February 2025 Reading Wrap Up

 

I just read four books in February, but thanks to the two writing/bookish/reading conferences I went to, it was a fantastic month!

Books:

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano: This the book for book club in February. Fantastic family saga story about four sisters, and the guy in their life, and the kids and all the different relationships and struggles they all had. I really enjoyed it and gave it   ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Lots of people find it quite heart breaking, and while it is, I found it more hopeful and actually heart warming in the end.

Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter: This is the sequel to Better Than the Movies. Our two characters have broken up before this one starts (at the beginning of their college career) and it's about them getting back together two years later. Lots of fun banter!  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick: A crazy weird classic scifi that I knocked off quickly to count it as my first classic book for the Classic Six Challenge I'm hosting this year. This book is the inspiration for the movie Blade Runner, about a guy who hunts androids and "retires" them. But it's hard to tell them apart from humans so he gives them a test to determine their empathy levels. Then he falls in love with one of them. It's very interesting and was short and easily read.⭐⭐⭐

Better Than Revenge by Kasie West: I let in another fun YA romance this month. This one I bought at one of the conferences and had the author sign it. I think I might be caught up with all her books now! She announced she is working on her first adult novel, so that should be interesting. Anyway, this one is about a girl who is annoyed that her boyfriend tried out to be on the high school podcast team and got her spot. Then he said mean things about her, so they broke up... and then she wants to get revenge and take away HIS big dream, which is to be the kicker on the football team. She enlists the help of his nemesis, the previous kicker and she trains to try out for the team. As the kicker. And falls in love with the nemesis. But she learns revenge isn't all that great in the end.⭐⭐⭐⭐

Conferences:

LTUE: We spent three days learning about writing, and hanging out with authors and writing friends and taking a TON of notes. I have been going to this conference since 2008 but have missed it for the last several years. It was good to go back and I realized yet again what a great deal this one is. So so worth the money!

StoryCon: This is a new conference that was held this year, taking the place of Teen Author Bootcamp. But now they decided to invite everyone! And tons of authors came and did keynotes (local and not local) and lots of signings and it was great. I did a vlog of this one and you can watch it here if you are interested. Some of the authors that came: Jeff Kinney, Laini Taylor, Shannon Hale, Brandon Mule, Neal Shusterman, Marissa Meyer... etc. 

It was a great month! My only plans for March is to read the book club book (The Bell Jar) and maybe some of the new books I acquired at the conference!

January 2025 Reading Wrap Up

 I read (and listened to) these seven books in January! 👆👆👆

While on the road trip after Christmas I listened to four audio books. (So weird to think I didn't do this in the past, even in the car on trips!)

You are a Badass by Jen Sincero: a pep talk to do all the things and accomplish all the goals by a fun and a bit "irreverent" life coach. I loved listening to this at the beginning of a new year though. Perfect. 

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears: what a sad life she's had. I find it fascinating that so many celebrities dream of making it big, and then when they do... their lives fall apart. It's a crazy cycle. Britney ended up with some not so great people in her life, including her own family. Which makes it all especially sad. It seems like she's doing better now though and is moving forward well.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry: Wow, but it was heart wrenching to hear him narrating this and saying over and over, with every story he told "I should be dead." Yeah...another sad celebrity memoir where we know he didn't get his happily ever after that he so wanted in the end. I do hope when people read this though, they learn a lesson from Matthew. And so hopefully it wasn't all in vain.

Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar: I never really watched 19 and Counting, the documentary series about the Duggar family and all their kids. Jill is the 4th of the kids and this is her story about being a part of that craziness and what ended up happening when she got married and wanted to move away from some of the teachings she was raised with. Just... so crazy!

I ended up giving all these audio books  ⭐⭐⭐⭐  because I was riveted to all their stories. Seriously, the perfect way to drive having some one narrate their crazy life in your ear mile after mile!

Then I read one ebook while on the trip:

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth: This was our book club choice for January. I never really felt invested in it, thought the people were awful, rolled my eyes as the mystery, and etc. I just didn't get into it all, but did keep reading. And it was fun to discuss at book club after all! ⭐⭐

And two print books:

These Infinite Threads by Teherah Mafi: The 2nd in the This Woven Kingdom series, and it starts exactly where we left off in the first book with Alizah basically getting kidnapped. We follow her as she goes on a new adventure with a new dude who is the king of the rival kingdom. And we follow Kamran as he tries to deal with the aftermath of the the stuff that happened at the end the first book, and decides what he's going to de about Alizah. Whew.. this is a whirlwind book that takes place over just a day or two time period and ends on yet ANOTHER crazy cliffhanger! I need book three NOW! (I'm only giving ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half stars because our two main character were never together in this one. DANG.)

