Project Buddy Readathon 2021-2022

For the year 2021. I decided to do a Buddy readathon for the first time. My reading buddy Vivone was a friend from book club and we wanted to challenge each other to experience and see how we liked some books we would not be able to read for the book club. We decided to make a list of 10 books to read during the course of the year and we both agreed to present our suggestions for the list. From our suggestions we picked five from each list and ended up with the final list below!

Buddy Read list 2021.

Alien ( Alien Movie Novelizations #1 ) by Alan Dean Foster ★★★

Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1) by Laini Taylor ★★★★

Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny ★★★

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein ★★★

The Last Wish (The Witcher #0.5) by Andrzej Sapkowski ★★★★

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells ★★★★

Proklete Hrvatice : (1&2) : Dvadeset životopisa by Milana Vuković Runjić ★★★

Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin ★★★★

Castle in the Air (Howl’s Moving Castle #2) by Diana Wynne Jones ★★★★

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers ★★★★

I will take few moments to reflect on the statistics of the books we chose. Out of 10 books we picked there was one genre that dominated with five books and that was science fiction. Four books were fantasy and one book was nonfiction.

Out of all those books, six were part of a series. Only one book was written by a Croatian author and all the rest of the books were translations. From nine translations only one was from a Polish author while all the rest were English native speaking authors. For me the number of books from this list that I have read in Croatian translation is much higher than usual.

Total number of pages for the ten books we read was 3188!

We each had a different book from the list as a favorite. Vivone’s favorite was Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1) by Laini Taylor and my favorite was All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells.

We both agreed on the book that was our least favorite book to read – Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. We were not sorry for reading it but the experience was very different than we expected and that is the reason for it being dubbed the least favorite.

Our most memorable books were Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny and Proklete Hrvatice : (1&2) : Dvadeset životopisa by Milana Vuković Runjić. And our average rating for the books differs a bit: Vivone’s average score for the books was 4 and mine 3,6. We are happy with the books we read in general and are looking forward to the books we picked for 2022.

We have decided to make some changes for the 2022. list. We decided to expand the ten books approach by each adding five books and keeping on three more sequels from the 2021. list. This gives us more pages in total since the number of books for Buddy reading challenge is now thirteen. The total number of pages we will read is 2867 for the ten books and another 1324 pages for the added three sequels. We have decided to take down the number of new book series on the list which gives us more standalone books and those have a bit less pages a piece. We have two new book series on the list and if we count the added three sequels we still have less book series than we had on 2021 list.

Again we have one dominating genre only this time it is general fantasy with five books. Other genres we have are two nonfiction only one science fiction and two contemporary genre books. All three added sequels are fantasy as well. We did not account for more diversity on the authors front. Again we have one Croatian author and nine translated titles with all those authors being from English speaking territories. We both plan to diversify with our personal plans since our tastes with those tend to go in totally different direction because Vivone really enjoys middle eastern authors and even has a growing collection of translated editions in Croatian and my tastes are more far eastern with contemporary Japanese authors and I plan to try adding Indigenous authors.

Buddy Reading list 2022

Holes (Holes #1) by Louis Sachar

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

The October Country by Ray Bradbury

Kraljica crne obale: i druge priče o legendarnom barbaru by Robert E. Howard

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Blade Runner #1) by Philip K. Dick

The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain

Ima jedna priča… (2nd ed) by Mauro Lacovich

This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay

Sequels from 2021. list:

House of Many Ways (Howl’s Moving Castle #3) by Diana Wynne Jones

Blood & Honey (Serpent & Dove #2) by Shelby Mahurin

Sword of Destiny (The Witcher #0.7) by Andrzej Sapkowski

Our expectations on the 2022. list

We have both agreed that the list could have been better and we both compromised on our suggestions. Vivone is most excited for Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain and Kraljica crne obale: i druge priče o legendarnom barbaru by Robert E. Howard, which is a first Croatian collection of stories on Conan the Barabarian. I’m most excited for Blood & Honey (Serpent & Dove #2) by Shelby Mahurin because I plan to finish up the whole trilogy and have found it difficult to restrain myself and not pick it up sooner.

The books we are most apprehensive about differ. Vivone is very unsure how Holes (Holes #1) by Louis Sachar is going to go for her and I am having mixed feelings on The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl. While she is happy with the amount of new book series on the list I think we could have gone with a bit more of those and I actually had problems with finding some suggestions that were not part of a book series for the 2022. list. Because of this I was very straight forward with deciding to continue reading the sequels on some of the books that are part of a book series while Vivone was much more reserved and will have to see how the continuation will reflect on her reading plans trough the year.

