April 2024 TBR

We are halfway through April, but I still need to determine what I want to read. I am planning on participating in the Odyssey Bookly Readathon, which will take place from April 19th to the 28th. They have some reading challenges, but I will only focus on reading for 8 hours that week. 

Some changes are going to happen. I am also applying to get my teaching credential in special education. Those applications and FAFSA are due on the 30th. I am nervous. I am having panic attacks just thinking about all the paperwork that will go into getting started. This is also the start of a significant change in my life. I know I am ready, but I still feel like that 23-year-old who felt she wasn’t worthy of having her classroom. It is weird. However, this is a good positive change that needs to happen.

To move on, I have a tentative list of books I might read. Since we are halfway through the month, any books that are crossed out are books that I have completed so far. So, let’s begin. 

1. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and The Battle of the Labyrinth. 
2. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian
3. Thi Bui – The Best We Could Do
4. Wendy Mass – Every Soul a Star. 

Those are the four books that I plan on reading this month. 

I hope your April is going well and you are enjoying the adventures in the pages of your books. 

Until next time, 

Super Bookworm

Changes

To my wonderful readers and followers:

I need to make a small change in my posting schedule. Originally, I was posting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. However, in the past two weeks, I have been missing my Friday postings. I am sorry for that.

In addition to missing my postings, I also have not been reading as much. This month has just been exhausting and tiring. By the time I finally have some free time, I am just too tired to do anything. All I want to do is sleep. I am not sure if it is a depression episode, or just COVID, or both, but it is all I can think about is how tired I am.

I have also been having some exhausting weeks at work where I leave work feeling like I haven’t given my best even though I felt like I gave everything that I possibly could give. I feel like the expectations are impossible to follow. It is trying to do ten things all at once at the same time with 100% my attention and perfection. In short, I feel like I am failing, and I am internalizing this failure.

My new plans are to make posts twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. I am hoping that by dropping a posting a week, I will not feel as bad as I have been in the past two weeks. I also hope that by doing this I can focus more on reading and my mental health.

Thank you, and have a wonderful day.
Super Bookworm

Little Changes

It is weird how the littlest of changes can make a big impact? I realize that is what this year is all about. There have been so many changes and they range from small to large, but they all resulted in some massive changes. But right now I am looking at the background of my blog and I cannot believe how much of a difference it makes. On one hand, I feel that it is too dark for me, but looking at it, it feels right. Everything is lining up perfectly and the image is not that blurry. I am able to look at this background and see all these books and candles. It is making me both happy and sad. Happy for the change and see a clearer image, but sad that it took me a while to do so.

In doing so, I also had to make a change with the header. Again it is amazing to see the difference from when I first started to what I just put up. The earlier images were very blurry and hard to see. My lines were very jagged. I even had some horrible editing with horrible erasing, shoddy ways in being able to see the words, to who knows what else (I am just too tired and done with thinking in the negative). It was just a mess. But now, everything looks clearer. A part of me is asking why there is such a stark difference?

I do not feel like I have improved that much in Photoshop skills over the years. I cannot do what the master’s do. I do not know all the codes and shortcuts that exist. I don’t feel like I have changed in my structure in use. The frequency has changed. Since we have been doing online learning I have been using Photoshop more in creating stickers with the teacher and mine bit emojis. Though I don’t feel like it would help me improve that much.  Would it? I have left both images at the bottom for you to see. Just click on the image to see it better.

In the end, I just wanted to comment on the changes that I happened. What do you think? Do you think that the changes are good? What changes have you seen in yourself this year? Are they positive or negative? I do hope that they are positive changes and they are helping you learn and grow as a person.

 

Until next time,

Super Bookworm

The 2018 Year in Review

As I am sitting here on my freshly made bed, I have decided that I needed to look back onto this year and see the growth that I have made. To tell you the truth, I need to find something positive. I am going to a New Years party over at a friend’s house and my depression is starting to kick in. I am feeling melancholy and is in a desperate need of a hug and probably a good cry or a funny movie. Let’s go with a funny movie.

This year I read a total of 40 books and according to Goodreads a total of 7,710 pages. That is not bad. I also realize that this will not be accurate since I stopped using Goodreads for a while. I just was focused on reading and not using my phone to update on my reading.

What is sad that the best book that I have read this year happened last week while I was getting my hair done. Just to clarify. I did not force myself to read bad books, and all of the books that I have read, I did enjoy. It was that the best book of my year, I read last week. What made it sadder was that I was hoping that the author continued the book in a series, since the ending made it seemed that way, and there were no other books for me to read. Though I will say that I did enjoy the book and loved laughing at the silly antics that was going on with our main characters. That book was Sanity & Tallulah by Molly Brooks.

