February 2023 Recap

Blog Posts:

• The Red Palace: A Review
• Where the Drowned Girls Go: A Review
• Miss Quinces: A Graphic Novel Review
• The Paris Library: A Review
• Jagged Little Pill: A Review
• Frizzy: A Graphic Novel Review
• Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman: A Review
• We Weren’t Looking to Be Found: A Review

Read:

1. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (audio)
2. Cruel Illusions by Margie Fuston
3. Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Teashop by Roselle Lim (audio)
4. The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman (audio)
5. The Map From Here to There by Emery Lord (audio)
6. Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas
7. How The Best Hunter In The Village Met Her Death by Molly Knox Ostertag
8. Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson
9. Demon in the Wood by Leigh Bardugo and Dani Pendergast (audio)
10. Nothing More to Tell by Karen M. McManus (audio)
11. Luminary: A Magical Guide to Self-Care by Kate Scelsa
12. Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulsen
13. Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove by Rati Mehrotra (audio)
14. The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi (audio)
15. Crumbs by Danie Sterling
16. Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell
17. Igniting Darkness by RL LaFevers (audio)

Final breakdown: 17 read, 9 audio, 6 books given away

How My Month Went:

Trying something new after seeing Kristin’s monthly wrap ups on her blog and really liking the way it put everything together. This is my last month before my next year on ALA’s Rise Feminist Book Project starts so I’m trying to catch up as much as possible on reviews to write and books to read. Slowly but surely!

January was stressful, but February has not been kind. This month has included a long overdue dental trip which requires additonal trips for a deep cleaning (no cavities though!) which is fine but I hate the dentist so much that I’m absolutely dreading it. I also filed my taxes which somehow always has some kind of weird stressor because of course. THEN because that wasn’t enough the handle to my freezer came off in my hand so that’s being replaced–which is great but so many things!

I had some nice work moments too this month which were good in this season of perpetual stress and burnout. Quite a few compliments on my clothes and accessories. A teen intern who saw my Book Reviewing 101 presentation came into the library to get the URL of my blog and tell me she was reading one of my reviews–which was quite lovely since it’s not always clear who my readers here are. Plus the book club I run at work had some new faces and a really nice discussion.

With the end of this month, it’s time to gear up for Rise. I am still playing perpetual catch up on reviews and still have so many 2022 titles to talk up here!

You can also see my recap from last month.

January 2023 Recap

Blog Posts:

• The Other Merlin: A Review
• The Luminaries: A Review
• 2023: My year of grace and letting go
• Edited: A WIRoB Review
• Ophelia After All: A Review
• Remember Me: A Review
• Book List: 2023 Rise: A Feminist Book Project
• Murder For the Modern Girl: A Review
• Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #Metoo Movement: A Non-Fiction Review
• Organizing a Mock Printz Program at Your Library

Read:

1. Pauli Murray: The Life of a Pioneering Feminist and Civil Rights Activist by Terry Catasús Jennings and Rosita Stevens-Holsey
2. Wild is the Witch by Rachel Griffin (audio)
3. Girls Who Green the World: Thirty-Four Rebel Women Out to Save Our Planet by Diana Kapp and Ana Jaren
4. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (audio)
5. Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron
6. Black Heart by Holly Black (audio)
7. PAWS: Mindy Makes Some Space by Nathan Fairbairn , Michele Assarasakorn
8. My Aunt is a Monster by Reimena Yee
9. Hollow by Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White, Berenice Nelle, Kaitlyn Musto
10. Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales by Melanie Gillman
11. Last Chance Dance by Lakita Wilson
12. King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo (audio)
13. Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo (audio)

Final breakdown: 8 read, 5 audio, 9 owned books read and unhauled

How My Month Went:

New year, new recap format. (These actually started in February but since it’s only one month, I figured I might as well create one for January and backdate it.) 2023 started off hard with some health scares for my mom and a trip to the ER. She’s doing better now, thankfully, but it was touch and go for a while and threw most of the rest of the month off kilter. Aside from my birthday, most of the month was a wash and I’m glad to see the other side of it. Here’s to calmer waters moving forward.

Considering everything that was going on (and going wrong), I was happy to read as much as I did. Audiobooks continue to be a gift.