January Book Wrap Up 2021

Monthly reading review – January 2021

This January I have read:

Elminster: The Making of a Mage (Forgotten Realms: Elminster #1) by Ed Greenwood  ★★★★

Sucker Punch (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #27) by Laurell K. Hamilton ★★★

Vitez slavonske ravni by Marija Jurić Zagorka ★★★

Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin ★★★★

1. How many books have you read last month? Are you happy with the amount you read?

This year started depressingly slow and I had problems with finding the will to read anything. I have read three whole books and finished one I got left from Bookopoly TBR picks from December. This makes it 4 books finished and another 4 I started. I am not happy with the amount or the books I read…

2. What was the best of all the books you’ve read in January? Any scenes or characters that made a lasting impression?

The book that made my reading experience more livelier in January was Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin. It was a 500+ pages long book I finished off in about three days as opposed to some other books I’m dragging on for weeks and months now. I connected with the drama and the tragic quality of the characters in Serpent & Dove and would like to continue the series sometime this year.

3. Were there any not so good books for you last month? What made it hard or not enjoyable to read?

I had really high hopes for Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) by Laurell K. Hamilton and in most ways it let me down. I built my own high expectations for it and needed it to be that good. After it fell flat I kinda lost most of my drive for reading. Next book I read after it I dragged on for almost two weeks. I missed the excitement of picking up a book to read and diving into it.

4. How did the books you were reading last month fit in your reading plans if you had any?

I had humble plans for January from the start. After reading thirteen books in December I knew I needed a bit of a break to slow down my pace. I went with only five books for Bookopoly TBR game and did not manage to finish even those. I finished one book I got left over from December, read another three for Bookopoly TBR and got stuck on the fourth book. I got one book I did not even start at all. All my reading was planned and I find it telling that I did not even got to read anything interesting beside those books I set out.

5. Any updates on the series you are reading or are you starting any new series?

Elminster and Serpent & Dove were technically first books of two new series. I got up to date with Anita Blake the Vampire Hunter series by reading Sucker Punch – the book 27! The book I started on this month Master of Chains (Forgotten Realms: The Fighters #1) by Jess Lebow is also first book of a series which makes a lot of new book series for a really slow reading month!

6. Would you like to recommend any books or authors you’ve been reading this last month?

My recommendation from January is just to keep reading and finish books in general. My score sheet for January left me with four books finished and another four I started and did not finish. This is starting to frustrate me and I need to clear my reading pile soon!

Final thoughts on January 2021 reading

I tried out some new authors for me and the results were warried. At one point I even got to the dazzling revelation that I don’t like books without emotional conflicts, love or sex in them. Without those I just can’t seem to keep my interest for the book. I have been toying around with reading only romance books for the whole month or even a year to see how would that work out! Right now I am left with battling to do just that or to take a whole month off any new book and just finish off all the books I am in the middle of reading.

To give myself some books to indulge into or to work trough the books I have already started and feel like a chore that needs to be finished?

Here are the books I have started at some point and are still going as “in the middle of reading“:

Master of Chains (Forgotten Realms: The Fighters #1) by Jess Lebow

Started it out this month. It has been on my shelf for over a decade. Also have two another from the series. I don’t seem that inspired with the plot but the reading is going better than expected – I am about 1/4 in.

Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons by Andy Collins, Skip Williams, James Wyatt

Started it in August last year for the N.E.W.T.s Magical Readathon. I did not expect to take so much time to read it trough. It is not a novel but a guide supplement for Dungeon and Dragons players I have had for over fifteen years. It is large in format and has many details that players of the game might want to read trough. The illustrations are very nice and detailed. I have been reading it on and off since August and I am not even halfway trough!

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

I started this book courageously for my birthday last year – July 2020. Since then I picked it up a few times out of guilt since it was one of the books I was planning to read last year for my personal reading challenge. I decided to postpone reading it in favor of some other books and challenges since it is a probably the longest book I have read in years if ever! From 1055 pages I am on 295 currently! The weird thing is I find the book interesting and easy to read considering the style and the adventure theme. The sheer number of pages and the weight of it in my hands while I am reading it and holding it feels oppressive.

MOR – Plodovi osvete by Josip Kralik

I barely started this book in December since it was another book from my personal challenge list for 2020. I read the first chapter and left it at that. I am not sure what to expect from it still. It is a new author that works in a local history museum. The thing that drew me in was a dark fantasy story set in my hometown.

There is also one more book I was supposed to read this January that I did not even get to:

The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice

There are some ideas and fantasies I have about myself as a reader. One of them includes reading the classics of the urban fantasy genre and Anne Rice is on top of that list for sure. I remember having problems with reading the first book of The Vampire Chronicles series – I dragged it on for months and months unable to finish it and unable to separate the book from the movie which I have watched a lot of times. I am worried that this will happen again with the second book. I have a big collection of books by Anne Rice and from the seventeen books I own from Anne Rice I have read only one! The book series are all over the place and I should probably write a guide on the order of reading them…

Bookopoly TBR game – January 2021

I am making this post a little later than usual because I wanted to finish one book I had leftover from December. The rolls for January were made well back in December sometime after Christmas to have enough time to pick my books. As it turned out I have already read one of the books from this list this month and am choosing which I will read next. So without further babble from me here are the rolls and the books I picked for my Bookopoly reading challenge this January:

The first roll for January was an eight and it landed me on a 5 Star Prediction tile for the first time ever! I was debating for a book to choose for this and decided to go with the book that I am most excited to read and really want to love: Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) by Laurell K. Hamilton. I am very fond of the Anita Blake book series and sometimes I even feel it to be a lifeline of a sort trough some tough times. I pushed reading this book in digital form since the mass market paperback is not out yet and the next book of the series comes out in paperback next month and I already preordered it!

