Hey all, Dani here.
Oh man, we have somehow finished a whole month already. Is it just me or is the time flying once again? I thought 2018 went by pretty quickly, but so far 2019 has been fairly fast as well.
First up, I would like to start by going over my 2019 goals and marking down my progress with them so far.
- Reading: I am definitely doing amazing when it comes to my Goodreads Challenge for the year. Currently I am at 24 books read for the year. But being at roughly 1/3 completed for the year already, that’s probably because I set my goal at 75 books. When it comes to my Big Books challenge, I have finished The Black Prism by Brent Weeks, and I am working on Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind. So not a whole lot of progress, but it’s still something.
- Blogging: There was a post up on Mousai Books every single day in January, and I managed to write reviews for 7 of the books I read this month. While I don’t think this will be something we’ll be able to keep up with through the year, I am still super proud of us. And I know so many of us try to focus on cultivating bookish relationships, so blog stats aren’t as important, but I am still so happy and grateful for the fact that January 2019 was my most productive month in terms of posts, views, and visitors. Thank you all so much.
- Writing: I read a book about writing, and I’ve thought a lot about it. Honestly I think I’ve figured some things out and should actually be able to sit down and write some words in February. I did write a lot of words for the blog in January, but sadly those don’t count towards my creative writing goals.
- Conventions: We bought our tickets for Gen Con in Indianapolis this August, and we’ve talked to Colorworld Books about working with them at Cincinnati Comic Expo in September. So far the convention plans are going really well.
Next, let’s wrap up all the books I finished in the month of January.
Black Clover Volume 6 by Yuki Tabata – 5 stars
Black Clover Volume 7 by Yuki Tabata – 5 stars
Black Clover Volume 8 by Yuki Tabata – 5 stars
Sightwitch by Susan Dennard – 4 stars
My Hero Academia Vigilantes Volume 3 by Hideyuki Furuhashi & Betten Court – 5 stars
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margarita by Tim Federle – 4 stars
Rat Queens Volume 5 by Kurtis J. Wiebe & Owen Gieni – 4 stars
In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire – 4 stars
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett – 5 stars
Delicious in Dungeon Volume 1 by Ryoko Kui – 4 stars
How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Volume 1 by Yukiya Murasaki & Naoto Fukuda – 4.5 stars
The Dungeon of Black Company Volume 1 by Youhei Yasumura – 3.5 stars
How to Treat Magical Beasts Volume 1 by Kaziya – 5 stars
The Librarians and the Pot of Gold by Greg Cox – 5 stars
Write Naked: A Bestseller’s Secrets to Writing Romance & Navigating the Path to Success by Jennifer Probst – 4.5 stars
The Black Prism by Brent Weeks – 4 stars
Fairy Tail Volume 6 by Hiro Mashima – 5 stars
Blue Exorcist Volume 4 by Kazue Kato – 5 stars
Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell – 3 stars
Delicious in Dungeon Volume 2 by Ryoko Kui – 4 stars
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer – 5 stars
The Monster of Selkirk Book II: The Heart of the Forest by C.E. Clayton – 5 stars
The Adventurers Guild: Twilight of the Elves by Zack Loran Clark and Nick Eliopulos – 5 stars
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend – 5 stars
A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos – 4 stars
Whew…that was a lot of books. But if you think that’s all I managed to do this month, you would be quite wrong. Because Damian and I also watched a lot of shows and movies. See, that’s what happens with cold wintery months where all I want to do is curl up in a blanket cocoon and ignore the outside world. Okay, let’s go over everything we watched in January.
Doctor Who (series 7) – 4.5 stars, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie – 3.5 stars, Legend of the Seeker (season 1) – 4 stars, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – 4 stars, Between the Sheets (season 1–YouTube series on Critical Role’s channel) – 5 stars, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 – 4 stars, Rampage – 4.5 stars, Mr. and Mrs. Smith – 4 stars, Men in Black 3 – 4.5 stars, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – 4 stars, Snow White and the Huntsman – 4 stars, Cinderella (new Disney live-action version) – 4.5 stars, The Fifth Element – 4.5 stars, 13 Going on 30 – 4.5 stars, The Good Place (season 1) – 5 stars, Fairy Tail (season 7 aka the longest season ever) – 4.5 stars, Fairy Tail (season 8 aka Fairy Tail Zero) – 5 stars
And now we have come to the book haul portion of things. I’m actually decently proud of myself for this segment. I didn’t go overboard and buy every book I wanted. This is especially true now that Damian and I have put an offer on a house. I’m going to have to be strategic about what books I allow myself to buy each month. It is because of the whole house hunt, and needing to work out a new budget when we do move that I have to announce that I have had to stop my OwlCrate subscription…for a little while at least. I have really loved my OwlCrate boxes, and I do plan to resubscribe after we figure out a new budget and all. It’s just that right now bills and all of that will be more important than all my fun book purchases. So I’ll hopefully start using the library a little bit more.
Okay, let’s just show off the haul. The left most column (tote bag, Rat Queens & writing books, and The Librarians) photos are from Damian and I’s date night into Columbus. I took him to Schmidt’s Sausage Haus for dinner and then to The Book Loft of German Village, which is a 32 room independent bookstore. It’s amazing. A lot of the books came from Barnes & Noble thanks to sales. There are two books I’ve ordered that won’t arrive before this post, so they’ll be in my February haul.
And here we go, everyone. My last OwlCrate unboxing for a little while. It makes me sad to announce this, because I started reading the clue as to the February book, and it is one that is super high on my anticipated release list. Plus the OwlCrate edition (the book is Crown of Feathers, by the way) will not only be signed but will also have sprayed edges. Darn being an adult. I’m still buying the book. It is on my reduced list of anticipated books that I’m still allowing myself to buy.
All right, well since I posted my February TBR yesterday, I do believe that is all for today. Did you have a productive January? Let me know some of your favorite reads and/or show/movies from the month, because I’d love to know. And I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.
Free State of Geek 