Three Wild Dogs (and the truth) by Markus Zusak: Yeah, so I've been looking forward to this one for awhile now. When it showed up on my porch a couple days early I was so excited and dropped everything else to devour it. This is MZ's first nonfiction, a memoir about his crazy dogs... how they ended up with them, how they lost them, and all the unbelievable stories in between. Plus we get a glimpse into his life too... his family, his writing, his worries, hopes and fears. Which you know I loved. Seriously though, I feel like he's the best storyteller ever. I hear he narrates the audiobook and I think I'm going to have to get my hands on that too. LOL. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

All in all a great reading month! Here's to February's plans!

• Read Hello Beautiful for book club
• Read the fun sequel to Better Than the Movies (Nothing Like the Movies)
• Read a classic for the Classic Six challenge that I'm hosting
• Hopefully read The Bright Sword that I just picked up from the library
• Keep working on Us Against You

Reading Recap October-December 2024

 Hello all! Trying to catch up on my reading log here on the blog.  Wow, but time flies! And it's so easy to get behind. 

OCTOBER

The Passengers by John Marrs: This was the book club pick of the month. It's in the distant future where driverless cars have been mandated. And suddenly, the cars take over and several passengers are headed for a death collision. And the public is forced to decide who to save. And the mystery of who's behind it all is revealed. It's pretty crazy! I gave it ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for intrigue and intensity!

Heartstopper Volumes Two and Three by Alice Oseman: I read the first one earlier
in the year and got my hands on the next two and continued this series. It's the love story of Charlie and Nick and all their friends and high school things and just slice of life. I watched the Netflix show along with reading it have totally fallen in love with them. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab: Here's a popular book I finally got my hands on when I happened upon it at the library. What a great premise about a girl who sells her soul to the devil so she can live the life she's always wanted. Only the condition is that people forget her. Which is not quite what she's wanted. She is cursed with that forever and lives through a bunch of places and history until one day she finds someone who actually DOES remember her. And then it gets really interesting! The buzz about this one is spot on and I'm giving it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐!

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: I read this one in a day for Dewey's Readathon. It was our city-wide book pick for this year and I'm glad to have finally gotten to it. Geez that took awhile, lol! Probably as you all know, this one is about a firefighter who's job it is to go to houses and START fires, burning up books. And then one day, he gets a call and it's for his own house. Oh my word. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great classic dystopian that feels like it could happen now in our day and age any second. Sigh.

NOVEMBER

James by Percival Everett: I bought this one and was able to meet the author at the local university and have him sign it, even before I managed to read it! It's a returning of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Jim's point of view, and it's very poignant and heart wrenching and so powerful. Definitely ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from me!

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel: November's book club, a non fiction book that reads like fiction and feels like fiction, because how can this really happen? It's about a dude who in the later 90s and early 2000's stole HUNDREDS of art pieces from various museums across Europe... in the middle of the day with no violence or weapons or anything. Just his girlfriend as a lookout. And they put all the things in their bedroom. And it's insane and the end of the story is even crazier. You have to read it to believe it. Ah, and we got to meet this author just a few weeks ago! He was fabulous! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Heartstopper Volumes Four and Five by Alice Oseman: Just continuing the series until I finished! Book six (which is the finale) comes out this year! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Making It So by Patrick Stewart: Went to a concert in Vegas (not kpop so there) and listened to this during the drive. Being a pretty pick Star Trek fan, particularly The Next Generation, I found all his stories fascinating. He wasn't a perfect guy but he's lived quite the life. Wow. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

