Always Me

Happy Thursday everyone!  I hope everyone's been keeping as well as can be. I don't know about you, but March seemed liked it lasted for ages.  Anyway, I got in some good reading this month.  Anyway, that means that I've now completed the 6 tasks of  Book Riot's 2022 Read Harder Challenge .  The tasks I completed this month required me to r ead the book that’s been on your TBR the longest  and  an entire poetry collection  and I selected  Memoirs of a Geisha  by Arthur Golden  and  Howl and Other Poems  by Allen Ginsberg  respectively.   Read on to see my mini reviews and what's coming up for April: ❋   ❋  ❋ Memoirs of a Geisha  by Arthur Golden   is a book that has been on my tbr for ages and I'm glad I finally checked it off my list.  Since I'm interested in Japan and Japanese culture, this has been recommended to me so many times.  That said, I thought this novel came off as a lot more American than I was expecting it to.  I didn't buy that an actual

Happy Tuesday everyone!   I'm very excited to welcome you all to my leg of the  A Forgery of Roses  blog tour !   Today, you'll find the details and summary for this novel, and an about the author, Jessica S. Olson .  Thanks for visiting my stop on this b log tour! A FORGERY OF ROSES by Jessica S. Olson On sale: March 29, 2022 ISBN: 9781335418661 Inkyard Press Teen & Young Adult; Fantasy; Romance $19.99 / $24.99 CAN 384 Pages ABOUT THE BOOK: From the author of Sing Me Forgotten comes a lush new fantasy novel with an art-based magic system, romance, and murder…  Myra has a gift many would kidnap, blackmail, and worse to control: she’s a portrait artist whose paintings alter people’s bodies. Guarding that secret is the only way to keep her younger sister safe now that their parents are gone.  But one frigid night, the governor’s wife discovers the truth and threatens to expose Myra if she does not complete a special portrait that would resurrect the governor's dead s

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is 21st Century Books I Think Will Become Classics (submitted by Lisa of Hopewell ).  I decided to narrow it down to fantasy novels.  Without further ado, here we go by title: An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors  ( The Risen Kingdoms #1) by Curtis Craddock The City of Brass ( The Daevabad Trilogy #1) by S.A. Chakraborty A Darker Shade of Magic ( Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab Foundryside ( The Founders Trilogy #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune Jade City ( The Green Bone Saga #1) by Fonda Lee Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke The Lies of Locke Lamora ( Gentleman Bastard #1) by Scott Lynch Senlin Ascends ( The Books of Babel #1) by Jonah Bancroft Trail of Lightning ( The Sixth World #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse Have you read any of these books?  Do you think they should become classics in the future, or are alrea

    Welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url. Happy Monday everyone!  This week I'm sharing a couple of favorites from  Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra .  I love big band music and somehow I'd only recently heard of this band.  Anyway, this band really sets the mood and is very atmospheric. That trombone player is fantastic.  Give a listen to Smoke Rings , Blue Moon , and Sunrise Serenade :  You are invited to t

On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, hosted by  Freda's Voice , and Book Beginnings, hosted by  Rose City Reader .  For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader.    Happy Friday everyone! This week I'm spotlighting one of my  Trope-ical Readathon  books,  Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel  by Zachary Thomas Dodson .  I just happened to find this at a thrift store not too long ago and now that I've finished it I can say that the design of this was extremely cool. Beginning: 

Happy Thursday everyone!  It's finally time to start my classes at Orilium  for the  Magical Readathon , hosted by  G. @ Book Roast .  I've followed the  Novice Path , completed the  Traveller's Key , and have Geared Up , so I'm all prepared to start this new semester! The Spring Equinox semester runs all of April.  The Calling I've decided to study for is that of Scribe which sounds like a great fit for me.  That means I'll be taking five courses: Elemental Studies, Inscription, Spells & Incantations, Restoration, and Lore.  To complete each course I'll need to read one book to fulfill a specific prompt.  You can check out G's video announcement here for this semester to get more details and check out all the options.  Without further ado, keep reading to see my TBR: Elemental Studies - Basis of Air Dynamics: Book Under 100 Pages My choice: The Roman Baths at Bath: Authorised Guide Book by Barry Cunliff, Stephen Bird, et al. - I picked this up at

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Books With An Adjective In the Title (Submitted by Nicole @ How to Train a Book Dragon).  I'm narrowing my list this week down to books on my TBR.  Here we go, in alphabetical order by title: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White   The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks  by E. Lockhart The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik by David Arnold The Talented Mr. Ripley ( Ripley #1) by Patricia Highsmith The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead Have you read any of these books?  Which ones should I read first?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perha

  Welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url. Happy Monday everyone!  This week I'm sharing three songs from Wet Leg .  I've started hearing them on the radio and I like their sound. I don't know about you, but their music makes me feel very cool. Give a listen to Chaise Longue, Too Late Now, and Angela  You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

 Happy Sunday everyone!  Since September I've been preparing to attend Orilium  for the  Magical Readathon , hosted by  G. @ Book Roast .  I've followed the  Novice Path  and I've worked on completed the  Traveller's Key  (to build my character).  By the way, my character is a dwarf who lives in an urban setting in the province of Daerune.  Now, it's time to gear up for next month's main readathon when we begin our studies.  For the week of Monday, March 14th through Sunday, March 20th, I'm taking part in a short readathon of only 2 books to get ready to begin our studies by choosing my Conduit and my Legacy Gift available to me through my Guild's Conclave.  By the way, I've decided to be a member The Archivists guild which sounds right up my alley.   Conduit: Bone - Bone/ skull on the cover or the word in the title/ series title ❋   ❋  ❋   ❋ Kingdom of the Cursed  ( Kingdom of the Wicked  #2) by Kerri Maniscalco  is a pretty great sequel from a tale

Happy Saturday everyone! Today, I'm sharing my TBR for  Mythothon  which is a mythology themed readathon that will run for the entire month of April.  It is hosted by  Louise @ Foxes and Fairy Tales  and this round (officially the fifth) is based on The Story of Osiris, Set and Isis of Egyptian mythology.  In this readathon, the story is that Osiris was the king of Egypt, married to Isis, a wise queen.  Their brother Seth was jealous, and he plotted to kill the Osiris and take the throne. In this round of the readathon, you’ll follow out the story of these three gods.  I plan on following Set's part in this tale. There are twelve parts to the story, each with their own reading prompt that tell the tale.  Those taking part in the readathon choose to follow one of the three gods for 4 story prompts, plus one prompt related to their powers, and one group book which is not required.  That makes a grand total of 6 prompts to complete over the course of the month.  Also the books you