I’m starting this blog series in an attempt to find my way to “chill” because yo gorl has almost no chill – only now instead of that being a personality trait it’s causing hormonal fluctuations that my body doesn’t know how to process anymore which then leads to me passing out … which is no bueno. I consider myself agnostic because I’m not sure there is/are a god/s, but I’m not going to tell you they can’t possibly exist either. I do however enjoy the idea of trying out different forms of meditation to see if any of them will work for me, which brings me to my latest adventure – using tarot cards as a point of focus for meditation. Let’s see what cards I pull today, shall we?
Today I’m just pulling a single card without asking anything. It’s a rather dreary Monday, and I just want to see where the card takes me today.
Two of Swords
Emotion Balance Tension
I like how this deck has such a different depiction from the traditional two of swords. Instead of a blindfolded lady holding two swords erect across her heart, it depicts two unicorns fighting under a waning crescent moon. I think the waning moon typically symbolizes rest and recovery — I’m new to the whole field of witchery and the occult, so if I’m wrong please feel free to correct me in the comments. What’s rather funny to me is that according to my health data I’ve been collecting I should be taking today rather easy as a rest and recovery day if I want to have some better days later this week. Maybe this is a funny coincidence, maybe it isn’t. In either case, I’m definitely taking today as a chill day. We all need to balance our lives and allow ourselves to feel our emotions — something I’ve previously struggled with but am slowly getting better at. Finding that balance can be hard at first, but with time and therapy I’m working on making myself into a better person.
This card was pulled from the The Ink Witch Tarot Deck by Eric Maille which I used in conjunction with Rachel Pollack’s 40th Anniversary Edition of Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom.
I’m starting this blog series in an attempt to find my way to “chill” because yo gorl has almost no chill – only now instead of that being a personality trait it’s causing hormonal fluctuations that my body doesn’t know how to process anymore which then leads to me passing out … which is no bueno. I consider myself agnostic because I’m not sure there is/are a god/s, but I’m not going to tell you they can’t possibly exist either. I do however enjoy the idea of trying out different forms of meditation to see if any of them will work for me, which brings me to my latest adventure – using tarot cards as a point of focus for meditation. Let’s see what cards I pull today, shall we?
Today I’m just pulling a single card while asking myself how I can find a sense of patience — because I am very much impatient, which has a tendency to make lifestyle changes seem useless since they generally take a while to start seeing results from.
Six of Water – Inverted
Kindness Compassion Forgiveness
Oooooo so this is interesting — inverted the six of water basically symbolizes a caution against being petty and instead encourages us to reroute our angry energy into some other act of kindness in an effort to stay emotionally detached from what is causing the acts of petty. I guess in a way being impatient with a healing process could be seen as being a bit petty. I have been putting myself down and not celebrating the good changes as much as I could be. I’m still not sure how exactly to funnel the frustration I’m feeling into something kind, but I’ll definitely be mulling the idea over for the rest of the day.
This card was pulled from the Dreams of Gaia Tarot set by Ravynne Phelan – it’s sort of a hybrid oracle deck that I’ve really been enjoying. The accompanying book for this set really makes sense to my brain.
I’m starting this blog series in an attempt to find my way to “chill” because yo gorl has almost no chill – only now instead of that being a personality trait it’s causing hormonal fluctuations that my body doesn’t know how to process anymore which then leads to me passing out … which is no bueno. I consider myself agnostic because I’m not sure there is/are a god/s, but I’m not going to tell you they can’t possibly exist either. I do however enjoy the idea of trying out different forms of meditation to see if any of them will work for me, which brings me to my latest adventure – using tarot cards as a point of focus for meditation. Let’s see what cards I pull today, shall we?
Today I’m just pulling a single card while asking myself how I can process what sort of broke my brain in therapy today. Yes, I see a clinically licensed therapist regularly again. Also by break my brain I mean a sort of mind blowing experience – aka I am confused and the confusion is slowly turning into understanding. I’ve been having problems concentrating and accomplishing my goals. It’s not that I don’t see myself as responsible for getting them done so much as the part of my brain that usually helps me focus being seemingly contrary to when and what I want to concentrate on. I’ve always looked at that as a function of my brain I couldn’t really force to work without it just cooperating – and there may be an element of a physical limitation there. But, what if the part of my brain that helps me concentrate on things needs a boss – like treating the concentration tasks like a job with real world consequences.
