Life Update!

Life Update!

With the state of the world as it is right now and how different everything has been since I moved to NWA in January, I just haven't been inspired for an update, but something really exciting has happened in my life and I'm sure there are plenty of things I can tell all of you about!

The first bit of news is that a couple months ago, I bought a brand new car! I had had my 2007 Honda Accord since I was 15 and she just kind of went kaput. The cost to repair my old car would have been more than the car is worth, and my family and I had already been talking about purchasing a new car for me after I graduated this summer. After lots of contemplating we decided to just go ahead and purchase I new car. I got a 2020 Subaru Crosstrek that I named Marceline! I have been absolutely loving my new car! There are a lot of bells and whistles that I'm not used to but it is an exciting change. I love having maps directly on my car and being able to call people through the bluetooth. It's also super convenient because I can access my audiobook apps directly from my car's screen too! It definitely feels like a grown-up car and I love it! 

The most exciting news is that I am officially done with grad school classes forever! The only thing left between me and my Masters degree is my internship this summer! I can't believe I am so close to being done, it just doesn't feel real! With the pandemic going on, it's not certain exactly how my internship will go, but it will be over in August and then I will be able to call myself a librarian! I will have to start my job hunt for a teen librarian position and then I will be living out my dream! This last semester has been tough with doing homework and work both at home and not really having any separation between the two. I had one required course and one that was directly related to my degree so it felt taxing to do the required course this close to the end of my degree. My internship will be with the Bentonville Public Library in the teen department and I am so thrilled to be working with them. I'm so ready to be done with school and start working in my dream position!

Something I'm really excited about is having the time I would normally have to allot for homework back to do things I want to. I haven't been able to read as much this year so far, so I'm excited to get back into reading for fun. I also want to find a studio and start going to yoga once this pandemic is over. I miss going to the gym and being active so I'm looking forward to doing that again. 

I think that's all I really have to update on for now, especially since I have been home for the majority of the last 6 weeks and not doing a whole, but I thought I would share with everyone the exciting news that I am basically done with grad school! ~Em

January and February Reading Wrap-Ups!

January and February Wrap-Ups!

Life has been kind of chaotic these last two months! With moving to a new city and starting a new job I have been busy in ways that I haven't been in a long time. Grad school has been tough for me this semester because I am just ready to be done and be an official librarian! I have some semblance of a social life now so balancing reading, work, grad school, and friends is really tough! With that being said, most of the books I have read so far this year have been for school. I am in a Poetry for Children and Young Adults class and we have been ready a ton of poetry books for each module. Like with my other courses I am not going to write my thoughts on the books I read for my poetry class on this page since I have to write about them in a blog for that class. If you are interested in reading them, check out my blog for school theredheadedravenclaw.blogspot.com. I'm hoping that I will figure out a better balance and be able to read more soon, but here are the books I read in January and February of 2020. ~Em

This is the story of Thomas who inherits a secret box after his grandmother dies. Inside the box there is a garden. There are others who have boxes with gardens inside and they make up a society of people who can make things from their gardens. When members of the society begin dying off, it is up to Thomas to figure out what is going and how to care for the garden inside his box. This story started off great. It was reminiscent of Neil Gaiman and a spooky version of The Secret Garden. Then it got incredibly boring and although there were twists and turns, they were not surprising to me. Rating: 2/5

Long ago there were three sisters who were drowned after being accused of witchcraft in a small town. Now the sisters' spirits return every year during the Swan season to possess three girls in the town to kill three boys for revenge. In the current day, Penny knows the Swan sisters cannot be stopped and yet when a new boy comes to town she does everything she can to prevent him from being taken by the sisters. I really enjoyed this book. It had a great dark and spooky atmosphere. There were twists I wasn't expecting and I was thoroughly impressed by this take on a witch trial type of story. Rating: 4/5

This is a really cute graphic novel all about the struggles and successes of being a book lover. It talks about the pain of knowing you will never be able to read all of the books in the world, the joys of new book smells, and the feeling of avoiding all responsibilities to read when you just can't put your book down. I really enjoyed this and recommend it for everyone who loves reading. Rating: 4/5

