Narnia Bloggin': 2 Narnia books I've added to my collection, and 1 I didn't

previously in this series: The Curious Case of the Odd Omnibus

Following my (oft ignored) rule of posting a new Narnia Bloggin' post after every five posts. 

I went to my local Savers thrift store (dangerous) because I had been emailed a coupon for 30% off books & media (very dangerous), and I have no self control. I found a lot of great books, not least of which were two The Chronicles of Narnia (TCON) copies that I was staggered to find!

Remember me mentioning that Cliff Neilsen updated his digital art TCON covers? I had tentatively thought about collecting them when they eventually turn up in thrift stores etc. in the future, but I never thought I'd find one so soon! These literally just came out last year, and I found The Magician's Nephew (MN) with the new cover showing Polly coming up out of the pond! I like this cover a lot better than the old one, which looked too science fiction-y and scary. The new cover art is more whimsical and fantastical. My only quibble is that I like the position and look of the rings in the old cover better; they don't look as good flattened like that. Also some internet commenter said the 3 rings like that look like a Mickey head, and I can't unsee it. I wish Neilsen had just done 2 rings, 1 yellow and 1 green, interlocking; 3 makes no sense, as only 2 rings per child are used in the book. You can see the comparison of the old and new covers here.

 

Pretty decent summary, although my inner pedant doesn't like the inaccuracies (Polly was tricked into touching a magical ring which sent her elsewhere, and Digory was forced to go after her to bring her back. This summary is inferring that both kids went on "a daring quest to save a life".) Anyway.

When I went to put MN with the other Cliff Neilsen TCON copies I own, I found that I don't actually have the old MN cover, so it's good I bought this one! For some reason I thought I had them all. I think that if I come across the old MN cover, I may buy it just to have the entire original Cliff Neilsen digital art covers for TCON. It would have to be cheap but in a good condition, though. IDK. I def will buy the rest of the new cover art copies as I come across them in thrift stores and whatnot. 

 

In my more cover art for TCON blog post, I had shared pretty covers for TCON that I do not own. Halfway between the last 2 big images, I wrote:

I found some pretty medieval-inspired covers that I like a lot, via the C.S. Lewis editions website. To see the other TCON books' covers in that series, click on each book in the main TCON editions webpage. I would def buy these if I saw them at the thrift store etc. in good condition. I love medieval/renaissance-inspired art.  

I never really thought I would come across one of these at my thrift store, as I don't think they were published in the US (the UK, maybe?). But lo and behold, there was The Last Battle (LB) with its beautiful medieval illuminated manuscripts-inspired border and illustrated capitals spelling out NARNIA! This TCON series was published by Lions of HarperCollins in Glasgow, Scotland (I was right!); there seem to have been a couple of variants of these covers, as some of them were tie-ins with the BBC TCON miniseries from the eighties (just the books that the miniseries adapted: LWW, PC, & VotDT). In looking at the other TCON titles in this covers series, it looks like the illustrated borders are the same for all the books, and only the inside illustration changes for each book. 

It's so beautiful. I'm so happy :) This back of book summary is accurate, I feel. 

 

I did not end up buying and keeping a deluxe edition TCON omnibus after all, as the ones I looked at were all lightly damaged in some way and/or had very uneven page edges, unforgivable for such an expensive deluxe special edition with such pretty painted edges. I realize I hadn't really specified whether I kept the copy I exchanged or not, in that blog post. They all went back. I'll keep an eye out at bookstores for an undamaged copy with even, flat fore edges, but it's not a priority. Ah well. :/

March reads: Trans Rights Readathon books

The Trans Rights Readathon is March 17-31, and I've tried to read at least a couple of books for it each year ever since I heard about it. There's a bingo with prompts you can follow, but I didn't really look at them. Here are my TRR books for this year. Still no cover images as Google/Blogger continues to be stupid and act like they can't add cover by url when they could just fine last month.