I’ve traditionally been a kind of “all or nothing” type of person – which I’ve been working on. (It’s a really unfortunate mindset to be in for a lot of situations in life.) I either hyperfocus or am not tuned in to what’s going on at all. I’ve also used pacing exercises to help myself with physical tasks, but I’ve never applied it to mental tasks. What if it’s just my subconscious being a little sassy pants saying “I’m not interested because I don’t feel like it – therefore I’m not going to concentrate on it”? What if this is a piece of emotional maturity to work on? What if I apply those pacing timers to mental tasks? What if I try bossing my brain around like I boss my body around? What if conscious me says “we are going to concentrate for five minutes on a very specific task”? Could this help me to focus on the things I used to be able to focus on but for some reason right now I’m just – not?
Four of Fire
Concentration Focused Energy Increased Skill
Ok ok ok – hold up a second. I’m still agnostic, but tarot has a weirdly accurate way of pulling cards I had specific question about – and they’re not super duper vague about it. I– I just– this is hilarious to me. ACCURATE. The first sentence in the description for this card is:
The Four of Fire is symbolic of focussed mind, emotion, and deliberate action that, once applied, lend impetus and momentum.
Dreams of Gaia Tarot by Ravynne Phelan
So … what I’m getting from this card is that practice makes perfect and that maybe it is normal to need to practice on focusing on things. It’s almost verbatim what my therapist went over with me in therapy today. I’m going to start writing down one or two goals that are reasonable/doable, and then use pacing techniques to practice focusing on those goals even if my brain is being difficult.
This card was pulled from the Dreams of Gaia Tarot set by Ravynne Phelan – it’s sort of a hybrid oracle deck that I’ve really been enjoying. The accompanying book for this set really makes sense to my brain.
I’m starting this blog series in an attempt to find my way to “chill” because yo gorl has almost no chill – only now instead of that being a personality trait it’s causing hormonal fluctuations that my body doesn’t know how to process anymore which then leads to me passing out … which is no bueno. I consider myself agnostic because I’m not sure there is/are a god/s, but I’m not going to tell you they can’t possibly exist either. I do however enjoy the idea of trying out different forms of meditation to see if any of them will work for me, which brings me to my latest adventure – using tarot cards as a point of focus for meditation. Let’s see what cards I pull today, shall we?
Today I’m just pulling a single card while asking myself what I can continue to do or add to help me reach my goals.
Three of Water
Hopefulness Anticipation Expectation
Wow, this card is very relevant since the main focus is on celebrating success, observing accomplishments, and looking forward to future successful endeavors. I haven’t been regularly observing meditation, but I’m thankful for what I’ve learned from my meditations so far. I also have a tendency to not give myself credit for what I have accomplished unless I physically write it down in my planner. The good news is I have been tracking my accomplishments in my phone, but it just doesn’t hit quite the same way as physically writing it in a planner. What’s hilarious is that five minutes before starting this meditation session I decided it was time to start physically journaling again since I recognized I hadn’t been celebrating my accomplishments.
Instead of regularly journaling and meditating, lately I’ve been focusing on becoming more cardiovascularly active after I got some really dicey bloodwork back from the doctor’s office. I’ve been working on this for about a month, but, because I’ve had a couple of bad days back to back to back now, I haven’t really felt like I’ve accomplished anything – that is until I looked at my digital health log over the course of a month. I’ve already started to make very solid improvements at my original goal pace – I’m even doing a little better than what I had predicted. But I didn’t give myself any credit for it until I went back and looked over the whole process from a “more zoomed out” view.
I guess I better get back to journaling in my daily planner and thank myself for every day’s accomplishments.
On a side note, if you’d like to keep up with me a bit more on social media on what I’m doing to improve my life and reach my goals you can check out my Instagram @TheBookishSockToo
Also here’s the most recent video I’ve filmed with a health update and outlining part of what I’m doing to improve my bloodwork:
This card was pulled from the Dreams of Gaia Tarot set by Ravynne Phelan – it’s sort of a hybrid oracle deck that I’ve really been enjoying. The accompanying book for this set really makes sense to my brain.
I’m starting this blog series in an attempt to find my way to “chill” because yo gorl has almost no chill – only now instead of that being a personality trait it’s causing hormonal fluctuations that my body doesn’t know how to process anymore which then leads to me passing out … which is no bueno. I consider myself agnostic because I’m not sure there is/are a god/s, but I’m not going to tell you they can’t possibly exist either. I do however enjoy the idea of trying out different forms of meditation to see if any of them will work for me, which brings me to my latest adventure – using tarot cards as a point of focus for meditation. Let’s see what cards I pull today, shall we?
Today I’m doing a union spread where I pick three cards.