DECEMBER

Two beta reads: My writing group is writing! And so once we all finished our books, we read each others and so I am counting these two toward my total. Both middle grade fantasy, one about the Scottish selkie legend, and one about Christmas. Loved them both.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Piranesi by Susanne Clarke: This was a re-read for me for our book club this month. I loved it just as much the second time through. Hard to say what this one is about and it's better to go in not knowing... if you haven't read this one yet. So good. But the reviews were mixed at book club and many thought it was boring. I am not one obviously. (I am realizing that I tend to be not on the same page with many book clubbers lately on what I find a great book. Hmmm....) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman: a did a buddy read with Melinda at Web of Stories for this one! That was fun! It's about our girl Eleanor, who is a strange sort of person, and as we get to know her, we find out about her life and what might have contributed to her being a bit strange. And he learn, of course, that she is not at all completely fine. People say it's funny, and there are funny moments, but in the end it just kinda made me sad. Still, a great one and well written and lots to think about. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Scribbler of Dreams by Mary E. Pearson: I wanted to re-read this one, a YA romance that I read WAY back in the day (pre blog, nearly pre internet) to see if it lived up to the hype in my mind. It didn't. I remember it being quite swoony. It wasn't really. Sigh. Sometimes this happens I suppose.⭐⭐⭐ The author has written many more things since then, all of them really awesome. And I can't wait to jump into her first one for adults... a romantasy called The Courting of Bristol Keats. 

And that was my last book of 2024, which put me at 62 total books (counting the two beta reads!) I made my Goodreads goal! (You can check out my previous post where I crunched all the numbers) Here's to 2025!

Crunching the Numbers 2024 Edition!

 READING STATS for 2024

(We'll be doing a LIVE STREAM again on the Booktube channel. Tori and I will be discussing our stats and we hope you all join in and share yours along with us. It will be Sunday January 19 at 3:00 pm MST... click here to find us. )

TOTAL BOOKS: 62 (Goal was 60!)

Total pages: 20,360
Total Re-reads: 3

Authors
Men:  22
Women: 40

For:
Review for an author: 1

AML Award: 5
Book Club: 11

Readathon/Events: 10

Forced Phase: 0

Beta Reads: 2

Readalong/Buddy Reads: 2

Banned Books: 4

Fun: 27

From:
Print books from the library: 6
On my Kindle (library and bought): 17

Print books bought/owned: 31
Borrowed: 2
Audio: 7

Categories:
YA: 22
Adult: 36
Middle Grade: 4


Genres from the YA Category:
Contemporary Realistic Fiction or Romance:12
SF/Fantasy: 4

Historical Fiction: 1

Graphic Novel: 5

Genres from the MG Category:

Fantasy: 2

Graphic Novel: 1

Contemporary: 1

Genres from the Adult Category:
Historical Fiction: 5
Science Fiction an Fantasy: 8

Dystopian: 1

Romance: 3

Literary Fiction: 6
Memoirs: 6

Other Nonfiction: 5

Classic: 1

Mystery: 1

Star Ratings:
5 stars: 12

4.5: 1
4 stars: 31 

3.5: 1
3 stars: 15
2 stars: 1
1 star: 1

Observations:

• Still bummed at how few classics I'm reading these days. In order to fix that, I'm "hosting" (there's not much to hosting... I just created a challenge page on The Storygraph!) a challenge to read SIX CLASSICS this year. The Classic Six Challenge and if you want to commit to that, you can join here.
• And wow, but the non fiction really went up this year! Go me! I feel like seeing the genres all listed out like this shows that my reading is pretty varied. I like that.
• YA Contemporary romance type books are still my favorite though.
• And look at that 7 audio books! Who knew! LOL! (It's all the driving!)
• Next year I want to do more graphic novels and maybe even some manga. I kind of love it. I guess I should do a post here with all my goals! 

KDRAMA STATS

Total Kdramas: 8

5 hearts: 6

4 hearts: 1

3 hearts: 1

I watched much less this year, and tried to watch a few American type shows. It was okay but Kdramas are still very much superior.

YOUTUBE STATS:

The Kpop Konverters

Total videos uploaded in 2023: 18 long videos, 0 shorts

Subscribers at year end: 40,262

View count at year end: 19,300,895 million

As of this moment, I plan to be done uploading to this channel. I might do one or two more favorites videos, but I will be stepping away for the most part. It's been an amazing ride and I still can't believe the things that happened thanks to the channel. It's hard to be done, but I think it's time.

Suey's Book Banter 

Total videos uploaded in 2023: 126 long videos, 43 shorts

Total Views at year end: 226,584

Total Subscribers at year end: 1,338

The booktube channel is not doing as well as I'd hoped and often I think about just dropping it and coming back to blogging. But I want to make videos. So there's the struggle.