I will also admit that I have been reading a lot more fanfic. That has taken over my reading time and what I have been focusing on in reading. I can tell you that I have read several series, some of them are not complete yet, and others are. Some of the fics that I have read, I have enjoyed just as much, or even more, than an actual book.

With that stated, I just realized that I did not write a New Year’s resolution for 2018. I have written it in my journal but forgot to make a post. In fact, looking at last year, I realize that I have not made as many posts as I thought I did. So let me quickly put up some reading goals for 2018

1. Read 25 to 50 books – completed that goal with 40 books
2. Read books for enjoyment, not to complete my reading goal – most of my books have been four stars and above. However, like I have mentioned earlier in this post I only had one book that I truly enjoyed and wanted more.
3. Finished a book I started last year – I do not think I completed this goal. Let us be real here. I don’t even remember what books I have down from last year.
4. Reread a book that I have reviewed – completed. I had to reread the Amulet series in order to follow through on the 8th book. I also reread the Three Sister’s Island Trilogy
5. Participate in a writing challenge/ classes on WordPress – did not do
6. Read one classic – I have done this. I read The Little Prince. This was one of my more disappointing books of 2018.
7. Read on Shakespear Play – did not do
8. Read a book from my Bucket TBR list – did not do
9. Host a readathon – Did not do
10. Participate in Booktube-a-thon and Reading Quest. I have participated in Booktube-a-thon but not the reading quest. I was not able to find the reading quest.
11. Read a book that was over 400 pages long – completed. I read the second book in The Land of Stories series, which was 517 pages.

I am really impressed. Out of the 11 goals, I have completed about 5.5. I am not sure about the 10th goal. I did one readathon but not the other. What do you say? Should I count it?

Maybe I did not do as bad as I thought I did. I did better than expected since I was absent from this blog and all things book related. The hiatus that I took, was not bad, and I do hope that it will do me better than before. I realize that looking back, I needed this time off. It is giving me a better perspective on what my goals and accomplishments are in life. A better view on what I value, and what I want for the future. I still want to continue this. But I want this to be fun. I do not want this to be something that I feel like I have to do, I am forced to do. I believe that is why I had to step back. I miss blogging. I miss being with others who share the same interest that I have. I miss those friends that I have met and made growth in my writing because of them. With that, I do want to think things through on what my goals for 2019 will be. There will be many changes, and I am hoping that they will be good ones. I know that the changes that I have experienced this year are positive. They forced me to grow and to reevaluate on who I am as a person, and what I want in life. And I hope that 2018 was the same for you.

Here is saying goodbye to 2018 and kicking off 2019 in the right direction. May the next year bring in greatness for ourselves in both growth and adventures.

Until next time.

Super Bookworm

Day 3 Booktubeathon 2017

With all the extra time I had in reading, you would think that I got a lot of reading done. Sadly, I did not But I did get one book done and at least I did start an audio book for The Dark Prophecy this morning, so that is in the plus column.  In all, I finished Juniper Lemon’s Happiness Index and got about 90 pages into The Dark Prophecy.

So far I have completed three out of the eight challenges. I just finished reading the group book and I read a book with a person on the cover. So I am excited for slowly finishing these challenges and getting all my books read. If possible, I am hoping to get The Dark Prophecy finished by tomorrow.

I am not sure if that is going to work. I am losing an hour of reading, with the extra hour that is going into my camp, but I also decided to not participate in tomorrows challenge. I technical have a photo and an outfit that I could use for the challenge, but I do not want my identity known on my blog or Instagram account. So that might give me an extra hour. I am not sure. We will see how much reading I will complete in the day. I still want to post something crafty and fun for tomorrow on my Instagram account.

Though today’s challenge was a bit hard. We were to take a reflective image of our current read. I was happy with my work, but with all the other images that I saw for the challenge, I am not surprised that I lost. It was not as good as some of those other images. I do encourage you to check them out. Look it under the #btatreflect. I will place the image that I submitted down below.