Focus – Twelve of Water Inverted
Clarity Empathetic Objective Advice
Recently a couple of my family members have graciously offered me gifts, of which I have been very tentative to accept. While I’m glad people want to give me things I’m also somewhat terrified that they’ll come with some sort of weird strings attached since my abusers used to use gifts as a means of control. I guess now I need to work on seeing gifts and just gifts now that I’ve cut the toxic people out of my life. I need to work on being happy about accepting things instead of being terrified of accepting things.
Soul – Major Arcana – Twenty Three Integrity
Honesty Character Morality
I think this is just reaffirming that I’ve made the right choice in first and formost being honest with myself and upholding a promise to myself that I will do everything in my power to make sure that I no longer allow people in my life to abuse me. Like, normally I would put a bunch of other people’s needs before my own, and it got to the point that I couldn’t even take care of myself anymore — and I had to make a change. Reinforcing this change is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do before. It feels weird, but at the same time it feels right and gives me a sense of peace.
Let Two Become One – Five of Water
Loss Betrayal Doubt
I mean, my parents are basically dead to me now, and I’m still working on processing that. And while I’m incredibly grateful for the people who are in my life, I’m somewhat afraid that everything is all a façade and will turn out just like my parents. As for how this card ties the other two together, I guess I need to trust my morals and be accepting of the other people who are still in my life instead of remaining in a somewhat constant fear. It’s going to be very hard to truly put my fear and doubts aside, but hey I’m going to therapy to work on that — and that’s really the best thing I can be doing.
This card was pulled from the Dreams of Gaia Tarot set by Ravynne Phelan – it’s sort of a hybrid oracle deck that I’ve really been enjoying. The accompanying book for this set really makes sense to my brain.
I’m starting this blog series in an attempt to find my way to “chill” because yo gorl has almost no chill – only now instead of that being a personality trait it’s causing hormonal fluctuations that my body doesn’t know how to process anymore which then leads to me passing out … which is no bueno. I consider myself agnostic because I’m not sure there is/are a god/s, but I’m not going to tell you they can’t possibly exist either. I do however enjoy the idea of trying out different forms of meditation to see if any of them will work for me, which brings me to my latest adventure – using tarot cards as a point of focus for meditation. Let’s see what cards I pull today, shall we?
Four of Air
Routine Discipline Understanding
This card drawn in the present position is all about making a routine to set yourself up for success for the goals you want to accomplish. It’s about digging into yourself to see what you really want to spend your time on and evaluate why you’re using distractions if you’re not sticking to your goals.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about starting an evening routine. I’m a notorious night owl and insomniac. I’ve never experienced long term balance in my life when it comes to my sleep schedule. I’ve also never tried expressly for a decent period of time (ehhh more than a week?) to be consistent with what time I try to go to sleep, so I’m taking this as my sign to try to find a bedtime routine and try it for a month or two to see if it actually will make a difference.
I haven’t immersed myself into a bunch of peer reviewed studies, but a cursory glance at google tells me that to form a new habit that is somewhat automatic could take about 66-ish days — possibly more if it’s a difficult habit to try to form. So I guess I might start a series on trying to sleep better for at least 66 days. I do have a really nice black-out mask and headphones that I already use, but I guess now is my time to think about what else I’ll add in to the routine. I know I’ll want to leave my weekends open for wiggle room. I also know that I will need some sort of sound to fall asleep to since my brain never shuts up at night until I’m actually asleep. Talk about ruminating, am I right?
I’m weirdly afraid of going to sleep and simultaneously hate waking up. When I go to sleep I feel like I’ll miss something, but when I wake up I rarely feel rested and wish I could wake up without pain. Maybe once I stick to the new routine I might wake up rested. So, goal number one: take my evening meds at 9:30 – especially since it’s already part of my routine. Step two: face routine, brush teeth, put my hair back in a protective style to sleep in. Step three: study some note cards – because learning new hard skills usually makes me sleepy. Step four: read. Step five: put on a recorded book and the eye mask and hopefully fall asleep.
I don’t think I’m ready to give myself a hard time frame for any of those minus the medication yet since my tiredness level may change from day to day, but I think the tasks could be good. Do you have any suggestions? Leave them in the comments below ❤
This card was pulled from the Dreams of Gaia Tarot set by Ravynne Phelan – it’s sort of a hybrid oracle deck that I’ve really been enjoying. The accompanying book for this set really makes sense to my brain.