January 2023 Reading Recap

Read:

1. Pauli Murray: The Life of a Pioneering Feminist and Civil Rights Activist by Terry Catasús Jennings and Rosita Stevens-Holsey
2. Wild is the Witch by Rachel Griffin
3. Girls Who Green the World: Thirty-Four Rebel Women Out to Save Our Planet by Diana Kapp and Ana Jaren
4. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
5. Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron
6. Black Heart by Holly Black
7. PAWS: Mindy Makes Some Space by Nathan Fairbairn , Michele Assarasakorn
8. My Aunt is a Monster by Reimena Yee
9. Hollow by Shannon Watters, Branden Boyer-White, Berenice Nelle, Kaitlyn Musto
10. Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales by Melanie Gillman
11. Cruel Illusions by Margie Fuston
12. Last Chance Dance by Lakita Wilson
13. King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
14. Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

You can also see what I read last month.

December 2022 Reading Recap

Read:

1. A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee
2. We Are the Scribes by Randi Pink
3. The Poison Season by Mara Rutherford
4. Echoes of Grace by Garcia Guadalupe McCall
5. No Stopping Us Now by Lucy Jane Bledsoe
6. Tumble by Celia C. Perez
7. Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #Metoo Movement by Toufah Jallow with Kim Pittaway
8. Meet Me in Mumbai by Sabina Khan
9. Harley Quinn: Reckoning by Rachael Allen
10. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
11. As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh
12. Saint by Adrienne Young
13. The Gaps by Leanne Hall
14. Remember Me by Estelle Laure
15. The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park
16. How You Grow Wings by Rimma Onoseta
17. Dauntless by Elisa A. Bonin

You can also see what I read last month.

November 2022 Reading Recap

Read:

1. The Other Merlin by Robyn Schneider
2. Roses, In the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman
3. Practice Girl by Estelle Laure
4. Gender Inequality in Sports by Kristin Cronn-Mills
5. The Luminaries by Susan Dennard
6. Well, That Was Unexpected by Jesse Q. Sutanto
7. The Girls in Queens by Christine Kandic Torres
8. Lia and Beckett’s Abracadabra by Amy Noelle Parks
9. Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye
10. A Seed in the Sun by Aida Salazar
11. That’s Debatable by Jen Doll
12. Murder for the Modern Girl by Kendall Kulper
13. The Reckless Kind by Carly Heath
14. We Weren’t Looking to Be Found by Stephanie Kuehn
15. Jagged Little Pill by Eric Smith et Al
16. Edited by Barry Lyga

You can also see what I read last month.

October 2022 Reading Recap

Read:

1. Coven by Jennifer Dugan and Kit Seaton
2. Anne of Greenville by Mariko Tamaki
3. Great or Nothing by Joy McCullough, Caroline Tung Richmond, Tess Sharpe, and Jessica Spotswood
4. The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson
5. Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed
6. Travellers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix by Aminah Mae Safi
7. Crying in the Bathroom by Erika L. Sanchez
8. Anne of West Philly by Ivy Noelle Weir and Myisha Haynes
9. Unbound by Tarana Burke
10. Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor
11. The Falling Girls by Hayley Krischer
12.  Valiant Ladies by Melissa Grey
13. To Break a Covenant by Alison Ames
14. Deep in Providence by Riss M. Neilson
15. Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young
16. One for All by Lillie Lainoff
17. I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers
18. Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas
19. Smaller Sister by Maggie Edkins Willis
20. Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl by Joya Goffney
21. The First Thing About You by Chaz Hayden
22. Black Internet Effect by Shavone Charles
23. Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman by Kristen R. Lee
24. Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler
25. The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
26. My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth

You can also see what I read last month.

September 2022 Reading Recap

Read:

1. The Curse of the Mummy: Uncovering Tutankhamun’s Tomb by Candace Fleming
2. The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning
3. The One True Me and You by Remi K. England
4. Alice Austen Lived Here by Alex Gino
5. Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor’s Life by Marilyn Nelson
6. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
7. Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
8. The Song That Moves the Sun by Anna Bright
9. Blood and Moonlight by Erin Beaty
10. The Queen Will Betray You by Sarah Henning
11. Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen
12. The King Will Kill You by Sarah Henning
13. Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor
14. The Hunger Between Us by Marina Scott
15. Fresh by Margot Wood

You can also see what I read last month.

