Friday, April 30, 2021

April 2021 Reading Wrap Up


It's that time of the month: my reading wrap up! This is a separate little series that you won't see over on my bookstagram, so stay tuned here for the wrap up of each month!

The Story of Civilization: The Life of Greece (Volume 2), Will Durant
Did I read this? Yes    No
How I read it: Physical book
Rating, out of 5 stars: 4 stars

Mythology, Lady Hestia Evans
Did I read this? Yes    No
How I read it: Physical book
Rating, out of 5 stars: 5 stars

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold, Stephen Fry
Did I read this? Yes    No
How I read it: Audiobook, Audible app
Rating, out of 5 stars: 4 stars

Magicians of the Gods, Graham Hancock
Did I read this? Yes    No
How I read it: Audiobook, Audible App
Rating, out of 5 stars: 2.5 stars (DNF-ed)

The Fountains of Silence, Ruta Sepetys
Did I read this? Yes    No
How I read it: Physical book
Rating, out of 5 stars: N/A

Egyptology, Emily Sands
Did I read this? Yes    No
How I read it: Physical book
Rating, out of 5 stars: 5 stars


Books I read that weren't on my TBR

The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
How I read it: Physical book
Rating, out of 5 stars: 4 stars

My Own Words, Ruth Bader Ginsburg
How I read it: Physical book
Rating, out of 5 stars: 5 stars

Books I started but haven't finished

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, Mary Beard (re-read)
How I read it: Physical book

Thursday, April 29, 2021

4 Suggestions for Using 2 Bookshelf Organization Methods at Once


Now that I got all of the tips for organizing your bookshelves out of the way, I thought I'd make this post for a few extra suggestions.

These suggestions will focus on how to use 2+ organization methods for you books, and which ones I think work best together. As I've said in previous posts on bookshelf organization, how you ultimately organize your books is up to you.

With that said, let's get into these suggestions!


Alphabetical by Genre x Alphabetical by Author's Last Name
This is a suggestion I mentioned in one of my posts. However, I wanted to go a bit more in detail with it. Essentially, you organize your books by genre, and within each genre, you organize alphabetically by the author's name.  You look at what genres you have, and then organize each genre alphabetically from A-Z. For example, you would organize your genres this way: Classics, Contemporary, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, and Young Adult. Within each genre, you'll then organize by the author's last name.

Color x Height
Organizing by color and height are definitely two of the aesthetically pleasing bookshelf organization methods. Let's say you decide to organize by the rainbow, plus any black and white books you have. So you know that's ROY G. BIV, and then black and white. Within each color - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, black, and white - organize the books by height. Organizing this way can be a bit tedious and time consuming, but it will be aesthetically pleasing to see your bookshelves organized this way.

Unread vs, Read x Chronologically by Publication Year
Organizing your books by unread versus read is a great way to organize your books, but it is very broad: other than the two specifications, there's nothing else to go on for how to organize your books. Organizing your unread and read books chronologically by their publication year can be super helpful. Yes, it may take a little while for two reasons: (1) you have to actively look for the publication year, which is usually on the copyright page just after the full title page, and (2) you can have multiple books published in the same year. But organizing your unread and read books chronologically by their publication year can help you see what books you may want to prioritize on your TBR over others.

Book Format x Alphabetical, Publishing Company
Organizing by book format essentially means that you're distinguishing between paperback and hardback books. However, like with organization of unread and read books, there's nothing else to organize by for book format. If you organize alphabetically by publishing company (Fall River, Penguin Classics, and Thames & Hudson are 3 examples), that can help you see what books fall well. And since many authors use the same publisher, you can keep their books and series together.


These are just four suggestions for how to organize your bookshelves with two different organization methods at the same time. There are multiple ways to go about organizing your books. There's no "right" or "wrong" way for this, since you're organizing your own books and no one else's. It's all up to your own personal preferences.

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

3 Tips for and 2 Benefits of Organizing Your Books by Height


Many of the tips will also overlap plenty with the tips for other organization methods. The explanations and reasonings for each tip, though, will differ based on how you're organizing your books.

Let's get started with the tips and benefits of organizing your books by height! You don't need to decide on how to organize. It's simply by height.

Tip 1: Completely clear off your bookshelf and any space that has books on it.
This way, you're not shuffling books around on your bookshelf. You'll also have plenty of room on your shelf to get your books fully organized.

Tip 2: Set your books into piles based on their rough heights.
Don't worry about specific heights quite yet. Put books that look roughly the same height into their own piles. Again, as usual, if you need 2+ piles, keep those piles close together.