But for now, I want to talk about my game plan for tomorrow. I am planning on immersing myself in the world of The Dark Prophecy. I do have the audio book, so I am planning on utilizing that audio book to help me get some more reading time. Hopefully, I will be able to get a few chapters done while I am getting ready for work. I am not sure about hearing the book and driving to work. Lately, I have been stuck on the same song for the past few days and I have not been getting any reading done in the car. My realistic goal is to get 3/4 of the way through the book. I only want 100 or so pages left to finish on Friday. If by some miracle I finish this book tomorrow, I do have The Girl Who Drank the Moon and Story Thieves. I might also take in 13 chairs. I am due for a short quick read. I am starting to feel that need for a quick pick me up.

So enough about me, I want to know about you. If you are participating, how is your adventuring going? Did you get a lot of books read? Have you enjoyed all the books that you have read so far? What challenges have you completed? Are you having fun?

I do hope that you are having fun and that you are enjoying all of your adventures. I will talk to you on Friday. Until then, happy reading!

2016 Wrap up and 2017 Resolutions

I am not sure what to say about 2016. In some ways, it was not my best year, and in others it was. This year, a lot of events, both positive and negative that has happened. There was a lot that I have gained and learned about myself and what I am looking for in life, and in this blog.

Just to recap here are my goals for 2016.

1) I would love to read 150 books this year. That is what I placed on Goodreads for my challenge, and for an added bonus I would love to see if I can get to 200 books. I am mainly focusing on getting to 150 books this year.

I was able to make it to the 150 bookmark. I barely made this mark. I believe I had about 24 left of the year when I finally reached 150 books. There was a lot that I have learned about myself with this kind of goal.

The first lesson was motivation. I actually had some pretty heavy reading slumps in 2016. Some of them I believe were created because I was so far behind in my Goodreads reading challenge goal. Not only that, but Goodreads reminded me constantly how far behind I was. In the beginning, I did the math. It was not that bad. I would have to read about 3 books a week, in order to achieve my goal. When I looked back at 2015 it was doable. I truly believe that I would be able to easily cover 3 books a week. I was even planning four books a week. It was almost completing a book ever other day. However, I never planned for the events in 2016 to affect my ability to read.

The second lesson that I learned, was that this goal affects what kind of book that I would read in 2016. This was the year of short books. I barely read anything over 300 pages. according to Goodreads, my shortest book was 23 pages, but my longest book was 667 pages, and that book was mostly in pictures. When you look into the average length of a book that I would read in 2016, it was 168 pages. Even though I was happy with some of the books that I have read, I was not happy with what I was reading. I felt that I wanted to read a longer book, but I was stopping myself from doing so in order to make it to that reading goal.

2)Similar to last year in having 1 post a week. I decided that I will be a bit more specific. If you do the math, that is 52 posts this year. With my unique wording, I was not sure if I succeeded or failed this resolution. However, this year it will not be the same. I would love to do at least one post a week with no more than two weeks of no posting in between. Meaning, that I can have a 2-week break, but no more between one post and the next.

Let me be honest here, I have failed this goal. Yes, I have made it to my goal of 52 blog post, but I did not post every week. To tell you the truth I am not counting the month of December. It took me a while, but in the month of December, I realize that I was failing in this goal because I was too busy trying to keep up with the previous one, the reading goal. In trying to balance the two, I realize that I was making the similar posts, and I got away to what this blog was really all about the book reviews.  That in itself was making me unhappy. Even though in 2016 I actually tried and did a lot of blogging, I just did not do my best blogging, and that is not okay.

3) I would also like to improve on my upkeep on both my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Unlike last year, I will add the stipulation that I need 1 additional post per week that is beyond my usual “Look What I  Have Posted On My Blog” posts. I will also give a two-week leeway, similar to my previous resolution.

I also failed this. I ended up putting too much on my plate in 2016, and this was not something that I was able to accomplish. I even added Instagram into the mix. As crazy as it is, I am enjoying the world of bookstagram. It is working out for mini reviews and showing what I am currently and actively reading.

4) I would love to cut down my DNF Pile. I have learned so much this year about my DNF pile. I would like to tackle this pile and make sure that it will be smaller than what it is right now, which is 10 books long.

Let us take a moment to die of laughter. No really take this time to laugh now.

2015/2016 me was adorable and had such good intentions and hopes for the coming year. but if I was, to be honest, I not only failed I epically failed this resolution. I am now currently reading 22 books on Goodreads, 20 of them I have at least DNF’d. Instead of cutting it down, I doubled that pile.

5) I would love to read one of my books from my Bucket List TBR.

This was an epic year for the Bucket List TBR. This year I have read two books and read half of a series from that list. I have taken care of The Time Machine, Because of Mr. Terrupt and two out of the four main books from The Lunar Chronicles (should I count six since there are two spin-off books?). In fact, I am on the third book. This is the one thing that I am proud of. I have really tackled that list.

