Book Nerd Posts

Just getting through life one book at a time Check out my joint blog Book Addicts Anonymous CR: Carry on by Rainbow Rowell

[bookishnerd-posts]

A little update

Hi everyone! So life is still crazy and I have been struggling to find motivation to post any kind of update. However, I thought I would try and push myself to blog more. The last time I posted I had finished Good girl, bad blood and had decided to DNF Carry on, which means I have a lot to update you on.

The biggest update is that I ended up changing my career for the magical readathon to journalist or writer which means I have completed my OWLs. I did this because I have been really struggling to find the motivation to read anyway so trying to read to a specific TBR was a hard task. As a result, I decided that I would pick a new career that took the least amount of owls to complete. 

In terms of reading, I haven’t read all that much since I last updated you. I have read six books and three were graphic novels and two of those were rereads. 

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Heartstopper Vol 1 by Alice Oseman (re-read) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Heartstopper Vol 2 by Alice Oseman (re-read) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Heartstopper Vol 3 by Alice Oseman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The odd sisters by Serena Valentino ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The girl who speaks bear by Sophie Anderson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

There you have it! All of the books I have managed to read have been solid reads which is good. I am hoping that I have got my reading mojo back so I will have more to update you on. For now, feel free to share what you are reading.

- Abbie

[bookishnerd-posts]

My May Reading Plans

stHi everyone! So I have been trying to write a blog post sharing my TBR for May. However, although I do have some books I definitely want to get read because I am still completing my OWLs, I also have a tonne of books I hope to get to this month. I have also decided I want to dedicate May to sequels as I have sooo many sequels I want to read and with still being in lockdown now seems like the best time to do this. So, with this in mind I am going to share my TBR for the OWLs I still need to complete and my sequels TBR.

OWLs TBR Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Herbology) - At the time of writing this I have already started this book but it was still on the TBR for May so I felt like I should still include it.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer (Ancient Runes) - I feel like I have wanted to read this book forever so when I picked my OWLs this book fit perfectly.

The Eve Illusion by Tom Fletcher and Giovanna Fletcher (Charms) - This is actually a new addition to my OWLs because I ended up DNF’ing Carry On by Rainbow Rowell which I was reading for History of Magic. This will also fall under my sequels TBR because it is the sequel to Eve of Man (which I will also be reading before this book this month). 

The diary of a bookseller by Shaun Bythell (Arithmacy) - The prompt for this was to read a book outside your comfort zone and this book definitely fit the bill as it is nonfiction which is something wayyy outside my comfort zone. I am actually going to try to read this book in a day so we shall see how that goes.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (Defence against the dark arts) - I have recently started the mortal instruments and I bought the infernal devices which starts with this book.

Sequels TBR The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman - This is the second book in the his dark materials trilogy which I started at the end of last year by reading Northern Lights. 

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare - I read the first book of the mortal instruments last month and this is the second so I really want to delve deeper into this world.

The Deck of Omens - This book is the sequel to The Devouring Gray which I really enjoyed so I can’t wait to pick this up.

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman - This is the second book in the Arc of Scythe trilogy. I read Scythe a couple of months ago and loved it so I really need to pick up this one.

I think that is it! I am very aware of how ambitious I am being and I’m probably unlikely to get around to them all but I will get around to them at some point so I just thought I would include them in this list. Feel free to share what you hope to read in May.

- Abbie

[bookishnerd-posts]

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

So...I DNF’d this book.

It wasn’t a decision I made lightly. I really, really tried. I hate having to DNF books but sometimes you just have to do it. I was really determined to keep going because it has been on my TBR for so long and I was reading it for my OWLs but it just wasn’t working for me. 

The major issue I had was the plot. The only way I could describe it is if Harry Potter was just the last book. It’s like you get no back story or plot development to where you are in that book other than the characters recalling situations from their previous years. There was nothing that made me want to keep reading which naturally made it hard to keep reading. I actually flicked through some of the pages to see if it got any better and I found that I practically predicted the major revelations of the books. It’s that predictable.

I just found the overall plot and world really basic. 

That is all.

[bookishnerd-posts]

Bookish musings #1

I am really struggling to get into my current read - carry on by Rainbow Rowell - but I need to read it for my OWLs. I am hoping that it will pick up soon. I also have a strong urge to buy a book by V.E. Schwabb

[bookaddictsanon]

Reading Habits...

So everybody reads differently. We all have our different idiosyncrasies when it comes to our reading habits. So Abbie and I decided to share ours with the world. Do you do any of these? Or do you have any reading habits that we haven’t mentioned?

Poly Reading

Charliiey - I am a poly reader, I can read a number of books at any one time. I do however try to make sure that they are all different in genres so that I don’t confuse the stories with one another. So at the moment I am reading a children’s classic fiction, a collection of short stories and a non-fiction book.

Abbie - Most of the time I only read one book at once. However, there have been rare occasions where I have been reading more than one book at once. I also really love audio books and so sometimes I will have a physical book and an audiobook.

Bookmarks

Charliiey - I collect bookmarks and for the most part I do use them. Although to be honest if you were to look around my house you would probably find a coupe of books that are just laid upside down. I mostly use a bookmark in order to mark where I am going to read to, whilst I am reading.

Abbie - I use to dog-ear books w=but then I learnt the error of my ways and started using bookmarks.

