Helloo! And welcome to my first ever Reading Check-in 🥰
I’m hoping to make this a new blog series to hold myself accountable in tackling my dangerously high currently reading pile. I have had a bad habit of mood reading a lot lately which has led me to pick up a book after book to pile on my nightstand. I’m in love with most of my current reads and I really want to finish them, but it’s difficult when I have so many books I’m reading at once! These posts will also help me in keeping track of readathons and reading challenges 🤩
Here are the reading challenges that I’m currently working on:
- Out of your Comfort Zone Reading Challenge by Caro @ Bookcheshirecat
- My annual TBR of 5-star predictions
The format of these posts is largely inspired by WWW Wednesday by Taking on a World of Words. I used to do them quite a lot, but I wanted to mix the format up a bit (and post anytime – not just Wednesdays 😁). Each post (which will happen maybe bi-weekly?? weekly? Monthly?) I’ll detail what I’m reading, how much progress I have made, what I think about the reads so far, and what else has been keeping me busy 😌 It’s a perfect chance for me to gush about books as well as games!
Without further ado – let’s get into it!
Keep an eye out for these emojis:
Genres:
- 🐉 Fantasy
- 🚀 Sci-fi
- 🍓 Contemporary
- 👻 Horror
- 🌼 Literary fiction
- 📜 Poetry
- 🕰 Historical fiction
- 🌍 Nonfiction
- 😱 Thriller
- 🖼 Graphic novel or manga
- 💫 Magical realism
- 😍 Romance
My reading medium:
- 📖 Hardcover
- ☁️ Paperback
- 🎧 Audiobook
- 📱 Ebook
My reading challenges:
- 📚 Part of my annual TBR: Ten 5-star predictions
📖 On my monthly TBR(no monthly TBR for November)- 🐱Out of my comfort zone challenge
Other:
- 🧚♀️ Fairyloot copy
- ⌛️ Library copy, on loan, or Kindle Unlimited
- 📘 Read in my native language, Finnish (all others are read in English)
- 🎁 Gifted to me
- 👯 Buddy read
- 🔮 Recommended to me
- ♻️ Reread
- ✨ Rep in book
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (#2 in Monk and Robot). 🚀Sci-fi 📱E-book📚 Part of my annual TBR ⌛️Library copy ✨ Rep: Nonbinary main character, polysexual & bi/pan side characters
After loving A Psalm for the Wild-built by Becky Chambers, I have desperately to pick up its sequel, A Prayer for the Crown-shy. I was on the queue for it from the library for SUCH A LONG TIME and I started it as soon as I got a hold of it. So far the book is as beautiful as the first in the series: it has impactful conversations, amazing characters and it is thoroughly heartfelt. This is one of those reads that are perfect if you are looking something calm and heart-warming – which I always am. The book is only 152 pages long, so I imagine that I’ll be finishing it in no time.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. 🌍 Nonfiction ☁️ Paperback 🐱Out of my comfort zone challenge ⌛️ On loan from a friend 🔮 Recommended to me ✨ Rep: Author of colour
I have been intrigued by Sapiens since reading Homo Deus (the second book in the series, I have no idea why I started with that one!), but as it’s a hefty nonfiction, I hadn’t found the perfect time to pick it up. But lately I have been on a nonfiction kick, and when a friend recommended it to me and offered to borrow it, I took her up on her offer. Loaning books is always a bit scary because I don’t want to hold on to the book for way too long — that has pushed me to make a lot of progress with this one! I’m reading about 15-20 pages of it daily and it has been lovely. The middle bits have turned a bit slower now, but I really enjoyed the pre-historic explanations at the beginning.
Lore Olympus Volume 3 by Rachel Smythe. 🐉 Fantasy 😍 Romance 📱 Ebook
The Lore Olympus hype has gotten to me! I’m slowly making my way through the series, which is available for free to read on webtoon (that’s how I read it too). I have enjoyed the romance and the art style has slowly grown on me. I have been reading quite rarely lately – mostly whenever I feel too tired to read but I want to fall deep into a story nevertheless. The characters are great and loving and frustrating!
Book Lovers by Emily Henry. 😍 Romance 🎧 Audiobook ⌛️ Library copy
I very rarely read contemporary romances, but this one caught my eye after I have seen many fantasy readers recommend it. It’s about an author who moves to a rural town after turmoil in her family and lives next to a rival literary fiction author who always made fun of her for writing fantasy. The two decide to challenge each other to write a book in each other’s genres. I have loved listening to this so far! The characters are likable, there have been no misunderstandings or miscommunication tropes and the dude doesn’t seem problematic. I’m really excited to get deeper into it!
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta. 📜 Poetry 🍓 Contemporary 📱 Ebook ✨ Rep: Author of colour, main character of colour, LGBT+ main character, coming out story
I have had The Black Flamingo for so long, and I always certain that I would fall in love with it. But now that I’m finally reading it, I just can’t get into it? The book is written in verse, and the poetry isn’t stirring my insides. I realise that the story is impactful but for some reason I’m just not feeling it. I have no idea why — it could be that I just happen to be reading this at the wrong time? I’m still holding out hope that I’ll get into it.
