What are you reading 2021

[Jo]

Finished today, it was really interesting, I highly recommend if you like memoirs. Started as my next audiobook.

[Christine]

[Brittany]

Ahh! Nobleman's guide is finally out! Thanks for the reminder. I'll start it next. Also put a buddy read post up

And sounds good. Ill start the BotM stuff back up in January

[Gord]

Alright, I've got a lot of thing to go over this week and a lot of things to say about them so lets get started.

-3 Stars
This was an alright book. There were things about the book that I really liked and then there were things that just took away from the whole experience. Starting with the good I really appreciated how the author tried to change up some of the tropes that he had started in this series. Namely we had a rat that wasn't evil and a mole who didn't use that mole speak that I'm not a fan of. We also got to see/hear about other predators than what we have been exposed to. I always wondered where the other predators like wolfs, bears, etc were. I also feel that there were nuggets of a good story in this book but how it was delivered is where it just frustrated me. This book had essentially three story lines in it. There is the story around Castle Floret where an evil fox has overthrown a squirrel king. We have the story of the Bellmaker, Joshua, receiving a vision and going to help his daughter. We also have stuff that happens at the Abbey itself. The story at the Abbey itself was probably the most pointless to me. It felt like it was there purely for the author to insert all his favored food descriptions. Outside of the not evil rat the only thing that happened there was feasting and festivities. Now either of the other two story lines could have been great if the author had focused on one of them and built it up. Instead all three of these stories are chopped up into tiny pieces and sprinkled randomly through the book. For me it was just frustrating. I wanted a single great story and I got two alright stories and some food descriptions.

-3 Stars
I love this author as I feel that she has some great popcorn reads. This book though just felt over simplified in my opinion. For instance we are introduced to a character who is a total jerk. Immediately I knew that it was a red herring for the actual villain of the story because this character was just so over the top in the jerkiness. They always happened to be at the right place when something happened to the MC so that they were always a suspect. It was just a bit to ham fisted and didn't fool me from the actual villain. Then there was this stealth section. It was supposed to super dangerous and if our MC is caught horrible things will happen to them. Great, those are some amazing stakes and our MC is a thief so this is a chance for them to shine. What we get is the MC hopping the fence, strolling through the woods for a couple of miles, and poof infiltration. Then to really undercut this section two more characters who aren't thieves also do this and essentially just stroll into the enemy compound with out ever getting caught. It takes all those stakes and just throws them out the window if anyone can do it. Outside of those two things the romance felt repetitive and the story was alright. There was no real surprises for me as you could kind of see it all coming.

-4 Stars
Now here is a story that I can get behind. I'll admit that by this point I have warmed up to the narrator of this series. I'm not going to say that this is the greatest thing ever but I can live with it and it's stopped annoying me. Well, for the most part, that music between chapters still bugs me. As for the story itself I just love this series. I feel a lot of people overlook this series because of the middle grade tag but this really doesn't feel like middle grade to me. Maybe the writing level a bit but the actual content is far from it. There are real stakes involved in this book and the MC is far from the chosen one. There is a lot of history and a lot of secrets in this book that get revealed as things go along.

-3 Stars
An alright story from the Hoopla Borrows thing. This is about family, alternate dimensions, and what not. Overall it was an alright read but it never really blew me away either.

-4 Stars
This is just a feel good story about some art students creating their own basketball league for young women. In my opinion this is how diversity should be done. None of the characters are defined by their race/sexuality. They are just characters who happen to be diverse. It never felt ham fisted for me and I intend to read more in this series.

-5 Stars
Some more feel good food fantasy manga and an example of a story that knew when to finish things up. We get more characters, we get more food, and we get some backstory into the creation of the restaurant. There is still a lot of things that could be explored on both sides of the door but this style of story would either start to feel repetitive or have to deviate from its current format making its something different. It left me wanting more but oddly satisfied about how things ended. This is a short but great manga series for those that are looking for something lighthearted. Be forewarned that this manga will make you hungry though.

-4 Stars
There is something about this yuri manga that just connects with me. It's a bit more serious of a romance then most of the lighthearted sweetness that I normally like but it feels so real. Both characters have their own baggage from just life in general and the story is about them exploring a new relationship and dealing with both their own baggage and their partners. I really enjoy this one and I can't wait for the next volume.

