June TBR Lists

 

This blog is getting left behind, isn't it? It's a bit sad but inevitable right now...we just can't seem to let it go. Things are very far behind and it's always the last thing on the to-do list that gets seen to. Mr H should be starting a new job soon though and once he's settled in he'll hopefully have more time to work on this blog too.
For now, here is what we're reading in June!

Mr H's TBR List
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo - 427 pages
Waer by Meg Caddy - 320 pages

Page Total - 747

Mrs H's TBR List
The Night Country by Melissa Albert - 368 pages
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairy Land #2 - 258 pages
The House of One Hundred Clocks by A.M. Howell - 304 pages

Page Total - 930

2021 Book Un-haul

 

Usually, we're buying books and these types of posts are hauls of piles of new books (don't get me wrong, we're still buying books though not as many) but today is sharing a super stack that we're saying goodbye to. 
Every so often we go through our bookcases and take out books we've read and didn't enjoy, books that have sat there a very long time and we don't think we will get around to reading, or sometimes even books I've bought purely because I collect certain things. This makes more room for new incoming books as space really is running out!
Out of these four are being passed on to my Mam and the rest will be taken to a charity shop...which is where many of them have come from in the first place!

Mr H's Goodreads Year in Books 2020

 

So what a year of books! This is the second year doing a post of this kind and this year has so many more books read. I think it's great how Goodreads/Mrs H composes this breakdown of the books with the covers and everything on it.

40 books! 13,918 pages. I can't believe how many books I got through this year. So many of these were great books I got through 2 of the Mistborn trilogy, most of the Harry Potter series and one of my favourite reads Farmer Giles of Ham. I wonder what I will read in 2021... I doubt I'm going to get to 40 books.

May TBR Lists

 

I know I'm like a broken record, but I really can never believe how fast the months fly in. The fifth reading month of the year already and so we are deliberately trying to get through some series that we're both in the middle of. That being the case means that we've dropped to two each on the TBR again due to some longer books.

Mr H's TBR List

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo [432 pages]

The Desolations of Devil's Acre by Ransom Riggs [522 pages]

Total Pages - 954 pages

Mrs H's TBR List

The Wizards Promise by Cliff McNish [250 pages]

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman [548 pages]

Total Pages - 

What Mrs Hallow Read This Quarter [January - March]

 

The first of our quarterly round-up posts of what we have read in 2021 is here! The year started off slow. I began with picking back up a book that I actually started in September 2020 and because it was still taking so long to get through I had to put it down or risk not finishing anything in January at all! 
As the months have passed, I've fallen back into a good rhythm. See below to find out what I've been reading. 

January 

The Crooked Mask by Rachel Burge

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The sequel to The Twisted Tree. I adored the first book and had been waiting and waiting for this, so when my pre-order arrived I threw my other book to the side and whipped my way through this. I loved it just as much, if not more than the first book and hope to goodness Rachel writes more!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland #1) by Lewis Carroll, Jodie Comer (Narrator)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It seems sacrilege to rate an Alice in Wonderland book less than 5 stars, but this was an audiobook and although it's the same story, I just didn't enjoy this audio version as much.

February

Animals (Disney's Wonderful World of Knowledge #1) by Sergio Frugis

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have the full set of Disney's Wonderful World of Knowledge books from the 1970s and instead of them taking up a huge chunk of bookcase space for no reason I am going to slowly make my way through them all. The first was obviously something that greatly interests me - Animals. However, considering the age of the 

Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland #2) by Lewis Carroll, Harlan Ellison (Narrator)

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ditto to the above!

The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Controversial I know, however, this had been pre-ordered and I was interested in the story. I in no way agree with many of this authors opinions and fully support all LGBTQIA+ communities. 

So removing the stain of the author's name, the story itself was a fairytale style that I very much enjoy and the inclusion of illustrations from children around the world was a lovely touch.

A Tangle of Spells (A Pinch of Magic #3) by Michelle Harrison

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

More!! I adored 1 and 2 so obviously, 3 was going to be a hit. 

March

Viva Durant and The Secret of the Silver Buttons by Ashli St. Armant, Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was an audiobook I found while searching the free Audible Stories website and I liked the sound of the synopsis. I enjoyed this so incredibly much and can only hope it gets turned into a series. Not only did the whole storyline move at a good pace, with fantastic characters but the narration, music and overall audio experience took it to a completely different level! 

The Desolations of Devil's Acre (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #6) by Ransom Riggs

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Having also had the signed hardback of this pre-ordered, it was another I had to get to as soon as possible. Despite the length of these books being greater than my current reads (most of which are middle grade) I still fly through them because they are just right up my street, this entry in the series is no exception.

Bridge of Souls (Cassidy Blake #3) by Victoria Schwab

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The 4th five star in a row?! Indeed! And yet another pre-order from an already loved series.

The Vile Village (A Series of Unfortunate Events #7) by Lemony Snicket

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm still slowly working my way through the Series of Unfortunate Events and you can look back at my previous Quarterly Round-Ups for my feelings on these books because I have repeated myself too many times at this point. 

