It’s time for another WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last?
🎉I FINALLY FINISHED PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE LAST WEEK! 🎉
Excuse the all caps because I was SO excited that I managed to finish that hunk of a tome before the end of September. I was so certain that I’d be reading it straight through to October. I still haven’t written my review for it because I’m still not really sure how I feel about it. I enjoyed reading it and when I had it in my hands I would be speeding(ish) through the pages; but when I put it down I didn’t feel compelled to pick it back up again. I knew that I couldn’t have set it down to just read any other book too as I’d probably never come back to it 😂But I still enjoyed it. I think? Anyway, my review will hopefully be coming soon! I binged The Perfect Moment(review coming soon) and Two Weeks Notice (my review for Two Weeks Notice). on Friday night/Saturday morning (yes, both in one night lol) because my soul was craving something super light and fluffy after Priory, and I had no regrets staying up all night reading!
What are you currently reading?
I was feeling restless not knowing what I wanted to read after binging on two contemporary romances after finishing Priory last week, but I ended up choosing The Bookish Life of Nina Hill on a whim the other day and I’ve been speeding through it! The style is not at all what I expected and I wasn’t sure how I felt about Nina at the start, but the style and characters have grown on me. There’s a lot of quirkiness going on in this book and I’m actually really here for it! I’ve laughed aloud countless times since I started and it’s giving me some lightness that I need right now.
What will you read next?
Okay y’all, I have TONS of books outside of my ‘possibility pile’ that I need to get to this October before even turning to look at the ones I want to read! These definitely fall in the ‘must read’ category because they’re eARCs. I’m gonna give priority to several eARCs that are well overdue (I’m sorry pls don’t judge me) and ones whose pub dates are very quickly approaching! I’m actually pretty annoyed at myself for thinking the Shadow Frost pub date was later this month when it was actually yesterday! 🤦🏻♀️Epic fail, Dini! I’ve had this e-ARC for a while so I’m annoyed at my ability to push things off until they’re overdue. Someone tell me, why isn’t this a skill we actually need in life?! Lol
What are you currently reading? How’s your week going? Leave me a comment and let’s chat 🙂
We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!
It’s the last Sunday of September! I’m gonna say it again because my brain is still like WHAT, but I can’t believe we’re already walking into the tenth month of the year. 2019 is flying! I’ve been out and about today and have been thinking about what book I want to move forward with now. I (finally) finished Priory on Thursday and I was determined to read some romance this weekend, and thanks to staying up reading ’til the early hours of Saturday, I finished not one but TWO books! It just felt so good to read something that I knew would end soon? Haha
I also started House of Salt and Sorrows because mum has been staying with me but now that she’s gone until tomorrow, I don’t know if I want to keep reading it because I’M CHICKEN AF 😂 I’m sure y’all have heard by now how much I can’t handle the ghosty stuff, right? I’m really hesitating, which means I don’t know what I want to read now? I think I might pick up another ARC since I have two that need reading before the end of October, and I don’t want to add anymore to my backlist ARC list, so the following two books might be my main contenders:
Ailsa Rae is learning how to live. She’s only a few months past the heart transplant that—just in time—saved her life. Now, finally, she can be a normal twenty-eight-year-old. She can climb a mountain. Dance. Wait in line all day for tickets to Wimbledon.
But first, she has to put one foot in front of the other. So far, things are as bloody complicated as ever. Her relationship with her mother is at a breaking point and she wants to find her father. Then there’s Lennox, whom Ailsa loved and lost. Will she ever find love again? Her new heart is a bold heart. She just needs to learn to listen to it. From the hospital to her childhood home, on social media and IRL, Ailsa will embark on a journey about what it means to be, and feel, alive. How do we learn to be brave, to accept defeat, to dare to dream?
Former Little League champion Kimitake “Clyde” Koba finds strength in the belief that he is the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe as he struggles to escape the ghost of his brother and his alcoholic father.
Born on Yom Kippur, teen prodigy Raphael Dweck has been told his whole life that he has a special purpose in God’s plan. The only problem is, he can’t shake off his doubts, his urges, or the trail of trouble and ruin that follow in his wake.
A decade later, Raphael and ‘Marilyn’ find each other wandering the plastic-bright streets of Hollywood and set out to make a documentary about the transmigration of souls. But when the roleplaying goes too far, they find themselves past the point of no return in their quest to prove who and what they are to their families, God, the world, and themselves.
Which do you think I should read next? What are you currently reading?
Much the same as last week, I pretty much did nothing this weekend. As I mentioned above, mum flew over from Jakarta and has been staying with me. It was her birthday on Wednesday and us kids got her an iPad Mini that she’s been wanting for ages so that she could download an app to watch her Korean dramas on 😂 Since she unwrapped it, the iPad has been GLUED to her hands and she’s been staying up pretty late despite having early mornings, and getting headaches from staring at the screen for too long. She’s so cute?
Today saw me moving a little bit more, i.e. I left my house! I met my cousin for brunch at one of my favorite spots! I decided to try a different meal today and unfortunately, that was a hella regrettable decision 😭 Sometimes it pays to not stray from what you already know is good! Also, for the first time in a very long time, I’m not exactly dreading that Monday is around the corner. It’s a good feeling and I’m hoping that the anxiety that has taken up residence inside me lately continues to loosen its grip. Little by little, day by day. Progress!