Background Noise

Charliiey - Sometimes I listen to instrumental/piano music on spotify in the background whilst I read, but I really can’t concentrate if the TV is on or someone is speaking, I would just get distracted. However, on my commute to work I listen to my music and I can concentrate. I think it’s because I am far less likely to burst into song and dance on the bus.

Abbie - Recently my favourite thing to do whilst reading is to watch booktube. I like having some background noise and it motivates me to read.

Breaking the spine and annotating

Charliiey - Yes I do break the spine, I can’t read a book without opening it properly. It’s the sign of a well-loved book, when it has been broken. I annotate m y books by highlighting quotes that I thought were interesting or really funny. 

Abbie - I rarely break the spine, although I have started doing it if my hands are hurting from reading. I don’t annotate books. There isn’t a particular reason why, I just don’t have the same inclination to do so that others do.

Skip pages or read ahead

Charliiey - I try not to skip ahead because I liked to be surprised at the outcome. I do find myself almost skim reading when the book is at an exciting or a tense section.

Abbie - I used to be really bad for this at school when we would have to read a book for English, because we would have to read it at the same pace so I would sometimes flick to the end in order to see what happened.

[bookishnerd-posts]

Good girl, bad blood by Holly Jackson

Warning - may contain spoilers for A good girl’s guide to murder

Pip Fitz-Amobi is not a detective any more. With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her. But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared but the police won’t do anything about it. And if they won’t look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town’s dark secrets along the way… and this time EVERYONE is listening. But will she find him before it’s too late?

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

I have to admit that I didn’t love this book as much as I did the first one. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoyed it and read it in two days but I just felt that something was missing. Although I was intrigued with the plot, it did feel a bit strange and far fetched. It almost ended up feeling forced, like things were being made to fit together even though it didn’t make sense. Also slight spoiler for a good girl’s guide to murder, but what is up with the history teachers being involved in some way? Overall, I did still enjoy the book but it was just a little lacking.

[bookishnerd-posts]

Weekly reading update #1

Hi everyone! So this is something I started on my old blog and I quite enjoyed posting it so I thought I would keep it as a feature on here. It’ll probably a bit shorter on here because not all my posts need to be crazy long like they did on my old blog. 

This week I have finished two books. I recently started on my owls (which I posted about yesterday) and managed to complete divination and muggle studies. For divination I read City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, the first book in the mortal instruments series. I was nervous going into this because it has very polar opinions - some people love it and some people hate it. I actually ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. It is a slight slog to get through just because it is such a long book but it’s so immersive and I can’t wait to dive deeper into the whole shadowhunters world.

For muggle studies I finished Girl Good Bad Blood by Holly Jackson which was the sequel to A good girl’s guide to murder. Although I did enjoy it, I didn’t love it quite as much as I loved the first one. However, I will be sharing my thoughts in a separate review. I am currently working on herbology by reading Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. At the time of writing I am less than 50 pages in so I haven’t read enough to make any informed opinions about it yet. However, I might post little daily updates on the books I am reading if I have any major thoughts I feel like I want to share. 

Feel free to share what you are reading!

- Abbie

[bookishnerd-posts]

My OWLs TBR

Hi everyone! So recently I started the magical readathon with my friend Charliiey (who also co-authors Book Addicts Anonymous with me) which is based on the careers of the Harry Potter world and what exams you would need to complete for those careers which all have reading prompts associated with them (also known as OWLs). Although I have already completed two of my owls I thought I would share what is on my TBR anyway. I decided that I was going to study for the career hogwarts professor so I have to study for defence against the dark arts along with six other subjects of my choice.

Defence against the dark arts - Book set at the sea or coast (Grindylows) – Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Herbology – A title that starts with M (mimbulus mimbletonia) – Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

History of Magic – Book featuring witches or wizards (witch hunts) – Carry on by Rainbow Rowell

Ancient Runes – Heart on the cover on in the title (heart rune) – Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Divination – Assign numbers to your TBR and use a random number generator to pick your read (third eye) – City of bones by Cassandra Clare

Muggle studies - Read a contemporary - Good girl bad blood by Holly Jackson

Arithmacy - Read a book outside your favourite genre (magical qualities of 2: balance/opposites) - The diary of a bookseller

There you have it!

- Abbie

[bookishnerd-posts]

Welcome!

Hi everyone! I have been a book blogger for some time now and thought I would move over to tumblr. I used to use tumblr when I was younger but then moved to blogger and Wordpress. I thought I would come back here because there is a lot more flexibility and honestly blogging has only ever been a hobby for me so I don’t need anything fancy. I have also started a joint blog with a friend called Book Addicts Anonymous as a way for us to stay occupied during lockdown. I will be using my personal blog for book reviews and other bookish updates and Book Addicts Anonymous will have a tonne of book tags and our opinions on books we have read and all that good stuff.

That’s all I have to say!

- Abbie

[bookaddictsanon]

Welcome to Book Addicts Anonymous!

HI!

My friend Abbie and I decided that a good way to keep ourselves occupied during quarantine would be to co-author a blog about books, because that is what we know best. 

We both have our own primary blogs but are using this one in order to bring all of our ideas together. My blog is called: strugglesofasleepybookworm and Abbie’s is called: booknerd-posts.

We will be using this blog to do various different tags and reading challenges and as an outlet to talk about our favourite books.

 - Charliiey