Aesop's Fables with Colin Hay by Tom Graves

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Considering my enjoyment of fairytales and fables, from the Brothers Grimm to Hans Christian Andersen, it's surprising I had never read Aesop's Fables. I very much enjoyed listening to this, Colin Hay's accent was a nice touch.

Rumaysa: A Fairytale by Radiya Hafiz

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

*Klaxon Sound* Another 5 star!!! The last book of the quarter was also a pre-order and something that I fell in love with before even opening the cover. Encompassing 3 separate, popular fairytales into one inclusive, magical, beautiful story featuring inspiring strong females and cultures other than the 'norm', I think anyone with a child or an adult fan of fairytales needs a copy of this.

12 books over 3 months and a good start to the reading year! 50% of those were 5-star ratings which makes it even better. Here's to continuing the good reading into the second quarter.

Bookcase Scavenger Hunt

 

It's been a while since we did a 'tag' style post, September 2020 to be exact. Check out that last one here, The Guilty Reader Book Tag. This post is something that's been in our drafts for a long time, then it was partially done and left in the drafts for even longer. Finally, I'm getting around to completing it and it's shown that these so-called 'quick little tag' filler posts do actually take more time than you think. 
This is a Scavenger Hunt of our Bookcase(s)!

A Book...

...with deckled edges  - Tales from the Haunted Mansion by Amicus Arcane

...with sprayed edged - The Toy Makers by Robert Dinsdale

...with 3 or more people on the cover  - The Woodbegoods by E. Nesbit

...with a title 10 letters long - Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

...with a title that starts and ends with the same letter - Sherlock Holmes: Selected Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle 

...written by an author using a pen name - A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

...with a characters name in the title  - The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris

...with 2 maps in it - The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien

...turned into a TV show - Northern Lights by Philip Pullman 

...written by someone who is originally famous for something else - Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

...with a clock on the cover - The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley 

...of poetry - The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy by Tim Burton
...of short stories - Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs
...with an award stamp on it - The Invention of  Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
...that is signed - Rumaysa: A Fairytale by by Radiya Hafiza



...written by an author with the same initials as you - A Middle Earth Traveller by John Howe (JH = Mr Hallow, none with my initials DH!)
...written by more than 2 people - Nightmares! : The Lost Lullaby by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller
...that is between 500-510 pages long - The Desolations of Devil's Acre by Ransom Riggs
...turned into a movie - Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
...box set - Chronicles of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Some categories were much easier than others, some were difficult to decide between because we had multiple options and some we either didn't have any or had to slightly double up on authors we'd already used previously. I think despite the vast array of categories, this definitely gives a great insight into our tastes and what is houses over our five bookcases. 

Mrs' Goodreads Year in Books 2020

Okay, we're slowly but surely getting caught up! I know this is technically 4 months late but it's better than 6 haha! Anyway, last year I took my Goodreads 'Year in Books' and shared it here in one image so I could look back on it in the future and compare my reading habits. It's in no way a competition but I do like to beat something from the previous year's list be it the total number of books read, total pages or even longest book.
Click here to have a read of My Goodreads Year in Books 2019 and see below for 2020!

Looking back at last year's post I actually said I'd be happy with 40 books read so 62 books read?! Yay! 10 more than 1 per week is brilliant for me and with SO many good reads too - 3.8 is a pretty good average don't you think? Both of those numbers were higher than the previous year, though I didn't bypass my longest book as the year before was 702 pages!
This year my goal is set at 52 and I'm already behind (only by 1 but still), so I don't have high hopes of reading more than in 2020. As long as they are good books and I enjoy them that's obviously all that matters!

April TBR Lists

 

Nothing much to say here, these are our April TBR Lists of course!

Mr H's TBR List
The Wizard's Promise by Cliff McNish [288 pages]
Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab [300 pages]
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo [432 pages]

Page total - 1020 pages

Mrs H TBR List
Nightmares! The Lost Lullaby by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller [352 pages]
The Magic Place by Christopher Wormell [290 pages]
The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket [255 pages]

Page total - 897 pages

Reading is going okay as of late, it's picked up for me a little (thankfully!) and I've caught up to be on track for my yearly goal. Hopefully, we'll get some time soon to put together our quarterly round-up before we continue being super behind with everything!

Collective Book Haul // January - March

It's already been 3 months since our last book haul, check it out here. If you did see that post we mentioned that 2021 would be different in terms of book buying, with a budget each month...yeah, that went out the window haha! With not leaving the house, going on maybe one walk a month and no end in sight for us why not find some joy in buying books?! Here is what we added to the collection from January to now.

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson  

The Crooked Mask by Rachel Burge

A Tangle of Spells by Michelle Harrison

The Forest of Moon and Sword by Amy Raphael

Nightmares! the Lost Lullaby by Jason Segel



The Wizard's Promise by Cliff McNish

The Desolations of Devil's Acre by Ransom Riggs

Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket

The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket

The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket

The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. Illustrated by Minalima 
 
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. Illustrated by Minalima 

17 new additions to the bookcases for these past 3 months. 4 of which were pre-orders, 8 of which were secondhand and 2 of which are signed copies! I'd say next quarter won't host such a tall stack, though with 3 pre-orders already in and more time at home who knows how many books will add themselves to the collection!

