I’m very much enjoying the advent season so far — as I’ve probably mentioned before, I usually go overboard on creating a custom advent calendar of gifts for my wife, a whole mix of things like craft kits, nerdy phone charms, books, etc. I watch out for people’s reviews of horror books all year (especially from Mogsy at The Bibliosanctum) so I can make some good choices Lisa wouldn’t otherwise hear about, since it’s really not my genre. So that’s a lot of fun, and adds a bright spot to every day.
Hope everyone’s having a good December so far, whether or not you’re celebrating any kind of holiday this month!
Books acquired this week
This week I got a couple of eagerly-awaited books to review via Netgalley: I love the Mossa and Pleiti books, and I’ve been adoring the Emily Wilde series. I also forgot to mention Neon Yang’s new book last week, so here it is!
I’m really excited to dig into these.
Posts from the last week
First up, the reviews!
- Memoir: Nothing But The Truth, by The Secret Barrister (2/5 stars)
- Classic mystery: The Secret of Chimneys, by Agatha Christie (3/5 stars)
- Non-fiction: The Book at War: Libraries and Readers in an Age of Conflict, by Andrew Pettegree (3/5 stars)
- Historical fantasy: Wormwood Abbey, by Christina Baehr (3/5 stars)
- Romance manga: A Side Character’s Love Story, vol 2, by Akane Tamura (3/5 stars)
And the only other thing I posted was my WWW Wednesday post.
What I’m reading
I have a long way to go to meet my stretch reading goal this year: as I write, I have to read 52 more books to meet my goal, and I haven’t given up yet! I’ve been reading quite a lot this week, finishing 17 things that count as books on StoryGraph (though a couple of them were very short, and there were a lot of graphic novels and manga in the mix). Here’s a sneak peek of the ones I plan to review here!
I know, I know, it’s a lot!
Over the weekend, I plan to do a bunch more reading — for one thing, I want to dive into The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses, and there’s more manga I want to read, and I’m partway through Murder at the Ashmolean and Black Ops & Beaver Bombing…
Suffice it to say, I’ll be keeping busy!
How’s everyone else doing?!
Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, as usual!
You are knocking it out of the park with reading! I am looking forward to joining the classics club and getting started this month. As it’s a five year goal I am not waiting for January.
Sometimes the best time to start something is right now, after all!
Good luck with your goal, Nicky
Thanks! I need it, ahaha.
It definitely sounds like you are going to be keeping busy with your goal! Good luck with it!
Have a great week
Thanks, I need the luck! Honestly, I’ll let go of the goal if it causes too much stress/feels like way too much obligation… but we’ll see how it goes.
And hope you have a great week too, thanks for dropping by!
Your wife is lucky! Such a sweet Advent. The Emily Wilde cover looks inviting. Makes me want to take a look.
Good luck on your goal!
I love the Emily Wilde series! Hope you enjoy it if you do give it a shot.
I love advent too. I actually prefer the build up to Christmas rather than the day itself. Your wife is very lucky
I managed to get approved for Emily Wilde too and I am very excited about it!
Have a great rest of the weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2024/12/07/stacking-the-shelves-87/
Hehe, I go nuts on the day as well! I love having an excuse to give people presents.
I saw a bunch of people had been waiting for approval for ages, so I feel really lucky!
I love your idea of doing an advent calendar of gifts for your wife! I am sure that it is much appreciated.
It’s great that you have received so many good Netgalley books, too.
It lets me spread out the excitement and gift-giving a long way, hehe. I enjoy it so much!
What a lovely idea to treat your wife with.
I hope to be able to read the new Emily Wilde series book soon too.
Good luck on your goal getting
Wishing you a happy reading week
I’m having a lot of fun too, ahaha. I love finding the perfect gift for someone.
Thank you!
Good luck and good for you not giving up. I love the Malka Older and Heather Fawcett series also. The UK versions of the Heather Fawcett books are the most gorgeous. That’s so amazing of you to make the advent calendar.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Thank you! I managed a lot of good reading time for my goal this weekend, which is nice!
I’m waiting for my approval on NetGalley of the new Emily Wilde book. Your advent calendar for your wife sounds amazing! Have a great week:-)
Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy recently posted…Buffy’s Corner 12/8/24 – Looking at the Week Ahead
I hope you get it! Crossing my fingers. 😀
Oooh! The next Mossa and Pleiti book has a cover now! I hadn’t seen that yet. Very cool!
It does! And it was a fun read as usual — I read it this weekend.
I’ve heard so many great things about the Emily Wilde series! Definitely need to read that one.
It’s lovely, I definitely recommend!
It’s always so much fun creating gifts for those we love! The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses sounds like an intriguing read. I will be eagerly awaiting the review.
I love the series it comes from! Start with The Mimicking of Known Successes though — it’s definitely a series to read in order, just to understand the characters, even though most details of the plots are episodic.