Tip 3: Once you have your piles set up, start organizing the books on the shelves.
This is very time consuming. But this is where you need to get specific about height. Two books can have half a centimeter of difference, which can show if you're really picky. But if you have a lot of series, that can help since all the books in a series tend to be the same height.


Benefit 1: It's aesthetically pleasing.
You can run your fingers up and down the tops of the books nicely, and you can see that your books nicely go up (or down) in height.

Benefit 2: It's easy to find your books of certain heights.
It's another visual benefit. If you're looking for a short book, you'll look at the short books. If you're looking for a tall book, you'll look at the tall books.

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

4 Tips for and 2 Benefits of Organizing Your Books by Unread and Read


Many of the tips will also overlap plenty with the tips for other organization methods. The explanations and reasonings for each tip, though, will differ based on how you're organizing your books.

Let's get started with the tips and benefits of organizing your books by unread and read!

Tip 1: Decide on how you want to organize your books.
You've decided on organizing by your unread and your read books. But this allows for so many organization opportunities within your unread and read books. Since it's the easiest to explain, let's say you want to organize by alphabetizing according to authors' last names in your unread and read books.

Tip 2: Completely clear off your bookshelf and any space that has books on it.
This way, you're not shuffling books around on your bookshelf. You'll also have plenty of room on your shelf to get your books fully organized.

Tip 3: Set your books into piles based on the color.
Put all of your books into piles of unread and read, and then into piles of A-Z. This will be a bit time consuming, but you don't have to fully alphabetize quite yet.

Tip 4: Once you have your piles set up, start organizing the books on the shelves.
Organize by alphabetizing your unread books and then your read books.


Benefit 1: You can see what books you've read versus those you haven't read.
You know which books have priority on your TBR list.

Benefit 2: It's easier to make TBR lists.
For those of you who like TBR lists, visibly seeing your unread books can help you set up your TBR lists.

Sunday, April 25, 2021

4 Tips for and 2 Benefits of Organizing Your Books by Book Format


Many of the tips will also overlap plenty with the tips for other organization methods. The explanations and reasonings for each tip, though, will differ based on how you're organizing your books.

Let's get started with the tips and benefits of organizing your books by book format!

Tip 1: Decide on how you want to organize your books.
You've decided on organizing by book format: paperback vs. hardback. This is another organization method where I'd recommend using another organization method at the same time. So, for the sake of an example, let's decide on organize by book format and then by the author's last name.

Tip 2: Completely clear off your bookshelf and any space that has books on it.
This way, you're not shuffling books around on your bookshelf. You'll also have plenty of room on your shelf to get your books fully organized.

Tip 3: Set your books into piles based on the color.
Put all of your books into piles of paperback, with piles for letters A-Z (author's last name), and piles of hardback, with piles for letters A-Z (author's last name). Don't worry about specifically alphabetizing each pile just yet. Just get all of your books completely off the shelves.

Tip 4: Once you have your piles set up, start organizing the books on the shelves.
Let's say you've decided to have paperback first and then hardback. Put all the paperbacks, organizing by author's last name A-Z, onto your shelves. And then do the same for your hardbacks.


Benefit 1: It's aesthetically pleasing in its own, unique way.
It's nice to see all your paperbacks together and all of your hardbacks together. And most of the time, your paperbacks are all roughly the same height, and your hardbacks are also all roughly the same height.

Benefit 2: You can keep series together.
Unless you have that one odd book out that's a hardback when all the other books in your series are paperbacks, you can usually keep a series together in one area - either paperback or hardback.

Saturday, April 24, 2021

4 Tips for and 3 Benefits of Organizing Your Books by Genre


Many of the tips will also overlap plenty with the tips for other organization methods. The explanations and reasonings for each tip, though, will differ based on how you're organizing your books.

This specific post will get into a bit of detail of overlapping two organization methods, mainly because, in my opinion, that's the best way to organize by genre.

Let's get started with the tips and benefits of organizing your books by genre!

Tip 1: Decide on how you want to organize your books.
You've decided on organizing by genre. But, as I said above, I think it's best to organize by genre alongside another organization method. You can overlap this organization method with any other (although color may be a bit difficult to overlap with genre). You can overlap genre organization with alphabetical, chronology, or height (to be published on the 28th). Let's say you decide to organize based on genre and the alphabet.

Tip 2: Completely clear off your bookshelf and any space that has books on it.
This way, you're not shuffling books around on your bookshelf. You'll also have plenty of room on your shelf to get your books fully organized.

Tip 3: Set your books into piles based on the color.
Put all of your books into piles of each genre. If you have the sci-ficontemporaryYAhistorical fiction, and fantasy genres, then put your books into those piles. As with this tip in all the other posts, if you need 2+ piles for one genre, keep them close together. You also don't have to organize by author's last name just yet. Do that once you're in Tip 4.

