Gretchen C. Hohmeyer's Blog, page 30

“I Work in a Bookstore!” Book Haul (FTN)

I’ve been working at a Barnes and Noble since October, and you can bet that all the while I’ve been accumulating books. It finally occurred to me that I had a bunch just hanging around–and the titles were all over the place–so I wanted to share them with you guys! If you’ve read any of these, please do let me know in the comments if you liked them or not!

Have My Reading Tastes Completely Changed?! (FTN)

I’m back with this week’s From the Notebook to discuss the recent change in my reading tastes, and the freak out that is causing in my personal identity. I’ve always been a teen reader, but I haven’t read a teen book since October. WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Top 5 Disappointing Books of 2016

Well. Here we are. There are my top 5 disappointing reads in 2016. I chose them based not on whether or not I think they were bad books, but rather that the expected enjoyment was far and away not what I got from the book in general. Enjoy, I guess?

Top 5 Books of 2016

It’s finally time to get down to this wrap up stuff. 2016 wasn’t that great of a reading year, overall, though I did read 80 books. I felt like a lot of it was meh, but there were 5 that really stood out. They were a super mix of books, really representing the weird and new turns that my reading was taking me. I’m starting to read a lot wider and broader, and consistently stuff I didn’t think I’d ever enjoy. Let’s take a look at my list!

Betwixt the Books: Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 Wrap Up

When Michaela said she needed a 2 minute video of us dancing, I should have said no. I’m glad I didn’t though, because this is one of the funniest videos that we’ve made in a while that Michaela put SO MUCH WORK INTO. Speaking of, from Michaela:

The song is Destroying the World by Algar… just some happy 8-bit music to dance to.

I apologize for this being a tad late. I’m the one that wanted to do something schmancy. I think it was fun to do … even if it took literal hours for me to edit… I PUT EFFORT IN GOD DAMMIT … and we got to be a bit silly and relaxed.

Some of you might note that we did not complete all 40 challenges, and we didn’t even really finish a couple, but we are halfway through them and we do plan to continue on… so you can’t fault us that much for saying they are WIP. If you want to hear why we are okay with not reaching the goal and why we are still willing to do another challenge despite failing the first time around we did a lovely discussion of it. Check that out if you so desire.

As far as everything else goes,

we wish you luck in the new year, whether you will be challenging yourself or not. With this or one of the many other challenges there are out there. I have been ruminating on making a couple of challenges for myself personally to try and complete, based on my own aspirations.

Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR … shall it be fruitful, gossamer, and ebullient…. everything that the past year has not been for me. New beginnings and all that.

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Review & Rant Betwixt the Books Betwixt the Books

Hey guys. This is perhaps one of the saddest reviews I’ve ever done about something I so highly anticipated. I have very, very many thoughts about the revival and could only fit so many of them into this video. However. I have attempted to do the thing. Please chat me up in the comments for more!

I Wrote a Novel, Now What? Episode 3 – Confronting Privilege

This is perhaps one of the most important videos I will make about my revisions to my novel moving forward, in which I admit that I made some mistakes about plot lines left aside but how I plan to address this in the future! Even the best intentioned plot lines can be left undone if the writer does not constantly confront and interrogate their own writing as they go, and even what I’ve discovered so far is probably just the tip of the iceberg for me. As Mad Eye Moody would say, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

Bibliomancy for Beginners – Spooksgiving: Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

So remember when we said we were going to do a Halloween special? Well. It took us until about, oh, Black Friday to actually get this done. It’s always time for weird vampire sort-of-horror, right? Listen. I’m out of excuses, okay? Life is hard, but we love books. This really wasn’t my favorite, even if Michaela and Taylor liked it. HOWEVER, this is a really awesome episode because this book may not have been that good (to me) but it stimulated A LOT of really awesome discussion of themes and characters. We got so into it we almost forgot to stop. It was worth the wait!

Veronica Mars Novels Review (+ TV and Movie Discussion)

This video has been long promised, but has now finally appeared. Today I’m talking not only about the two Veronica Mars novels, but also about how Veronica Mars has transcended mediums so well. I don’t think a lot of people have read the novels because they’re so different, but … trust me. They good.

Betwixt the Books Discuss! Reader’s (Booktuber’s) Guilt

Michaela and I did a thing! Would you look at that. This is generally referring to our struggles with our Popsugar Reading Challenge this year, and how our reading in general has been affected by the challenge and our booktuber duties. We discuss strategies for removing this guilt from our lives while also getting things like challenges done. Also we’re, like, together and awesome so. Worth the watch!