Reading Recap September 2024

 Books I read in September!

Crank by Ellen Hopkins: A very sad story, told in verse, about a girl who becomes addicted to drugs and ends up with the very much wrong crowd, with pretty awful consequences. There are many more books to this series and I'm scared what ELSE is ahead for this character! Does she ever get her act together? It appears maybe not! Anyway... so sad. I'm giving it  ⭐ ⭐⭐⭐ because of the beautiful and compelling writing. 

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell: I re-read this for book club and loved it. Again. Maybe even more than I loved it the first time. It's about the story of how Eleanor and Park get together and bond over their common nerd interests. And I find it to be such a sweet, happy, heartwarming romance. The disturbing part of this book is how Eleanor has to deal with her abusive stepfather. It made me anxious every time she has to go home. And then there's Park with his lovely happy family, which I also appreciated. (Because sometimes I think writers are scared to write about a good happy family.) We had quite the discussion at book club because people either loved it or hated it. It was interesting to see what made people end up in each of these camps. But it is hard for me when I love something like this so much, to try and understand why someone else hates it so much. I struggle. But it's also fascinating to realize how different we all are! And that's what makes book club discussions interesting. Anyway, it's a definite ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for me still.

The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod: My sister in law mentioned this book one day, so I ended up reading it to see what I think. The idea is that if you get up just a little bit earlier than you have to, and you do these six things, your life will change. The six things: meditation, affirmations, visualizations, exercise, reading and writing. And you just spend 5 or 10 minutes on each one. The thing that I need to change in my life is negative thinking, so this whole affirmation thing will be my struggle, but might be the thing that changes everything. I started it once October hit, so I'm only a few mornings in now.  We'll see how it goes. He says you need to do it for 30 days before you decide! Giving it  ⭐⭐⭐⭐  simply because of the happy, pep talkiness of it! 

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab: The second book in the Darker Shades series. I loved the first one and have been anxious to get to this second one ever since. It wasn't as great as the first one, but I still love the writing and the world and the mystic. So so awesome. I really truly needed more interaction between Kell and Lila though.... maybe in the book 3? I will be reading that one soon I hope. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Forever by Judy Blume: I read this one because it's on the banned list our state just put out last month... to be taken off the shelves of school libraries. (One of 13 on this most recent list... a list that oh boy, is certainly making the waves in  a lot of bookish circles! You'd think no other state has ever banned a book!)  Anyway, I wanted to know about it, so I grabbed it from the library. And yeah, um. It's about sex, but not love. Which...for me... I like when the two are together. It was so unemotional and clinical, and just made me grimace. I just... need some EMOTION, you know? So, in the end, I'm going to prove my friends wrong and finally give a book a one star. Which I don't even know what that technically means, but in my world, it means I did not at all like it. But I finished it anyway. ⭐

For October, I'd like to:

• read The Passengers for book club
• read House of Leaves for my spooky month book
• read The Invisible Life of Addie Larue that I randomly checked out of the library
• maybe start book three of Darker Shades
• hopefully keep going in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
• read Fahrenheit 451 with the city wide "book club"
• listen to Making It So when I go to Las Vegas for a concert

I think that's plenty for one month's goals!

Links to the Channel from the past month:

September Check In (the above list, but I'm talking instead of writing!)

Ten Books That Made Me

Weekly Vlog (including two author events: Liane Moriarty and TJ Klune)

Books I'm Excited to Read (a tag)

Reading Recap August 2024

 Books I read in August of 2024!! Wow, I'm so late! (I've had this post up for weeks trying to finish it... AHH!)

My goal this month was to finish up the Big Book Summer challenge, and then participate in YA'ugust. I think I succeeded! Two for each challenge!

