June 2021 Reading List

Hey guys! I am BACK with another reading list because I’m tackling my HUGE TBR list that just keeps growing and growing one book at a time. Last month I was watching a ton of book recommendation videos on YouTube and just doing research on which books to read and guys, there are SO MANY good ones out there. Like so many.

I’ve also just been going to the bookstore once in a while to just look around and soak in all of the beautiful books. It’s so calming and I love seeing all of the new stuff- and the old stuff that they put on clearance. I got a book on psychology for six bucks, and a combined hardcover copy of Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey for twelve. I’m going to need to keep finding deals like that because all of this reading is going to make me broke. Anyways, I definitely recommend just going to a bookstore and chilling if you need some time to chill!

I picked three books for this month that I think will be great for summer, and are all super highly recommended online. Last month I read A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab which I enjoyed- I wanted to read the second one this month but they didn’t have it available in paperback. But I think A Darker Shade of Magic was my first foray into adult fantasy. Up until a few months ago I thought all fantasy books were either for kids or teens, so this opens up a whole new world! I’ve included an adult fantasy read on this list:)

I also have kind of a darker fiction/fantasy novel that should be interesting, and more of a summery teen mystery as well. So as usual there’s a pretty good mix going on! I just need to start reading more intensely because I’ve been slacking a bit by watching history videos on YouTube before bed lately….

Hope you enjoy this list!!

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

What a cover, hey? This book follows a middle aged man who come back to his hometown in England for a funeral, and basically begins reminiscing about his childhood and all of the weird and kind of haunting things that happened to him when he was seven and met a girl named Lettie Hempstock. Lettie lived at the end of the lane where there was a duck pond that she claimed was an ocean- and takes the boy along for a pretty wild ride. This book was supposed to fit into my prompt of “Less that 200 pages”, but then I realized this edition has more than that!! I might just use it anyways lol. I’m about fifty pages into The Ocean at the End of the Lane and it’s alright so far. Neil Gaiman is also the author of Coraline which totally creeped me out when I was younger (and still kind of does), and I can definitely sense that kind of vibe going on in here so far. Should be an interesting read!

We Were Liars

This book was actually recommended to me by my cousin a while back but I haven’t picked it up until now- and I’m so excited to read it! A group of friends is summering on a private island in Massachusetts, and they each have something to hide. That’s, like, almost all of the info about this book that I can glean off of the internet and the back cover. But I DO know that it’s a mystery/thriller novel and it seems like it will be a great summer read! I also heard that there’s a bit of romance going on, so that’s kind of fun. And apparently there’s a revolution and a secret and an accident, so I don’t know if that means a murder???? I guess we’ll see! I’ll keep you guys updated.

The City of Brass

This is the longest book so I thought I’d save it for last, but it might be the one that I’m most excited for. It’s an adult fantasy novel and it’s set in the Middle East which I think is so unique, and it just looks amazing!! It follows Nahri, who is a con woman in eighteenth century Cairo, struggling to survive. But she accidentally summons a djinn warrior named Dara, and is forced to flee with him away from Cairo in search of the city of brass, Daevabad. It’s full of magic and royalty and an epic adventure and just such good stuff!!!!!!! Also I believe it is the first book in a trilogy so if it’s good y’all know what I’m reading next month:) If you’re looking for something that’s fantastical but are a bit bored of your typical fantasy story lines, definitely give this one a try!

That’s all for June! Hopefully I get all of these done by the end of the month, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. Reading is supposed to be enjoyable, and I have all of the time in the world to get through my TBR list.

Have a great week and happy reading!! Let me know what you plan on reading this month in the comments:))

Yours Truly,

Olivia:)

February 2021 Reading List

Hi guys! I don’t know about you, but right now I’m absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of books on my book list. I think I’ve mentioned this before but I keep a running list of books I want to read on my phone, and it’s so long right now! Definitely not complaining because this is a great problem to have.

I did a bunch of research on books that can fill in my prompts for my 2021 Reading Challenge, and I found lots of great ones! So I think I’ll finish my challenge a bit easier this year- last year it was a bit down to the wire. I honestly couldn’t decide which books to read this month because there are SO many good ones, but I think I came up with a nice list! The bookstore gift cards that I got for Christmas are really coming in handy.

I’m so much more open to reading different genres and obscure authors now, and I think that my reading lists are way more interesting and diverse than they ever have been! This year, when my gift cards run out, I think I want to start purchasing more used books as well. On Amazon there is usually an option to buy books used, and they’re a bit less expensive. Generally they’re not too worn, but I don’t really mind if they are. I love the concept of giving a book a new home, and there’s something special about having a book that’s been passed from hand to hand a few times- like every book has it’s own story. If you’re looking to save money on books this is a great option! Of course, there’s always the library, but I don’t know there’s just something better about owning a book that I can’t put my finger on.

Hopefully this list gives you some reading inspiration if you’re in a funk! If you still can’t find a great book to read, feel free to check out my many previous reading lists, or even message me in the comments and I will help you find a great novel!

