Oof, almost time to put 2023 to bed. It was a weird transitional year for me, letting go of some stuff that had become a burden and getting out of an exploitative environment that was sucking out all of my free time and a lot of my energy. It brought me back to blogging by the end of the year, which is nice. Here’s hoping 2024 is kind to us all.
Anyway, it’s time for the post-Christmas haul, or at least the first part of it…
As before, I’ll be linking up with a few different posts: Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz.
Books acquired this week:
I got quite a lot of books, in fact, so it’s hard to know just how to split them up into two batches. I think I’ll show off my dorky Final Fantasy books received and the various fiction books I received, this week, and then the non-fiction books I got next week, just to avoid it being too big!
So first of all, here are the additions to my Final Fantasy XIV collection:
The artbooks are gorgeous, and the encyclopaedias have a lot of fascinating information. I previously got volume I of the encyclopaedia, so it’s nice to get up to date!
As far as fiction books go, I was equally spoiled by my family, and I’m also including a book bought off my wishlist by Cheryl Malandrinos from The Book Connection, The Book of Perilous Dishes. (Thank you so much!)
I’m eager to dig into all of these, though I need to acquire Curse of the Pharaohs before I can read The Mummy Case, in order to avoid getting out of order. I think I’ll leave that a bit until my TBR pile is a little less inclined to overflow! 😀
And of course I must also include the two review copies I’ve been approved for this week:
Thanks, Tordotcom!
Posts from this week:
It’s been a quieter week for posts, since I paused for a bit while celebrating Christmas, but there are some new posts:
- The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, by P. Djèlí Clark (3/5 stars)
- The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, volume 1, by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù (3/5 stars)
- Christmas: A History, by Judith Flanders (DNF)
- Murder at Maybridge Castle, by Ada Moncrieff (3/5 stars)
Other posts:
What I’m reading:
For the weekend, I’m working on hitting my reading goal for 2023: 400 books in total! Just two more books to go, but I haven’t really decided what to read yet.
Here’s a glimpse of the books I’ve read this week which I’ll probably be reviewing on here soon:
And that’s it! Hope everyone had a good Christmas, and that we’re all looking forward to the new year. Let’s hope it’s a good one (with plenty of books).
Nice book haul. The title of Book of Perilous Dishes has me curious. Have a great new year of reading.
Harvee @ https://bookdilettante.blogspot.com/
Honestly, I was half sold just from the title, haha. Imyril from There’s Always Room For One More mentioned it recently and I was intrigued, and I was pretty lucky someone happened to pick it off my wishlist for me!
Your new book haul looks gorgeous and how nice to be spoilt by your family with books. I know what you mean about not reading series out of order. Even if the stories are stand alones, it still doesn’t feel right.
I especially love that my family (especially my wife) roll with the randomness of my taste and try to get me a real spread of different books. I’m very spoiled! 😀
You definitely had a book lover’s Christmas! Happy New Year!
I really did! Happy New Year to you too. 🙂
Looks like a fun set of new books. Looking forward to seeing the non-fiction side.
Happy New Year!
I got a heck of a stack, it’s going to keep me busy. Thanks for dropping by, and happy new year!
You are swimming in books for next year, and that’s exactly how I like to be. Good luck in hitting your reading goal for 2023. Four hundred books in a year is a big goal!
I’m almost there! Just one more book! I just need to decide which book I should finish out the year with… 🙂
I hope you love all your new books! I’m glad you were able to come back to blogging this year.
I spent so much time this year phoning it in and just scheduling a few review posts here and there, but I seem to be back now. Here’s hoping it lasts. Thanks for dropping by!
Love this diverse haul! I hope 2024 continues to look up for you. I had a similar experience earlier in 2023 and am not sad about leaving the year behind. Happy New Year 🙂
My family know me well and try to keep me occupied with a wide range of things, haha.
Here’s hoping 2024 will be good to us all!
Your books look so good. I hope you enjoy them and have a great week! Happy New Year!
Thank you! It’s a nice mixed haul, so there should always be something to tempt me…
Looks like a ton of great books this week! Hope you enjoy them all and have a happy new year! Here’s to a great 2024 for us all!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2023/12/31/weekly-wrap-up-150-december-31st-2023/
Thanks for dropping by! I had a very good Christmas haul, haha. Happy new year!
