Happy National Puzzle Month!

Photo by Tara Winstead from Pexels

Hello my fellow bookworms!

Happy 2023 and the end of National Puzzle Month! I have been treating myself to fun cryptographs, crosswords, puzzle games, but have not yet continued my physical puzzle I bought myself for Christmas. Hopefully I can dedicate some time to it soon!

I am back into the swing of things with the spring semester for school, so this post will not be as long as I hope future ones are. Here is some book and book-related news for you:

• World Read Aloud Day is coming up this Wednesday, February 1, 2023. Learn more about it from LitWorld, as well as possibly joining a live webinar session to hear a children's book read by the author through CardinalPress! Such a fun experience if you have children or are a teacher or librarian!
  

• Her Interactive just released a large Nancy Drew themed crossword puzzle! If you are a fan of the books and video games, you may want to try your hand at their latest puzzle here. 
  

• The National Wildlife Federation is hosting their 2023 National Wildlife photo contest! Try your hand at taking a spectacular photo of wildlife in your area and aim for the chance to be published in their Winter 2024 magazine!

• Are you stuck inside due to the winter weather? Take a tour with 360Cities and go on a free vacation right from your front room! You can even view the different historic libraries around the world with just a click of your mouse.
  

• There are a plethora of new plays and musicals being released this year! Are you as excited for the adaptation for Life of Pi as I am?
  

• FanFiAddict recently had a livestream with sci-fi and fantasy authors, including one of my favorites, Stephanie Burgis! Check out the steam here and check out their uploads and upcoming livestreams to see if one of your favorite authors was or will be hosted next!

I finally had a chance to read a book for pleasure before I buckle down to my school reading. I just read The Deal by Elle Kennedy and thoroughly enjoyed it! Definitely recommend it if you are in the mood for romance that touches on real life topics, yet has that satisfying happy ending.

What are you guys reading lately? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Reading! Stay warm! :)

What A Year - Happy New Year!

Photo by Jill Wellington from Pexels

Hello my fellow bookworms!

What a year it has been. I cannot believe today is the last day of 2022 - it feels like it just started! This year for me has been full of many, many changes. Some positive, others not, but overall, it was full of personal growth and I am definitely in a better place than I was last year.

Where to begin? Last year I aimed to read 25 books for the new year, as I am now in school (again). I was able to meet this goal, and I hope to do this again next year! My new job requires more reading, and hopefully I can challenge myself to read more outside of my preferred genres, so it is a good goal to keep all around. :) 

My books this year included a book for a formal book discussion (The Maid by Nita Prose) and a creepy recommended comic book series (Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez). The longest book was Crave by Tracy Wolff, totaling 592 pages! My average book length was 212 pages and my average star rating on Goodreads was 4.3 out of 5 stars. Here are my top 7 books from this year, in no particular order:

• The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea by Axie Oh
  
• Becoming Alpha by Aileen Erin
• Across the Desert by Dusti Bowling
• The Upside of Falling by Alex Light
• Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns
  
• The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller
• Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  

Other goals I would like to achieve include participating in some sort of research for my degree / school, continue with my courses (and maybe even doing more than my current pace!), starting up a workout regimen, cut down on my materialistic spending (have to stop spending money on those unneeded purchases, including too much coffee!), and to perhaps open up an Etsy shop. This past month I hosted a craft class at my work with perler beads and had fun learning about the things I could do beyond the basics, including some book-related themes. If I can make it work, I will post the link for you guys to take a look!

Photo by Markus Winkler from Pexels

I would also like to brush up on my computer skills and learn new things, especially with the upgrades to Windows and everything else that keeps on updating. I just learned that Microsoft has a free "coding" program for those interested, called Microsoft MakeCode, which is a good start to understanding how code actually works and can be a basis for learning actual code! I hope to learn more coding for the upcoming makerspace that my local library is going to have this upcoming year. I cannot wait!

What are your goals for the upcoming year? Share them with me in the comments!

Before I leave you, I want to remind you to unite against book banning and support your local libraries and make a simple change by checking out this video here from author Dav Pilkey, creator of Captain Underpants!

Happy New Year and happy reading! :)