Only two reads this month, the last of which I just finished yesterday… and still working my way through The Count of Monte Cristo with Evie veryyyy slowly. I had the best news mid-month, and I don’t know if the normal reaction is to feel rejuvenated or to float in a haze like I have been. But now that I’ve had my moment of bliss, it’s time to get back to business—reading regularly, sleeping regularly, exercising regularly for the first time since quarantine, getting some sun, and continuing to keep up with classes.

This was the month I joined book Reddit. It all started with r/bookexchange. I’d been content creeping on Reddit for two years and enjoying the memes, but it wasn’t until I found this sub that I felt inclined to participate in the community myself. For a week I was obsessed with building my karma so that other Redditors would trust me enough to do a book exchange. After some research, I decided that 500 karma points would be a good goal to settle at, which I’ve reached, so I can chill out now. Anywho, I exchanged my paperback of The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert with a Redditor for their gorgeous Vintage Classic Russians Series edition of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy! Now I just gotta read it…

Has anyone tried StoryGraph as an alternative to Goodreads/Amazon? I created an account awhile ago but didn’t start playing around with it until the beginning of 2021. Unfortunately, I don’t love the UI or UX to put it mildly, and despite the modern minimal aesthetic, the app feels pretty clunky. I have so many thoughts that I couldn’t just cram into the intro of this post, but I just wanted to throw that question out there to gauge how people are liking the app. I haven’t heard people talk about it much and don’t get the sense that it’s caught on, despite all the buzz the beta site got. I will say that I like how you can mark books as DNFed and rate the pacing (slow/medium/fast) though. I think the DNF feature might have made me more liberal with my DNFs this month and… I’m not mad about it? I’m not planning to continue using StoryGraph though, so we’ll see how my DNF habits hold up.

I’ve always dreamed of having a wall full of floating shelves filled with books, so when I found two spare planks of wood at the Restoration Hardware outlet, I snatched them up. They’re not much, but they’re mine! Maybe more wood planks will show up at the outlet for me to swipe, and then I will be unstoppable!

That said, I do like how my limited shelf space has made me more particular about what books I keep in my collection, or at least it’s forced me to prioritise which books of my collection to display and which ones to keep stored in my bath tub (more on that later). Remember those five books I owned in multiples? I’ve sold some so now the only books I own in multiples are Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Little Women. Look at that character development :’)

In addition to culling my current collection, my new shelves have prompted a more rigorous criterion for new additions to my collection: Is it floating-shelf-worthy?? Although I had my shelves properly installed with hidden brackets secured to wall studs, I still don’t feel comfortable putting too much weight on them, so every ounce is precious. (A hardback has to be real special to make it!) So far, I haven’t felt the urge to buy any books, except for How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee, which I fully intend to buy some time this year. Fingers crossed that it’ll be my only book purchase of 2021? For some reason I really want to buy a copy of The Brothers Karamazov too, but I’m not allowing myself to give into that one until I read my copy of Crime and Punishment.

It’s been a busy month! I thought I’d only get around to reading two books, so I’m pretty happy with reading four, even if it is the fewest books per month I’ve read all year. That brings my annual total to a pretty 80! I haven’t had time to write my annual recaps yet, but I’m excited to look through my 2020 stats, draw up some graphs, and share my favourites like I did for 2019. It’ll probably take until February. Just being realistic here!

This past month I gravitated toward middle grade and YA. I’m in the middle of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, and maybe I’ll reread Percy Jackson in January.

I’ve been slowly winding down the year with cosy classics and comforting middle grade and YA books, but looking at 2021’s releases makes me want to shake off the languor of winter and fly through all. the. books. I’ve had the honour of reading one of these 21 anticipated releases in advance, and I can’t wait for the rest of them to come out.

Add them to your Goodreads TBR to get notifications if a publisher runs a promotional Goodreads giveaway, get on those library wait lists early, suggest purchases for your library if need be, or go ahead and pre-order a copy!