 

George/Melissa by Alex Gino - earlier middle grade, thrifted paperback. Own Voices (trans author)

George is a closeted trans girl who hates when people refer to her as a boy. Her fourth grade class has read and is putting on a play of Charlotte's Web, and George desperately wants to be Charlotte—but only girls can try out for the part. The way George is able to be true to herself and come out to the people closest to her as Melissa made me so happy! I used both her names in my review as the book refers to her as George for most of it; the book was originally titled George (as my copy is), but it has recently been re-released with the title Melissa. TW for transphobia (including from Melissa's mother, who eventually comes around), dysphoria, bullying, and sexism/gender roles stuff. ★★★★

Both Can Be True by Jules Machias - later middle grade, thrifted paperback. Own Voices (trans author)

Ash has recently had to switch schools after getting bullied for being genderqueer. They're in girl mode but feel nervous about their impending boy mode: will people understand and accept them? Is their dad right about how they should pick a side? Daniel is dealing with his parents' separation and criticism from his family for being an overly emotional boy who cries at everything. He impulsively steals a dog that was supposed to be put down at the vet's office where he volunteers and turns to his photography class classmate, Ash, for help taking care of the dog and finding it a home. The 13 year olds like-like each other, but as Ash drifts into boy mode, will Daniel still like them? I felt for and rooted for these kids, and was so happy for them as they learned to embrace the things other people criticized them for. I wish I could punch Ash's dad, though. TW for transphobia, bullying (including physical), dysphoria, terrible parents, sick animals, animal death mentions, and sexism/gender roles stuff. ★★★★

 

Julián Is a Mermaid by and illustrated by Jessica Love - picture book borrowed from my library

I was at work thinking about what to read next for the TRR, and remembered my work library has this picture book (I had previously used it in a book display for Latine Heritage Month). Julián is a small child (fiveish?) who goes with their abuela on the subway and sees some women dressed up as mermaids. They imagine themselves being underwater with colorful fish as a beautiful mermaid with long hair. At home, they grab things from around the house to dress up, and tell their abuela, "I am a mermaid!" She gives Julián a necklace for their costume and takes them to the ocean-themed parade, where they march among the other mermaids and sea creatures. This book has lovely, colorful art and Afrolatine rep. I was happy that Abuela accepted Julián, but found it hard to believe that a latina abuela wouldn't lecture their grandchild about making a mess in the house, especially ripping the fronds out of a fern and pulling a curtain down (maybe it happened off-page lol). Given the art, Julián seems like a trans girl to me, although no terminology is used; I've used they/them pronouns for this reason. I'm not sure if this book is OwnVoices, as there is little personal information in the author's bio. ★★★★

March reads: series books

Wow it's been so long since I wrote any book reviews lol. 

I was able to read these ebooks via the Libby app and my public library. No cover images as Blogger's insert image by url tool is refusing to work. DM me for trigger warnings. 

Tough Guy (Game Changer #3) by Rachel Reid

 Ryan is the enforcer on his and Scott's (from Game Changer, book 1 of the series) hockey team, which means he has to fight and physically keep other hockey players away from the scorers. It is wild to me that these professional athletes are actually expected to straight-up punch each other?! Ryan has near-debilitating anxiety, especially on planes. He happens to run into Fabian, an out and proud, femme musician whose family Ryan lived with for a while as a teen for hockey reasons, and they reconnect. They're attracted to each other, and it turns out they both had crushes on the other when they were teens. They start dating, but Fabian hates hockey and the fact that Ryan has to fight for a living and wants him to quit. Ryan also has to deal with his homophobic teammates/hockey culture and injuries on top of the anxiety. I enjoyed this book, although it bothered me that Fabian was pressuring Ryan to quit his whole career just because he didn't like the idea of him fighting, which is basically his whole job. And they'd only been dating like a couple of weeks at this point!  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

 

The Man Who Died Twice (The Thursday Murder Club #2) by Richard Osman

I adored the first book in this series, and was chuffed to borrow this and the next book via Libby. Someone from Elizabeth's past shows up and asks her for help: he is accused of having stolen diamonds from a dangerous man who was holding them for the American mafia, and they're both out for his blood. Ibrahim was attacked and mugged (he's ok!! considering), and the Thursday Murder Club (and everyone who knows them) is plotting revenge. The TMC's favorite police duo are having trouble closing in on a local drug kingpin (queenpin?). Bodies start piling up, and where could those diamonds be? The way all of these plots weave together is excellent, and I couldn't put this down.  ★★★★ 

 