In this graphic novel series, Kami Garcia is re-imagining the origin stories of the Teen Titans. The first is Raven's story. I felt that there wasn't enough information about how Raven got her powers in this graphic novel. The artwork was pretty, but it was difficult at times to understand what was happening because the panels jumped around quite a bit. When Raven was on page she was generally colored in purple hues which was a nice touch. I am interested to continue on with the series! Rating: 3/5

This is the second book in the Arc of the Scythe series. It follows pretty soon after the conclusion of the first book where Citra has become Scythe Anastasia. I had incredibly high expectations for this book and I was let down. I didn't care for the new character's plot line and when exciting things were happening I found myself not caring about them either. I'm still planning on finishing the series, but I am hesitant about how I will feel. Rating: 3/5

No Rating - Read for Poetry for Children and Young Adults

Rating: 5/5 (Read for Poetry for Children and Young Adults)

No Rating - Read for Poetry for Children and Young Adults

No Rating - Read for Poetry for Children and Young Adults

No Rating - Read for Poetry for Children and Young Adults

I was planning on participating in Contemporary-a-thon again this year but got wrapped up in school stuff and had a whole ordeal with my car, so this is the only book I ended up reading during that week. It is about a college student named Alice who has just gone through a breakup because she is asexual. Alice is tired of people not accepting her for sexuality and she is learning to stand up for herself and her identity. I really liked this book. I love reading about characters who are close to the same age as me, as their stories and experiences are a little more relatable. Both the main character and the love interest were people of color and there was quite a bit of diverse representation that I appreciated. Overall, it was a cute story that also covered some heavier topics. Rating: 3/5

No Rating - Read for Poetry for Children and Young Adults

Rating: 4/5 (Read for Poetry for Children and Young Adults)

No Rating - Read for a work challenge

No Rating - Read for Poetry for Children and Young Adults

No Rating - Read for Poetry for Children and Young Adults

Reviewing my 2019!

Looking Back on 2019

I know I shouldn't have to make this disclaimer, but I am really bad at taking pictures to document what I do. I didn't really do a whole lot in 2019, especially not things as exciting as 2018, because I was in the swing of work and grad school. But I'm going to do my best to remember all the things I did in 2019!

January

I started my second semester of grad school in January. I took Collection Development, Children's and Young Adult Literature, and Information Organization. The only really exciting thing that happened in January of this year was that I got to see Justin Timberlake in concert! That was number two on my concert bucket list so I'm thrilled I got to cross it off! 

Justin Timberlake concert

February

In February I participated in Contemporary-a-thon, which is one of my favorite readathons! I also started off a big exhibit project at work with a Black History Month exhibit in the library. Other than that, not a whole lot happened. (Are we sensing a pattern here?)

Completed exhibits from February-May

March

March was slightly more busy for me! I started dating someone, went to Chicago in Little Rock, did a Women's History Month exhibit, had a girl's day in Hot Springs with my mom and sister, and ALMOST got a new tattoo over spring break (it didn't work out with the timing). I also got to go on Support Staff Day Out for work and spend the day at Garvan Gardens, downtown Hot Springs, and getting our nails done! 

Spring Break Girls Day

Support Staff Day Out at Garvan Gardens

April

In April I went through a pretty rough breakup and that put me down in the dumps for a while. I got my driver's license renewed and HATE my picture on it. I did a "Celebrate Our Authors" exhibit at work. I also got to be home for Easter and visit my stepdad's mom's church which was a lot of fun.

Easter Sunday

May

I finished my second semester of grad school in May and got my first "B" in grad school because I forgot about a huge project and got a bunch of points docked off of it. I also started watching My Hero Academia, which quickly consumed my life! I never had any interest in anime but this show impacted me so much and I am so so glad I decided to give it a chance! I also got to watch some of my best friends graduate college!

Lunch after AA's graduation

June

In June I turned 22, so it was my "lucky" year (turning 22 on the 22nd). I played with makeup a bunch and read my favorite book of the year! At the end of the month I traveled by myself for the first time to go visit my bestie in Washington D.C.!

Playing Bingo in DC

July

I started off July being in D.C. with AA and having such an amazing time exploring the city! After spending six months in my apartment I got a dresser and a 7ft-tall bookshelf (that still wasn't big enough to fit all my books). I also started my Booktube channel (YouTube channel where I talk about books!) at the end of the July while participating in the Reading Rush. I also got super addicted to TikTok after trying to find cringey videos for a joke lol.