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee. 🌍 Nonfiction ☁️ Paperback 🐱Out of my comfort zone challenge ✨ Rep: Author of Colour
This massive beast of a nonfiction (at 585 pages) felt really intimidating to me until one day I just randomly found it from a secondhand bookshop and started reading it. I have been completely in love with the way it is written: the text is accessible, the contents are deeply interesting, and handled with care. I have been swept away by this. As much as I like it, I left this on a bit of a pause while I’m reading Sapiens.
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (#2 in Inkworld). 🐉 Fantasy ☁️ Paperback 🐱Out of my comfort zone challenge ♻️ Reread
The Inkheart series was my favourite as a kid (it might have been the series that got me into reading to begin with!), but for some reason I have never reread the series as an adult. I’m now working on that with this beautiful new versions of the books. I read Inkheart last year (and loved it!) and now I’m slooooowly making my way through the sequel. I use this as a kind of comfort book now – I rarely read it, but I pick it up whenever I need a bit of comfort and safety.
The Universe in Zero Words: The Story of Mathematics by Dana Mackenzie. 🌍 Nonfiction 📖 Hardcover 🐱Out of my comfort zone challenge ⌛️ Library copy
I know right – another nonfiction?? But whereas Sapiens and Emperor of All Maladies I’m loving, The Universe in Zero Words has kind of been dragging behind me for way too long. It’s a nonfiction about maths, which sounds not-at-all interesting I know but hold on, it’s a HISTORY of maths. Like where did numbers come from, how did people suddenly manage to do calculation, who in Earth came up with pi and why? More than half of the book I just devoured, there are a lot of stories, historical intricasies and conspiracies in the history of mathematics and it kept me glued to this book. But as the text went on, the maths has become very much inaccessible for me. It makes the text difficult to understand and discouraging to read. But I only have so little left that I’m trying to push through!
Threadneedle by Cari Thomas. 🐉 Fantasy 📱 Ebook 👯 Buddy read with Stephen @ Stephen Writes. ⭐️⭐️.5 (2.5/5 stars)
The Garden by Tomi Champion-Adeyemi. 🐉 Fantasy 📱 Ebook ⌛️ Kindle Unlimited ✨ Rep: Author of colour. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3/5 stars)
White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson. 👻 Horror 📱 Ebook 🐱Out of my comfort zone challenge ✨ Rep: Author of colour, characters of colour, discussion of addiction, mental health. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3/5 stars)
~550 pages read
2 books started (A Prayer for the Crown-Shy and Book Lovers), 3 books finished
Pokemon Scarlet (a Nintendo Switch game)
I got myself the new Pokemon game on Switch, and despite of the glitches and bugs in the game, I’m loving it a lot! It has been really relaxing running around catching Pokemon and completing quests. I have tried listening to an audiobook while I game, but I keep ignoring the book by accident while playing.
Christmas gift shopping
I have gotten to a nice and merry mood over the past few weeks, and I have been trying to get my Christmas shopping so that I can send gifts to family.
Youtube Videos and Podcasts
A lot of the time when I could have been reaching for an audiobook, I ended up listening to a podcast or watching a Youtube video instead! Some of the podcasts and youtubers I have loved include:
Maintenance Phase, of which I have now listened all of the episodes and I’m very tempted to get the Patreon so that I can keep going with bonus episodes. The Maintenance Phase is a social justice podcast with a focus on debunking a lot of shady science, diets, books, and problematic influencers. The episodes are always meticulously researched and laugh out loud funny!
Nontendo Podcast which is a podcast by youtubers Wood (Beatemups) and Bob (WulffDen). The show is focused on all things gaming and Nintendo. I love the banter between the hosts and I have stuck on both of their youtube videos too lately!
Wulff Den Podcast is hosted by Bob (WulffDen) and his brother on Twitch and features all gaming news of the past week. The episodes are long and enjoyable – I love to listen to them while doing some of the more boring bits of my work.
Books with Emily Fox has been my favourite booktuber lately, especially now that she has been doing a lot of great reading challenges and vlogs! She has been building her dream library and vlogging the process which has been really fun to follow as well.
PhD Stress!
I’m currently trying to write up my PhD dissertation, and the deadlines are pretty tight. I enjoy my topic but I get stuck quite often, due to being tired, overwhelmed, or just because a part is difficult. I have had quite a lot of late nights and weekends of work lately which has eaten into my reading time. It’s funny cause if I had read instead I swear I would feel much better and productive.
Hope you enjoyed this reading check-in, I definitely enjoyed doing it! I hope that doing these weekly or bi-weekly can keep on track and motivate me to read all the books 😍
Let me know what you are currently reading! Are you enjoying it?
Thank you so much for reading 🧡🧡
The Bookaholic Dreamer 
[…] Many Books to Finish – So Little Time! 👀 End of the Year Book Tag & Trying to Tackle My Currently Reading Pile: Reading Check-in 📚 (Pauliina @ […]
LikeLike
Good luck with your reading and Out of Comfort Zone progress! ❤️ I read Sapiens last year because a friend recommended it to me and also loaned me her copy 😄 I ended up listening to the audiobook alongside it! I hope you end up liking Book Lovers, I discovered Emily Henry this year and that’s my favorite book by her 🥰
LikeLike