My #BookSpinBingo list for June

Hoping I get a bit more reading done this month!

Sopa paraguaya take 2 was much more successful!

It didn‘t separate, and is like a stodgy bread 🙌🏻

#FoodAndLit #Paraguay

#20in4 update/end

Well I finished A Closed and Common Orbit, but I haven‘t made it through At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig.
My kindle estimates another 4 hours (and 70 chapters) 😩

It‘s very long… I have a feeling it will probably run over into June.
But at least I made some headway ☺️

I was a bit disappointed at the start, when I realised that book 2 did not stick with the crew we met in the first book, but I soon got into this!

It carry‘s on straight after the events in The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet, and follows the ship AI (Lovelace/Sidra) and Pepper and Blue. As with the first book the story is more about characters than action. And I loved every minute of it!

This was my May #DoubleSpin 🥰

For #20in4 May edition (I know I have been a bit rubbish at participating with these things lately) I am going to try to finish my two ongoing books.

A closed and common orbit should be easy to finish. I only have a couple of chapters left.
My Paraguay book At the tomb of the inflatable pig… god there is so much left 😩 but it is a bank holiday so fingers crossed I can get there (or most of the way)!

Top pic is what my Sopa Paraguaya should look like.
Bottom is my…passable?…attempt 😂

It tastes nice, but I think I used the wrong flour due to country nomenclature! Regardless it is a decent attempt haha 😆

#FoodAndLit #Paraguay

#Roll100 for June will be Horseman

This is good as I didn‘t get around to it last year for Halloween, or earlier this year when it came up as a Bookspin 😂

I enjoyed this #Roll100 pick for May.

A dr begins to spend time at an old stately home, in order to treat one of the residents. The family begin to experience strange things in the house, which continue to escalate.

The novel itself is quite slow, and from the perspective of the dr. I enjoyed it but disliked the dr (maybe because of the time it is set, but I found him to be an entitled ass). Also wasn‘t happy with the dog aspect of the story!

#BookSpinBingo board for May

My #BookSpin is Archangel‘s Resurrection
And #DoubleSpin is A Closed and Common Orbit

Most of these have been repeated from last month

I just managed to finish my #Roll100 before April was done 😂

I really enjoyed this. Atmospheric, interesting characters, and sciencey. Going to give the show a go now and see how it compares!

A semi-autobiographical coming of age story set in #Thailand.

The main character “Justin” lives with his aunts and servants, and refuses to speak his native tongue. After his pet chameleon dies he decides to become a chameleon himself, learning his language, eating Thai food, and making friends.

Overall I enjoyed this, but there is a lot about discovering sex, and the MCs are 12/13 which made it a bit uncomfortable at times…

#FoodAndLit

#Roll100 for May

I am getting some seriously old TBR books off my pile with this (she says while still not having finished/really started Apr…) ☺️

This is a low pick from me.
The story was quite fun, and I did enjoy it, but I‘m not sure I get on with the authors writing style 😂

After losing his job during the pandemic, Jamie is offered a job at the KPS lifting things. All he knows is that it is secretive and involves working with large animals. These turn out to be Kaiju. Overall it was an enjoyable and quick read ☺️

#BookSpin

We have a relation currently living in #Thailand. So this dish is made from a Keang Taipla curry kit.

We followed used prawns, butternut squash, courgette, and pak Choi and served with jasmine rice.
Oh my gosh this was HOT! And I didn‘t even add the extra chilli 🤣
It was tasty but I didn‘t make it through the whole plate.

#FoodAndLit

Slowly making some headway on the Mercy Thompson series as I got a bit behind! Only one more until I am caught up (I get the paperbacks so am about a year behind the main series normally).

This one has a lot more focus on witches, and not a huge amount of pack. But I still enjoyed it ☺️

Finally made my April #BookSpinBingo board
I haven‘t done any reading thus far as it has been a very busy April 😂

I will definitely be trying to make some headway on Storm Cursed that I have already started, and some others on the list for #AwesomeApril ☺️

My #BookSpin is The Kaiju Preservation Society (very excited for this one)
My #DoubleSpin is Suicide Notes

A bit late for #Syria (I also plan to make some cookies this month for it) but today we had some chicken with Salatat Za‘atar (fresh thyme and halloumi salad).