-3 Stars
Speaking of yuri manga lets talk about this one. While reading through these books this morning I found that the story of this one and Whisper me a Love Song were blurring together and that I liked Whisper me a Love Song more then this one. The relationship still has this weird vibe to things and I'm just not a fan of Nanami or most of the characters in this. It's not a bad manga and I can see the appeal but there is just something about this one that just isn't clicking with me.

-3 Stars
This was a weird little detour for me. I watched the movie of this from years ago and wanted to check out the source material. Out of no where I remembered it and went looking to see what Hoopla had. Volume one really showed it's influences. While reading it I saw sprinkles of MIB, Spawn, and other 90's comics. Volume one was entertaining in a nostalgic kind of way. Then I read volume two. Volume two was the backstory of Roy and a lot of the same story tics to it but the art style took a hard left turn. Volume one had that 90's cartoonish kind of look that really lent to that nostalgic feeling. Volume two dropped all that and went for the more realistic comic look and it was alright but it didn't have the same appeal. I don't know if Hoopla has more and I'm not sure I want to read more.

-4 Stars
This is a hard series to talk about as it has kind of broke my brain. Essentially there are two stories going on. There is the laid back, cute, food fantasy manga aspect of things that hits all the expected strides. If you lift the hood though and start peering into things (reading long enough) there is a whole weird world of things hidden just beneath the surface. As I mentioned last week there are time traveler aspects of the story that has been introduced but I was not prepared for where things took me. We discover another person who was transported from our world and that person is Arachne. Yes, that Arachne from Greek myth. This then led to some brain melting revelations involving a clone from a future crashing her rocket ship into this world in the past. The revelation that the dwarves are not from this world, or any world connected to this world. That this world is some sort of pocket multiverse dimension and something or someone may be collecting all these various people here for some reason. We are then introduced to a female Buddhist monk from some world similar to ours. She was abducted at the age of 12 by dolphin like aliens, injected with nanomachines and made into a "higher life form". She was then locked in a cave for 800 years before escaping and returning to live among humans for centuries. That is until the world ended in 20XX and her last memory of this world was praying over a funeral pyre. She raised her head from prayer and found herself in this fantasy world. Like I said this is a simple manga about cooking food in a fantasy world.

As for what is next, I'm currently listening to . I plan to read later today before starting

[Brittany]

So much manga!! Seems you are mostly enjoying everything you read though Gord so thats good

[Gord]

It's been a good week for manga for sure.

[Christine]

I finished my 92nd book

[Christine]

[Elena]

@Gord incredible list! Added this cute food mange to my list :)

I finished some books though not too much:

- somehow I ended up with giving the book 5 stars. It was good, interesting with a great writing style.
- decided to read this one but was disappointed, I just should have stopped when I finished the first series :D
- adorable romantic series with Alaska setting! Great for a festive mood, extremely cozy! Read with blanket, hot cacao and snow outside.
- it was ok though loved the LGBTQ aspect here :)
- one more great book from the Shadowhunter world. Clears up some interesting points :)

[EdenB15]

I can’t wait for Xmas to c if I get any books haha

[Brittany]

Nice you ended up enjoying Raven King so much Elena. Those Alaska ones do look cute.

Eden fingers crossed you get what you want book wise!

[Liliana, YA Paranormal Lover]

Oooh glad to hear you enjoyed Ghosts of the Shadow Market, Elena! I have fallen behind on the Shadowhunter Chronicles once again, so that one is still on my list. Lol. But I love the main characters/narrator in that book, so I'm excited to read it!

[Brittany]

Finally finished my ebook of super slow to start but becomes quite a good read

[Liliana, YA Paranormal Lover]

Here's what I've read recently, and by 'recently' I mean in the last month. Lol. It's basically just Fear Street, which is fine with me. Lol.

Night Games was dumb. Lol. I knew as soon as I started it that it was going to be dumb. Surprisingly, I didn't hate it though! I was not expecting that plot twist, and I always enjoy when a Fear Street book has a little bit of a supernatural element to it.