The Help

This novel follows three women in Mississippi in 1962. Skeeter, who recently graduated from University and is puzzled by the absence of her maid Constantine once she returns home. Aibileen, who is devoted to raising the child she is hired to look after as a maid, although troubled by the death of her own son. And Minny, whose sharp tongue can only allow her to be hired by the town’s newcomer- who is hiding secrets of their own. These three, who feel oppressed by the confines of their own and position, come together to work on a covert project that will change their community forever. This book is sitting in our office at home, and it came to mind when I was trying to think of a book “that is yellow” for my challenge. It has amazing reviews, and was actually turned into a movie a little while ago, which I haven’t seen but I know it was nominated for at least one Oscar. Anyways, this looks like a really promising read!

Lord of the Flies

This was on my March reading list I think last year? I know that I was planning to read it but never did. This book is also very yellow, but it fits into my challenge because I need a book written by a Nobel prize winner. William Golding won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983, for his work in writing novels that highlighted the human condition. Lord of the Flies is probably his most well known book, and it chronicles what happens when a group of boys is stranded on a desert island together. How they organize themselves, survive, and change throughout the book should be very fascinating! I feel like it’ll be kind of like Animal Farm- short and to the point but full of insight into who we are and what we do.

The Light Between Oceans

This book is “set in Australia” and so fits into my challenge quite nicely! A soldier returns to Australia after serving for four years in the war, and brings his wife Isabel with them. They take up residence on Janus Rock, tending to the light house, where a supply boat comes only once per season. After their failed attempts to have a child, a boat washes up containing a dead man and an live infant, which Isabel desperately want to keep. When the child is two they go back to the Australian mainland- and find that they’ve devastated someone on shore. This looks like a heartwarming read and has a glowing review from Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, which I loved:) It’s not a super long book either, so I should be able to finish it in a decent amount of time!

That’s my list for the month! I’m just giving myself three books to read since it’s a short month and The Help is a bit of a longer book. I’m really excited for all of these! (when am I not).

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

2021 Reading Challenge

Hey there! This is going to be a heavy week for posting because I have so much to share with you guys before the new year! I think I’m going to have something coming out that’s either book-related or bullet journal related very day so stay tuned. Yesterday I posted my 2021 Bullet Journal Set-Up which turned out so great; make sure to check it out! Today we’re going over my reading challenge for the year, which is probably one of the most fun pages in my journal.

I started doing this reading challenge thing last year, and I’m IN LOVE with it! Unfortunately I didn’t think of doing it until around the second week of January, so it wasn’t included in my 2020 Set-Up, but was within the month of January in my bullet journal. But this year I knew for sure that I wanted to do it again, so I made sure to include it in the very first pages. To match the rest of my 2021 Set-Up, I went with these yellow and grey boxes, with a cute title written in white ink on kraft paper in the centre.

This is unrelated but hat little crinkle in the bottom left corner really bugs me. Annnnyways, how the challenge works is basically I have to read one book that fulfils each of the prompts. So, for example, I have to read a book that is yellow, a book written by an immigrant, a book that was turned into a TV series, and so on and so forth. I don’t fill them out in any particular order, I just make sure that they all get done! Since it’s 2021 I gave myself 21 prompts to complete! Last year I had 20, and I felt like this was a good number because it still let me read some books that didn’t necessarily work for my reading challenge.

I loved doing a challenge like this last year because it just broadened my reading horizons so much! I read so many books that I would have otherwise never found out about, which was something that I really enjoyed. Reading is amazing because it allows you to learn so much about different people’s perspectives and the human experience as a whole, and so keeping your TBR list eccentric and surprising really maximizes your exposure to new ideas. This year I’m hoping to go even more outside my comfort zone and read some more awesome books! Definitely feel free to come along on this challenge with me to check out some reads that you usually wouldn’t pick up.

Be sure to look at my Instagram page throughout the year, because that’s where I share the most updates on what I’m reading and how it fits into this challenge. I’ll also fill you in during my monthly reading lists if you’re looking for inspiration and can’t seem to fill a prompt! Here’s my full reading challenge if you’re looking to follow along:)

2021 Reading Challenge

Read a book….

  • On Nutrition
  • That Is A Biography
  • With A Number In The Title
  • With A Map
  • That Has 2 Authors
  • With Less Than 210 Pages
  • That Is Yellow
  • That Is An Award Winner
  • That Is Based On A True Story
  • That Was Published Anonymously
  • That Was Turned Into A TV Series
  • Written By A Nobel Prize Winner
  • Written By An Immigrant
  • On Personal Development
  • About Theology
  • Set In Australia
  • About A Historical Figure
  • With a 1 Word Title
  • Written Before 1921
  • Translated From Arabic
  • Released In 2021

Hope you decide to go through with this challenge with me! Let me know if you do in the comments or on Instagram (mydayisbooked_blog). It’s going to be a fun time! See you tomorrow with another post:))

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Summer 2020 Reading List

Hey guys! It’s a tad late to be posting my summer reading list, but better late than never, right? Lately I’ve been trying to read more books that fit in to my 2020 Reading Challenge. I read some Anne of Green Gables books (which were so cute and good and will always have a little place in the corner of my heart that I reserve for books), because the author L.M Montgomery has written more than 20 books, I read the Handmaid’s Tale because Margaret Atwood is Canadian, and right now I’m reading A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, because it was translated into English from Japanese.

