And the final post in this series, manga and graphic novel series that I plan on continuing. Before this, there were manga/gn series and fiction series I wouldn’t be continuing posts, and a fiction series I would be continuing post!
So here are all the manga and graphic novel series I’m in the middle of and wanna keep up in!
So uh, there are a lot. :”D That’s ok though, I’ll get there eventually. If you know of any I should prioritize, do let me know. Happy reading!
My previous post was fiction series I won’t be continuing, and this post is for manga! So here we go!
I think the only caveat here is Attack on Titan. I have I think 18 volumes of it, and though I honestly have no desire to get any more, I can’t say I never will. I don’t feel like purging them, so the possibility is still there. The others all have been purged already. :p So five definite, one maybe?
That’s it peeps. Next post is fiction series I will be continuing. Peace.
Happy February! January was a busy month for me, but surprisingly, I ended up getting a decent amount of reading done! So I’m just gonna start yappin’ about it:
Comfort Me With Apples was my first read of the year, a 10 in 2020 book, and a new favorite. I picked this book up at BN’s half price hard cover sale and was drawn to read it immediately.
I don’t want to say what it’s about – honestly don’t even read the synopsis. Go in blind.
But I loved this novella. It was so unsettling and I still think about it a month later. – 5 stars
Shorefall was a buddy read I finished up with month with Meredith @Allboutthembooks and stuff. We read Foundryside together in early 2021 and both loved it, and then we both loved this one as well! It really expanded on the lore, and the villain is one of my favorite I’ve come across. The third one comes out this summer and I am p u m p e d about it! – 5 stars
So, Lonesome Dove was recommended to me by my mother as part of the 12 Friend Recommendations book challenge I’m doing this year. I decided to pick it up first, as it was the most daunting. I didn’t expect I would like it, but hey, I’ll eat my words. I really, really liked this book.
This book broke my heart, and I’m going to think about it for a long time. I grew to really like all the characters, even the characters that I hated, and they all pulled on my heartstrings by the end of it.
This just goes to show that I shouldn’t judge a book by its genre. – 4 stars
I picked up Dave Grohl’s memoir on audio book after randomly seeing it displayed on a table in my local BN. I didn’t even know he had put out a book until I saw it. So I got a physical copy for my mom for Christmas and I picked up the audio for me and listened to it.
Dave Grohl is the lead singer of the Foo Fighters, one of my favorite bands, so it was neat to hear his stories, especially because he narrated it himself. I liked it! – 4 stars
I read the entire series of A Silent Voice this month, all seven volumes! I watched the movie of this anime last year and really liked it, and after I received the box set of the manga for Christmas, I buzzed right through it.
I really enjoyed this manga. It was happy and sad and wholesome and sorrowful. It was lovely. – 4.2 stars averaged
So overall I read 11 things – 7 manga and 4 books! Doing good so far! Here’s what else I was up to:
And that’s it! Until next time!
Happy Monday! Today’s post is all the books I got for Christmas and the month of December!
This is what I got:
The first three on the left there were gifts. One from my sister, one from my parents, one from my husband. The middle picture was also a gift from my husband and the right-most I bought myself before Christmas.
The nine above I bought using gift cards and cash I got for Christmas. Barnes and Noble was having a sale today where all hardbacks were 50% off, so I got all these puppies for a discount.
I mentioned in my post yesterday that my friend printed out the lyrics to the song that was playing for her when my baby was born, and this is it. She also got him a copy of Rothfuss’s books, so I’m going to keep them safe for him until he’s old enough to read them.
And that’s it! I believe I have two more friends to exchange gifts with, and I might end up getting books from them, so those will be in my January haul.
PS I’m not counting these (except the two I bought myself before Christmas) as part of my end-of-year physical TBR count, because getting a bunch of books as gifts throws off my goal dammit. I’ll tack them on so they’re included in the start of my January count though, don’t worry.
Happy Blogmas Day 4! I haven’t posted a haul since August, so these are all the books I’ve gathered in the last three months or so:
So my reading has slowed down but apparently my acquisitions have not. C’est la vie.
The ones I’m most excited about are the Folio editions of Robin Hobb’s Farseer trilogy. They’re gorgeous, man.
If you’ve read any of these, lemme know! Happy reading!
Happy Blogmas Day Three!
