December 2019 Wrap-up

December TBR Pile (17/37):

1. Book of the Month Club: One Day in December by Josie Silver
2. Book of the Month Club: Well Met by Jen DeLuca
3. Book of the Month Club: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
4. Book of the Month Club: The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
5. Girly Book Club: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman (I just read this one, so no reread)
6. Friend Book Club: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante ✓
7. Ebook: Silver Bells by CJ Hunt
8. Ebook: Second Chance Christmas by Shawn Inmon
9. Ebook: Romancing the Holidays by Jolene Cazzola
10. Ebook: Falling for Her Bachelor by Robin Bielman ✓
11. Ebook: Once Upon a Royal Christmas by Robin Bielman ✓
12. Ebook: In Too Deep by Tracey Alvarez
13. Ebook: Christmas with You by Tracey Alvarez
14. Ebook: Christmas Light by Jolyse Barnett ✓
15. Ebook: A Match Made at Christmas by Patty Blount ✓
16. Ebook: A Pirate for Christmas by Anna Campbell
17. Ebook: Her Christmas Bonus by Rain Danvers
18. Ebook: A Kiss of Christmas by Jillian Eaton ✓
19. Ebook: A Kiss for Christmas by Melody Grace
20. Ebook: Home for Christmas by Daphne James Huff
21. Ebook: A Cheyenne Christmas by Caroline Lee
22. Ebook: A Cheyenne Christmas Homecoming by Caroline Lee
23. Random TBR Pick: Twenty Truths About Love by Matthew Dicks ✓
24. Popsugar (“Pop, sugar, challenge”): Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman ✓
25. Modern Mrs. Darcy: Persuasion by Jane Austen ✓ (no review as this is a reread, but it is my second favorite book of all time)
26. Finishing the Series: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
27. Romance: Santa’s On His Way ✓
28. Romance: Finding Christmas by Karen Schaler ✓
29. Romance: Christmas in Vermont by Anita Hughes
30. Romance: 25 Days ‘til Christmas by Poppy Alexander ✓
31. Dancing with Fantasy and Scifi: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
32. Creativity: Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine
33. Added: This Christmas by Jeannie Moon ✓
34. Added: The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan ✓
35. Added: Bewitched and Betrothed by Juliet Blackwell ✓
36. Added: The Old-Fashioned by Robert Simonson ✓
37. Added: The One by John Marrs ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 4790 pages Pages Remaining: 570,433 pages

Current Read - The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness; The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan; Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (4) - Couldn’t resist the 2 for $10 deal at Barnes and Noble this week and the Stan Lee’s birthday sale at Summit.

• The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
• Glass Houses by Louise Penny
• Lady Mechanika Vol. 4: The Clockwork Assasin
• Lady Mechanika La Dama de la Muerte

January TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
2. BOTM: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
3. Girly Book Club: The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan
4. Friend Book Club: The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey
5. OBM Book Club: Invisible Women by Criado-Perez
6. Unread Shelf Random: Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
7. Goodreads To Read Random: Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
8. TBR Jar Random: The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn
9. Theme 1: Wool by Hugh Howey
10. Theme 1: Across the Universe by Beth Revis
11. Theme 1: Wither by Lauren DeStefano
12. Theme 2: Kate Chopin by Emily Toth
13. Theme 2: The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara
14. Theme 2: TBD
15. Carryover: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
16. Comics: Daybreak
17. Kindle Unlimited: Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid
18. Kindle Unlimited: Friends without Benefits by Penny Reid
19. Library: The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas
20. Library: Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren
21. Library: The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Adams
22. Library: Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs by Caitlin Doughty
23. Library: The Toll by Cherie Priest
24. Library: The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang

UnRead Shelf Plans

For January, the prompt is to read any unread book from my shelf. I imagine something will strike my fancy. As for the strategies, there were three tasks for this month.

1. Count your books - Currently there are 120 unread books sitting in the theater room bookshelf. I’m not counting any ebooks or the books currently residing in the attic. Figure I will focus on those books first.
2. Library and book buying ban - I’m excepting my book club books and anything I already have on hold for the library.
3. Make a Top 10 to read for 2020 - I spent some time and make my short list:
   1. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
   2. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
   3. Across the Universe by Beth Revis
   4. In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick
   5. Scandalous Women of the Ton Series by Nicola Cornick
   6. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomikas Adeyemi
   7. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
   8. Well Met by Jen DeLuca
   9. Swamplandia by Karen Russell
   10. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Movies watched

• Ready or Not - Love love loved this movie!
• Christmas at Pemberley Manor - So dumb, but I do like my Holiday romances. I just couldn’t get over the male lead. I kept conflating him with his not-so-nice character on UnReal.
• Hail Satan - Very interesting documentary. I am fascinated.
• 6 Underground - Terrible movie. Even Ryan Reynolds could not save it.

TV Shows watched

• Daybreak S1 - We finished this season and loved every minute of it! And oh that cliffhanger was brutal! Really hoping we get a season 2.
• American Gods S1 - Slowly making our way through this first season.
• Below Deck S1-2 - My mom keeps begging me to watch this one. Finally started after catching a few episodes at the gym.
• A Discovery of Witches S1 - Finally got around to this one! Oh so good!
• The Mandalorian S1 - Yes!

Comments - Wooo!!! What a reading year! I ended up reading 255 books in 2019. Hoping to carry some momentum into 2020.

Next up on the TBR pile: