I’d Read in 2020.

The Biblioshelf8 Comments

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

How has your week been? Me and my Team are getting down with the Microsoft Teams Teaching – got to say, I love how organised and structured everything is! Must be the teeny little nerd inside me!

This week’s Six For Sunday, continuing with our ‘It’s All About Books’ theme is centred around ‘Books I Wish I’d Read in 2020’… I mean, this could be a complete randomly generated list of my TBR pile to be honest as I wish I’d been able to read EVERYTHING! 😂🙈 Anyhow, I was going to use a random generator to just select some random choices, but the minute I scrolled though my Goodreads list, the choices just kind of came to me naturally!
Disclaimer: I’ve tried my absolute hardest to ensure I’m not putting The Poppy War on this list (because it’s basically on every other post I write about nowadays)! 😬

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Books I Wish I’d Read in 2020!

Book 1 and Book 2:

Ok, so I had to include these two on here because *whispers* – I haven’t actually read A Court of Frost and Starlight yet and now that A Court of Silver Flames is getting closer to release, the hype for this series is just rebuilding and rebuilding across all of my social media feeds and I know I’ll end up needing to read them ASAP. With Crescent City, I have not been spoiled yet at all which is amazing as I’m dying to dive into this series and with the sheer size of the book and the amount of brainpower I know it’s going to sap from me, I kind of wish I’d read it already.

Book 3:

Since Ready Player One is one of my all-time favourite books in the universe, it makes sense that I wish I’d read Ready Player Two in 2020 at the absolute minute of its release… but I didn’t. I’m kind of waiting for the paperback as my copy of RP1 is in that format and I wanted them to match (yes, I’m one of those people!), and also – I just don’t think I’m mentally ready for the sequel yet! 🙈

Book 4:

In 2020, we lost one of my favourite authors in the world. He was an absolute auto-buy (no matter the format!) and his writing voice was like nothing else I have ever read before nor will probably read again. I wanted to set myself a challenge of reading his complete Cemetery of Forgotten Books series again from the beginning and ending with the last book he ever wrote ‘The Labyrinth of the Spirits’, but other things just got in the way. It’s a weird, strange and completely somber feeling knowing that when I read The Labyrinth of the Spirits for the first time, it’ll also be the final time I get to immerse myself in his writing without knowing where the story will end up.

Book 5:

Dune – OK, so basically the only reason I wish I’d read this last year is because I really, really wanted to read the book before the movie came out. Due to Covid, the movie has been delayed so I’ve kind of already had my reading period extension and although I doubt the cinema will be opening again in the near future I really want to bump this one up the TBR pile to get through it in time!

Book 6:

I have heard no end of good things about this series and I’m really intrigued to find out what all the fuss is about! I wish I ‘d read it when it first came out so that I don’t end up overhyping myself for it!

What are the books you wish you read in 2020? Did you end up managing to clear some off your TBR shelf anyway?
As always, leave your links below to your own posts or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Bookish Wins of 2020

The Biblioshelf6 Comments

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

Well flipping done Boris!!! I mean, fancy having all your kids back to school for one day then telling them they can’t come back in for the rest of the term… AT 8PM ON A MONDAY NIGHT!! 😂🙈 #shortesttermever!!

That aside, we’re now using Microsoft Teams to do our online teaching and I must say I’m absolutely loving it!! I’ve never been so organised with all my files, folders and powerpoints everywhere! Obviously I wish I was still stood directly in front of my children actually teaching rather than death by powerpoint but oh well! With that in mind, spending all day on Teams and then coming home and trying to blog did not mix incredibly well and my scheduled posts went back down to big fat zero!

Onto Six for Sunday goodness! For January our theme is ‘It’s All About Boooooooks!” and this week the prompt is Bookish Wins of 2020. I got a little confused at first about what that actually meant: is it supposed to be my favourite books of 2020; good bookish things that happened in 2020? 🤔 Let’s face it, I think the pure existence of anything bookish was 2020’s greatest achievement alone! With that in mind, here are six totally random things that I consider to be a bookish win of 2020 – remember the word ‘random’ when you get to the bottom!

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Bookish wins of 2020!