August 2022 Reading Recap

Read:

1. Gaia: Goddess of Earth by Imogen and Isabel Greenberg
2. You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen
3. The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the Heart by Chesil
4. Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win by Susan Azim Boyer
5. The Stars Between Us by Cristin Terrill
6. The Lies We Tell by Katie Zhao
7. Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
8. A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin
9. Shirley and Jamilah’s Big Fall by Gillian Goerz
10. Sisters of the Mist by Marlyn Spaaij
11. Esme’s Birthday Conga Line by Lourdes Heuer
12. Mimi and the Cutie Catastrophe by Shauna J. Grant
13. Edgewood by Kristen Ciccarelli
14. Amazona by Canizales
15. Rabbit Chase by Elizabeth LaPensée, KC Oster, Aarin Dokum
16. The Greatest Thing by Sarah Winifred Searle
17. Unretouchable by Sofia Szamosi
18. The Lost Dreamer by Lizz Huerta
19. Rave by Jessica Campbell
20. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
21. The Darkening by Sunya Mara
22. Fine: A Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing
23. I Am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin
24. My Contrary Mary by Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand
25. Girls That Never Die by Safie Elhillo
26. Seton Girls by Charlene Thomas
27. Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega and Rose Bousamra
28. This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede

You can also see what I read last month.

July 2022 Reading Recap

Planned to Read:

• The Stars Between Us by Cristin Terrill
• Worlds of Exile and Illusion by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win by Susan Azim Boyer
• Three Kisses, One Midnight by Roshani Chokshi, Evelyn Skye and Sandhya Menon
• This Golden State by Marit Weisenberg
• Even in Paradise by Chelsey Philpot
• Edgewood by Kristen Ciccarelli
• This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede
• The Lies We Tell by Katie Zhao
• Wild is the Witch by Rachel Griffin

Read:

1. The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
2. This Golden State by Marit Weisenberg
3. A Disaster in Three Acts by Kelsey Rodkey
4. The Bronzed Beasts by Roshani Chokshi
5. Shine Your Icy Crown by Amanda Lovelace
6. Unlock Your Storybook Heart by Amanda Lovelace
7. A Disaster in Three Acts by Kelsey Rodkey
8. The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
9. Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
10. What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris
11. Dream Annie Dream by Waka T. Brown
12. Side Effects by Ted Anderson and Tara O’Connor
13. Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz
14. Ready When You Are by Gary Lonesborough
15. Remind Me to Hate You Later by Lizzy Mason
16. We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride
17. Until We Break by Matthew Dawkins
18. This Place is Still Beautiful by XiXi Tian
19. Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti
20. The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones
21. Miss Quinces by Kat Fajardo
22. Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith
23. PAWS: Gabby Gets It Together by Nathan Fairbairn, Michele Assarasakorn
24. Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy
25. Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear
26. Pixels of You

You can also see what I read last month.

June 2022 Reading Recap

Planned to Read:

• The Stars Between Us by Cristin Terrill
• Worlds of Exile and Illusion by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win by Susan Azim Boyer
• Three Kisses, One Midnight by Roshani Chokshi, Evelyn Skye and Sandhya Menon
• Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker
• This Golden State by Marit Weisenberg
• Even in Paradise by Chelsey Philpot
• Edgewood by Kristen Ciccarelli
• This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede
• The Lies We Tell by Katie Zhao
• Wild is the Witch by Rachel Griffin
• Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

Read:

1. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
2. The Other Side of the Sky by Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman
3. Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
4. Beyond the End of the World by Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman
5. The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman
6. Inheritance: A Visual Poem by Elizabeth Acevedo and Andrea Pippins
7. Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems by Warsan Shire
8. Break Your Glass Slippers by Amanda Lovelace
9. Burying the Moon by Andrée Poulin and Sonali Zohra
10. Nothing Burns as Bright as You by Ashley Woodfolk
11. The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin by Kip Wilson
12. Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker
13. All the Best Liars by Amelia Kahaney
14. Ophelia After All by Raquel Marie
15. The Red Palace by June Hur

You can also see what I read last month.