The title character in The Boy Next Door was absolutely terrible! He was such a misogynist and I could not stand him. However, that is the point of this whole book. It was interesting because we were inside his head quite a bit. He's meant to be a terrible character, and boy did R.L. Stine do a good job of it. Lol.

I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf was really funny! And very relatable! I enjoyed it! It's this sort of nonfiction graphic novel about books and writing and, honestly, I felt seen lol.

Cat was another Fear Street book with a little bit of a supernatural twist to it that I enjoyed. While the book itself was predictable, I did enjoy the plot twist there. Honestly, if it had gone a different direction I probably wouldn't have liked it as much. Overall, it was an okay book.

Into the Dark I really enjoyed! The main character is blind so I was really interested to see how R.L. Stine would handle this disability. I was apprehensive at first, but I gotta say, it was pretty well written. It was predictable, but I liked it overall.

And OMG you guys will never guess what I'm reading right now... This is a contemporary romance 😲 and my THIRD one of the year, too! 😱 Look at me reading contemporaries 😂 And enjoying them! Although I do love Janette Rallison. She always writes really fun stories and sweet romances. I'm about halfway done with this one and I'm having a fun time with it.

I'm also currently reading ... kind of. I actually haven't touched it in a couple weeks just cause my mood wasn't there for it. But I'm looking forward to seeing how the series wraps up!

[Brittany]

Nice Lili! And I am impressed you are reading another contemporary

[Liliana, YA Paranormal Lover]

Right? I surely didn't see that coming lol

[EdenB15]

I’m reading legendborn

[[deleted user]]

Oh.My.Gods

[Liliana, YA Paranormal Lover]

Kristabella wrote: "Oh.My.Gods "

Ooh let me know what you think of this one. I've owned it for a couple of years but have not gotten around to it yet.

[[deleted user]]

I’ve owned it for awhile too. Finally had time to read it. I’ll let you guys know what I think of it.

[Elena]

@Lili I can relate! It was the same for me. Some time ago I didn't read any contemporaries but one day I've read a really nice romantic story, then another one, one more... you know... :D

[Elena]

This time not so many books but all 3 were great!

- it's not a part of the story, but the analysis of the world, characters, etc. I've learned some new things about the characters and understood some moments which didn't make sense before.
- read in one sitting, so interesting with a unique world, all the 'forest' magic, lots of nature and a very cute romantic line.
- a very interesting book. I've tried some things and it really does some magic, the plants are magical indeed and can help a lot with some issues.

[Christine]

I finished my 93rd book

[EdenB15]

Idek how many books I’ve read this year

[Liliana, YA Paranormal Lover]

Elena I used to have an eARC of Shadowhunters and Downworlders, but it not being part of the series I was never gonna get to it so I just got rid of it. Now I'm regretting it 😅 I'm gonna have to borrow it from the library. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it regardless though!

As for contemporaries, the author who got me into them was Janette Rallison. I read her My Fair Godmother series and I just fell in love with her writing. I knew that if I ventured out into her contemporaries I would probably enjoy them because I liked her other books that had a supernatural element to them.

[Elena]

@Liliana hope you get it and enjoy :) and thanks for the rec, I'll try first her Christmas book as I'm currently craving something festive :)

[Liliana, YA Paranormal Lover]

Ooh I'm excited to find out what you think! I really enjoyed it! It wasn't my favorite of her books, but it was still really cute and funny.

[Gord]

Alright, time for that weekly update once again

-2 Stars
Lets just get the bad out of the way now. This book was read for challenge purposes like many that I will be reading this month. I was feeling pretty meh already coming into this book from real life stuff and almost immediately I was turned off from this book for one simple reason. The MC was a horrible person and not in a well written you are supposed to hate this person kind of way. She was just a straight up bully to everyone around her. It didn't make me connect with the MC in anyway. In fact I wanted her to be the one who dies horribly in the horror novel. I also felt pretty underwhelmed by a lot of the non-horror stuff in this book. It just felt meh. Outside of it being quick the one thing I'd say that was alright was the horror stuff. If I was more invested in things in this book I would have appreciated it more. Overall I'm just glad it's done and I can move on to other stuff.