Until next time.

March TBR Lists

 

Sticking with the theme and posting our TBR lists for the month, when the next month is almost due haha! It's insane that it is already March, I literally don't know where the time goes...it especially doesn't go towards reading because 10 weeks into the year I've only finished 7 books (3 behind my goal so far) and Mr H has already gotten through 6 despite working all the time!
You'll see that reflected in our TBR lists below.

Mr H's TBR List
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo [308 pages]
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J K Rowling [105 pages]
The Crooked Mask by Rachel Burge [278 pages]

Page Total - 691

Mrs H's TBR List
Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab [300 pages]
The Desolations of Devil's Acre by Ransom Riggs [522 pages]

Page Total - 822

What Mrs Hallow Read This Quarter [October - December]

 

 It is indeed March and I am just getting around to posting my own Quarterly Reading Round-Up for the final part of 2020. This blog has well and truly been left behind this year. 

October

The Green Ember by S.D. Smith

⭐️⭐️
I don't know if it was more so the narrator of this, or the story itself, but I just didn't enjoy listening to this audiobook. I had this and others from the same series in my book buying wishlist as I liked the sound of the description, so I'm hoping it was just the strange way the American narrator chose to bring the story to life and that I can give reading it a go in the future. 

The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Not starting out October brilliantly, this one fell slightly short for me. It was a good idea and I enjoyed it overall but I think my expectations were too high with it being based in a place I am familiar with. 

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
We're steadily increasing the star ratings haha! I happened upon this book while looking for things to read for Halloween and bought it from eBay. It wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be from the synopsis but the 'moral' of it and stuff was pretty cool - I enjoyed it!

Nightmares! The Sleepwalker Tonic by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved the first one and loved the second one just as much. I look forward to reading the next also.

The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I first came across this book in my recommended section on Amazon and stuck it on my wishlist. This is another I bought specifically to read in October and I'm so glad I did - a wonderful story and so uplifting to read something from another culture. Another I am eager to read the sequel. 

Disneyland Paris Phantom Manor: Decrypted by Jérémie Noyer and Mathias Dugouyon

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It's not often I pick up a non-fiction book, but when I do you can almost always guarantee it's Disney related. 

Pirates of the Caribbean - Un trésor d'attraction by Jérémie Noyer and Mathias Dugoujon

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As above!

November

The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Anything with 'Magic', 'Witch' or 'Wizard in the title automatically has my interest. 
It was good, I enjoyed it but purely comparing to some of the other things I've read lately it didn't quite make it to the 4-star mark.

The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry

⭐️⭐️
Not what I expected and I guess another thing that was a little 'too adult' for me. It's no new news that I am not a fan of adult themes and the portrayal of the friend of the lead character was something I didn't find necessary or enjoyable. If all that teenage, hormonal, adult-y stuff was left out I'd have given the storyline a much higher rating. 

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I bought this book eons ago when doing a blog post about Disney movies that were based on books, however it has sat on my shelf until now. I'd seen the movie previous and I'm glad I got around to this because I enjoyed it much more than the movie. 

December

The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm still just sticking in with these because I want to finish the series. As I've said in previous talks about The Series of Unfortunate Events, I like the main plot etc. The writing style on the other hand is a little annoying. 

The Umbrella Mouse by Anna Fargher
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One of the best books I've read in a long time! I loved this so much. SO much in fact I immediately went online to order the sequel upon finishing this. 

Frostheart by Jamie Littler
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This had already been at home in our collection for a little while when I saw a couple of people I know raving about it. I picked it up and the next availability and can see why others loved it. I look forward to reading the sequel.

Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
So considering I hate and don't celebrate Christmas, I have a huge interest in Father Christmas and his origins story. I read The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum back in 2017 and adored it so when Mr H got Letters from Father Christmas as part of his ever-growing Tolkien collection I had to give it a read. Beautiful book, beautiful images by a beautiful person. Super special!

The Tale Of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Being such Disney and animal fans in this house, we of course love stories about little mice. This was nice, but knowing it has been made into a movie, it was not as amazing as I'd built it up to be.

Umbrella Mouse To The Rescue by Anna Fargher
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See above. The sequel was equally as wonderful. I cried a lot and fell in love with the story behind the story.

Treasured Tales from Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My childhood!! I still have my copies of these books at my parents house from when I was tiny and picked up this mini anthology from a charity shop a while ago. I was lovely to end the year with such nostalgia. 

A nice stack of reads to finish up last year and with some great star ratings too. I would even go as far as to say that a couple of the books mentioned in this post are favourites of 2020, if not all-time favourite reads.

17 in total took my annual total to 62, 26 more than my goal - woohoo!

Hopefully, I'll be able to get around to writing up my Year in Books. Until then you could always check out my Goodreads Year in Books 2019! 

Until next time...