A reflection post | Did I actually incorporate these reading habits?

Exactly one year ago, I made a post about bookish habits I wanted to add to my routine. It’s about time for me to take a look back on the past 12 months and see if I actually incorporated these habits. Or maybe see if I tried them and they didn’t work for me. Basically, another reflection post I tend to love writing 😀 

At the time of creating these habits, my goal was to be more organized when it comes to reading. I love the idea of having dedicated time and mind-space for reading, but we all know that it’s not always possible. 

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The Reading Rush | The shortest books I could find!

Hi, guys! The last couple of weeks have been so hectic that I feel like I haven’t talked to you in a while. I had a big chunk of my posts written and scheduled for July, so this is the first one I’m writing in a long time! 

My reading has been going pretty well so far. As you know, I’m traveling through books this month, and I already visited 3 out of 4 destinations. I hope to read the final book and travel to Afganistan this week, so I can start The Reading Rush week with a freshly set TBR 😀 

Mid-Year Goals Review | How did I do in 2020 so far?

The first semester of 2020 was full of unpleasant surprises. But I still was able to take some advantage of the quarantine and a little bit more free time to keep up or finalize some of the things that have been sitting on my to-do list for far too long. 

I love to constantly review my yearly goals to make sure that I know what the next steps will be in accomplishing them. 6 months mark feels like a good time to take a look at the goals I set for myself at the beginning of this year, see if I accomplished / failed any, and adjust them for the remaining 6 months. 

Books on my summer TBR | Book Haul, Self-education & way too many books!

Hey, guys! I hope all of you are doing well! 

2020 has been very tragic, but also very important, year, and we are only halfway through it. From COVID induced quarantine and the need to take care of ourselves and the others to the BLM movement and absolutely horrible events that made the world finally revolt against the injustice and racism, 2020 is one of the most important years of my life and I really hope that we take something from this, learn on our mistakes and try to build a better future for ourselves and for the future generations. 

Challenge Accepted | 15 Books to Read Before You’re 30!

Have you ever wondered why there were so many lists of books that you are meant to read before 20 or 30 or 40 years-old? Well, I’m going to find out! 

Also because it’s my birthday and because I will be celebrating it with my 2 dogs and 4 cats [and very few humans], here is a gif of an adorable dog for your amusement:

7 Books I want to read because… | Book covers inspired by Russian Folk Art!

There is something so appealing about Russian folk art inspired covers, isn’t there? The very first book done in this style that caught my attention was «The Bear and the Nightingale» by Katherine Arden. I was lucky to get the ARC of the first book through NetGalley, but when I fell in love with the story and saw the final book cover from Del Rey (Penguin UK) I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I don’t buy the book immediately to display on my shelf.

Unread books on my shelves with single word title | This would make a great reading challenge!

It’s been too long since my last Top Ten Tuesday post! Hi, everyone, and hope you’re loving this week’s TTT theme. As I was preparing my post, I found a lot of books with single word titles. And apparently, Sci-Fi books are all about the single-word titles! I was even planning to make a list of Sci-Fi books with a one-word title that I really want to read, but some of them I don’t own and I wanted this list to be more realistic. 

Books on my TBR I predict will be 5-star reads | Another reading challenge!

My February TBR (link) is already looking too long for me to add any books to it, but I’ve been meaning to participate in one of this “5-star prediction” challenges in a very long time, and couldn’t pass this opportunity! Hence why I’m making another list of books-to-read in the nearest future, and I hope that I will actually read these books soon! 

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (link) topic is Books on my TBR I predict will be 5-star reads, and because my TBR is so vast, and my time to read books is limited, I decided to pick 5 books from my physical TBR that I think I’ll absolutely love, that aren’t first books in the series, and challenge myself to read them during the next couple of months. Wish me luck! 

2019 Goals Wrap Up | Reading for fun, Discovering new authors & More!

I spent so much time this month to get everything prepared for tomorrow that I can’t quite believe that I’m finally done with all the presents, wrapping, shopping, etc. I also can’t wait for my family to open their gifts, I think they will really love them and I honestly prefer giving presents more than receiving. 

Tomorrow I will be worrying about cooking and setting the table, but today I thought I’d take a few hours off to look back at my 2019 Goals and see what worked for me, what didn’t and what goals will need to migrate to next year.

2020 Reading Challenge | Choose your challenge!

As I was preparing and organizing my reading life for next year, I realized that I don’t really know that many reading challenges, besides the most popular ones. Therefore, to be able to get ready for 2020, I had to equip myself with the complete knowledge of all yearly reading challenges that exist out there. 

Of course, I couldn’t keep all of that knowledge just to myself and had to share my findings with you, in hopes that you too will add more reading challenges to this list. 

Winter Magical Read-a-thon 2019!

The Winter Magical Readathon is here!

G @BookRoast is an incredibly talented human being, and I’m appalled by the amount of detail and work that went into this read-a-thon. I was so not planning to throw myself into yet another read-a-thon this year, but after watching the Announcement video that went live at the beginning of this week, I couldn’t resist the temptation to Save Ginny and spend the most magical month of the year in Hogwarts! 

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, please watch this Announcement video by BookRoast and join in on the fun!

NEWTs Magical Read-a-Thon | My TBR to pass all exams required for Auror’s career!

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NEWTs (NASTILY EXHAUSTING WIZARDING TESTS) RULES:

1 – Each subject has three grades: A (Acceptable), E (Exceeded Expectations) and O (Outstanding);
2 – Each A unlocks a possibility to gain an E;
3 – Thus, in order to achieve O (Outstanding) you first must earn an A and an E, in that particular order. 
4 – The cross-over or doubling up on reads is not allowed!

THE READING RUSH | Wrap Up & Many Badges!

The Reading Rush (former Booktube-a-thon) read-a-thon is one of my favorite bookish events of the year! It’s never easy to read 7 books in one week, but I love how many people participate in it. There were tons of YouTube videos, that I still need to catch up on, twitter sprints, bookstagram posts, and forums on the new Reading Rush website.

Did you participate? How many challenged were you able to complete?

I mostly stuck with my initial the Reading Rush TBR, which is very surprising, and managed to read 4 full novels, 1 graphic novel and 1 very short story.

THE READING RUSH TBR | Can I read 7 books in one week?!

This might be the best or the worst idea I’ve ever had, but I’m participating in this year’s the Reading Rush annual read-a-thon that runs from 22nd to 28th of July, and we have a week to complete all the challenges!

Booktube-a-thon (the old name of the Reading Rush) was my very first read-a-thon back in 2017. And to my surprise I was able to complete all the challenges and read a total of 7 books – here are my Booktube-a-thon TBR and Wrap Up from 2017!

July 2019 Goals |Reading Rush and To-Do lists!

It’s time to sit and write down my goals for this month!

July will mostly be the month of “catch up”. I feel like I need to clear up my To-Do list (and as soon as possible), so I can have some free time for myself. I know I say this every month, but life has been very busy overall and dedicating time to blogging and reading has become more and more difficult over the past couple of months.

I love the busy days, but I think I’m ready to take a little break from them as well. I won’t have holidays from work until September, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t take things a little easier over the next couple of weeks. But in order to do that, I’ll need to tie all the ends, finish pending tasks and then enjoy my reading time!