So let us move on to 2017 resolutions.

1. I want to read a review 50 books. I am taking on what I have learned from 2016 and going back to my roots. I want to read for the fun of it, and I also want to take the time to make reviews on the books that I read. I want to a have the fun and enjoy reading whatever kind of book that I want to read.
2. Originally I wanted to put down that I wanted to have 100 blog posts, but I realize that is not what I want. I was to write good quality posts. I want to feel good and happy about the work that I publish. I am okay with the post that I made in 2016, but I just don’t want to feel okay. I want to feel good about what I publish, not just pride.
3. I am keeping a resolution from last year. I do want to upkeep with my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Definitely, check me out and follow me. Hopefully, you too can help me keep my goal of doing at least one post a week on all three social media sites. Click on the links to see what I have been up too lately. Make suggestions there. I really do appreciate the feedback.
4. I would like to read more books out of my Bucket List TBR. Even if it is one book, I would be really happy that I have worked on this. I do not care if I just finish Cress this year, it does mean that I am working on completing my reading bucket list.
5. I want to enjoy more out of life. I realize that last year I was not happy because I felt trapped. I feel horrible saying this, but I felt trapped in helping my mom take care of my grandma. If I wanted to do something I would ask her, and then I would feel bad that I left her to go do something fun. It was this weird cycle where I felt selfish fo wanting to have some fun in my life. But this year I want it to be different. I want to enjoy more out of life. I want to be happy.

I realize that two of my resolutions I cannot measure, and I am not sure how to go about with the reflection on it, but if you have suggestions or questions that I can answer in both July and December of this year, that would be great. You can post them down below.

I hope that you 2016 went well for you and that you are kicking 2017 in the butt.

I will see you next time. Until then, have some epic adventures and happy reading!

 

 

Gobble-up Books Readathon Update

To tell you the truth, I am not doing to0 well on this readathon. For those of you are participating, I am sorry. The first two days have been crazy. Wednesday was a bit crazy. In the beginning, I forgot, and my the time I remember it was too late. I was trying to balance work, NaNoWriMo, and celebrating Thanksgiving with my dad. Looking back I could have easily done some sprints inthe afternoon, but I just got caught up in writing that I actually forgot to set up some sprint times. As for Thursday, just Thanksgiving took over. It was a good thing that I was planning on not making thanksgiving a big day, but I never planned on just ignoring it.  I was not planning on spending the whole day in the kitchen making Thanksgiving dinner, that in and of itself threw me off.

I do hope that yesterday was better. I tried to fit in more reading sprints and make it a bit more fun. Looking back, it might not have been what I have planned, but it did work out a lot better than I expected. And today, I am making some adjustments to what I have learned from yesterday. Though I will admit that the times will slightly change.

I know that I claimed that the reading sprints for today will be 8AM, 12PM, 3PM, 6PM, and 9PM. I accidently overslept today and it threw off everything. So the new times are 1PM for 10 minutes. 4PM for 30 minutes, and 7PM for 30 minutes. I will also have another sprint at 7:45PM for 15 minutes. Depending on how my headache is doing, I might add another one around 9 or 10PM. My sister supposes to be doing a parade around 5PM. I will see what will need to be done. I might end up going to the parade, or I might end up watching my grandma. I am not sure what we are going to do. I do have plans on still being able to host the sprints no matter what happens.

As for reading. I haven’t done terribly. Out of the four challenges, I did complete two. I finished a DNF book and I was able to finish a book under 200 pages yesterday. The is good. The book that I started with this readathon, is not really hooking me. I feel a little left out because the book is so hyped up that I am sitting here wondering what am I missing? The books that I did do yesterday was Junie B., First Grade Cheater Pants and I finished The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I still have two more books to go and two more days left of this readathon.

As for those of you who are participating. How is the readathon working out for you? How many books have you finished? Are you having fun?

Well, I have to go. In about 10 minutes we will have another reading sprint on both Facebook and Twitter. See you there and happy reading!

Bout of Books Day 4, 5, & 6

Alright, the last few days have been hectic. On Thursday my Grandma got sent to the hospital via ambulance due to a high fever. She is doing fine now, but we have been given the notice that she has about two more months to live. That news has not set in yet, due to the fact that I have been trying to balance taking care of my sister, my mom, and helping my mom around the house.

