The two first books of 2023 :)

 Hello! 

I have had a slow reading start to the year but today I finished two books:

TJ Klune: Under the whispering door (audiobook, my third time listening to it as an audiobook on Scribd)

and

 Raisa Omaheimo: Ratkaisuja läskeille. Audiobook on Bookbeat.

 *Under the whispering door* by TJ Klune is a re-listen and one of my favorite soft fantasy books. I listened to it twice in 2021. This book is like a warm hug. It's about grief, death and sorrow. It's one of the few books that has made me shed tears in the recent years. There are some triggering parts, in which case you might want to google some spoiler free reviews, just in case. Wallace is dead and he is brought to a Tea shop by a reaper and is waiting to cross over to the other side. Wallace was a bit of a butthole in life and in death he becomes a little or a lot better. The nice people who are at the Tea shop help him to learn and grow. This book is very heart-warming and cozy. If you are open minded and up to reading wonderful stories about tragic and beautiful life stories, I really recommend this book. 4/5 stars. Not five stars because it was a little dragging in some parts in my humble opinion.

*Ratkaisuja läskeille* by Raisa Omaheimo. Freely translated: *Solutions for fatsos*. This book was such a good one. I would want all of my friends who have ever been on a diet or told someone else to go on a diet, or has had any problems with being overweight etc. to read this amazing book! I saw red and got really wound up by this book. It made me sad, mad and proud at the same time. It is a book with kind of experiences and facts and opinions that I have been thinking for years and some I just realizerd I should have been thinking and voicing. It is not a problem to be fat. It's not something wrong with you if you are overweight. If you have a problem with fat people, it's your problem, not the fat person's problem. You need to rethink dieting, weight-loss, BMI and healthy and unhealthy views of your own weight. I think this book is simply brilliant. After I read it, (aka listened to it in one sitting), I wrote a little note in Finnish to myself that said: I am a fat activitst. I do not support fatphobia or fat hate. This was such a powerful experience for me. I cried a little. This lady, the author, really knew all the struggles. I will recommend it to EVERYONE. 5/5 stars

 

That's it for the first two books :) My goal is to read 88 books in 2023 and to write a review of each and every one! Wish me luck! :)

 

 

 

 

 

New books :)

 Good morning everyone! 

How's it going? I'm doing really well :)

I have read 82 books this year so far and my goal I have lowered to 88 books for this year on goodreads. I am one book behind schedule... But I think I will make it. Just six more books to go. This year I have re-read and re-listened to some familiar books, my comfort reads. Next year my goal is to re-read some series only ONE TIME. It will be tough but it is okay. I have also decided to listen and read to most my books that I have as audiobooks and a physical copy of, also a few books I don't have a audiobook of.

I had my bookshop-card almost full this fall and bought the last book that was required and got one FREE! I love this system they have lol. I bought Daisy Jones and the six by Taylor Jenkins Reid and Ninth house by Leigh Bardugo. I have Daisy Jones also on audible, so that's going on my list for 2023. I am trying to read the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Malibu Rising before I dive into Daisy Jones and the six.

I started Evelyn Hugo but got stuck as usual... I will try to jump back into it asap.

I started Bird box by Josh Malerman and it's good. I have it  both as a paperback and on audible :) I love reading & listening, it is like a movie in my head. It's really nice. I love audiobooks... I have a few that I don't own as physical copies but sometimes I just enjoy listening. 

More later!

Reading challenge update and more! :)

 Dear followers,

Whenever I fall into a reading slump, I have a few audio books that are short and familiar that I love to re-listen to... I love audio books and it is a lot easier to get out of the slump by listening to something familiar. Now that I am almost caught up on my reading goal of 2022 I can start reading more with my eyeballs and even bigger books. I love big books and I cannot lie lol.

I feel like I don't have to read all the REALLY chunky ones right this moment but I can start them and read a few that are longer than some of the audio books I have been listening to. I must say, I feel like I am re-reading far too much lol. I will try to challenge myself more next year. I can't stick to a TBR, I am a mood reader :D 

Some of the books that I love re-listening to are the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling and the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer. They are my comfort listens :) But enough is enough lol. I will try to re-listen to them a little less frequently... I do have over 100-200 unread books at home. I used to hoard a lot of books, I was afraid of running out of things to read :D 

I can start planning a preliminary TBR but it will probably change many times next year lol.

Some of the books I want to read or re-read next year are (also some that I have started already):

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Jerusalem by Selma Lagerlöf

Putkinotko by Joel Lehtonen

Sinuhe egyptiläinen by Mika Waltari

Utvandrarna by Wilhelm Moberg

those are some of the classics on my TBR. I have read Putkinotko and Sinuhe earlier...

I am a trilingual person so I love reading in three languages: Swedish, Finnish and English :)

I also want to re-read some of my all-time favorite books... Which include:

The book thief by Markus Zuzak

The thirrteenth tale by Diane Setterfield

The Ruby Slippers by Keir Alexander

The weight of silence by Heather Gudenkauf

 Philomena by Martin Sixsmith 

More later! :)

Reading update August 2022

Good morning from Finland! :)

How's it going? I have good news! I am only eight books behind schedule and have read 53 books this year so far... I can live with that lol. I have been in a reading slump for a few months. Audiobooks have helped me a lot. Without those I could not read so much. They help me out of slumps and they go by pretty fast. I usually listen to audiobooks at the speed of 2.2 or if it's a new narrator and/or an unfamiliar story I  listen to them at 1.5-2.0 speed. 

I need to go read soon. I have decided to get out of this slump :D

More later! :)

Books in the morning :)

 Hello again!

My reading slump continues... It is giving me the blues. I will try to find the power to power through this lol. I am listening almost daily if not daily to some audiobooks but they are not fulfilling my need to read. lol. I need to maybe try a chapter in some of my new books and also just bite the bullet and continue some books that I have a hard time continuing with...

I might need a quick and easy, short read. A YA contemporary might do the trick. Too much fantasy going on lately, especially high adult fantasy. I have started Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight archive from the beginning because I got them as new hardcovers and I have most of them as audiobooks. 

Now I put on some reading music, hopefully it will help me get in the mood. I also have a hard time finding a comfortable position in which to read. I know - how hard can it be? lol. I have a bad back and other issues so it takes time to find a good position. 

I will let you know how it goes! :)

Reading update - June 17th :D

 Hello there dear reader!

How are you doing? I am doing just fine and dandy, thank you very much :)

I love reading but I am often in a reading slump and have a long break between reading anything... I have been listening to audiobooks mostly lately. I love long and short audiobooks, I don't have any preferences. I listen mostly in English because audible has a lot of books in English and same with Scribd. I would have to subsribe to a third service if I want to listen to audiobooks in Swedish and Finnish... And those apps with Finnish and Swedish audiobooks have very poor English selection of books. It sucks. 

I have read and listened to 42 books this year so far, I am 3 books behind schedule. My new goal is to read and listen to 101 books in 2022... I have been in a horrible slump. I just cannot get into the reading mood. It is tough.

I hope to remedy this problem with new books lol that I have bought recently. :)

I have found two awesome booktubers. I will tell you all about them later.

I love Discord app, I am in many reading related servers there. It makes me happy. We have buddy reads and book club reads each month in one group. I hang around there mostly, because I have found many new nice friends there. <3 

 More later! :)

New books and try a chapter Challenge?

Books Books Books 

Hello there my friends! 

I have been buying a few new books.  The last one arrived today. 

I'm thinking of trying a chapter of each book. Before choosing which one to continue next.  

Wish me luck!