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver: amazing story, heart wrenching story about a kid who suffers through the foster care system in rural West Virginia and ends up in the drug abuse cycle that plagues his family and everyone else. This book has an amazing voice and you really feel like you are living this crazy life right along with Demon. I thought it was just a nod to the themes and etc in David Copperfield, but am told that it in fact does follow some plot lines and so is a sort of re-telling too. I need to re-read David Copperfield I guess! But I loved it this one despite the harshness of the subject. Demon was hard not to love, even if he makes some crazy bad choices.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maureen Goo: A needed light and fluffy after Demon, and this one was perfect. Our girl gets in a fight with her nemesis at school and they are both "punished" by having to work in her dad's food truck all summer. She ends up loving it, making friends with the other girl, and falling love with the adorable dude who is working at the coffee shop near where they park their truck. I loved reading about so many places I've actually been.  Cute and fun book, just what I needed! ⭐⭐⭐

Love and Luck by Jenna Evans Welch: This is a companion book to Love and Gelato, one I read years ago and really enjoyed. I didn't like this one quite as much. I was looking for a fluffy road trip romance, but there wasn't much of a romance. This one is more about the relationship between our main girl and her brother. It takes place in Ireland after they are there for a family wedding. Our girl is supposed to meet her friend, the main character of Love and Gelato, in Italy, but stuff happens, and she doesn't go, but ends up driving around Ireland with her brother and his cute Irish friend. It was fun and easily readable. I have the next book (Love and Olives) up and ready to read any day!  ⭐⭐⭐

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: I kept hearing things about this book so put it on hold and became available, so then I devoured it. I thought it was a newer book, but I guess I'm several years behind! This one is about a guy who wakes up in space, alone on a space ship, and can't remember why. Slowly his memory comes back to him ( we get to see flashbacks as that happens) and he realizes he has a huge problem to solve. Now, if only he had someone to help him....   oh my word, I loved it! So so so much science that went right over my head, but it didn't matter because the HEART of this story is what's so great. I do love the space stuff though. Anyway, pretty sure this author can do no wrong and I'll read all his stuff. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Plans for September are to re-read Eleanor and Park for book club, and then to get to all the books that are becoming available from holds I've made, and maybe read some banned/challenged books. There's just so much I want to get to!

How did your month go?

Reading Recap June and July 2024

 

I got a little behind so here is two month's worth of reading from the summer!

Books Read in June

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen: A crazy fun fantasy about an angel and a demon trying to get the apocalypse going. Lots of fun banter, and lots of silly culture references, some I got and some I didn't.  There were spots I got bogged down, but for the most part I enjoyed the experience. ⭐⭐⭐

Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton: Listened to this one on the road tripping and loved all the behind the scene stories for Harry Potter. And all the interactions he shares with all the main leads from the movies. He seems like he had a fairly normal life despite being in such huge movies, but still had the rock bottom alphol infused drop. Sad, but fairly quickly recovered.⭐⭐⭐⭐

Guts by Raina Telgemeier: Read this one "with" my 8 year old granddaughter. She devoured in in one sitting. A sort of middle grade graphic memoir about the authors struggle with OCD and massive anxiety in 4th grade. Much to relate to for those of us suffering anxiety things. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Radical Love by Zachary Levi: Another listen on the road, where Zachary shares his life long struggle with depression and the issues he's had with his family particularly his mom. He's so raw and honest and emotional. So good, and heart-wrenching. But also very hopeful. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Books Read in July

Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper: Another road trip audio book, this one more of a history lesson than a memoir, though the author has many personal stories to share too. We learn about how the Vanderbilt's got their money and all the struggles they've had to keep it as the years have gone on. Such elaborate wealth that it's hard to even imagine. But lots of sadness throughout the years too. Too bad these sorts of stories don't come without the sadness and corruption.⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Measure by Nikki Erlick: Finally read this popular one about what would happen if we all knew when we were going to die. How would that affect everyday life and our dealings with each other. Very telling and very eye opening. It follows the stories of 8 or so different characters and how they all had to come to terms with their fate.⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Little Free Library Book by Margret Aldrich: A fun beautiful book about the story of how Little Free Libraries got started, and the story of many many LFL around the world. Lots of ideas on how to be steward for one, with lots of pictures and plans for how to get started. So fun!⭐⭐⭐

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton: A book I've had on my shelf forever that I finally got to! This one a subtle gothic story that flashes back and forth between the years of 1992 and 1940 when our main character is trying to figure out what happened to the three girls who live in the castle back during WWII. A very slow book, but so beautifully written with a crazy story that little by little unfolds.⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Unwedding by Ally Condie: The first adult novel by a local author favorite that was in fact chosen as a Reese Witherspoon book club book! It's a mystery, nodding to the classic tales of Agatha Christie, where our main character ends up stuck at a resort on the coast of California after the groom of the wedding that was meant to happen there, turns up dead. She gets involved in solving it all, whether she wanted to or not!⭐⭐⭐