In all that has happened, Thursday was a good day for reading. I was able to finish P.S. I Like You, and I also read It’s Halloween. I have then proceeded to start and continue to read Thirteen on Friday. I am only 74 pages into the book. It is not an easy read. It is definitely an intense thriller book. I am not sure how to word it, but it is not something that you can breeze through.

In the process of the past few days, I was not able to participate in any of the challenges. Thursday’s challenge was to create a tabloid headline with a book that you are currently reading or a book that you have read. At the time I was not sure what I was going to say or which book I was going to pick, and I still don’t know what to do with this challenge. Everything that I came up with sounds dumb. The best one that I can come up with is :”Thirteen-year-old is in danger of death by  crazy millennium cult!”

Friday’s challenge was fun, and I did have a response to it but was not able to get to a computer at all that day. The challenge was to connect a book with a song. Which is interesting because I sometimes naturally do that. For example Face the Fire, the song that I have stuck in my head for it is Lady Gaga’s Judas. Somehow I was reading that book and listening to the Just Born This Way album and the song seemed to fit so much that I am not able to let it go. Judas does fit this song perfectly if you have read this book.

So those have been my last few days. I am hoping to get another 20 pages done with Thirteen before the end of tonight. Then make some more posts for this week. See you next time, and happy reading.

Booktubeathon Day 5

I am sorry that I missed Day 4. I was not able to get everything in on time. I was a bit behind with The Hidden Oracle and More Than This. I am starting to feel the end of this readathon, as well as the end of wanting to finish everything.

As I stand I have only two reading challenges left. I have to read a book that I have discovered through booktube and to watch a movie. I am thinking of changing everything and watching the movie today and reading what I can later on. I am not feeling the books that I have picked for the third challenge, discover through booktube. In one sense, I can count it since I have finished More Than This this morning. However, I would like to get at least one more book finished before the end of this readathon.

In shor0t, my new plan is to watch the movie today and to read Sorta Like a Rock Star. Hopefully, I will get this book done by Sunday. I am also thinking about starting another audiobook. I am not sure if I want to read Ink and Bone, The Glittering Court, or Truthwitch. Let me know what you think of either of these books and what I should read, down below.

Talk to you later. Happy reading!

Booktubeathon Day 2

Alright, I did not get as much reading as I planned to get done today, but what I got done I am proud of. Today, I mainly focused on listening to More Than This by Patrick Ness. I ended up reading 20 chapters from this book. I would have read more if it were not for the fact that the audible account from my iPod to my iPhone don’t link up at the same location. The iPhone is always behind a few chapters.

I also finished another book after my post. I finished the first book in the Spiderwick Chronicles. Thus completing two challenges in one day. Those two challenges are to read a book older than me and to read a book after sunset. I will leave a review of that book down below.

I do want to talk about my plans for tomorrow. I am going to change my schedule a little bit. Originally I had planned on reading More Than This and finishing the book tomorrow. However, I am really enjoying it as an audio and I want to continue my audible experience. So I have decided to bring The Hidden Oracle up a day. I do not know what I was thinking, I highly doubt that I can start and finish a book in three hours, especially with a character that I have very little empathy with. I am also planning on reading the third Spiderwick book tomorrow.

After this post, I am planning on starting and finishing the second book in the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Those are my plans. Now onto the review.

The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Feild Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.

Summary: This book is about three siblings experiencing their first encounter with the Fae and mystical folk in their new home while finding a mysterious book.

Rating: I gave this book four out of five stars on Goodreads. If I was, to be honest, I would have given the book 3.5 stars out of five.

Pros: I do have a couple of things that I liked about this book. The first is that this is a good introduction to a series. It does give you a chance to get to know the characters and a bit about their surroundings. In addition, I can see why kids loved this series. The characters are relatable and the reading is pretty easy. The other reason why I like this book was its shortness. I know that this stems from reading this book for the Booktubeathon and trying to complete one of the challenges. However, I did enjoy that the book was concise and to the point.

Cons: There are a couple of problems that I had with the book. One of them was the lack of plot and growth. Yes, the siblings getting together can be counted as both, but each character did not grow. I still felt as though I was asking the book “What else?” “What is the bigger plot?” I also did not like the lack of background. As relatable as the characters are, I would still like to know what makes them tick.

Recommendation: I am not sure if I would recommend this book. I can see why it is a popular book with upper elementary age children, but it did not entice me. I do want to continue on with the series to see how the books progress.

I do hope that you enjoyed this post. I might see you tomorrow. We will see it with my crazy schedule. Other than that, have fun and happy reading!