Tip 4: Once you have your piles set up, start organizing the books on the shelves.
I would recommend organizing on 3 levels. First, go alphabetically. Adding to Tip 1 and Tip 3, alphabetize your genres. If you have the genres sci-ficontemporaryYAhistorical fiction, and fantasy. Alphabetize them as contemporaryfantasyhistorical fictionsci-fi, and YA. Then, within each genre, organize by the author's last name.


Benefit 1: You know where each book is based on genre, especially if you read from quite a few genres.
It can be easy to look at your shelves, looking for a specific book, and say "Okay, my fantasy books are here, so X book will be somewhere in here."

Benefit 2: You can keep authors and series together.
Most authors will write in the same genre, and a series will also be one genre.

Benefit 3: You don't necessarily need to see a fantasy book next to a contemporary book.
If it's one of your pet peeves to see two starkly different books next to each other because they're different genres, organization this way can help diffuse this a bit.

Friday, April 23, 2021

4 Tips for and 2 Benefits of Organizing Your Books by Color


Many of the tips will also overlap plenty with the tips for other organization methods. The explanations and reasonings for each tip, though, will differ based on how you're organizing your books.

Let's get started with the tips and benefits of organizing your books by color!

Tip 1: Decide on how you want to organize your books.
You've decided on organizing by color, but how? You can organize by the rainbow, by lighter to darker colors, gradient, or even alphabetically by the color's first letter.

Tip 2: Completely clear off your bookshelf and any space that has books on it.
This way, you're not shuffling books around on your bookshelf. You'll also have plenty of room on your shelf to get your books fully organized.

Tip 3: Set your books into piles based on the color.
Put all of your books into piles of red, orange, yellow, green, and so on until all of your books are in piles based on their colors.

Tip 4: Once you have your piles set up, start organizing the books on the shelves.
Let's say you decide to organize your books based on the rainbow - the easiest way. Don't forget your white, brown, and black books. Decide where those books will go first - before or after ROY G. BIV. If you decide before, then put up your white, brown, and black books and then red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet books up. You may not have books of every color, and you may only have one book for a specific color. Just keep going until all of your books are back on the shelves.


Benefit 1: It's aesthetically pleasing.
It can be nice seeing all of your books organized by colors. And if you're a Booktuber, Bookstagrammer, or both, it's an added bonus,

Benefit 2: If you're a visual person, you know where all your books of a specific color are.
You know where all your blue books are, or all your red books, since they're all in their own colorful sections.

Thursday, April 22, 2021

5 Tips for and 3 Benefits of Organizing Your Books Chronologically


Many of the tips will also overlap plenty with the tips for other organization methods. The explanations and reasonings for each tip, though, will differ based on how you're organizing your books.

Let's get started with the tips and benefits of organizing your books chronologically!

Tip 1: Decide on how you want to organize your books.
You've decided on chronologically, but how exactly will you organize your books? You can organize your books based on when they take place, the amount of time they take place over (i.e. 5 years vs. 10 years), or publication year. Once you decide on how, you can move 

Tip 2: Completely clear off your bookshelf and any space that has books on it.
This way, you're not shuffling books around on your bookshelf. You'll also have plenty of room on your shelf to get your books fully organized.

Tip 3: Set your books into piles based on the year or time.
Let's say you've decided to organize your books based on when the book takes place, and all of your books take place between 1900 to 2000. If the book is a classic - like any of Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte's books - or a contemporary then you can guesstimate that the book takes place around the time it was published. Place your books into piles based on the decade - 1900-1909, 1910-1919, 1920-1929, 1930-1939, 1940-1949, 1950-1959, 1960-1969, and so on. You don't have to organize them based on exact years at the start, but get the piles going until your shelves are completely cleared off. If you need 2+ piles for a specific decade, keep those piles close together.

Tip 4: Once you have your piles set up, start organizing the books on the shelves.
This is when you can start organizing by specific years if possible. If you only know the decade it takes place, put that at the end of each section (i.e. if a book takes place in the 1960s but doesn't have a specific year in the 1960s, put it at the end of the 1960s section).

Tip 5: Tips 3 & 4 obviously change depending on how you're organizing.
If you're organizing your books based on publication year, this will be found on the copyright page, which is usually just after the full title page. If you're organizing based on time frame (i.e. 5 years), this is a little harder to gauge unless you've read the entire book or series; it may also not be specifically stated within the book how many years a book takes place over.


Benefit 1: It is possible to keep series together.
While you may not be able to keep all of an author's books together, you can keep individual series together if you organize based on a time frame.