I’m glad you’re back to blogging. I didn’t blog this year either until about a week ago. I’m also glad you got out of the exploitative environment. It’s always so hard to make changes, but it’s nice when it works out. Happy New Year!
https://jennielyse.com/sunday-news-49/
I did schedule some review posts at least, but I wasn’t really getting out there and talking to people — it got a bit lonely, blog-wise! It’s nice to be back to it; here’s hoping it treats us both well! Happy new year. 🙂
So nice to get so many books!! I hope you enjoy them when you get time to read them.
I was well and truly spoiled! And I’ve already been digging in, hehe.
I love those books that expand on game worlds- they make it so immersive! A surprise for Christmas looks awesome too.
Happy New Year!
Yes! FFXIV has soooo much lore, as well, so it’s a great way to keep myself up to date with it, heh.
Happy new year!
I have also been kind of MIA, as you saw from my STS! The end of the year has just been so hectic, but being on Christmas break (I’m a teacher) has been wonderful. I have started queueing up posts like TTT and First Line Friday again, also. Your haul looks lovely and I hope you enjoy them all
Ahh, Christmas break must have been much needed, too! Teaching can be so hectic — I’m not a teacher myself, but my wife was for a while, and several of my friends were/are. Hope you’re getting plenty of rest time!
I still need to get through my ARC of The Dead Cat Tail Assassins! I love Erica Ridley’s books, so I’m definitely eyeing My Rogue to Ruin!
My Sunday Post 🙂
I liked the world a lot! I didn’t love the book quite as much as I expected to, but that may have been timing thing… or just one time where it didn’t click with me. I love Clark’s work in general!
I’ve been wanting My Rogue to Ruin for a while, definitely keen to pick it up soon. 😀
400 books‼️ Consider me gobsmacked. I read 200 books in 2023 and that was way more than usual. Have a wonderful New Year!
Haha, it was a heck of a goal for me! The total does include a lot of stuff like graphic novels, novellas, manga, etc — shorter/quicker reads, in other words. I had a pages goal as well though and that went really well! Great going on reading 200 books in 2023, that’s a lot!
Wow you read a lot of books this year! I’m a fan of Elizabeth Peters and have read all the books in 3 of her series. Happy New Year!
I tried something by Peters a while back and didn’t like it, but might’ve been a case of it being the wrong time for it, because I really liked the first Amelia Peabody book! I’m definitely going to give more of her work a try.
It sounds like you are starting the new year in a better place. I hope 2024 treats you kindly and well! You got so many great books! Peters’ books are such fun. I have heard good things about Akwaeke Emezi’s book. I would like to read that one someday. I hope you enjoy all your new books! Four hundred books in a year is amazing! Congratulations! I hope you have a very happy New Year, Nicky.
Thank you; same wishes to you! I have hopes that at least personally, it can be a good year.
I’ve enjoyed some of Akwaeke Emezi’s work in the past, though Pet was my favourite, and this is pretty different. I think their writing is great, though!
Love the cover of The Mummy Case.
Happy to hear you got out of an environment that was sucking the life out of you! Hope you have a happy New Year!
The whole series has pretty fun covers, it’s great!
Happy New Year. 🙂
Whoa 400 books is quite a haul of reading. I’m more into the crime/mysteries perhaps than the fantasy … so The Mummy Case looks pretty good. Wishing you a happy New Year … and thanks for visiting my site. Cheers.
There were some pretty short books in there, but still, I surprised myself with how much I managed to read this year! And lots and lots of it was crime/mystery fiction, haha. I’m mostly a fan of classic crime/mysteries (like Agatha Christie/Dorothy L. Sayers/Ngaio Marsh era), but I’m pretty eclectic in the end. 😀
Wow, 400 books! That is impressive. Sounds like 2023 was a good year for you with positive changes. Wishing you a very Happy New Year!
It’s been a while since I read so much in a year, I must admit! And lots of those books were pretty short. Still, I surprised and impressed myself! Happy new year to you too. 🙂
How awesome that you received so many books for Christmas! You have plenty of good reading to look forward to now. 🙂
I really do! I’m excited. And a little daunted. XD
Ooh, I’ll have to see if my sister knows about the Final Fantasy books. She *loved* Final Fantasy VII back in the day. She got a gaming laptop for Christmas and the first thing she downloaded was the updated version of it. She’s in love again.
Yay for Amelia Peabody! I think I’m about halfway through that series and I find it hugely fun.
Happy New Year!
The world in Final Fantasy XIV (the games aren’t really linked) is quite different, but I bet there’s loads of similar stuff for FFVII now that it’s been remade! I haven’t played that yet, but I really want to.
Happy new year!