I’m starting this blog series in an attempt to find my way to “chill” because yo gorl has almost no chill – only now instead of that being a personality trait it’s causing hormonal fluctuations that my body doesn’t know how to process anymore which then leads to me passing out … which is no bueno. I consider myself agnostic because I’m not sure there is/are a god/s, but I’m not going to tell you they can’t possibly exist either. I do however enjoy the idea of trying out different forms of meditation to see if any of them will work for me, which brings me to my latest adventure – using tarot cards as a point of focus for meditation. Let’s see what cards I pull today, shall we?
Ten of Earth
Highest Ideals Authenticity Inner Peace
I drew this card in the present position which reaffirms living true to one’s self and finding peace in being the best you you can be.
If you read Episode 2, you know that on Monday I decided I had to cut some very toxic people out of my life. I never really felt like I could fully be my true self with them. Over time I kept asking myself, “Why am I keeping these people in my life? Normally I wouldn’t tolerate these kind of people at all.” Typically I’m a very “what you see is what you get” sort of person, but with them I always hid part of myself away as a means of protection. I’m sad that I had to go through what I went through to get to where I’m at today, but now that those people aren’t in my life anymore I feel a great sense of relief. I’ve embraced my ideals and enforced them, and that feels incredibly … freeing I guess is the word I’m looking for? I know that I’ve made a big change, and that change is definitely for the better.
This card was pulled from the Dreams of Gaia Tarot set by Ravynne Phelan – it’s sort of a hybrid oracle deck that I’ve really been enjoying. The accompanying book for this set really makes sense to my brain.
I’m starting this blog series in an attempt to find my way to “chill” because yo gorl has almost no chill – only now instead of that being a personality trait it’s causing hormonal fluctuations that my body doesn’t know how to process anymore which then leads to me passing out … which is no bueno. I consider myself agnostic because I’m not sure there is/are a god/s, but I’m not going to tell you they can’t possibly exist either. I do however enjoy the idea of trying out different forms of meditation to see if any of them will work for me, which brings me to my latest adventure – using tarot cards as a point of focus for meditation. Let’s see what cards I pull today, shall we?
Major Arcana – Thought
Attention Focus Universal Law
I drew this card in the present position, so the jist that I’m getting is to just check in with my thoughts as they are, observe them as they are as a whole.
On Monday I decided I had to cut some very toxic people out of my life. (If you want to know more about that and why you can check out this video.) This was a decision I was struggling with for about 2 years. Now that I’ve actually done it, I feel a great sense of relief. The sense of foreboding I had about these people no longer really exist for me because in my mind they’re dead to me and can’t hurt me anymore.
This card is also about balance and being in tune with that balance. While I still have a ways to go for thinking with an “and” mentality instead of an “or” mentality, I’m really glad that I’ve really started to pick up on when that happens. For the past week I’ve made a conscious effort to work on many things at once instead of only doing one thing at a time. For instance, instead of only reading a book one day and watching videos another day and playing a game a different day, I’m trying to include little doses of all of those in one day. For most people I feel like the latter is completely normal, but for me, hyper-focusing on one task was previously all I really knew how to do. Challenging myself with doing multiple things in a day has also helped me identify my binary thinking patterns in order to rethink them.
This card was pulled from the Dreams of Gaia Tarot set by Ravynne Phelan – it’s sort of a hybrid oracle deck that I’ve really been enjoying. The accompanying book for this set really makes sense to my brain.
King of Pentacles
I also had a friend draw a tarot card for me today. This card comes from the deck The Key Tarot by Scarlet Ravenswood and Jamie Gold – thanks to my BFF and cousin-in-law extraordinaire, Dillon.
Wealth (not only financial) Security Wisdom
The general gist I’m getting from this card is that I’ve worked hard over a period of time to achieve security and wealth (which in this case I’m counting as riches in mental wellbeing). It reaffirms that I’ve made the right decision in yeeting toxic people out of my life, and that I should celebrate the fact that I’ve worked so hard to create the mental stability I now have for myself. And gosh darn it I’m not going to let those toxic people take it away from me again.
Note that any category marked Unknown is because I could not find clear information to indicate the answer would be in any other category. Also note that on author gender identity all women are women and all men are men, cis or trans they are counted under the gender they identify as; non-binary authors would be listed under non-binary, and unknown means that I could not find preferred pronouns and probably means the author blurbs are written in first person. Co-Authored books are written by more than one person and does not take gender into account. If books contain multiple forms of diversity as listed under the individual categories they will be listed under Multiple and not broken out into the individual categories (ie I read a lot of Queer/LGBTQIA+ books but those books often contain other categories too).