The Bullet That Missed (The Thursday Murder Club #3) by Richard Osman

Shockingly, the third book in this series was available right away in Libby. The Thursday Murder Club are focusing on a decade-old cold case: the murder of a young journalist who was about to blow a big corruption case wide open. Elizabeth is kidnapped and blackmailed by an dangerous man: she must kill the former head of the KGB, or Joyce will be killed. The TMC meets television personalities, acquire an adorable dog, dig up clues (well, the police do; the TMC are septuagenarians), and make new, dangerous friends. I also couldn't put this down, although reading both TMC books back to back means I keep confusing which plot points belong to which book.  ★★★★

 

Common Goal  (Game Changer #4) by Rachel Reid

Recently divorced Eric is the oldest player on his and Scott's hockey team, and is contemplating both retiring and dating men for the first time (he's bi). 25 year old Kyle works and is friends with Kip (you'll recall Kip and Scott got together in the first book, Game Changers; now they're engaged!); they meet at the gay bar where K&K work and are instantly attracted to each other, and Kyle offers Eric gay lessons 👀 It's supposed to be temporary and no strings attached, as they both consider the age gap between them to disqualify them from dating... but the heart wants what it wants. I enjoyed this, although the big issue is just solved by them deciding they don't care about the age gap since they're love (they're still 16 years apart, lol). It's like, what was the point of all the angst and drama, then? Also I hate Reid's choice of short K names. Kip is bad enough, but what 25 year old is named Kyle?  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶

Book review: A Chance at Love by Beverly Jenkins

Loreli Winters never imagined she'd end up a "mail-order bride" in middle-of-nowhere Kansas -- until the two adorable orphan nieces of a dusky dream named Jake Reed beg her to be their new "mama." And one look at the dark, devastatingly handsome man is enough to entice her to abandon her California plans and stay put for a while in this one-horse frontier town.

Strong, sensible Jake was hoping for a wife to help him raise his girls, but Loreli may be more than he can handle. He can't stop wondering what it would be like to hold the fiery enchantress close and kiss her deeply. Surely he could never compete with the sophisticated gents she has known, yet he intends to try. But will his honest passion be enough to take a chance on a long-shot called love?

This was another ebook downloaded during the shocking B&N free ebook dump of last year. I had read of Beverly Jenkins, an iconic Black historical romance novel author, in an article about the historical romance genre, so I was pleased to nab this book. I read it in late February for Black History Month. 

Loreli is your typical Headstrong Tempestuous Heroine™ who is independent and doesn't need a man. She's stunningly gorgeous and turns heads wherever she goes, all the men want her, etc. Jake is your typical Good Steady Man hero who is also kind of a stick in the mud and Disapproves of the heroine's behavior. Loreli ends up in this farming community (which sounds like it's mostly Black?) because the train she's on took mail-order brides there (she decidedly isn't one but is happy for the women she befriended, who've all made good matches). She plans to go on to California for the adventure but then meets two adorable 9 year old twin girls who ask her to be their mama. They're orphaned and being raised by their single uncle Jake, a hog farmer-slash-unofficial vet who is single and gorgeous. 

Loreli has no plans of being tied down, but the adorable girls win her heart. Jake doesn't think Loreli is wife material (she makes her living by gambling and wears flashy fashions, plus the headstrong thing), but the girls love her and they really do need a mama. Loreli and Jake agree to marry and mother for a year, until he finds a more suitable wife. What with divorce not being a thing, I don't know why they thought getting married would be a good idea if it was only supposed to be temporary, but whatever. L&J are super attracted to each other (Loreli is the experienced one, while Jake has never been with a woman). They learn about and start to respect each other, reluctantly falling in love as their arrangement is supposed to be temporary and love isn't supposed to come into it. Then disaster strikes on their wedding day...

The story and characters are tropey, but I liked this book. It's a very solid example of its genre and achieves what it sets out to do. I liked that Loreli is 35 and Jake is perhaps a little younger; it's a nice change from the "18 year old girl + mid-thirties man" pairing you get a lot in this genre (looking at you, Georgette Heyer). Both characters are settled into who they are, but they help each other grow. Jenkins is a skilled writer and I'd definitely read more by her. A friend who read a different BJ book told me she was a librarian, so that's probably why she's such a good writer. Her setting felt researched and rooted in history. Jake is a union man, and has to deal with both political parties giving African Americans the runaround despite promises made during/right after the Civil War (this book is set in 1884). Jenkins includes some of the history she mentions in the story in her author's note, as well as suggested sources for further reading on the topic of labor unions and African Americans. Love that! Hell yeah unions and librarians. 

