This month I’m joining Kim and Tanya of Girlxoxo.com for their annual event A Month of Faves, at least for a few topics. The first one I’m doing is “End of Year Bookish Plans,” which fell naturally into what I was planning to write about today anyway. To learn more about the event, visit Kim’s Instagram post:
The first one I’m doing is “End of Year Bookish Plans,” which fell naturally into what I was planning to write about today anyway.
When I last left you, I just had finished participated in the Thankfully Reading Weekend. I read The Big Bamboo, the eighth in the Serge Storms series, by Tim Dorsey and started The Crossing Places, the first in the Ruth Galloway series, by Elly Griffiths. I have been making my way slowly through the Serge Storm series over the last few years. I dipped into the Ruth Galloway series once before but it didn’t grab me, but based on lavish praise from Amanda of the blog The Zen Leaf, I decided to give it another try.
I enjoyed the first one enough that I’m hoping to finish the next two, The Janus Stone and The House at Sea’s End, which I own in a collection of the first three books, by the end of the year. I also want to finish the ninth and 10th in the Serge Storms series, Hurricane Punch and Atomic Lobster, respectively. If I finish all four of them, I will be at 39 books read for the year. I might add one more, still to be decided, to make it an even 40.
I might make that goal, considering that I have a dozen days I’m off work for weekends, holidays and vacation. That includes a three-day weekend this weekend with my taking Monday as a vacation day because the carpet on the main floor of the library is being cleaned and I can’t do much on the other two floors, the basement and upstairs.
Besides bookish posts this month, I have two other end of year posts planned, my annual reviews of my favorite albums of the year and my favorite TV shows and movies watched during the year. I mostly have the list of albums solidified, but haven’t started on the list of TV shows and movies yet. I’ll leave you with something from one of the albums that was among my favorites from this year.
So do you have bookish plans for the end of the year? If so, share in the comments or write your own post and link up with A Month of Faves.
Still an unfinished person... 
This is the one year where I could probably do that Icelandic holiday tradition of reading on Christmas Eve, Jolabokaflod (Christmas book flood) but not sure it will happen. I suspect it will be very quiet and I can’t imagine us visiting my in laws like we normally do but that distraction thing is hard this year. More so than other years. I have to pick my end of the year read and my first book of the year soon for Sheila’s bookish event. No ideas yet.
LikeLike
They moved A Month of Faves to Insta? Oh man, that’s a bummer. The hashtag suppression thing is super annoying.
My end of year reading plan is to either read of DNF as many of the books in my December stack as possible in order to finish out the Unread Shelf Project 2020.
I hope you have a great reading month!
LikeLike
Oh it’s so nice that you have time off so you can read. I also appreciate your commenters reminding me that I do have some Christmas-themed books I can read, including an old favorite I haven’t reread in a while.
LikeLike
My bookish plans for the rest of the year revolve around finishing a couple of challenges, and choosing new ones for next year.
Wishing you a great reading week
LikeLike
I have enjoyed doing a Month of Favs in the past. I know very little about Instagram, and I expect that most people will migrate to the New Shiny Thing about the time I get the hang of it, but I think I will try to join in. All the isolation of this year has been terrible on me; it’s my blog that has kept me connected to the world, I think.
I’m planning to write my last two reviews of the year today. Anything else I start reading I will wait to finish on January 1. I like to start the new year by finishing a nice stack of books and reviewing them.
LikeLike
I’m still doing the Month of Favs on my blog. I think maybe why they switched mostly to Instagram is because not a lot of people link up on the blog (maybe?) and also more work to do on both platforms. I get it, but I’m still a blogger at heart. I guess it’s my age.
LikeLike
I will say that, of the entire series, The Crossing Places is the one that feels most unfinished. The ending was a bit rushed and weird. They get far more solid after that. I still liked the first one, and some of the later ones I liked less just because of the subject matter (a few deal with WWII-era mysteries, and I’m not a fan). But I’m glad you enjoyed it this second try!
LikeLike
Thanks for letting me know your thoughts on the first one. Often series get better after the first one and glad to hear that’s the case here. I’ll probably be digging into the second one this afternoon.
LikeLike
I’m hoping to read 10 more books before the end of the year. It shouldn’t be *too* hard because we had a pipe leak that led to my having to empty our good bookshelves to get to the damaged flooring. While I was boxing up all my precious favorites, I found a couple old children’s Christmas books (one by Madeleine L’Engle; the other by Laura Ingalls Wilder). I fetched a couple more off other shelves (Truman Capote and Dylan Thomas), so that gives me 4 fairly short books to help knock out my goal. But, I honestly care less about the goal than spending time with some Christmas stories that I haven’t revisited in a while. There’s another Christmas book I’m looking for that I know is around here somewhere . . . but so far it’s eluding me. I am REALLY in a Christmas reading mood.
I’m also reading a mystery — COLD GRANITE by somebody. Stuart something? Somebody Stuart? It’s set in Scotland. And, I got a Short Story Advent Calendar, so I’m reading one short story per day from that. I am really enjoying December, actually. 🙂
Just read your reply, above. I hope Kim gets her sense of smell and taste back sooner than her sister did. I’ve lost mine when I had a sinus infection and it is so bizarre not being able to taste or smell. That happened during a year that we bought a real Christmas tree and I was so bummed that I couldn’t smell the lovely pine scent. Anyway, glad you’re both doing well!!!
LikeLike
I love A Child’s Christmas in Wales and have to listen to it as read by Thomas himself.
LikeLike
I love A Month of Faves and was hoping it would be back this year, but hadn’t seen anything until your post. I have full confidence that you will make it to 40 books read. My end of year book plans include finishing all my library books that I’ve checked out (not including e-books) and reading some seasonal/Christmas books. The latter is going…okay. Nothing has wowed me yet.
How are you and Kim feeling?
LikeLike
It looks like Kim is and Tanya are only putting the prompts up on Instagram and sadly with hash tags suppressed right now, I can’t follow others. How many books do you have checked out from the library?
As for Kim and me, we’re doing well. She still doesn’t have her sense of taste and smell back, but her sister, who had covid, in April lost both for a few months. So it could be awhile.
And how are you and your immediate family? Especially your husband?
LikeLike