So I’m making progress, but I still have a long way to go. Some of the challenge prompts are kind of hard! Like, a book under 200 pages, and one above 500 pages?!??! I should’ve saved Animal Farm and The Lord of The Rings to read this year. I did do some more research for this list though, and found books that help me with my challenge. I actually managed to find a couple of YA fantasy books that fill up some spots, so that’s a real bonus!

I’m really grateful to this challenge for expanding my book horizons, though. Like, I probably never would’ve found out about A Wild Sheep Chase without it! Even if you’re not doing a reading challenge for 2020, I challenge you to pick up a book that you wouldn’t normally read sometime soon! It can be a really transforming experience. Here’s my Summer 2020 Reading List!

A Wild Sheep Chase

This is what I’m currently reading, although I’m only about 30 pages in. It’s about a man in Japan who receives a postcard with a mutant sheep on it, and then gets warned that he must find the sheep, or else faces some serious consequences. His journey takes him all around Tokyo and into the mountain ranges of Japan, and he kind of discovers himself along the way. When looking at books that are translated from another language, this one stood out to me because of its interesting plot line. I’m excited to see where this novel goes! If your looking for some other good books that have been translated, I highly suggest The Alchemist or The Winner Stands Alone by Pablo Coelho.

The Guinevere Deception

It was HARD finding a book with more than 20 letters in the title, but I did it and guess what- it’s a YA fantasy novel! This book is about Princess Guinevere, who travels to Camelot to marry King Arthur. But Guinevere is NOT actually Guinevere- her name and identity is a secret. The wizard Merlin sent her to protect Camelot and threats both within and outside of the court. This book looks like it’s full of magic and I’m so excited to read it!

Sorcery of Thorns

This is the other YA book I found, and it was written by an author in their twenties. A girl named Elisabeth, who has grown up in the Great Libraries of Austermeer, wants to one day become a guardian of the magical grimoires that reside there. But she becomes tangled up in a crime that lets one of the most dangerous grimoires free, and must go to the capital to face her punishment. Although she grew up believing that sorcerers were evil, she strikes up a friendship with one and begins to learn things about magic and herself that she never thought possible. This book has magic AND libraries, so sign me up!

The Great Gatsby

This is kind of a classic and I would’ve liked to read it at some point anyway, but now’s the perfect time because I have to read a book written in the 1920’s! It’s about Jay Gatsby and his new love for Daisy Buchanan. Although it takes place in fictional towns, it gives insight into the lives of wealthy Americans in the 1920’s. It’s considered one of the best books ever written (by some people), so hopefully it’ll be a good read!

Those are my book picks for the summer! Let me know if you’ve read any before and what you thought of them. Can’t wait to get reading;))

Yours Truly,

Olivia;)))

March Reading List

Hey there;)) I really need to get back on my reading game, especially if I want to finish my 2020 Reading Challenge by the end of the year. This March I picked out 3 books that I’d like to finish, and while I’m in the midst of the first one, which is a bit slow, I’m excited to take some time to read and relax this month. Here are my picks for the month of March.

Emma

I started Emma towards the end of February. It’s by Jane Austen, so it’s over 200 years old and is considered to be a classic. It follows a young woman (Emma), who is smart, pretty and rich, and lives with her father. She enjoys matchmaking, and takes an interest into her friend Harriet’s love life. Although she doesn’t seem to want to find love, through trying to seek out mates for others she begins to explore her own heart. From what I’ve read so far, which is about 160 pages, this book is a bit dry and hard to get through at times. However, I’m trying to pay attention to the way Austen supposedly mocks the English upper class in this novel, and although I’m not quite sure where the plot is going, I’m going to power through this book because it fits into the “is becoming a movie in 2020” part of my reading challenge.

Dear Evan Hansen

This has been a pretty popular novel in the last couple of years, and is interesting because I’m pretty sure that it was adapted from a TV show, which is cool because it’s usually the other way around. This book is about a boy who claims to be a recently deceased teenager’s secret best friend, causing the grieving family to treat him like a son and for him to become more popular and feel like he belongs. Dear Evan Hansen just sort of grabbed my attention when I read the synopsis, and I’m excited to read it because I don’t usually read fiction that is rooted in the real world (unless it’s a murder mystery). I’ll be sure to let you guys know what I think of it.

The Bone Houses

The first time I noticed this book was on OwlCrate, which is an awesome book subscription service that I wish I was subscribed to (here’s a hint in case you want to buy me a gift someday), and it drew my eye because of it’s cool title and even cooler cover art. It’s about a girl named Ryn who looks after her family’s graveyard. But the dead buried their often awaken to become zombie-like-things called Bone Houses. Then this guy named Ellis comes into town, and the Bone Houses start attacking the town, like, more than usual. So they journey to the mountains to try and break this curse. I’m excited for this because it seems dark and deep and just really different, which is refreshing.

Those are the books I’ll be reading this March! Let me know which titles that you’re planning to read in the comments:) See you Wednesday.

Yours Truly,

MyDayIsBooked:))))
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