-5 Stars
After the last book I needed a rebound book to restore my faith in books and what better series than In Death to help me out. Before reading this book I was warned that this was an emotional read and those warnings were very on point. This book started at an 8 or 9 in intensity and just went from there. This was a really good In Death book in an already good series. There was a lot of backstory for Eve and, I feel, a lot of character development for her. This was probably one of her hardest cases we have read so far. While emotional and intense this really helped get me back into the groove of reading.

-3 Stars
After catching up on my weird isekai food fantasy time traveling manga I was looking for something else to read and found this. I watched most, if not all, of the first season of the anime and decided to check out the source material. This is a slice of life, comedy, sports manga about a school kendo club and you get what is advertised. There are definitely some funny moments, some more serious moments. For now I'm going to keep reading and see where this goes.

-4 Stars
Yes, it's another yuri romance manga. Are you really all that surprised? I really liked this one. It's another high school first love kind of romance but there is something about this sweet, dorky, adorable romance that just clicks with me. I'll definitely be reading more.

-4 Stars
I saw this recommended and it looked to be up my alley so I gave it a shot. This was a fun read and one of my guilty pleasures of fantasy. There are times where I love a well crafted world full of deep characters with massive story lines and then there are times where I'm looking for a story about two people looking for treasure. This one falls into the latter category and it's just a fun read. You got two guys looking to make a little cash and the adventure that ensues to finish the contract. This is another series I plan on reading more of.

-4 Stars
This was my attempt at a non-Japanese yuri and this one just hits different for me. It takes place at a summer camp in the summer of 1994. The MC's mother got her a job as camp counselor before she heads off to college in the fall. This book had elements of the 90's that were nostalgic as hell for me. It had the whole summer camp elements which were also nostalgic for me. While I was never a camp counselor I spent a lot of summers at camps of various kinds and just some of the shenanigans of this book took me back. There were elements of this book that reminded me of Lumberjanes as we of course have a supernatural mystery that is happening in the woods. The romance was subtle but well done and the book was full of interesting characters. Just an interesting read that reminded of fun times and fun things.

Up next I'm tackling . After that I'm really not sure. I have a bunch of challenge stuff to clean up so I'll be working on that of course.

[Brittany]

Looks like a mostly fun reading week Gord!

[Christine]

I finished my 94th book

[Elena]

@Lili Yep, I'll share my thoughts here when I get to read the book :)

@Gord the manga you've read this time looks so cute!

[Reed]

Me too

[Christine]

I finished my 95th book

[Brittany]

Awesome Christine. Have you been enjoying your reads lately?

[Brittany]

I just finished so good and such a fantastic end to the series.

[Gord]

For a week where I didn't feel like I read a lot I have a lot to talk about.

-3 Stars
This was one of many challenge books I read this week. It's kind of a standard middle grade/YA book about a young kid going on an epic journey and finding his worth. This one takes place in a Viking village and involves a young crippled boy helping the Gods. It was a great little story and it did it's job but it never really blew me away either. That is a running theme this week.

-3 Stars
I'm lumping these two books together as my commentary for them will be the same. Like cozy mysteries these series are great for challenge reads as you can find a book to fill just about any challenge. Now it's time to pull of the painful bandage. These books are not the most engaging reads ever. I'm not going to say that they're bad but they aren't exactly great either. This kind of hurts to say as I, like so many others, have some serious nostalgia tied up with these series. These were the books that got me into reading way back in the day and I will always have a special love for them. That being said, as someone who reads a fair smattering of mysteries, these are just kind of meh books. I'm not even talking about the books being dated or anything of the sort. Just as mysteries and as books they are just kind of meh. I feel horrible for saying this and I'm fine getting shamed for saying it as I feel like I should be kicked out of some kind of club or loose my card to some kind of organization but they are just meh. The line up to start pelting me with rotten tomatoes starts over there.