In front of the Washington Monument

August

I played with makeup more in August, my dog turned 11 years old, got to hang out with some of my besties, met my dad and stepmom's new puppy, and got to attend some of my friends' wedding! I also finished Adventure Time, which is one of my favorite shows of all time and it made me super sad. AND I started my third semester of grad school, in which I took Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults, Youth Programs, and Library Management.

Playing with makeup

My dad and stepmom's new puppy, Echo

September

In September I got 6 inches of my hair cut off! I also started decorating for Halloween because I'm that kind of person. I read the entire Raven Cycle series for the Raven Cycle readalong. 

Hair cut!

October

This year was my third year to wear a different Halloween outfit every day and honestly it might be my last, because it is exhausting trying to decide which Halloween outfit to wear with them getting increasingly more over-the-top! I went to a booksale with my mom and we made a day trip out of it! I watched some of my favorite movies and painted some really fun Halloween canvases. I got to fully decorate my own place for Halloween for the first time, which was just the most exciting thing ever! I got to meet my godson (aka, my best friend's kitten) for the first and celebrate my best friend's dad's birthday on Halloween which was a ton of fun. I met my *sort of* secret goal of reading 100 books in 2019 as well.

Some of my favorite Halloween outfits this year

My godson, Archie!

November

I got to see twentyone pilots for third time in November! This time we saw them in Tulsa and made a girls trip out of it that was much needed! I also got to see another one of my friends get married and then drove to College Station to visit AA at her apartment in a VERY round-about trip. We also had a GREAT Smoke Day and took lots of silly pictures.

twentyone pilots concert

Pics after the concert

Smoke Day

December

December was a big and busy month for me! I left my first big girl job, moved out of my first apartment, got a job in an awesome library in Northwest Arkansas, and moved up to NWA as well. The holidays were lots of fun this year. My dad's family Christmas theme this year was the Office and we had themed food and games that were a blast. I got to hang out with my bestie a bunch of times and got to see my siblings for the first time in a while (at least with all of us together). I wrapped up my third semester of grad school and I'm ready to start my last one in a few weeks!

My costume at our themed Christmas

Lots of good things came out of 2019 but man am I ready to see what 2020 has in store! ~Em

2019 Reading Stats (with charts and graphs!)

2019 Reading Stats

Last year I had a secret goal to read 100 books and I wasn't quite able to reach it. This year though, I far exceeded my 100 book goal! You all know I'm a big ol' nerd and love to keep statistics on the books I read each year. I spent quite a bit of time making these graphs and added a few new ones that I didn't do last year. I'll try to explain each chart below the picture of it, because some of the words are pretty small under each chart. At the end of this post I will talk a little bit about the challenges I was attempting to complete by the end of the year. 

Here is a breakdown of the formats I read books in. I have always preferred to read books physically, but this year I was able to listen to audiobooks while I was at work so I ended up reading a ton of audiobooks this year. The small percent of "Physical/Audiobook" was for books that I went back and forth between listening to the audiobook and physically reading the book. 

The oldest book I read this year was from 1969 and I ended up reading nine 2019 releases. I am not surprised that the years a read the most from were 2017 and 2018, because there were a bunch of books from those years that I wanted to read during them but wasn't able to get to during those years. 

In 2019 I set out to read from more female authors and I was definitely able to do so! I read two books by non-binary authors and in 2020 I aim to read more books by trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming authors. The category for "Multiple" is for books written by multiple authors with  multiple genders. 

The font is kind of small on this and for a lot of the genres listed I only read one book in that category. The two genres I read the most of were Young Adult Fantasy and Young Adult Contemporary. Last year my top two genres were YA Contemporary and Nonfiction, which was because of all the books I had to read for school that were nonfiction. I also read from a lot more genres this year than I did last year, so I am super proud about that!

I have no clue how I did it, but the most books I read in a month was 19! Last year my highest in one month was 13 and I did that much or more in four months of 2019! 

I don't think I have ever given a book one star and I don't know if I ever will because it feels too harsh (I'm too nice I guess lol). Even so, I also rarely ever give books two stars because I've gotten to the point where if I'm not enjoying a book I will just stop reading it. Both this year and last I have given more four-star ratings than any other rating. This chart does not include my unrated books or those that I did not finish. 

