Week in Review: 27th March 2016 + HAPPY EASTER!

Posted March 27, 2016 by Dani in TBRs and Wrap-ups / 2 Comments

happy easter gif

Congratulations for making it through another week! How did it go?

Bloggiesta and Write On Review-a-thon wrap-up

As you know, I decided to jump on the Bloggiesta train. Here’s what I managed to get done.

  • I devised a blogging schedule to bring a bit of structure to my blogging. I’ve printed it out two copies: one for my blog diary and one for my bullet journal. What can you expect? Well, I’ll be keeping my reviews down to two a week, for a start. I’ll also be doing regular wrap-ups and finding other more creative ways to share the books I love (including a couple of new weekly features)!
  • To go with the schedule, make my posts more consistent in quality and improve my efficiency, I’ve created a few more templates for blog posts. FYI, I use a WordPress plug-in called Easy Content Templates. It hasn’t been updated in a while and isn’t perfect, so if you know any better ones, let me know in the comments!
  • I’ve started using Pocket to save blog posts that I want to read but don’t have time to at that moment. It’s been really useful for curating my list of things to share (see below!). I’ve also been trying to comment on and Buffer more articles/posts that you guys have written instead of hoarding my love to myself.
  • I’m still busy trying to decide and compare Delicious Library 3 and Libib. Does anyone else use either of these?

As for reviews, I managed to get …1 done. I know, I know… Does it help that I plan to do more tonight after this post publishes?

I admit, I haven’t yet done as much as I hoped, mostly because I had a bit of an off day yesterday and just. couldn’t. deal.

Those epic things that happened

  • I tidied my library/guest room and can see the floor for the first time in MONTHS. AND THE BED IS MADE! It’s been the “stash room” since my present hauling and wrapping craze before Christmas, with books and wrapping paper and packaging everywhere, and I have finally done something about it. Adult Points for me!
  • More Adult Points… I went into You Need A Budget for the first time since before Christmas (actually…before Halloween) and caught up on all my budgeting and spending. It was painful and took a few hours, and I’ve spent waaaay too much on Society6 and books, but I feel so damn accomplished. I’ve been using YNAB for several years now and highly recommend it to everyone, especially if you’re a student or fresh out of the nest, trying to figure out how this money saving business works. (FYI, I use YNAB4 because the new web app doesn’t play nice with non-US banks yet. Sigh.)
  • I sent in an application for an MBA programme, so we’ll see what comes of that.
  • I HAVE CHOCOLATE.

hannah montana easter

Those books I read and books I plan to read

I finished reading Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard. I also started listening to #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso, which, by the way, is the bomb. For the rest of today, I’ll be reading Adorkable by Cookie O’Gorman and maybe Slumber by Christy Sloat (though it may become a DNF…eek…).

Books I hope to read next week are Sidelined by Kendra C. Highley, Flawed by Cecilia Ahern and Love Me Never by Sara Wolf. All are review copies that I need to get a hustle on!

During the week, I reviewed Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (4), as well as The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins (2) with Jamie over on Books Are My Fandom.

Those awesome books that came out

  • Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke, a YA novel with a hint of mystery, magical realism and all around weirdness (according to the vague reviews everyone’s deliberately left)
  • The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith, a YA contemporary addressing the aftereffects of rape
  • Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye, a gothic retelling of Jane Eyre…where Jane is a serial killer
  • Liars and Losers Like Us by Amy Allen-Vath, a YA contemporary that I won an ARC of and can’t wait to receive!

Those people who said cool things

Over on Books Are My Fandom, we had a Pro Talk interview with Nicole Tone, author of Without Benefits.

Kaye M. discusses Islamophobia in publishing, her pain growing up as a Muslim from 9/11 onwards (she was 9) and the use of Islam as a way of adding ‘exoticism’ to books. It was a deeply uncomfortable read because of how true what she says is.

The boyfriend and I have started watching Friends from the beginning (again), just as David Hopkins has published an article on his theory that the show led to the downfall of Western civilisation. Now, we’re still going to be watching the show, but the article did make us think. Just for the record, I think that anti-intellectualism has been around for a looong time, and the connection to the show is more correlation than causation. “Nerds” have been mocked and even abused since long before Friends first aired, but the show did make it more visible and acceptable with its comedy. Still, I think Friends has a lot to offer, especially watching it now while I also try to figure out where I fit as an adult.

chandler easter bunny

Trisha writes on Book Riot about why romance novels are for feminists. I’ve been wanting to write my own article about the prejudice against romance novels for a while, and this may have stirred up some inspiration!

Larissa talks about friendships between authors and bloggers, and I can understand a lot of her discomfort. My own two cents: if you find that you’re starting to see an author as a real friend (as opposed to a friendly “business associate”, shall we say), lay some ground rules. Openly and explicitly discuss how this is going to affect your reviewing. If they are a real friend, they will be able to respect you and your honesty in blogging, not get upset if you haven’t enjoyed their book 100%.

“i don’t find that thing or act superficial anymore because i made it meaningful” – this quote from Alexandra @ Twirling Pages’ discussion on shallowness and depth made me stop and think and go YAAASSS.


How was your week? Did I miss any books out, or are there any posts I should have read? Did you write anything this week that I should check out? Do you celebrate Easter, and in what way?

puppies chicks easter

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2 responses to “Week in Review: 27th March 2016 + HAPPY EASTER!

  1. Well now I’ll be checking out You Need a Budget! I’m slightly terrified to see how much I spend on books and Society 6. That’s probably the majority of my money right there. Thanks for the tip and good luck with the MBA thing!

  2. That article about Friends broke my soul. As much as I want to get in to a literate, comprehensive and intellectual debate with the author about how wrong he is, all I’ll say is that Phoebe, Joey and Rachel at times have “ditsy” and very non-intellectual moments in that show, and all of the western civilisation saw it for what it was and laughed at that too. It’s a show about 6 different characters, and strong friendships, and LIFE. Ugh. Just no. R xx

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