Overall, this is a good, interesting and steamy historical romance novel about two people learning to parent and overcome their childhood wounds. I recommend it for anyone who likes this genre. 

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶
Read in: February 25
From: B&N Nook

Genres/classification: historical romance

Representation: African American/Black, poor, Loreli is biracial (Black and white), rural Midwestern; Black female author

Tropes (spoiler-y): that thing I already mentioned where she's headstrong and tempestuous and he's like >:( about it, opposites attract, experienced heroine, virgin hero; one of them's uninhibited about sex and the other's repressed, good man who keeps his word (she finds that hot), marriage of convenience, "it's only a temporary arrangement", catching feelings during a practical arrangement, instant family (kinda), "I'm just here for the children", that Maria/Captain Von Trapp vibe. you know what I mean, "I can't fall in love with them because this is a temporary arrangement/he's going to find someone else", this house needs a woman's touch, that thing where a rich person solves everyone else's problems with money, someone from a character's past appears, someone objects during the wedding after "speak now or forever hold your peace", "I must leave in order to protect those I love, because while I'm with them, they're in danger", surprise pregnancy trope. This pairing has Taming of the Shrew vibes but luckily she's never tamed, he just gets over himself and goes along with her

Trigger warnings: racism, murder, kidnapping, sex shaming/whorephobia, a character was raped as a young teen (past, not described), extortion/ransom, past parent death, trauma, a character has a phobia of horses due to seeing someone be killed by a horse, an adult verbally abuses children and threatens them with corporal/physical punishment, sexism, terrible judgy pastor, religious abuse, past financial abuse if you squint, infidelity mentions, betrayal, corruption

Book review: Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston brings us Black America’s folklore as only she can, putting the oral history on the written page with grace and understanding. This new edition of Mules and Men features a new cover and a P.S. section which includes insights, interviews, and more.

For the student of cultural history, Mules and Men is a treasury of Black America’s folklore as collected by Zora Neale Hurston, the storyteller and anthropologist who grew up hearing the songs and sermons, sayings and tall tales that have formed and oral history of the South since the time of slavery. Set intimately within the social context of Black life, the stories, “big old lies,” songs, voodoo customs, and superstitions recorded in these pages capture the imagination and bring back to life the humor and wisdom that is the unique heritage of Black Americans. 

I had downloaded Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston last year when Barnes & Noble decided to drop a staggering amount of legit, popular free ebooks. I loved Hurston's writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God, and I'm always interested in folklore, so this was a no-brainer. I read this book for Black History Month, reading it slowly during my family's Mexico trip.

I was sort of expecting a straightforward telling of the folklore tales, like in Cuentos: Tales from the Hispanic Southwest, but the book is actually Hurston's account of her sponsored travels to Florida and Louisiana to collect the folklore and hoodoo knowledge. She relates how she goes back home (she'd been up north for college) to her hometown and then other Florida cities' African American communities, and the parties and get-togethers where the tales and 'lies' are told and songs are sung. I do think keeping the conversations and activity details was a good idea, as it keeps the context the stories were told in. The tone is narrative and casual rather than scholarly, as one might expect from a work of anthropology. There are footnotes for many (not all) of the slang and dialect terms and names, and glossaries in the back; it was very tedious to tap on the hypertext footnote numbers (I usually had to blow up the text size) and then tap back. This is the ebook formatting's fault, though, obviously. 

The folklore tales include stories of how things came to be (e.g. why cats and dogs don't get along), stories from slavery times, and more mythological stories involving God, the devil, angels, etc. Many stories are about an everyman named John who often outsmarts the slavemaster or the devil, but not always. The overall vibe is that these stories aren't true, but they're entertaining (even when things don't end happily for the characters). 'Lies' are things like, "I heard about land so fertile that when the farmer buried a dead donkey, a new one grew up out of the ground." These are often told by different people in quick succession on the same theme, to one-up each other and make everyone laugh. 