Benefit 2: You can see how books evolved over time.
Organizing based on publication year can show you how books and writing have evolved over the years, whether it's the past decade or the past century.

Benefit 3: If you have a lot of history and/or historical fiction, this is a great way to organize.
Yes, this organization method is a bit time consuming (no pun intended but at the same time 100% intended . . . ). It becomes so easy with history and historical fiction.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

4 Tips for and 2 Benefits of Organizing Your Books Alphabetically


This is the start of a 8-day series of tips for organizing your bookshelf based on the separate organization methods. The post for the 8th day will be suggestions for how to combine 2+ organization methods for your books. By the time the last post is published, I'll make a gadget for these posts that you can access to the right side of the blog.

Many of the tips will also overlap plenty with each other. The explanations and reasonings for each tip, though, will differ based on how you're organizing your books.

With that explained, let's get started.

Tip 1: Decide on how you want to organize your books.
Yes, you've decided on alphabetically. But how are you going to organize it? Are you going to organize your books by the author's last name, their first name, or the publisher? Once you've decided on this, then you can get started.

Tip 2: Completely clear off your bookshelf and any space that has books on it.
This way, you're not shuffling books around on your bookshelf. You'll also have plenty of room on your shelf to get your books fully organized.

Tip 3: Set your books into piles based on the first letter.
This is where it gets time consuming. Yes, you have to go from A to B to C, and then finally to Z. But remember you may not have all of the letters in the alphabet. If your piles get too high, start a 2nd pile for that letter. But if you need 2+ piles for a single letter, keep those piles together. Don't worry about organizing them alphabetically just yet. Just focus on the first letter of the author's last/first name or of the publisher.

Tip 4: Once you have your piles set up, start organizing the books on the shelves.
Set all of your books under the letter A on the shelf. This is where you need to get picky and go to the second letter. However, already having Tip 3 done makes this step so much easier. Let's say you're organizing by last names, and your authors under A are "Anderson," "Adams," "Austen," and "Atwood." Your A section would be "Adams," "Anderson," "Atwood," and finally "Austen." Continue this process with every letter of the alphabet you have until all of your books are back on the shelves.


Benefit 1: Authors and series are kept together.
This is a pet peeve of many book nerds: organizing your books by some of the other methods (i.e. height or color) may separate authors and series.

Benefit 2: You know exactly where to look for a specific author and book.
All of your books by Jane Austen are together? You know to look in the A section, which is usually near the top of your bookshelf. Looking for one of your Brandon Sanderson series? You know to look a further down on your bookshelf for the S section.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

7 Bookshelf Organization Methods


I do plan to make two posts about this in the future, probably for November, about this topic under my Controversial Bookish Topic series and my Bookish Dilemma series. However, today's post will focus on tips for how to organize your books on your bookshelf (or bookshelves).

Before continuing to the actual organization methods, please remember the following: there is no "right" or "wrong" way for organizing your bookshelves. How you organize your bookshelves, as I've said in many similar posts, is ultimately up to you and your preferences.


Alphabetically: I don't think I need to explain this one too much, since alphabetical organization is pretty self-explanatory. You can organize your books by alphabet in one of three ways:
  1. Author, Last Name
  2. Author, First Name
  3. Publisher
Chronologically: Again, I don't think I need to explain this one too much. But this can be a bit complicated due to the fact that some books don't fit nicely into our "real world" perception of time and chronology. However, there are two ways to organize your books in chronological order:
  1. Setting in the book itself - what year does the book take place?
  2. Number of years the book occurs over - does the book take place in one year or less, in 2 years, or more? (And then keep going up depending on the book)
  3. Publication year - go to the copyright page, see when the book was published, and then organize your books this way
    1. You may want to use a second organization method once you get publication year out of the way, because you may have 5+ books published in the same year
Color: This is an organization method many Booktubers and Bookstagrammers use because of the aesthetics. The main way you can organize by color is to go by the rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, white, brown, grey, and black. Where you put the last 4 colors - white, brown, grey, and black - is up to you, whether it's before the red books, in the middle, or after the violet books.


Genre: I would recommend being broad with the genres of your books. Find your books on Goodreads and take a look at the FIRST genre that shows up. Ignore any genres that follow. Also, if the first genre shows up as "[Genre] > [Sub-genre]", only look at the first part before the " > ".

Book Format: By this one, I mean organizing by paperback and then hardback or vice versa, simply because we (sadly) can't put our audiobooks and ebooks on our bookshelves. What you do with organizing your books beyond paperback/hardback is ultimately up to you.