It was quite easy to make and tasty ☺️

#FoodAndLit

April‘s #BookSpin #Doublespin #BookspinBingo list 🥰

It is finally time to knock the Essex serpent off my tbr thanks to #Roll100 April 😂

I look forward to starting this one!

FINALLY got around to reading this one (yes I am a few books behind now!) and it was worth it despite the wait.

Another solid book in the Mercy series, a nice mix of characters, and a change in location - an unexpected trip to Europe.

This was also my #Bookspin (and was last year too…)

This was a low pick for me.

I liked the premise, and I think it has potential, but it feels like a set up book for the others in the trilogy.
Girl finds out she is a supernatural, gathers a small (and also supernatural) gang, and love triangle is set up.
However while the MC wasn‘t terribly likeable, I think she is the most realistic teen I have read in YA for a while. Which is sort of refreshing 😂

Anyway I overall enjoyed this #Roll100 pick

While this did give some insight into the Syrian war, it was quite meandering and didn‘t really have much of a point, or conclusion.
It was okay, but the chapters were long (only 3) and the characters weren‘t very likeable or have any character development.
It did have some nice metaphors though… 😂

#FoodAndLit #Syria

I read memoirs of a Geisha a long time ago. This book is a memoir of the Geiko who inspired that story. I don‘t remember much about it, but other than being fictionalised he did a fairly good job of being faithful (though I do think their was some confusion between the Geisha and the girls in the pleasure district still).
While I would have liked this to be a bit more in depth, I definitely learned a lot about the topic!

#Roll100 (Feb)

My March Bookspin ☺️

Bookspin book is Silence Fallen
Doublespin book is Making the Monster
Roll 100 is Grim

(I am still working on my feb roll 100 Geisha of Gion before moving on to the March picks though!)

For #20in4 my goal is to read at least 20 chapters.
That should get me close to finishing Geisha of Gion which I would like to do before Feb is over!

This was just okay for me.
Parts were interesting, but I feel like a lot of the theories were repeated and we just kept circling the same stuff and not really getting anywhere!

It certainly is an interesting topic though, since it is still unknown what/who the beast was.

#BookSpin

I really enjoyed this pick for #FoodAndLit #DominicanRepublic about a teen mum and her love of cooking 🧑‍🍳

Emoni was a likeable MC. It was bittersweet but her perseverance I think wins out in the end.

The only thing I would say is that I was a bit disappointed that none of the characters were Dominican as I like to try and pick books with characters of the ethnicity or set in the country of the month! But it was such a good read regardless!

Well my books are taking longer to get through than anticipated, so I haven‘t finished any for #FabulousFebruary

•Beast: Werewolves, Serial Killers, and Man-eaters 58%
•With the Fire on High 36%
•Geisha of Gion 0%

My kindle lies about my reading speed 😂

Started this book today, which does coincidentally mention this dish early on!

This is Pollo Guisado Dominicano which made for a delicious meal! Served with white rice ☺️

#FoodAndLit #DominicanRepublic

https://mydominicankitchen.com/dominican-braised-chicken-pollo-guisado/

This has been pretty interesting so far. At the minute it is going through some of the events, such as victims, timings, hunts, times that people got away etc. but I am most looking forward to the theories section 😂

I am also looking forward to finding out more about the Serbian vampire and German Werewolf mentioned above!

Hello! I am late to the party once again!

I had a friend visiting this weekend so knew I wouldn‘t get much reading done (and to be honest the weeknights are probably going to be a pretty slim chance too!)

Regardless, here are my goals for #FabulousFebruary

• Finish Beast: Werewolves, Serial Killers, and Man Eaters (started this one today)
• Start and Finish With the Fire on High
And depending on how I get on with those
• Start Geisha of Gion

My planned Feb reads (hopefully)

#BookSpin is Beast: Werewolves, Serial Killers, and Man Eaters
#DoubleSpin is Horseman
#Roll100 is Geisha of Gion
#FoodAndLit is With the Fire on High

Also hoping to start Time of Contempt to continue with the series!