The speech is written in dialect, which is a bit difficult to read. How much you'll understand depends on what you know, as, as I mentioned, not all of the slang and dialect terms are translated in footnotes. It took me a second to realize that 'pail' in a food context meant a lunchpail, i.e., the lunch you pack to take to work or school. The term jookhouse* is never explained to my satisfaction; it's maybe like a brothel and a party house where jazz is played and dances are held all at once. The ballad of John Henry is given in full in the back of the book, but not the children's play songs. Sometimes historians omit things because they think they're common knowledge, and then future readers/scholars don't know what they are. :/

Hurston then goes to Louisiana to study hoodoo (also known, incorrectly, as voodoo) practices. She is initiated by and becomes an acolyte to at least three different hoodoo practitioners. This part took me longer to read because it freaked me out and I didn't want to read it at night (I'm a wuss when it comes to scary stuff). Besides being scared, I didn't like this part so much because some of the hoodoo practices involved killing animals in what felt like cruel ways (boiling or burying a cat alive, etc.). I thought it was kind of odd that Hurston begs her friends not to kill a venomous snake they find sleeping in her room when she's in Florida, sparing its life, but she's fine with the hoodoo animal sacrifices when those animals weren't a danger to anyone. There are lists of hoodoo practices and tools/ingredients in the back of the book. The ceremonies she observes and participates in are shared in detail, which I think is rather irresponsible (one is to bring about someone's death). Did the hoodoo practitioners, and their customers, know Hurston was going to write and share all of what they did and how they did it? Hurston says that hoodoo's whole thing is secrecy, then she shares all the secrets she learns. Ah well. 

Overall, this was a very interesting book. Hurston is an engaging and talented writer, and I enjoyed reading about her experiences. 

Score: ★★★.75 out of 5 stars (StoryGraph has opened my mind to the concept of quarter stars)
Read in: February 8-16
From: Barnes & Noble Nook

Genres/classification: nonfiction, folklore, fables, travelogue

Representation: African American/Black, poor, Southeastern American; Black female author

Trigger warnings: racism, slavery, beatings mentions, animal murder, animal cruelty, frequent period-typical N-word usage, sexism/misogynoir, violence, guns I think, alcohol

*had a sudden lightbulb moment and realized that this probably has the same root word as jukebox! See the Wikipedia entry's second paragraph. 

January books

The first two books I read in January were picture books, which I decided to count in my reading log spreadsheet (adapted from BookRiot's; it is last year's so I had to change the dates etc.) but not in my StoryGraph (follow/friend me!). I bought both of them during Barnes & Noble's half-off books sale in late December. 

A Piñata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas by Pat Mora, illustrated by Magaly Morales 

This is a cute latine take on the Twelve Days of Christmas song, with stuff like tamalitos and farolitos taking the place of the birds and people of various professions in the original song. Pat Mora has written tons of Hispanic books for children and is very influential in the field, while the artist's first name is the same as one of my relatives. Behind the little girl cavorting with her stuff, we see her parents prepare, greet the visiting abuelita, leave (abuelita is babysitting), and come back with the final Christmas gift: a new baby sibling. Very cute, although the Spanglish may bother some (i.e. my dad and by extension me). I do recommend this. ★★★★½

Jan Brett's The Nutcracker, written and illustrated by Jan Brett

Jan Brett has been known for decades for her beautifully illustrated, richly detailed children's books. I was given her The Twelve Days of Christmas mini picture book in kindergarten by my teacher as a Christmas gift and reread it every year. This one is similarly lovely; I love the details of animals playing musical instruments on each page. I also recommend this one. ★★★★½

 

It feels like everyone I follow/whose posts I'm forced to view despite not following them online is obsessed with the TV show Heated Rivalry. I am not immune to FOMO; I would have watched it, but my brother cancelled his HBO Max account. 😢 The next best thing? The books the show is based on. As a stickler for series book order, I read Game Changer, the first book in the series, then Heated Rivalry, the second, through my public library and Libby (both ebooks). 