-4 stars
I was stoked to listen to this audiobook after the amazing time I had with the first book. There was something missing from this experience that made it just miss the mark. It's still a great book that was entertaining to listen to but there was just some spark missing. There are a couple things that stick out to me. The first is the narrator. From what I can tell each book has a different British actress narrate the book. This narrator just didn't have the same charm as the first one. How to explain this? In the first book the narrator was subtle and added a layer of charm to the book. She did voice acting for the various characters and scenes without going over the top. The narrator for this book eventually settled into some voice acting but for the longest time every character got the same voice, the same tone, the same everything. It felt more like someone reading the book to me then voice acting out the story for me. It's a weird distinction but there is a difference. The second issue was the tone of the story itself. In the first book it leaned more into the horror with a smattering of mystery and action adventure. This one leans the other direction. It leans more into the mystery and action adventure aspects of the story with a smattering of horror elements. Don't get me wrong, when those horror elements get going they are a nice level of spooky but it just doesn't feel like there was as many of them. Overall it was still a good book but it just didn't deliver on what I was wanting after the first book.

-5 Stars
One of my favorite manga series for just feeling good about things. It was everything I wanted and expected. Now I'm back to waiting for the next volume.

-4 Stars
More crazy fantasy adventures with this dysfunctional duo. I'm on for the ride, show me where this crazy story is going.

-3 Stars
More sword slicing samurai story. Not a lot to really add here after my last post. It still feels like a Shonen story and I'm entertained.

-4 Stars
I'm really enjoying the story in this series. There are food elements, hints of romance, and a general story of someone trying to figure out where their life is going. I'm really enjoying things with this series.

As for what is next I'm not 100% sure yet. I've got a few challenge books, I've got some non-challenge books, and my vacation starts soon.

[Christine]

Thanks Brittany and I’ve been really enjoying my books Brittany and thanks for asking Brittany

[Brittany]

Gord that is disappointing to hear that it isnt the same narrator throughout for Lockewood! I liked the narration of the first book.

[Elena]

@Gord as usual, thank you for mangas :D

[Gord]

Brittany wrote: "Gord that is disappointing to hear that it isnt the same narrator throughout for Lockewood! I liked the narration of the first book."

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who liked the first one. It was the first audiobook that I thought had really good narration but it was also one of my earlier audiobooks so maybe my taste was whack or something.

Elena wrote: "@Gord as usual, thank you for mangas :D"

Your welcome, I kind of feel bad that I don't have more to say about them but it's kind of hard. Unless something drastic changes my opinion doesn't really change a whole lot.

[Elena]

I finished a pile of books recently. Some were good, some just ok.

- I decided not to watch the movie but to read a book. It was ok, pretty nice for the season but nothing special.
- I miss Harry Potter books and here there is magic school but overall the book is just ok.
- I didn't read the description and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the duology is about Magnus and Alec (mostly). Loved the story!
- whoa! The best books for this week. Amazing language, very captivating story, I've read these two in one sitting.
- I didn't enjoy her other book but this one was good! Ghost? Not a ghost? Time glitch? Not a glitch? Crazy in a good way.
- I love this author (unfortunately most of his books are not translated into english). He writes outstanding good old fantasy quests :)
- nothing special but I like this comix.

[Liliana, YA Paranormal Lover]

Ooh great reads this week, Elena! I've only read the Red Scrolls in that series so far, but I really loved it! It was so much fun! And I just love Magnus and Alec 🖤

[Brittany]

Good to hear you enjoyed Courting Darkness Elena. Looks like you had some good reads!

[Brittany]

I finished with one minute left on my hold time from the library. Talk about cutting it too close! It was alright. Very different from my normal kind of read. For now I'm going to treat it as a stand alone and maybe change my mind later and continue with the trilogy

[Christine]

I finished my 96th book

[Christine]

I finished my 97th book

[Gord]

I just reached my goal of reading 450 books in a year. Pretty impressed with myself this year.

[Elena]

@Brittany it's hard to drop the series when you start one :)

@Gord impressive amount of books you've read! I managed to read about 300 and it was hard!

[Brittany]

Wow Gord! That is impressive

It can be hard to drop series for sure. But sometimes they read pretty well as standalones

[Gord]

I know that this is a bit earlier than normal but I've got a lot to discuss this week. Plus it allows me to purge everything and start fresh.