Challenges

Last year I did a 52 week challenge that had a bunch of challenges to complete throughout the year. This year I decided to try the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge for 2019. I ended up completing 38/50 of the challenges, which is worse than I did last year. I didn't put as much pressure on myself to complete these challenges this year because at the end of last year I got very burnt out and was reading a lot of books I wasn't enjoying toward the end of the year. I also created an arbitrary list of "Books I Must Read Before 2020" and I did not end up reading all of those on the list. However because it was just a list I created to try to finish books that I have had on my shelf for a long time, I'm not hung up on not finishing those. 

For 2020 I'm setting my reading goal to 100 again because I do not think I will be able to listen to audiobooks at my new job, so I'm not sure how that will affect my reading. Hopefully I will be able to go above and beyond the 134 books I read this year though! Thanks for putting up with my bookish nerdiness and I hope y'all enjoy checking out my stats for the year :) ~Em 

December Wrap-Up!

December Wrap-Up!

As expected, my reading definitely slowed down in December amidst finals, moving, and the holidays. I ended up reading six books this last month. I didn't end up completing several of the self-imposed challenges I set out to complete this year, but I will talk more about those in my statistics post. Here are my thoughts on the six things I read in December. ~Em

This was the last book I read for the semester in my Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults. It's about a girl named Elise who moves to a new city to help out her sister-in-law and niece after her brother is killed in Afghanistan. In the new city, Elise meets Mati, a boy who is there to help his father while he goes to doctor's appointments. The two start to fall for each other when Elise learns that Mati is from Afghanistan and the two have to deal with some prejudices within their families. I read most of this book in November and just happened to finish it at the beginning of December, so I don't remember a whole lot of it. I didn't end up rating this book because I wasn't particularly moved by it. The discussion of racism and prejudice was poignant and it was difficult to read the moments when Elise or Mati faced negative reactions from the other's family. I would recommend it though for a diverse romance. No rating - Read for MLCYA

Emoni is passionate about cooking and is trying to decide if she should pursue college or just begin work in a restaurant to gain experience. She is a teen mom and has to take her daughter into consideration when making decisions about her future. Emoni's school offers a culinary course during her senior year that includes a study abroad trip in Spain. Emoni knows she would benefit from this trip but isn't sure if she can afford it. I liked this book a lot! Elizabeth Acevedo creates such believable characters and share difficult yet relatable aspects of life in her stories. I loved the relationship Emoni had with food and how she dealt with struggles in her everyday life. Rating: 4/5

In this volume, the girls take on a ball, the holidays, dating, and exams. I really enjoy the Giant Days series so far. The characters are so funny, the situations they get into are wild, and I love the art style. Rating: 4/5

This is the second book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy. It follows Gemma and her friends in finishing school and begins right after the events of the first book. In this book the holidays are approaching and the girls are eager to leave school. Gemma and her friends go back to the other realm on a mission to contain the magic that has been unleashed. This book got much more fantastical than the first and I found it hard to suspend my disbelief for some of the things that happened. I also felt that it was much too long. I am excited to finish the series though and see how things will wrap up. Rating: 3/5

Saga is a series about a couple from different planets who are not supposed to be together and after they have a child, the government comes after them to try to kill the couple and their child. This is definitely an adult graphic novel series and there are a lot of dark topics and it is sexually explicit. I'm interested to see where the series is going to go, but at this point I'm not completely invested in the series. I like the main couple and I have heard that the series just gets better so hopefully I will like it more as it goes on! Rating: 3/5

I picked this book up so that I could read a graphic novel series based on some of the secondary characters in it. I hadn't heard good things about this book, but I really wanted the context of the characters. The book follows Tori, who hates pretty much everything and everyone. One day, someone starts pulling pranks at her school that seem to have things to do with her. I really did not like this book. Tori is having an existential crisis throughout the whole book and it would be one thing if mental health was handled well in this book, but it is not. I did not enjoy Tori as a main character and it was very difficult to understand the tone that some of the characters were assuming when they spoke. I am currently reading the graphic novel series about the side characters in this though and I am loving it! So, at least something good came out of reading this book! Rating: 2/5