 

Game Changer by Rachel Reid

This is a famous athlete x normal person romance, where the famous athlete is a professional hockey player named Scott and the normal person is a service worker named Kip. They meet-cute at the smoothie shop Kip works at; after drinking Kip's recommended blueberry smoothie, Scott breaks his losing streak, to everyone's delight. Obviously that means he has to keep coming back before every game to buy another blueberry smoothie--just to keep winning games, definitely not to see the cute smoothie barista... Kip and Scott fall in love, but being famous in a bro-y sport means Scott is closeted, and Kip isn't sure being back in the closet is worth it. I liked this book a lot and found it both sweet and spicy. The characters' issues with self-worth and being in the closet felt realistic, and I rooted for things to work out for them. ★★★★ 🌶🌶🌶🌶

 

Heated Rivalry (Game Changer #2) by Rachel Reid

Reid's mlm hockey series seems to be loosely interconnected, and you don't really have to read GC first or else you're lost (although it does provide nice background context for That One Scene that Scott & Kip show up in). Shane is a Canadian good boy and does everything by the book; Ilya is a Russian bad boy and is always up in everyone's faces being a jerk. As the two best players in the entire hockey league, they have been in a ~heated rivalry~ since their rookie seasons--and have been secretly hooking up since then. I want to say this book takes place over 10 years? They wish they could quit each other (Brokeback Mountain reference) but can't. Can they open their hearts to love and be themselves without sacrificing the sport they love? I also liked this book a lot and recommend it to fans of the "rivals to lovers" trope. ★★★★ 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Weirdly enough, I was on the waiting list for a couple of weeks for the first book (which I expected), was shockingly able to read Heated Rivalry immediately with no wait, and am now on the waiting list for the third book... which is over 10 weeks long. Why.

The final ebook in S.T. Lynn's Black trans fairytales series became free last month, and I happily snapped it up. I enjoyed Lynn's takes on The Little Mermaid and Cinderella and was really looking forward to this one, as Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairytales. Beauty's Beast is very similar to most BatB takes that I've read; like Mer Made, it's based on the Disney movie (the servants were enchanted into furniture/furnishings). The Beast has antlers and communicates using sign language, which I thought was interesting. This novella is quite short, and I wished for more character development (especially for the relationship between Beauty and the Beast), but I liked the world the writer created. Their relationship felt more like friendship than romance, which is not IMO a bad thing. There were some writing issues and errors (I swear STL made Gaston blond in their book, but in his last description he has black hair??), which took me out of the story. Ultimately I did enjoy this, but the errors made me glad I waited to get this when it was free. There is a little transphobia, and some violence and blood/wounds. ★★★½ 

I bought two books from my friends at Something Novel Books during their pop-up last month, and I shockingly (for me) read one of them within days of buying it! I had watched and enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club movie on Netflix (the cast is excellent, especially Helen Mirren), so I was excited to read the book. I enjoyed the book even more than the movie! Four senior citizens at an English retirement village that used to be a nunnery get together to solve cold case murders in the Thursday Murder Club. To their shock and excitement, they all of a sudden have 2 new (and 1 old) murders to solve! In the process of sleuthing, they uncover the secrets of some of their community members. There is a lot that happens in this book, and a lot to keep track of. We often spend a chapter in various characters' heads, but the story is mainly told from Joyce's diary entries and Elizabeth's perspective. This book is also deeply funny; I was chortling at the reference desk reading it. I loved all the main characters and can't wait to read the rest of the books! This book is a bit too sad and violent to truly count as cozy mystery, but it's pretty close. Trigger warnings for the usual things you expect in a murder mystery (murder, blood, violence, nice police characters, etc.) as well as suicide, grief, and slight xenophobia. ★★★★ 

Narnia Bloggin': The Curious Case of the Odd Omnibus

In my previous Narnia Bloggin' post, I talked myself into buying the $75 deluxe edition of The Chronicles of Narnia omnibus (7 books in 1). I had planned on getting it from Barnes & Noble as I had a $5 credit, but then my price comparison browser plugin alerted me that Amazon had it for $50.60! $25 off is nothing to sneeze at, so from Amazon I got it. 