Today’s post is my November wrap up and I gotta say, I didn’t read much. I’ll go into why below though.
Black Butler vol 4 by Yana Toboso – This is the only thing I completed this month, and it’s a reread to boot. It was good though, and I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time I read it. 4 stars
I had a baby in November! So obviously my reading took a dip. :p
He’s a bit over three weeks old now and very wiggly. I love this little gremlin, man. He’s changed my life for the better.
And honestly that’s it. My entire month has essentially been focused on the new human. I’m hoping I can catch up in my reading in December, now that I’m more used to the new routine. Wish me luck!
Blood of Elves by Andrej Sapkowski – Unfortunately, me thinking I’d like the novels in this series more than the short stories turned out to be false. I ended up actually DNFing this one. This is not a series for me, at least in this medium. I do enjoy the TV show. I won’t be continuing this book series.
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien – As a fantasy fan, it’s a bit embarrassing that I haven’t read these sooner. And honestly it’s a bit more embarrassing to read the first one and firmly state that I like the movie better, because I do. This book was alright. I am in the middle of the second one now which I’m liking better but like.. I don’t know, the hype kind of failed me here. 3 stars
The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin – I finally finished this trilogy, and I really enjoyed this ending. It was a bit happy and a bit sad but mostly just gray, which I feel like was a suitable ending to this series, especially with the world and atmosphere it had built up to this point. But yay, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. 4.5 stars
Black Butler vol 3 by Yana Toboso – This is the only manga for this month. My reread of this series is going slowly apparently. I did really enjoy this though, as I expected. 4 stars
And that’s it for September. I’m hoping to get a bit more reading in during October, because come November I doubt I’ll be reading much at all. That’s when the baby is due!
Well hi! I did some reading this past month. This is what I read:
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson – Finally jumped into this, part of a buddy read. This book made me realize I really don’t like heist plots. The second half of it though was pretty good and redeemed the heisty bit. 4 stars
All the Murmuring Bones by A. J. Slatter – I don’t know if I expected to love this one quite as much as I did. This book was a cool, muted-paced book that gave me strong dark-Miyazaki vibes. It was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 5 stars
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware – Again, late to this bandwagon. I don’t typically pick up this genre but after this one I think I might have to more often. I really, really enjoyed this book. 5 stars
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski – This book I buddy read as well, and it suffered from ‘Emily doesn’t like short stories’ syndrome unfortunately, so I didn’t like it as much as the average person. 3 stars
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson – This was my third time rereading this wonder of a book, but the first time listening to it on audio. I think the narrator did a really good job of it. I loved this book just as much this time around as I did the previous two times. 5 stars
Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski – Honestly I liked this one even less than the previous one. Still buddy reading, still falling to ‘Emily doesn’t like short stories’ syndrome. The next one is a novel, which I’m in the middle of and already enjoying so much more. 2.5 stars
Black Butler vols 1-2 by Yana Toboso – I have begun the reread of this series that I’ve been telling myself to do for a year now. I picked up volume 30 the other day so it’s the perfect time. I am very excited, and so far I’m enjoying this series just as much as I did the last time I read it. 4.25, 4.5 stars respectively
And that’s it! I’m still getting back into the swing of blogging so forgive my sparseness. Happy reading!
So considering I disappeared in March, I haven’t hauled books in a while, so here’s what I’ve acquired over the last half year or so:
These are the books from March-April-ish. Five manga, four books. The Assassin’s Quest is signed!
From May-June or so. A lot of manga this time around. I ended up finding the rest of Saiyuki second hand and had to get it all. I also picked up some fantasy but when do I not.
A lot of manga again this time – I finished out Waiting For Spring and Saiyuki, and now own them all. I also picked up a book for a new buddy read and a new release and a book for reread and blah de blah.
These were two out of the three last books I bought before going on my ban. The other one – not pictured – is Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse.
As mentioned in the title, I’m doing a buying ban. I do one of these every year, usually for two to three months – there’s no real reason usually, aside from ‘just because’ but this year I have an actual reason. My book room is being dismantled and the books moved to the living room. I had to purge a bunch of them to downsize to fit, and I don’t want to bring any more into the house until after the move is complete, which will be at the end of this month, beginning of next month, roughly. So it’s a shorter ban than usual, but it’s still a ban.