  1. Releases actually happened!!
    On a globe where everything was shut down to the extent that the canals in Venice actually ran clear, I think any book release that managed to hit the shelves in 2020 was a major achievement (side-eyeing Bond: No Time to Die – I’m still waiting!!!). I know that books sometimes take years to get to full publication stage but kudos to those people actually ensuring that they made their way from the machine and onto my bookshelves. There were some pretty amazing releases last year and I mention several of my favourites in my previous post about my best reads of 2020.
  2. People rediscovering reading during lockdown!
    It’s been said that one of most popular hobbies people rediscovered during lockdown was the joy of reading books – especially in the garden with a glass of wine… (although that was probably just me!).
  3. Bookshop.org!
    With businesses being shut down and ending up in financial difficulties, bookshop.org was one of the lights in the darkness for all of our sacred indie bookshops. I have been one of those self-confessed shoppers who bought a whole basket of books on Amazon because they were cheaper than anywhere else – but this pandemic has really brought to light the hardships faced by our independent bookshops. It has ignited my passion to perhaps buy fewer books across the year but purchase them through more rewarding channels, especially now that I have an indie bookshop in my village (when lockdown is actually over and I can visit it…).
  4. NetGalley release the Shelf app!
    OMG Netgalley’s Shelf app totally revolutionised my ability to actually read and make it through all of those arcs! I know it still isn’t perfect, especially when you normally only read e-books on an iPhone like I do (tiny-text-alert) but in my personal opinion, it really improved the productivity and experience of being able to request books on NetGalley and not have to struggle through some sort of Aldiko or Adobe app just to read them.
  5. Cheltenham Literature Festival went online!
    The Cheltenham Literature Festival is one of my favourite events of the whole year! How many times do you get to meet Salman Rushdie, Sarah J Maas or Mary Berry and have them sign your books? Or even get to sit in a tent with Matt Haig whilst there’s a howling storm outside shaking the whole damn thing – only for him to turn around and quip, “never mind Notes on a Nervous Planet – how about Notes from a Nervous Tent!” Whilst nothing can live up to spending time meeting authors face-to-face and having them sign your books, or to spend time wandering through the stacks in the book tent with a crepe or some kind of amazing street-food fayre – just having the events online or on a catch-up player so you can watch the ones that take place in the day when you’d normally be working was amazing. I’d definitely pay extra for that kind of catch-up service again this October, although hopefully we’ll be back in the tents by then!
  6. The Books themselves – my shelves are WINNING!
    Let’s face it – the books themselves are what matters right? So many awesome titles made their way onto my brand new bookshelves last year that my 2021 reading list is looking stellar! I have The Poppy War trilogy, The Daevabad trilogy, Raybearer, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin and Crescent City still to read – I know I’m leaving it mightily late with some of those! 🙈 And that’s not to mention the ones that I actually did get around to reading – Addie LaRue, The Once and Future Witches and Woven in Moonlight are still some of the favourites on there! So yeah, my 2020 book haul was a major WINNER!

I told you it was all random right?! 😉

What are your bookish wins for 2020? Would it be something to do with your own reads, a newly discovered author, a bookish event that got you shouting from the rooftops, or some other bookish news or release that made you get that winning feeling?
As always, leave your links below or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

#SixforSunday – Bookish Resolutions for 2021

The Biblioshelf4 Comments

Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

Happy New Year everyone! It’s the first Six For Sunday of 2021!! Yippee!
I really love this weekly tag that the lovely Steph (THANK YOU!🙏) created back in 2017 as it isn’t too challenging and the prompts come well in advanced so that I can keep myself organised – that feels like a luxury sometimes these day! 🙄

For this brand new month, in a brand new year our January theme is ‘It’s All About Boooooooks!” – I mean, what better theme to start 2021 off with right?

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Bookish Resolutions for 2021!

Now, kidding aside – I suck at New Year Resolutions! I love the idea of a new beginning and the start of some good habits etc… but I can never seem to stay on track. I don’t know whether it’s my Taurean nature or just the sheer amount of time/effort/energy that adulating takes up (😂😂😂) but there’s rarely an ambitious habit that I can stick to. So who knows what’ll happen this time next year and whether I’ll have actually achieved any of these goals or not!

  1. Keep on reading!
    2020 was the first year since 2017 that I actually managed to complete my Goodreads Challenge Goal so I’m hoping to keep that up this year and not fall behind again.
  2. Stick to the TBR!
    I always end up making goals and TBR lists which I never actually complete – sometimes it’s because I’m a mood reader although occasionally it’s because other things just distract me away from the pile. There are definitely some complete series I have which I now own and want to read in their entirety this year. They are: The Poppy War by R.F. Kung (my gorgeous Illumicrate Editions! 😍); The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty and the Ember in the Ashes Series by Sabaa Tahir.
  3. Expand my reading horizons!
    This year I really want to make more of an effort to read more diversely. Quite often my TBR and shelves consist of incredibly mainstream books so this is the year I hope to change that.
  4. Visit the library!
    Now that I can actually walk to my local library, hopefully (once normality has been restored after bloody Covid!) I’ll be able to spend more time borrowing books rather than buying a load and then not having anywhere to put them. I’m so surprised I haven’t actually had an accident from tripping over a pile of books dotted somewhere around my house! 🙈
  5. Blog, blog, blog!
    Not gonna lie, having a little headspace during National Lockdown really did help me to revitalise my blog and get organised enough to keep up a steady stream of content and even think up a few ideas for some original post content. Hopefully now my job will be calming down again soon I can keep up the fun bloggishness!
  6. Getting the Bookstagram back up and running!
    I got into such a rut with my Bookstagram account as I just couldn’t keep up with the photo challenges or I felt that my background “theme” was the same all of the time and just got boring. As part of my bujo I’ve made a special Insta page so hopefully I’ll be more organised to start updating it more frequently this year! That’s the plan anyway! 😂

What are your bookish goals for 2021? Do you always stick to your New Year Resolutions or are you a bit of a drifter like me?
As always, leave your links below or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx