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!