Unread and Read: Separating your books by unread (books you need to read) and read (books you have already read) can help you see what books are still on your general TBR. It can also help you see, from your physical books, what books you tend to gravitate towards based on what you read or haven't read.

Height: This is always a fun organization method to use. However, this one is a bit more technical. Many books of a same genre are either the same height or just half a centimeter shorter/taller than another book. Paperbacks and hardbacks are also drastically different in height. It can look a bit awkward if you don't have a nice, gradual rise in the height of your books (i.e. you have a book that's 6 inches, and then the next book you have is 10 inches, with no books that are in between those heights).

Monday, April 19, 2021

Mythology and Mythology Retellings


Within the past 5 years, there have been quite a few mythology retellings. I am completely here for these mythology retellings, but I did want to talk about them a little bit. Here are some of the mythology retellings I've read: Circe by Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Cursed by Thomas WheelerThe Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White, and Lore by Alexandra Bracken.

I think that mythology is a fantastic way for a community to connect with itself. Individuals can see how they relate to each other one a deeper level. It's also a way for people to explain what's not explained by our 5 senses or by science.

For a general understanding of mythology, please check out these two books:

As with my thoughts on historical fiction, I don't think that mythology retellings have to be told exactly like the original myth was told. They're retellings for a reason - authors can take some creative license with the myth(s) they're retelling. Yes, you need homages in your retelling. In my opinion, the homages to the original myth/legend in the retelling should be overt, mainly due to the fact that the author is retelling the myth (i.e. keep the names, cities, and core parts of the story).

However, if you're not familiar with mythology, please do some research before reading a mythology retelling. It can be confusing to read a book like Madeline Miller's Circe if you're not familiar with the mythology behind Circe's (the woman's) tale. Even if you know a person's name or know the basics of a myth, it's still a good idea to do a bit of Googling to get some more details about the mythology retelling.

Sunday, April 18, 2021

5 Pros and 5 Cons of Bookstagram


As with social media and the internet in general, there are pros and cons to the bookish community that occupies its own special corner on social media and the internet.

Today, I'm going to talk about 5 pros and 5 cons of the bookish community on Instagram - aka Bookstagram (10 points in total). I tried to keep the pros and cons balanced with each other. Each point I bring up as a pro connects with a point I bring up as a con.


Pro 1: You can connect with other book lovers.
As with any part of the bookish community, you can connect with other book lovers on Bookstagram. It's a lot more convenient in the sense that you can have quick conversation on a post or over DMs, and you can see in a single, quick post what others have read, are reading, and want to read.

Pro 2: You can connect with book lovers across the world.
Adding onto Pro 1, not only are you connected with fellow book lovers, you can be anywhere in the world and still connect with them. And you get a variety of book recommendations other than the ones that are popular in your own country/area.

Pro 3: You can follow authors if they have an IG account.
Many authors use social media to promote their work, and quite a few use Instagram. Many authors also post vague photos of upcoming work, that also helps you look forward to and stay tuned for any new books they're releasing!

Pro 4: You get to see really pretty bookish posts.
Aesthetics is everything on Bookstagram. As a result, you can see some aesthetically pleasing bookish posts on Bookstagram from the more experienced book bloggers of IG. And you may even learn a few tips and tricks to make your posts more aesthetic.

Pro 5: You get an idea of how others liked or didn't like books.
If you see a good book review for a book in your favorite genre, you know there's a high likelihood that you'll like it. If it's a neutral or bad review, then you may get an idea that you might not like it.And if it's a book that's not in your favorite or usual genres, you can still get a pretty good idea about whether or not you'll like it.


Con 1: You lose a lot of communication over Bookstagram.
Even though it is a niche corner of Instagram, Bookstagram is still Instagram. And even though there are photos to emphasize the meaning of the text, you still lose a lot of the meaning behind the words. Even with 1 minute or less videos, there's not a lot you can say in 60 seconds.

Con 2: Language can be a bit of a barrier, especially when it's a computer doing the translating.
"Read." How did you say that in your head? Did you say it in its present tense in a sentence like "I read"? Or did you say it in its past tense, in a sentence like "I read that"? Different pronunciations, intonations, and sentences all allude to different meanings. And those meanings aren't always conveyed in the written text or in translation from one language to another. And not just with the word "read," but with the two sentences I provided - the present versus past tense of the verb "read."

Con 3: Despite that many authors use IG, they may not understand what you're communicating.
I don't need to reiterate what I wrote under Con 1 and Con 2. As a result, try to understand that while your constant sharing of their books and tagging them in posts/stories may come from a place of admiration, it may not come off that way on the author's end.