And today is my birthday and it’s the first time in like a decade I didn’t go to the bookstore to celebrate :p I should have thought this through. It’s ok, I’ll live.
And that’s it! Happy reading
Hi, I’m back!
I haven’t posted regularly since March, and while it started out as a reading slump, my life took over pretty quickly after that and I just haven’t felt motivated. Within the last couple days though, I’ve had the urge to post again, so here we are!
So the main thing that happened while I’ve been gone is this:
As of writing this, I’m 25 weeks along and I’m due in November. I’m having a boy! So I’m neck-deep in baby shower plans and adjusting my life to prepare for a new human.
Part of this includes dismantling my book room, and I’m bummed about it! I mean it’s worth it so he can have a bedroom but maaaan. In addition to losing the book room, I had to purge a bunch of books. Total, I have seven book cases in that room, and the living room, where we’re moving the books, will hold only about five book cases. So I had to purge. Last weekend, my buddy came over and helped me purge them. It’s to the point where I’m having difficulty doing a lot of bending and straightening in short succession so she helped me maneuver through the shelves.
So that will be a what, a ‘series’ on this blog for a bit – transforming the book room into a nursery, setting up the books in the living room, etc etc etc. PS, I’m also documenting this process on my instagram (shameless plug) where I tend to post what I’m doing for the book room in my stories, and I have a highlight of the progress so far.
I took some before pictures, so note these are the last shots of the book room I have before we started killing it:
And here are some shots of the purge:
So, I’ve gotten rid of about eight shelves worth of books. The small shelf on the right is going to stay in the book room and be used for baby books, and otherwise I’ve gotten rid of about another case’s worth. I haven’t decided what to do with the empty case yet – keep it in there for more baby books or get rid of it or use it as storage or what. Not sure yet.
In a few weeks, I’ll be having some friends over to help me physically move the books and cases out of the room and down into the living room. As a part of that we’ll be moving some storage from the living room into the nursery to use for the baby. The stuff that’s currently in that storage…? I’ll figure out what to do with it. I need to wall space tho, man.
So that’s what’s been going on with my life. I’m happy to say my reading slump is mostly over, so I have been reading again, even if not at my usual pace.
Prince Freya vols 1-2 by Keiko Ishihara – This is a fantasy manga following a girl who takes the place of an ailing prince when he dies, and impersonates him to keep the peace in the kingdom. I do have vols 3 and 4 as well, but haven’t gotten to them yet. So far, I’m pretty interested. 4 and 4.5 stars respectively
Skip Beat! vol 1 by Yoshiki Nakamura – I’ve had my eye on this series for a while, so I’m glad I picked it up. This follows a girl who decides to get revenge against a boy who used her by surpassing him as a famous performer. It’s honestly pretty funny so far, and it’s not taking itself seriously. I like it. 3.75 stars
Waiting For Spring vols 5-14 by Anashin – I finished this series out by reading the last ten volumes in a row. This is a cute shojo romance about a girl who falls for a boy on the basketball team. It’s sweet and simple and dramatic and exactly what you’d expect in a shojo. The love interest is a sweetheart too so that was nice. 3.5-4.75 stars each
O Maidens in Your Savage Season vols 1-8 by Mari Okada – Part of this was a reread, namely vols 1-4, but the other four were new reads. I’ve finished this series out now too. Eight volumes of hilarity and awkwardness and drama. This series follows a group of girls as they start to be exposed to puberty and sex and it’s so painfully relatable. It’s a coming of age humor, not a raunchy thing, just fyi. It’s really sweet…. mostly. 3.5-5 stars each
Dragon Wing by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – This was a buddy read I did with Zezee @Zezeewithbooks and it was okay. It follows a few different perspectives in a world that is actually a bunch of different floating land masses, all hovering over the Death Gate, this unknown realm at the bottom of the universe. The characters were unfortunately a bit flat, as was the plot. The premise though had so much potential so I was a bit bummed, and have since decided not to continue with the series. 3.25 stars
The Frozen Crown by Greta Kelly – This was a 2021 release I picked up on a whim. Total impulse purchase, and it was the first step out of my reading slump. I ended up getting through this book in a few days, the fastest I had read anything in a while. This follows a young woman trying to reclaim her kingdom from invading neighbors and has witches and all sorts of fun things. It was rather enjoyable. 4.25 stars
The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin – This was another buddy read I did with an IRL buddy. This book fell victim to my reading slump, and it took me forever to finish. As a result, it got a lower rating than the first book did. Keep in mind, this was a me issue, not a book issue. I really liked the book. 4.5 stars
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanna Collins – If you remember before I disappeared, I was rereading the Hunger Games series and reviewing each book in prep for this book, which was also going to get its own review, buuuuut whatevs. I cannot be bothered.