Prompt: 5 Star Prediction

Book: Sucker Punch (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #27) by Laurell K. Hamilton

My second roll got me to a Chance card spot. This time the book on the card was: The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice. I had so much issues with reading the first book of the series and a lot of problems to stop imagining movie version of characters and parts of the plot. The book is a different medium and I hope I will have less problems with this book. The first book took me months to read trough and I would like to avoid the repeat of that as well.

Prompt: Chance card

Book: The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles #2) by Anne Rice

Third roll got me another six and landed me on Community shelf tile. The card I got said: Historical romance and that even made me a bit happy. I picked out a book from my TBR that would fit this prompt perfectly but then I changed my mind on it to accommodate a book my book club choose for February: Vitez slavonske ravni by Marija Jurić Zagorka. It is a historical adventure and romance book by one of the most popular Croatian female writers and a first Croatian female journalist. I have never read anything by her before and she is well beloved author.

Prompt: Community shelf

Book: Vitez slavonske ravni by Marija Jurić Zagorka

Next roll got me another Chance card tile! I am running out of these even faster than anticipated and after a careful review of the cards I got left I realized I got four left out of starting sixteen. some of the book on the cards I read already as a part of some other challenges and had to take them out as well. I decided that I will be adding more books after I finish all that are left. The book I got this time is : Master of Chains (Forgotten Realms: The Fighters #1) by Jess Lebow. This is one of the books I have for a very long time and I am glad to have a reason to pick it up.

Prompt: Chance card

Book: Master of Chains (Forgotten Realms: The Fighters #1) by Jess Lebow

And since I did not roll any doubles this time my fifth and last roll for this month was an eleven and got me a prompt I have already been on: Young Adult. I had to actually stop and think carefully about the options I have on my own shelves. I am not really into Young Adult book that much and with a few notable exceptions from last year I had to carefully choose among the books I own. In the end I decided on one of the last books I bought: Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin. This one is a buddy read with a friend this month so we will see how we both like it.

Prompt: Young Adult

Book: Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin

New Books – October 2020 Book Haul

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This year for our anniversary my boyfriend got me a pile of books I had on my wishlist on Book Depository! I got seven books I really wanted and they have been arriving in little packages for the whole month of October!

Besieged (The Iron Druid Chronicles) by Kevin Hearne

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This is a short story collection from the world of Iron Druid Chronicles. This is one of the urban fantasy book series I used to read with my boyfriend. This is actually a second time I got this book! First time I ordered it I forgot to pay attention to the publisher and size and I ordered the wrong edition… I got two book from the series in wrong edition… It bugged me so much I stopped reading the series altogether and even the sight of the books on the shelves annoyed me. I hope I corrected this now and will be back to this entertaining urban fantasy book series I used to love so much!

Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove #1) by Shelby Mahurin

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This is the first book of a new book series! I got intrigued by reviews and it seemed like a story I would enjoy reading. Lately I have been buying more books in hardcover and I decided to get this on in hardcover right away as well. I was surprised by the format though. It is smaller than the usual hardcover format. The cover is quite eye catching and this is another book on my bookshelf that features a snake on the cover!

Kitchen Princess Omnibus Vol. 4 ( Kitchen Princess #8-10 ) by Natsumi Andō, Miyuki Kobayashi

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This is a manga series I got into a years ago. Since it is an older manga series it has become almost impossible to find single volume editions! I decided to get omnibus editions since I loved it so much and wanted to have them. For a manga series this one is actually quite short and has only ten volumes. This fourth and last omnibus collects last three volumes and is the final one. I look forward to reading this manga and especially the recipes after each volume!

The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo Book 5) by Rick Riordan

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The Tower of Nero is the last book of the Percy Jackson universe and last in The Trials of Apollo series. I am slightly behind on my reading of the series but hope to catch up by the end of the year. I love the shiny and expressive covers and just seeing them on my shelves bring me joy. This last book only came out in October and was the last one to arrive!

Six of Crows Collector’s Edition by Leigh Bardugo

Crooked Kingdom Collector’s Edition by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone Collector’s Edition by Leigh Bardugo

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Leigh Bardugo books are some of the most beautiful books I ever owned! Even the paperback editions I have are amazing and special. I love when the publishers decide to go that little extra way and include maps, different font, illustrations and bonus content! These editions have been on my wish list for a while now and I am so glad I finally got them. I thought I would be more upset for the lack of dust jacked and just naked hardcover editions but considering how pretty these are I don’t mind at all! The last one Shadow and Bone has come out in October and was supposed to be a promotion for the upcoming Netflix show. I can hardly wait for the show and will continue to get the rest of the trilogy books once they come out.