# of Books Read: 13
Page Total: 4172 pages (estimated by page counts found on Goodreads)
Books by Genre is probably easier if I just insert the table for it:
Classics
Contemporary
Dystopian
Fantasy
Graphic
Historical
Horror
Humor
Manga
1
0
0
5
4
0
0
0
0
Mystery
NonFiction
Paranormal
Romance
SciFi
Stories
Thriller
Other
DNF’d
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
And here’s my Books by Rating:
Books by Rating Graph
THOUGHTS ON THE BOOKS:
I neglected to blog about any of the books as I was reading them in April, so I guess strap in since we have 13 books to get through.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill won the Newbery Medal in 2017. The book blurb is very accurate as to what to expect, and I would say this falls on the younger side of middle grade – perhaps around the time a kid would be reading The Phantom Tollbooth or The Chronicles of Narnia. It feels like a fairy tale that has been stretched out a bit to make a lovely full-length story. My only gripe is that the bad things that happened are implied as bad but aren’t really explored to say why it’s bad — then again, that’s a typical fairy tale for you.
Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and deliver them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.
One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this enmagicked girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. To keep young Luna safe from her own unwieldy power, Xan locks her magic deep inside her. When Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule–but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon, it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her–even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she’s always known.
– Goodreads Book Blurb
Sunstone, Vol. 1 by Stjepan Šejić is a lesbian BDSM graphic novel. While I love the Queer BDSM rep, I felt it was either too wordy for a graphic novel or the frames or something needed resized so the text wouldn’t be so small. I had to put this down a few times because of the headaches I was getting from the teeny tiny print. I also wish that the author would have redone the opening panels. This started off as a web comic, so having the character beg you to stick around in the very beginning makes sense since people could click away at any moment. As a book, I didn’t feel like this worked very well since, well, I had picked up the book and it isn’t like readers don’t give a book several pages first — you don’t have to beg me to stick around; my attention span is going to be a bit longer for print medium than it is scrolling through a website. Part of me wants to keep reading the series, but it’s not good enough for me to put myself through a headache every time. If it ever gets an adaptation with larger print I’d probably pick it back up again.
«Sexual nerds. That is what BDSM people are, behind all the pretense…»
From critically-acclaimed creator Stjepan Šejić (Death Vigil, Ravine, Aphrodite IX, Witchblade) comes Sunstone, a love story like no other.
Lisa’s tastes were always…unique. Longing to be restrained, without restrain. Lisa always felt like something was missing from her love life─until she met Ally. Ally was implacably ordinary─successful job, nice house, an average childhood─except for her preference for bedroom domination.
Originally posted on DeviantArt, this books collects the first volume of the often erotic, always amusing, and surprisingly heartfelt Sunstone.
– Goodreads Book Blurb
The Fire Never Goes Out by Noelle Stevenson is another web comic turned book of sorts. The book blurb gives a great description of what to expect, and the art style matches that of the cover. A lot of this book really resonated with me, and I’m very glad to have read it.
From Noelle Stevenson, the New York Times bestselling author-illustrator of Nimona, comes a captivating, honest illustrated memoir that finds her turning an important corner in her creative journey—and inviting readers along for the ride.
In a collection of essays and personal mini-comics that span eight years of her young adult life, author-illustrator Noelle Stevenson charts the highs and lows of being a creative human in the world. Whether it’s hearing the wrong name called at her art school graduation ceremony or becoming a National Book Award finalist for her debut graphic novel, Nimona, Noelle captures the little and big moments that make up a real life, with a wit, wisdom, and vulnerability that are all her own.
– Goodreads Book Blurb
Gudetama: Mindfullness for the Lazy by Wook-Jin Clark is one of the ARC’s I’ve received through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. The book blurb is accurate, and if you’re a fan of Gudetama you’ll probably want to pick this book up. I’ll copy the review I left on Goodreads and NetGalley here:
In this graphic novel, Nisetama and Gudetama go on a learning and teaching adventure about what mindfulness means with the overall conclusion basically being to live in the present, practice self care, and don’t be a “butt”. It’s cheery and focuses on the brighter sides of life without promoting toxic positivity. This is my general takeaway from what’s covered:
Mindfulness: Living in the present, saying hello to connect with others – opening up to others without needing a reason why
Self-awareness: Knowing where you are in relation to others (be mindful of personal space)
Previsualization: Hit pause to recharge when stressed out and unfocused – build it into your schedule
Do the things the way you would want them done – regardless of if the world would do the same for you
Sometimes it helps to back up from a heated conversation to acknowledge the common ground (dogs vs cats – they’re both loveable pets)
The meanings of sympathy and empathy
If you’re not good at remembering things, set yourself reminders
Know how much of something you need and always try to take that much – not more and not less
Try to look at something from many angles before saying something
Even when being mindful of what you say aka don’t be a butt
When dealing with problematic people, you don’t have to answer them. You can block them, not respond, or chose to respond
Napping is a form of self care
The one thing that I wish they’d covered more deeply is that it’s okay to have down/sad moments. This crops up in a few of the other stories, but it didn’t get its own dedicated limelight.