Con 4: Contrary to Pro 4, there is a lot of emphasis on "aesthetically pleasing" bookish posts.
There is a reason why aesthetics are popular. But with the bookish community on Instagram, 75-90% of the focus is on how "aesthetically pleasing" a post is and not necessarily the book itself. (I put that percentage in a range because it varies from post to post, and from account to account.) This strong emphasis on "aesthetically pleasing" posts can put a lot of pressure on newbies to the Bookstagram community.

Con 5: Book reviews are biased.
No matter where the review is, book reviews are biased. And Bookstagram doesn't really allow for much elaboration in the caption, so you may not get a person's full opinion on a book simply from an IG post. Additionally, if it's a negative review, the review generally focuses on what the person didn't like, and it doesn't acknowledge that other people may like the book.

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Coffee Book Tag


Here's the original post: Coffee Book Tag (Reading, Reading, Reading). As I did with my post for The Hamilton Book Tag, I'll include the questions by themselves for you to copy and paste into your own post if you'd like to do this tag.

Black: Name a Series that's Tough to Get Into but has Hardcore Fans. J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. This is definitely a tough series to get into reading-wise, but it has a definite fanbase.

Peppermint Mocha: Name a Book that Gets More Popular During the Winter or a Festive Time of Year. There are so many options that come to mind for this one. But for me, what comes to mind is Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol due to how popular both the book is and all the movie adaptations there are for it.

Hot Chocolate: What's Your Favorite Children's Book? Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth. This book held so much magic for me as a child, and nothing really topped the amazement I felt after reading it.

Double Shot of Espresso: Name a Book that Kept You on the Edge of Your Seat from Start to Finish. Madeline Miller's Circe. A lot of people have said that this was a "slow read," which I agree with, even though I'm familiar with the basics of Circe's tale. But having a story about Circe is one of my favorite things.


Starbucks: Name a Book You See Everywhere. Anything by John Green, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, and any Cassandra Clare books. I understand that they're popular, but I literally don't stop seeing them.

The Hipster Coffee Shop: Give a Book by an Indie Author a Shoutout. Please don't hate me, but I don't think I've read a book by an indie author. I'd love some recommendations in the comments, though!

Oops, I Accidentally Got Decaf: Name a Book You Were Expecting More From. Forgotten Bones by Lois Miner Huey. Part of my expectations came from not knowing that it was a textbook for grades 4-8. But even so, I expected it to feel a bit put together, and it felt . . . disjointed. (See my review here.)

The Perfect Blend: Name a Book or Series that was Both Bitter and Sweet but Ultimately Satisfying. Natasha Lester's books The Paris Orphan, The Paris Seamstress, and The Paris Secret. I have gushed about these books so much over on my Instagram, and I absolutely love them.

Friday, April 16, 2021

Documentary Recommendations: My Top 10 Disney+ History Documentaries


It's time for another documentary recommendation post!

Honestly, I really enjoyed doing this with my general list, so I have a few specific lists lined up to be drafted and published for the blog. Today's post is going to focus on documentaries showed on Disney+.

If you have a Disney+ account, it was probably due to wanting easy access to your favorite Disney movies, tv shows, etc. You also are doing it to gain access to the movies Disney and Pixar have been releasing in the past year during the pandemic, such as "Soul" and "Raya and the Last Dragon." I'm the same way.

However, since the Walt Disney company owns 73% of the shares of National Geographic, you can get access to quite a few Nat Geo movies and shows on Disney+, and that includes Nat Geo's documentaries.


So here are my Top 10 Disney+ History Documentaries, in no particular order:
  1. Diana: In Her Own Words
  2. Petra: Secrets of the Ancient Builders
  3. Pompeii: Secrets of the Dead
  4. Lost Temple of the Inca
  5. Stonehenge Decoded: Secrets Revealed
  6. Viking Warrior Women
  7. The Greeks
  8. Lost Cities with Albert Lin
  9. Tut's Treasures: Hidden Secrets
  10. Lost Treasures of Egypt

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Book Recommendations: My Top 10 Mythology Books


I've done one other book recommendations post, which you can see at the following link. Book Recommendations: My General Top 10 Favorite Books.

Mythology can be a tough genre to get into. It's definitely entering popular culture in various ways - video games, book retellings, and so on. However, familiarizing yourself with the myths, even if you only read 1-2 of these recommendations, will help you get the more subtle references.