-2 Stars
Lets start with the bad shall we. This was another challenge book that I snagged and part of what caught me, outside of the title starting with Z, was that the author is supposed to be a "master of horror". I'll say this, the sections that didn't have the MC and were straight up zombies snacking on people were indeed good. There is a part of me, small as it might be, that is intrigued with the hints of the mystery that were being set out in this book. All of that being said this book was brought down by the MC and the story itself. This book suffered from the classic "look at all the cool stuff happening everywhere but here" problem. It was the early days of the zombie outbreak so we got to hear about zombies everywhere but where we were. The other big problem with this book is the MC. I love an MC that is rough around the edges, the antihero if you want but I hate an MC that is just a garbage person. The author tried to give an excuse and reason for my the MC is a racist piece of garbage and it is tragic but her actions are inexcusable for me. Most of this book was just the MC being a racist piece of garbage and then wondering if she was a racist piece of garbage. I wanted more zombie in this book.

-3 Stars
Another challenge book and this was alright for a middle grade book. It's the usual young kids solving a mystery and saving the day but with mermaids and underwater. It just wasn't wasn't a 100% what I was in the mood for this week. It did use one of favorite middle grade tropes though. You will have a chapter where the author breaks the 4th wall warning the reader that unless they have X thing nothing will make sense past this point. Obviously we, as the reader, don't have it and the next chapter is just gibberish. It's a stupid, silly trope and I love it.

-3 Stars
This kept popping up on my recommendations feed here on Goodreads this year so I gave it a whirl and it wasn't bad. It's a collection of short stories written for a magazine in the 50's and they were designed to inspire young boys to get into science. It starred a group of young boys in small town America getting up to all sorts of hi-jinxes using science stuff that they knew. Sometimes it would be to solve a mystery, sometime it would be to pull a prank, and in one case help with a search and rescue. This is something that younger me would have loved back in the day.

Now for all the comics and manga

-5 Stars
This is a webcomic that has been popping up on my radar now for a few years. It popped up again about a week ago and I discovered that my library had a copy of the print book so I had to try it. Especially when it describes itself as Calvin & Hobbes meets Call of Cthulhu. I loved this book so much. It's about a family of metal heads, particularly black metal, and their everyday life. They all wear corpse paint, pray to beings down below, and love one another dearly. In some ways it reminds me of the Addams family. The family of outsiders marching to the beat of their own drum while loving each other dearly. I know it won't appeal to all but if the above description line even remotely tickles your fancy then give it a read.

-4 Stars
I've been wanting to read this for a while and initially I was going to wait until I finished some other stuff done first but... yeah... that didn't go to plan. This is a typical Shonen battle anime but I love the world it creates. The gourmet age where skilled hunters go out to find new and tasty creatures, plants, etc to bring back and eat. I'm really enjoying the start to this series and it will be interesting to see where this goes.

-5 Stars
As many already know I love this series a lot and it's not only one of favorite manga of all time but one of my favorite book series of all time. This shows the end of the Hundred Years war and the start if the end of the Golden Age. I know that there are a few people who read manga based off of my weekly posts so I feel like I need to make a statement here. I whole heartedly recommend Berserk to people, with a caveat. Berserk is heavy, it's dark, it's violent and not for those who are easily squeamish. This is super violent and touches on pretty much every dark subject matter you can think of. It has rape, pedophilia, incest, torture, etc, etc. There are no punches pulled in this world. The camera does not turn away when you see a man cleaved in two or a mans skull is caved in. It's a dark heavy world but I love the story and the artwork of the series. The other warning I have for those curious about reading this series. The author died earlier this year and there is a very good chance that we will never see the end of the story. No official announcement has been made in regards to it but I don't think it can go on without the author. Any way that is enough about Berserk.

-3 Stars
This is a slice of life, CGDCT, judo manga and you get what you expect. You get friendship, the genki girl, they are underdogs, etc. It's not a simple feel good story.

-3 Stars
I read this because I needed a book with a rugby player and as I figured there was a manga about it. It's a sports manga, not much more I can really say. It's not my normal genre and it hit all the tropes I expected to see in a sports manga.

-4 Stars
More world building, more mystery, and unfortunately it looks like I'm caught up with the English releases for now.

I'm currently on vacation, I've completed my reading goal for the year, and finished the one big challenge I wanted to for the year. I'm really not sure what I want to read for the next couple of weeks so it will be pretty impulsive. Right now I think I'll be reading today.