Mindfulness takes a lot of mental energy to wrap your brain around. Gudetama is here to help you become a better person…sort of.
Empathizing with others, understanding your feelings, learning to be selfless. These all sound like really hard things to do! Well fear not, come along with Gudetama who’ll guide your way to learning things and more. Living selflessly is something many struggle with. Don’t worry, Gudetama does too, and wants to join you on your journey in finding the wonders of mindfulness.
– Goodreads Book Blurb
Far Sector, Vol. 11 by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell – what can I say other than I am LOVING this comic Series and can’t wait for the last issues of it to come out this year?
Everything is coming to a boil as we lay the groundwork for the Far Sector finale in this, our penultimate issue! Riots are breaking out across the City Enduring as its citizens realize that there are political shenanigans disrupting their way of life and subverting the will of the people. To quell this unrest, @BlazeofGlory is threatening to unleash a terrible weapon upon her own people. Jo has to race against the ticking clock of a Green Lantern ring that is rapidly losing power to bypass the city’s entire defense forces and stop this attack from above.
– Goodreads Book Blurb
White Fang by Jack London … I think I picked this up one day as a freebie classic from Audible, because who doesn’t like a book about a wolf told from a wolf’s perspective? OR AT LEAST THAT WAS WHAT I HOPED GOING INTO IT <inserts eye roll because I should have known better with it being a “classic”>. I would give this book no stars if I could. Why on earth a children’s classic about a wolf has blatant racism for the sake of, well, Fascist Nazi rhetoric blended with Colonial Imperialism with a huge God complex is beyond me. I don’t think Jack London ever spent much time around wolves either judging by how not wolf-ish this feels. Oh, also content warnings for animal abuse. There are so, so many better books out there. Don’t bother picking this one up.
White Fang is part dog and part wolf, and the lone survivor of his family. In his lonely world, he soon learns to follow the harsh law of the North–kill or be killed. But nothing in White Fang’s life can prepare him for the cruel owner who turns him into a vicious killer. Will White Fang ever know the kindness of a gentle master?
– Goodreads Book Blurb
Assassin’s Apprentice (and the other two books in The Farseer Trilogy because I’m a binge reader) by Robin Hobb — this is by far one of my most favorite trilogies of ALL TIME, and I’m sad that I didn’t experience it in my life sooner. The book blurb does a fine job of setting up expectations, and I cannot tell you how fabulous the female and non-binary representation is in this book!!! Did I mention this was originally published in 1995? A NON-BINARY CHARACTER BEING SLIPPED INTO A MAIN STREAM FANTASY SERIES IN 1995!!! And Robin Hobb did it by stealthing them in since they didn’t care whether their pronouns were he or she (even though they were almost always referenced as he). In case you couldn’t tell, my favorite character in the series is the Fool, and I’m very much looking forward to the other books with the Fool’s story line. Did I mention that this starts out as magical realism and gradually morphs into high fantasy? Because that was really cool.
In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.
Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals – the old art known as the Wit – gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.
So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.
– Goodreads Book Blurb
While waiting for the rest of the Farseer Trilogy to show up on my doorstep I picked up a copy of Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Oh hey, this book had a side character with my name – that was fun. Is it a whimsical fairy tale written for adults? Absolutely! While some of the language used was used properly for its historical setting, I’m not sure that kind of language is necessary to tell this kind of story now. Granted this was originally penned in the 90’s, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it now since there are so many other stories that fulfill that mesmerizing fairytale feel for me without including language that I find unnecessary. Would I recommend it? Possibly – if the book blurb sounds like a fun time to you, you’ll probably like it. Also there’s a movie adaptation which I’m going to watch later this week, because maybe I’ll like the movie more?
Young Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that old stone wall, Tristran learns, lies Faerie—where nothing not even a fallen star, is what he imagined.