Here are my Top 10 favorite mythology books, and the ones I highly recommend looking into and reading:
  1. Bulfinch's Mythology, Thomas Bulfinch
  2. Early Irish Myths and Sagas, Jeffrey Gantz
  3. Norse Myths, Martin J. Dougherty
  4. Celtic Legends, Michael Kerrigan
  5. Tales from the Arabian Nights, Donna Jo Napoli
  6. Treasury of Egyptian Mythology, Donna Jo Napoli
  7. Treasury of Greek Mythology, Donna Jo Napoli
  8. Treasury of Norse Mythology, Donna Jo Napoli
  9. The Greek Myths, Robin Waterfield
  10. A Treasury of Irish Fairy and Folk Tales, Various

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

The Historian Dilemma: The Comment that “History is Boring”


This is a statement that many historians cringe at. "History is boring." I'm here to say that no, history is not boring. You just didn't have the right history teachers.

In my experience and opinion, history teachers for grades 1-12 (elementary through high school, US schools), are teaching history just to teach it. None of them are really excited about what they're teaching. And most of them do give only the names and dates because they have to get to a certain point in time by the end of the semester or school year. This is what led to people thinking that history "is just names and dates" and also the thinking that "history is boring."


I have a few things to ask you to do if you're not really interested in history.

Don't say that "history is boring" to a history buff's or historian's face. Instead, ask them what they enjoy about history.

Watch some documentaries or YouTube videos on history. Interested in going to Italy? Watch some videos on Italian history. Interested in the British Royal Family? Watch some history on English/British history. There is so much available to you aside from books that you have access to so you can learn about it in a fun, interesting way.

If you're in college/university - or you're about to start college/university - take a history class. Most history teachers at the college/university level - aka your history professors - are actually interested in history, and they'll make the class interesting and fun. Most often, your history professor will have their PhD in history, so they know what they're talking about, and they know how to get you interested.

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

The Bookish Dilemma: Finishing a Book


Yes, it's time for this specific bookish dilemma blog post.

While I feel like I say this with most of my bookish dilemma posts, this is a really tough one for readers. We finished a book that we had really strong feelings for. Usually, this only happens with books we really love, but it can happen with books we didn't really like either.

We finish a book, and we're having a hard time moving on to a new book. There are no more pages in the book we just read, and what now?


Here's my main suggestion for dealing with this. If you had strong feelings about a book you just finished - whether good or bad - give yourself time to work through your feelings on the book.

While it may feel like you have to be constantly reading, you really don't have to be. You don't have to immediately pick up another book once you finish one. Let yourself take breaks from reading if a book has deeply affected you.

Monday, April 12, 2021

Controversial Bookish Topic: Happily Ever After Endings


Controversial bookish topic time!

I'll be honest: why this topic is a "controversy" in the bookish community confuses me. Even after looking into it a bit, I was just . . . baffled.

Yes, the "happily ever after" ending is an overdone trope and cliche at this point. However, I don't think that's a good reason for it to be a controversy or hated within the bookish community.

On the one hand, I can understand it in a few circumstances. Maybe the "happily ever after" ending doesn't fit with the rest of the story. Or maybe the romance was rushed in one way or another, so the "happily ever after" ending doesn't feel right.


On the other hand, though, I don't understand it. I feel like it's one of those things like pineapple pizza. It's not so bad if it's done right, but everyone hates it because social media says to hate it.

As I mentioned above, if the "happily ever after" ending doesn't fit with the story - either because of plot, general theming, or character dynamics - then that's the book's issue. That's not an issue with the "happily ever after" trope.

What are your thoughts on the "happily ever after" ending?

Sunday, April 11, 2021

6 Tips for Taking Notes While Reading



Since I covered a lot of the benefits of note taking while reading yesterday, I'll get right to the tips for today.

Tip 1: Be consistent.
Being consistent while taking notes while you read is the best thing you can do. Consistency comes in many forms: how you take your notes, what you take notes on, where you take notes, and much more. Consistency will help you instill this as a habit.

Tip 2: Have your notes easily and readily accessible as you read.
If you're taking notes on a book, have your notes easily and readily accessible as you read. Whether it's a physical notebook or electronic document, having it accessible will make it easier and quicker for you to take notes while reading. And you won't have to pull out your notes while you're reading.

Tip 3: Include page numbers and partial quotes in your notes.
Including page numbers and partial quotes will help you know what your notes are talking about. You don't have to get too detailed about the actual quote or scene unless it helps you.
Tip 3-A: If you're taking notes on an audiobook, include the time stamp rather than page numbers or quotes.


Tip 4: Always have post-it notes on hand.
If you're out and about and have a moment to read, it may be awkward to carry around a notebook or electronic device for your notes. Using post-it notes to mark specific quotes and briefly write down your thoughts on the post-it. But remember to write them down in where the rest of your notes are - this way, there isn't an awkward break in your notes.

Tip 5: Have your notes all in one place.
Whether it's a notebook, electronic document (Word, Google, etc.), or even loose leaf paper, keep your notes together and in one place. You can have different documents or notebooks for each book, but keep them in one place so you have easy access to them.