I did really enjoy this book. I went into it hearing that it wasn’t that great but honestly it surprised me. I was expecting it to try to redeem Snow or make him a likeable character but just “misunderstood” but nope, nope. He’s a dick, and you can see his slow decent into villainy as the story progresses. As far as villain origin stories go, I think this one is worth the read. 4.5 stars
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie – This was another buddy read with Zezee, and I gotta say I liked this one a lot more than the other buddy read we did. This one we’re planning on continuing for sure.
This story hasn’t really… developed yet, though. Book one is very much a set up book, but it’s really got me interested. There’s a corrupt government and wizards and weird buildings and metaphysics and it’s just really neat. 3.75 stars
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas – This is another one that fell victim to my reading slump and took me ages to read. This book, like all of Maas’s books, I both loved and hated. I recognize that they’re not stellar literature and parts of it were driving me nutso, but I don’t know, there’s just something about them that’s so readable and enjoyable and just utterly ridiculous. I never go into this expecting to take it seriously, and I feel like as a result I end up enjoying them. 4 stars
Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo – If I’m being honest, this is one of the few books I’ve ever come across where I recommend the abridged version. I did not read the abridged version and I regret it.
This was a buddy read with Katy @Bookbinderway and I think she liked it more than I did. I purged this book with my nursery-book room purge and I’m never lookin back man. The main plot was fine – I didn’t mind it. But augh if I have to read one more rant about buttresses. 2 stars
The Wolf by Leo Carew – This book I got as a gift two years ago from my IRL buddy and I finally got around to picking it up. Overall I enjoyed it, but unfortunately I’m not motivated to pick up the next one. This book follows a young man whose father dies in battle and he’s unexpectedly thrust into the crown, but there’s mutiny and political strife and war and blah. It was pretty interesting and I enjoyed reading about the different political aspects, but overall it was a bit flat. It needed more female characters to be honest. It was good though – if war stories are your thing you’ll probably like this. 3.5 stars
Change of Heart by nyteride – This is the sequel to the Bulma/Vegeta fanfic I read months ago. This one takes place after the Cell arc and before the Buu arc in Dragonball Z. It was fluffy and cute and convinced me that both Bulma and Vegeta would be terrible romantic partners, therefore they are perfect for each other.
Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead – This is a Robin Hood retelling and therefore wasn’t for me. I tried, I tried to keep an open mind, but honestly it bored me to tears. If you like Robin Hood you’ll likely like this, but that story has always been dull to me. Not the book’s fault.
The Moth Diaries by Rachel Klein – This one was a gift to me from an IRL buddy a few years ago and I always feel so bad when I don’t like books that were gifts, but it is what it is. It’s a psychological thriller but the pacing was just too slow for me.
And that’s it! That’s where I’ve been, that’s what I’ve been doing, that’s what I’ve read. I think from this point my posts won’t be “regular” but I’ll definitely be posting again. Next post will be a haul of the books from the last three or four months. Because shock, just because I was in a slump didn’t mean I didn’t stop purchasing books. So look forward to that. Good to be back, peeps.
*Book Reviews, Blog Tours, Author Q and As, Monthly Genre Goal and host of Goodreads Monday, Time Travel Thursday and Places My Books Have Taken Me! * #budgettalesbookblog
Dedicated to movie nerdom, nostalgia, and the occasional escape. In the late 90s, I worked at Blockbuster Video, where they let me take home two free movies a day. I caught up on the classics and reviewed theatrical releases for Denver 'burbs newspapers and magazines. While raising two young, beautiful daughters with my amazing wife, I look forward to anything rated R and not Bluey. Comments and dialogue encouraged!
Visit here for reviews about books and writing tips
Book Reviews and Chatter
The world was hers for the reading – Betty Smith
Embuhleeliest 
You must be logged in to post a comment.