Pages of The Hallows: June 2020

Tuesday, 30 June 2020

July TBR Lists

How is it already that time of the month again?! We're only coming into month 7 of the year, yet both of us are well over half way with our Goodreads reading goals...however, I feel this month it might slow down a bit. Mr H has gone back to work pretty much on his original full hours now which takes away a big chunk of reading time. It also takes away my reading time somehow, but don't ask me how haha. Anyway, here is our TBR lists for the month of July!

Mr H's TBR List

Mr Sparks by Danny Weston - 340 pages

Nightmares! by Jason Segal [TBR Jar Pick] - 355 pages
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo [Mrs H's Pick] - 308 pages

- Page Total = 1,003

Mrs H's TBR List

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert - 355 pages

A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs [Mr H's Pick] - 480 pages
Haunted by James Herbert [TBR Jar Pick] - 228 pages

- Page Total = 1,063

Tuesday, 23 June 2020

Top Reads of 2020...So Far

We made it halfway everyone! It's been a hell of a year, but it's halfway over and a good time to take stock and then re-set.
I take a daily photo every day of the year and have for 8 years now which I share on my other blog, Adventures of the Hallows. The reason I mention it is because this year my very first photo on January 1st was of us reading in bed, with the hopes to continue the year the way we started! We have read almost every single night in bed since and a lot of mornings (and afternoons) too, meaning as of today our total books read stand at 29 for myself and 24 for Mr H. Out of those we've chosen 3 of our highest rated each to share here today!

Mr's Top 3

Eragon by Christopher Paolini
I was encouraged to read this by Mrs H, and it did not disappoint I thought it was a great debut for a fantasy series easy to read and kept my interest peaked. I can't wait to delve deeper into this series I also think it's crazy that the author wrote this first instalment when he was just 16 years old!

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
I had my eye on this book for a long time but never got around to buying it, eventually, when the time came I read it pretty much straight after it was bought which never happens here in the Hallow household. As I'm sure you have grasped by now from my TBR's etc that I love my fantasy books. and this was one of my favourites with its amazingly detailed world.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
This was a fantastic book, tales from Norse mythology told amazingly by Neil Gaiman while reading this I felt like I was around the hearth in a Viking hall I have heard /read this was by far the best re-telling.

Mrs' Top 3

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
This was a book Mr H bought for me from a charity shop months ago and although it's not a cover I'd usually go for, anything including the paranormal is up my street. It was an easy read, interesting plot and it's set in Edinburgh - a city I've visited a lot over the years and could picture the locations well.

A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison
I'm not embarrassed to say I picked this up purely for the cover and title originally, but it ended up being a really cool story involving a curse, family and with a map at the start of the book it's always going to be good.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

This sat on our bookcase for a little while until I finally got the courage to pick it up. As you'll see I'm a big fan of children's literature and young adult, so going on to a book written for adults I need to be in the right frame of mind.
I obviously ended up loving it! The characters were appealing and it was a good mix of unpredictable and being easy enough to follow.

Tuesday, 16 June 2020

May & June Book Wishlist

You read that right, wishlist not haul. I haven't personally written a 'wishlist' post on any blog in a good many years...well minus the Disneyland ones in my Countdown to Disney series on my main blog - Underland to Wonderland.
As I mentioned in April's book haul, most of our books are bought second hand from charity shops and the like. Coupled with the fact our income took a hit the past couple months, book buying has had to take a back seat for a bit. Therefore, what is the next best thing to buying books? Window shopping! Here is Mr H and I's current book wishlist.

Books We Need To Complete Series':

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman

The Wizard's Promise Cliff McNish

The Testament of Loki by Joanne Harris

The Beating of His Wings by Paul Hoffman

Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth by Chris Priestley

Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Hufflepuff Edition

A Series of Unfortunate Events Series by Lemony Snicket [Books 8,10,11 & 12]

Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson [Books 2 - 6]

Time Quintet by Madeleine L'Engle [Books 3 - 5]

Books from Our Amazon Wishlist:

The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic by Jason Surrell

The Lost Magician by Piers Torday

The Wonders: Lifting the Curtain on the Freak Show, Circus and Victorian Age by John Woolf

Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P. L. Travers by Valerie Lawson

The Squirrel Squire: and the Tournament of Oaks (A Fantastic Tails Adventure) by Erik DeLeo
Raven Bloody Eye by Giles Kristian
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J R R Tolkien
Runemarks by Joanne Harris

So yeah, these are some of the books we'll be keeping an eye out for and hopefully some of the next to be added to our collection. A couple of them are 'needed' sooner than others to continue reading some of the series' we're in the middle of. When it comes to our Amazon Wishlist it is pretty beefy and to list every book from it would be crazy, therefore both of us have just chosen 5 at random that we'll be excited to get around to purchasing at some point..!

Tuesday, 9 June 2020

Pages Per Day // May

Month 5 is over, we're entering into the halfway month of the year and we are both doing great with our reading goals for the years. Both of us are over 70% of the way done with our goals of 30 and 36 books respectively which feels awesome. It's not a competition or anything, I think I've said that before, but it's been fantastic motivation documenting our pages each day to get through our unread bookcases.
For May my TBR page total was 901 and Mr H's was 809...check it out below to see how we did.

Days 1 - 7 = 366

Days 8 - 14 = 280

Days 15 - 21 = 361

Days 22 - 28 = 264

Days 29 - 31 = 112

Monthly total = 1383

482 pages over my TBR page total! Woohoo! I actually read more than the above totals as I read an ebook, however, I hadn't been keeping a track of those pages seeing as they are on a phone screen and therefore less words per page...am I taking it all too far?! 7 books. 5 physical copies, 1 ebook. 1 audiobook.

Days 1 - 7 = 465

Days 8 - 14 = 416

Days 15 - 21 = 344

Days 22 - 28 = 331

Days 29 - 31 = 181

Monthly total = 1737

That's a lot of pages! 6 books this month, it felt good to get a lot of books under my belt during my time in lockdown. However, now I'm back to work so the reading is going to slow down again but I'm optimistic that I can hopefully still read more than my monthly TBR's just not nearly double it as in have done for the last two months.