Feb #BookSpinBingo choices ☺️

I enjoyed this overall, but the main guy was an arsehole. And if someone DARED to steal food I had ordered and refuse to give it back because they paid (one of the first interactions they have) they would be dead to me 😂

A fun and fairly quick read though!

#BookSpin #20in4

For January #20in4 I am going to try to get in at least 20 chapters of this book (which will get me about 2/3 through)

Ideally I would like to finish it since it is my Jan #BookSpin but let‘s aim for 20 chapters and see where we get 😂

I don‘t like the cover for this one, so here is a muddy pup instead!

I‘m glad I revisited this book before reading the others (the only one of the series I have read aside from the anthologies) as I apparently remembered very little! I find some of the characters, Tris and Yennefer in particular, to be a bit unlikeable still. But hopefully as the series progresses this will pass 🤣

#SeriesLove2023 #DoubleSpin #TheWitcher

A bit late with my #JoyousJanuary wrap up

My goals were:

• Finish Kintu ✔️
• Start Blood of Elves ✔️

I just managed to squeeze in starting blood of elves but I did get a couple of chapters in ☺️
I struggled to read much during the week this time (busy with course work outside of actual work) so hopefully have more time for febs readathon!

As always, thanks for hosting @Andrew65

It has taken me all week to get to it, but I have finally made a start on Blood of Elves for #BackListReadathon #JoyousJanuary and #DoubleSpin

Obviously I won‘t finish it today, but at least I made a start 😂 and I will be working through the series over the next few readathons I think ☺️

Geisha of Gion is my #Roll100 February pick (67)
Excited to get around to this one as it has been on my list for so long! 😂

I enjoyed this #Uganda pick for #FoodAndLit
It got quite confusing with names and times and relations, despite having part of a family tree… but it was pretty interesting.
I do however wonder why they didn‘t try to break the curse earlier 🤷🏼‍♀️

#JoyousJanuary

For the first couple of days my #JoyousJanuary goal is to finish Kintu.
Once I have that ticked off I will be starting the #BacklistReadathon with Blood of Elves. I don‘t think I will get too far through the backlist during the week, but I have been meaning to read the series and it is my #Doublespin for the month, so a good place to start! (I have previously read the anthologies)

The pup wasn‘t super impressed about being used as a prop 😂

I really enjoyed this book. Tom writes in an open way about the highs and lows of acting, balancing a normal childhood with working on such a prominent film set, and about his struggles. It was very interesting!

For this months #FoodAndLit I have made Ugandan Chickennat with rice. The recipe was fairly simple (though open to a little interpretation with timings) and it was a very tasty creamy chicken 🥰

http://creativafrica.weebly.com/blog/taste-of-africa-chickennat

#Uganda

I quite liked this one. A fairly standard romance but with an autistic main character and a gender swapped pretty woman style scenario.
I have to admit it got down to business a bit quicker than I anticipated! But it was a fun quick and read :)

#Roll100

January bingo card

My #BookSpin is Perfection
My #DoubleSpin is Blood of Elves (it has been before, so maybe I will do better this time around!)

My #Bookspin list for Jan

Narrowing down challenges this year to try get more off my TBR without adding too much to it!
I will be continuing with Roll 100. I did pretty well with it this year, although I did miss Nov and Dec.

So these are my #Roll100 books for the year

January will be 96 - The Kiss Quotient :)

A round up of December/2022

This month I managed 3 books (had a busy and cold filled Christmas period) including my #DoubleSpin

This year I have been quietly filling in the #ReadingBracket2022 with both versions having The Goblin Emperor coming out as my top pick of the year 🥰

Next year I am most looking forward to reading Tom Felton‘s book, and trying to get more off my physical TBR and continuing with a couple of challenges! #NewYearNewBooks

I quite enjoyed the meandering tale of Dirk Drosselmeier and definitely preferred this to Wicked.
However, I would have preferred to actually see Hiddensee in the book, and have more than a glancing paragraph to cover the actual nutcracker narrative. It would have also been nice to have some closure about the lost forest rather than it being open to interpretation.
I had fun reading it anyway!

#FairytaleReadingChallenge #TheNutcracker #Doublespin