– Goodreads Book Blurb
Anddddd here’s another 1 star review for the month. Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast is the first book in the House of Night Series. I was warned that this was VERY along the same themes as Twilight, but I’m not really sure what else I expected going into it. Here, I’m just going to copy and paste the same review I left on Goodreads:
Marked by PC and Kristin Cast – hooboy where do I begin? The only good qualities of this book seem to me to be “bullying bad”, “cats are adorable”, and “the power of friendship”. I don’t think I’ve ever said “ohhhh nooooooo” out loud while reading so many times as I have while reading this racist, sexist, classist, cultural misappropriating, ableist, back-handed-complementing, somewhat lgbtqia+ phobic, slut shaming, fat phobic mess of a book. In order to get through it one needs to suspend all forms of logic or else be like me screaming that almost nothing makes any sense. Like, if you’re going to “attempt” to pull from a lot of different cultures deities and try to hearken it back something people still take very seriously it needs to be done in a setting that isn’t the real world. There are several POC characters, but I’m not sure a single POC worked on the book – just from the different descriptions of hair textures (or rather lack thereof) alone.
I read this because a few other people were excited to reread it because they remembered it being the only books beside Eragon, Twilight, and Harry Potter that seemed remotely interesting to them at the time (which is to say the YA market has since come a very long way and we’re glad it has). I’ve never read any of the House of Night books and figured I’d check it out for the first time since I have no intentions of rereading Twilight at this time. I was warned that it was basically Twilight adjacent – and it definitely is. Part of me wants to continue with the series just to see what the magic system is like, since the ending of the book was somewhat interesting, but there are just so many other MUCH better alternatives now.
QOTD: Do I continue to read this to see how poorly things were written and made it to best sellers lists just out of a historical fascination while saying “wtf whyyyyy” the entire time, or do I say screw it and drop the series now because there are sooooo many better books out there?
After a Vampire Tracker Marks her with a crescent moon on her forehead, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird enters the House of Night and learns that she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx and has affinities for all five elements: Air, Fire, Water, Earth and Spirit. But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny—with a little help from her new vampyre friends (or Nerd Herd, as Aphrodite calls them).
– Goodreads Book Blurb
This month was definitely packed with fairy/folk tales as Vasilisa by Julie Mathison continues the trend with some Slavic lore. This is a love story built on a fairytale that sticks to the traditional side of fairy/folk tales since it still features many spooky things and doesn’t always explain why the world works the way it does. It’s supposedly a middle grade novel, though the way the love story develops made me feel like it was more of a YA novel. Honestly I’m kinda lost with how old the characters are supposed to be since by the end of the book it’s framed a bit like a coming of age story … but they figure out more adult themes a heck of a lot faster than I have – and idk if that says something more about me orrrrrr? 😅 Anyways, I made the mistake of reading it while I was in the mood for adult high fantasy – and I’m a mood reader, so I don’t think it hit quite the same as it might have as if I would have waited until a grey day in fall (the ideal conditions I’d imagine myself in when curling up to read this book). For now I’m going to say that it was an OK read for me. If you like a book with a soft magic system that’s both set in the real world and not then you’ll probably enjoy this book.
Three witches, two children, one ogre — and nowhere to run.
It’s 1919, but in Edenfall, Pennsylvania, the Great War is not over — not for Vasilisa, at least. Papa is presumed dead on the fields of Flanders, Mama is being courted by an absolute ogre, and now Babka, her beloved grandma, has had a bad spell. Or has she fallen under one? Only the Old Tales, the Russian fables Vasilisa was raised on, offer any comfort or counsel.
But what if they are more than child’s tales?
Enter Ivan, who jumps a train for Edenfall at midnight and finds Vasilisa in a real fix. Old Rus is calling from across time and both worlds, and if they heed the call, they might both get what they want. It won’t be easy. Three witches, two children, one ogre – they’re outnumbered and outclassed. Baba Yaga and Old Koschei are after the same thing — and each other — and the children are caught in the crosshairs. Vasilisa has a secret weapon, in the humblest of guises, but will the meek truly inherit the earth? Or will the mighty prevail? One thing is certain: it’s a fairy tale of their own making, a tale whose happy ending is ever in doubt.
– Goodreads Book Blurb
The last book I read in April was Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala, and I am very torn about this book. The book blurb does a great job at setting expectations for this cozy, Filipino-American murder mystery. My only issue with the book is the language it uses around diabetes. As a person who is chronically ill and has several friends/family with diabetes, I found the language rather problematic. I decided to do a dedicated video review to discuss the book and talk about the positives and the negatives. Overall, as long as you don’t mind the language about diabetes used in this book and you’ve checked the other content warnings and it sounds like a fun time to you, you’ll probably enjoy it. I just wouldn’t give it to anyone in your life with diabetes or else they might try to yeet the book at your head. If you want to check out the dedicated video I made, it’s available on my YouTube channel or through the embedded link here:
The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes—one that might just be killer….