Reading & Blogging Recap
This weekend alone I managed to finish THREE books, so I’m pretty chuffed. To be fair, I was already 65% through one and it was an easy Middle Grade read too, while the other two were fast and easy contemporaries to satisfy my need for something fluffy after finishing Priory! I’m legit SO PROUD OF MYSELF for finishing this book before September ended. It was seriously a journey. I was 80% convinced that I might’ve DNF’d this book (okay, I don’t DNF but I would’ve put it on indefinite hold) when I started it, but I’m glad I kept on. I need to write my review before every thought I had about the book disappears from my head but I’m still not sure how to review it?! I’m hoping that my discussion with my buddy readers will help me figure it out! 🙃
I’m still working on catching up on my blog hopping and responding to comments! I’ve been doing okay with keeping up with the comments in the last week, but the day(s) after catching up always see me scrambling to catch up AGAIN! *So I’m Sorry if I only respond to your comments 3-4 days after you write them!* Other than that it’s been a pretty decent blogging week; I’ve been blogging fairly consistently lately and thanks to WordPress who’ve been sending me reminders whenever I post, I know that I’m now on a 41-day streak! 🙌🏽 It helps that I’ve also added one more weekly post to my schedule. This actually makes me feel so productive 😊 On that note, you can find a list of all the posts I made this week, in case you missed it:
Since I posted my last update about the Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge at the end of July and then announced joining ARC August at the start of this month, I hit a pretty big reading slump that derailed basically all of my plans to keep my amazing July reading streak going. Thankfully, I’m past it now, but since August and therefore summer too is over, I thought I’d put these challenges to bed and see what the rest of the year has to bring!
The GRSRC had 11 ‘For Beginners’ prompts and I completed 8 of those! While I was sure that I’d be able to finish this challenge, I’m not mad at what I did finish. I mean, yeah, there were only eleven prompts, but I feel like August didn’t even count 😂 So here are the ones that I managed to tick off the list:
Short & sweet: Read a book with less than 100 pages (or a book you can finish in one sitting) – The Woods, Vol. 1: The Arrow by James Tynion IV | (my review)
On the bandwagon: Read one of the most read books right now on Goodreads & New voices: Read a debut novel – Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens | (my review)
Actually want to read: Read a book that’s been on your Want to Read shelf for more than a year. This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel | If I’m being honest, this was the book that set off my slump this month. I didn’t review this book yet because it took me ages to get through, but I really did love the characters and Claude/Poppy’s story. I think it was the meandering writing and very floaty? dreamy? writing style that I didn’t gel with. So in this case, I think it was definitely a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ moment.
In the friend zone: Read a book that a friend has recommended – The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary | (my review)
Wheel of format: Read a book in a format that you don’t normally read in (a graphic novel, poetry, a play, an audiobook, etc.). – Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Full disclosure, I’m cheating a bit with this one because while I did listen to Daisy Jones on audio, it wasn’t the audio I set out to finish when I made my list! I’m still counting it though because flexibility and all that, right?! This is another review that I haven’t gotten around to blogging yet, but I did gush about it on Goodreads, so you can check it out there.
Armchair traveler: Read a book set in a destination you want to visit – The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah | (my review)
The three prompts that I didn’t manage to complete were: Good as gold: Read a book that won a Goodreads Choice Award | The book is better: Read a book being adapted for TV or film this year | Not from around here: Read a book set in a different culture from your own. I’m surprised that I haven’t even picked Vengeful up yet, but I’m not surprised by my reluctance to get into the other two. The Goldfinch has sat unfinished on my shelf since February and I finally picked it up again to take with me to a doctor’s appointment to read while waiting, but I didn’t even touch it 😭 I’m still determined to finish it before the movie comes out coz I really do wanna know what happens!
I’m actually really bummed that I only managed to read 5 ARCs for ARC August. FIVE ARCs IN ONE MONTH. I’m quaking with disappointment 😫 It’s not like I planned to only read ARCs in August, but I still hoped to make a bigger dent in my pile! While I might not have ‘fast-tracked’ my progress, I hope to get a 100% rating before the end of the year! Is it ambitious? Yah. Though I’m not taking or making new requests at the moment, let’s see how long I can resist the urge 😅 I’m hoping I can cut down at least five *cough* more ARCs before I cave! LOL
So what other challenges are there for the rest of the year? I think I heard about one called Series September, which involves wrapping up a series or reading the next book in the series, to get caught up. I could be completely making this challenge up based on something I heard in passing and my fragmented memory just pieced it together as this challenge, but it kinda sounds like a good idea! There’s also Non-Fiction November, which I think will be fun because I’m always looking to read more NF and a challenge will give me some good incentive to do it! There’s also the PopSugar Reading Challenge, which I’ve been doing since the start of the year, although I’ve been (unsurprisingly) horrible at actually keeping track of my progress! I did take a peek at the prompts the other day and realized that I’ve made a pretty good dent in the basic challenges, so I’m quite happy with that! I’ll probably make a post for that challenge soon too.
And that’s wrap folks! Sorry for blabbering so much 🙃
Did you participate in the summer reading challenge or ARC August? Will you be participating in any other challenges this year?I’d love to know your progress! Leave me a comment and let’s chat about it!
dinipandareads 