Tip 6: Don't be afraid to write in your books.
If you really don't want to do this, okay then. That's fine. But don't completely discount it. Writing your notes in the book itself takes out the need for post-it notes, having to write page numbers/partial quotes, and having to set up a notebook or word document for your notes. All you need is a pencil.

Saturday, April 10, 2021

Why Note Taking While You Read is a Good Habit


Note taking while reading is a habit I strongly recommend having. It can be hard to start and keep up if you aren't used to taking notes while reading. Once you're used to it, though, it is such a useful habit to have.

The posts for today and tomorrow will hopefully help you make it a habit to take notes while you read.

You don't have to take notes on every single book you read unless you really want to. Most of us are reading for fun, so note taking isn't something that we think of doing. Taking notes as you read can be a bit tedious since you have to pause your reading to take notes, and depending on where and when you pause, it can be a bit annoying.


So what types of books should you take notes on? Here's a little list of suggestions:
  1. History books
  2. Nonfiction
  3. Course books (i.e. books you read for classes, no matter the specific genre)
You don't need to take notes on every history book you read, or every nonfiction, or even every book you read for class. (Although I'd highly recommend taking notes on most, if not all, the reading you do for classes.)

Taking notes while you read will help you remember more of what you read. Even if you don't remember everything right off the top of your head, you still have a source (notebook, electronic document, and so on).

You can also use your notes to refer back to for reviews, your favorite quotes, your favorite scenes, and so much more.

You don't need to take notes on every book you read. And your notes don't need to be extensive or super detailed. No matter how you end up taking notes on your reading, if your notes work for you, then that is perfectly fine.

Friday, April 9, 2021

My Thoughts on the BookTube Community


I absolutely love the BookTube community. While I don't personally make bookish content for YouTube specifically, the bookish corner of YouTube is definitely something I'm checking out regularly during my week.

There was also a point in time where I did make very basic bookish videos. Basic bookish videos were the best I could do at the time, so I'm not kicking myself for doing them. (All of which have been deleted at this point.) I did curate some playlists of my reading music (based on what I could access on YouTube), all of which are to the right of the blog as a link list under the name of "Reading Music Playlists."


The BookTube community is definitely a fun little section of the entire bookish community. You can get so many things from it due to the fact that it is in video form. You can get book recommendations, Booktubers' TBR lists, reading wrap ups, etc.

Additionally, you do have some extra bonuses. When you just have pictorial posts - i.e. simply photos of books along with a caption of some sort - there's definitely some aspects of communication that are lost. You don't see someone's body language, facial expressions, or hear their tone of voice when it's just photos on Instagram or Twitter. In YouTube videos, you see when the reader gets excited about a book or isn't caring about it through their nonverbal cues (examples are earlier in this paragraph).

Will I do BookTube again and stick to it? It's possible. I love talking about books. There would be some things I'd have to work with - figuring out how and where to record and what to talk about are just a few examples.

But if you haven't checked out the bookish community over on BookTube, I highly recommend doing so ASAP.

Thursday, April 8, 2021

How to Read More: 5 Great Opportunities for Listening to Audiobooks


This is something a lot of people in the bookish community have been recommending or saying they do. And I can 100% say that I am so glad that we're more accepting of audiobooks as reading. (Fingers crossed we don't need to have this discussion again . . . )

You'll hear this recommendation a lot: listen to audiobooks as you do certain activities. And this is a great recommendation for many reasons. Remember, though: for audiobooks to be successful while you do activities, it really depends on the precise activity you're doing. The more attention you need to pay to an activity, the less attention you'll have for the audiobook.


Listen to an audiobook while walking. If you take walks during the week - either daily or on specific weekdays - that is a perfect time to listen to a good chunk of audiobook. And it's a good excuse to not talk to people during this time if you're plugged into your phone listening to an audiobook.

Listen to an audiobook while working out. If you work out along with a video, this may not be the best time to listen to an audiobook. But if you have your own workout routine, this is a great time to listen to audiobook.

Listen to an audiobook while doing the dishes. If you're doing the dishes, this won't take a lot of thinking. Even if you have a very specific way of loading up the dishwasher and/or washing dishes, once it's habit, it doesn't take a lot of thinking. Hence, it's a great time to listen to an audiobook.

Listen to an audiobook while getting ready for the day in the morning. No matter what you do in the mornings - have breakfast, drink coffee, wash your face, or shower - that's a great time to put on an audiobook.

Listen to an audiobook while in the shower/bath. No matter when you take a shower/bath, listening to an audiobook while doing so is a good thing to focus your mind on.