When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.
With the cops treating her like she’s the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila’s left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block…
– Goodreads Book Blurb
BOOKS RANKED FROM LEAST TO MOST FAVORITE:
I want to take a second here to say that I really liked a lot of the books I read this month (just check out that book rating graph). I’m basically just ranking these for shiggles – and this ranking is THOROUGHLY SUBJECTIVE.
13 – White Fang by Jack London
12 – Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast
11 – Sunstone, Vol. 1 by Stjepan Šejić
10 – Stardust by Neil Gaiman
9 – Arsenicand Adobo by Mia P. Manansala
8 – Vasilisa by Julie Mathison
7 – The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
6 – Gudetama: Mindfullness for the Lazy by Wook-Jin Clark
5 – The Fire Never Goes Out by Noelle Stevenson
4 – Far Sector, Vol. 11 by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell
3, 2, 1 – The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb (Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin’s Quest)
CONCLUSION:
I had some really bad reads, some pretty ok reads, and some ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS reads. How’d your April reads go? What was your favorite book of April? Have you read any of these books? I’d love to chat about it in the comments 💜
If somehow you missed all of my posts from last month and don’t know what Femathon is, read all about it here.
STATISTICS:
Note that any category marked Unknown is because I could not find clear information to indicate the answer would be in any other category. Also note that on author gender identity all women are women and all men are men, cis or trans they are counted under the gender they identify as; non-binary authors would be listed under non-binary, and unknown means that I could not find preferred pronouns and probably means the author blurbs are written in first person. Co-Authored books are written by more than one person and does not take gender into account. Also note that I just realized that I haven’t been marking my books that showcase mental health to the point of it being a disability – I for some reason haven’t been putting them in the multiple category (just mental health), and I need to fix that. If books contain multiple forms of diversity as listed under the individual categories they will be listed under Multiple and not broken out into the individual categories (ie I read a lot of Queer/LGBTQIA+ books but those books often contain other categories too).
Books: 28 – 27 of which counted towards the Femathon prompts
Page Total: 9194 pages (estimated by page counts found on Goodreads)
The only book I read that wasn’t for Femathon was Love Fast Los Angeles by Davey Havok. I gave it 1.5 stars because it did make me laugh a few times, but let’s just say “LA dumpster fire” is not the type of book for me.
Alvin is a party photographer. His controversial, taste-making site has brought fortune and fame to hundreds including the wild girls of the hit reality series “All F’s.” With a fiery, freshly broken heart, Al attempts to enact his vendetta against a former online-teen- heart-throb while struggling to gain the affection of disaffected socialite, Sky Monroe. In this millennial love story, filled with fast cars, pop stars, outrageous poseurs, lavish parties, golden guns, designer drugs and drag queens, dark Hollywood looms behind a blinding spotlight, directing all. Here celebrity is god, irreverence is revered, and obsession takes the wheel to run every red light in this pop fueled noir.
– Goodreads Book Blurb
BOOKS RANKED FROM LEAST TO MOST FAVORITE:
I want to take a second here to say that I really liked a lot of the books I read this month (just check out that book rating graph). I’m basically just ranking these for shiggles – and this ranking is THOROUGHLY SUBJECTIVE.
28 – Love Fast Los Angeles by Davey Havock
27 – Emma by Jane Austen (Manga Classics)
26 – When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
25 – The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
24 – The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
23 – The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn (Manga Classics)
22 – Lumberjanes Vol. 11 by Boom! Studios
21 – The Hazards of Love Vol. 1: Bright World by Stan Stanley
20 – Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (Manga Classics)
19 – This is My America by Kim Johnson
18 – The Castle of Tangled Magic by Sophie Anderson
17 – The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
16 – Living with Mochi by Gemma Gene
15 – Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab
14-11 – The Way of the House Husband Vol. 1-4 by Kousuke Oono, translation by Sheldon Drzka
10 – Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power
9 – Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker: Recipes for Entertaining by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann
8 – The Sad Ghost Club by Lize Meddings
7 – The Midwinter Witch by Molly Ostertag
6 – The Hidden Witch by Molly Ostertag
5 – The Girl Who Speaks Bear by Sophie Anderson
4 – Dearly: New Poems by Margaret Atwood
3 – Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
2 – The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
1 – Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
CONCLUSION:
I had a fantastic reading month! What was your favorite read in March? Have you read any of the books on this list, if so what did you think about them?
TheBookishSock 