It's beautiful, and looked just like the one I looked at in Barnes & Noble, except... the fore edges are not even. There are two furrows, one deep and one medium, and a few smaller shallow ones as well, instead of just a flat expanse of page edges like with most books. This matters because the page edges are painted, and the furrows make the design look bad! I have never seen a book with those kinds of page furrows. Additionally, the solid red top and bottom page edges have big white scratches or scuffs where the red has been scratched or scuffed off. 

Here is the Instagram video I made of the imperfections. 

 

You cannot tell how uneven this is from this picture. Trust me, you could tell in person.

Profile view of the uneven fore edge/page edges. The deepest furrow is on the right.

scratch, bottom of book

scuff, top of book. note the glued pages

I didn't think much of Amazon's packaging of my book; it was just in a box with a plastic large-bubble (the kind the size of 3x5 cards) sheet for padding and otherwise left loose to bang around inside the box with the other thing that was in there. Maybe that's where the scuffs came from? But there was one on each side (top and bottom) of the book...

Naturally I turned to the Amazon reviews. I did a search in the reviews with the keyword "deluxe". Four reviews turned up about the deluxe omnibus edition. Turns out, I'm not the only one disappointed in the quality of my omnibus. 

"See full review" just takes you to the specific webpage for the review. I promise all text is included

Worth noting that they no longer print books with non-acid-free paper; it's standard

I asked for an exchange, marking the copy I received as damaged. A new one arrived, and while it didn't have the scuffs/scratches my first copy did, this one had, if anything, even more uneven page edges with furrows. Also, the dust jacket had come off at some point and been folded down wrong and had its corners dog-eared. (I did not take any pictures.) Clearly, Amazon is able to sell this deluxe omnibus edition at such a low price (comparatively) because all of the copies are lightly damaged in some way. What a shame. I think I'm going to go back to my local Barnes & Noble and inspect their copy/ies in person, and if it looks ok, buy it for full price. Bookshop.org currently has the deluxe omnibus for $69.90 but I'm too afraid to chance it. Ah well. 

Tentative reading goals

As previously mentioned, my yearly reading goal is 50 books a year. I feel this is achievable as there are 52 weeks in the year, so that allows 2 non-reading weeks for reading slumps and busy times. The vague goal is 4 books a month. This has worked for me for the last several years; the knowledge that I need to be reading books every month in order to reach my goal keeps me going, while being flexible and allowing myself grace. 

I also usually have the goal of reading themed books during the different themed months and what not (queer books for Pride month, latine books during Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month, holiday books during the winter holidays, etc.) which I do sometimes end up doing.  

I am not someone who can set a To Be Read list with specific books and stick to it. (I actually had no idea that's what people were doing when they said TBR list; for ages I thought a TBR list was just a list of books you wanted to read at some point in the future.) I am very much a mood reader, and what with the probably-ADHD-thing, just knowing that I need to read something or should read something, that is enough to take away my desire to read it entirely. See what happened last Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month. My brain's mileage varies. 

That said, I have some tentative, loose reading goals. I really, really need to tackle the amount of unread books I own. At best guess, it is 435 (if I have indeed logged allll the books I physically own in my LibraryThing). I just keep buying books from the thrift store and Barnes & Noble and the dollar store etc. and not reading them. This is also not counting all of the hundreds of ebooks I've bought from/on Nook or Kindle or Apple books or Kobo. Your girl needs help. 

For the physical books: I'm thinking if I stick to one shelf from one of my bookcases, that will help make it feel manageable. Or possibly reading one book from each shelf so I don't feel constrained? There's a "10 Oldest TBR" reading challenge on StoryGraph (I joined StoryGraph! My username is mialro; friend me) that seems feasible; you just read the 10 oldest books you bought but haven't read.  The goal is to read through the unread books and get rid of the ones I don't love. At least two shelves from two of my bookcases are double-stacked. It's a problem. 

Getting rid of books I've decided not to keep: I'm going to create a google sheet to keep track of books I no longer want and am getting rid of, their titles and authors and conditions, etc., and reach out to my friends who own a bookstore to see if they'll be interested in buying them. If they are interested in  them, great; if not, I'll sell my unwanted books at my local Book Off. I really should have done that last year with the several boxes of books I unloaded at my work's library book sale, but oh well. 

For ebooks, I think it will be more manageable to tackle my smallest ebook library: Apple books. I think I only have about 20-30 ebooks on there; once I read them, I can delete them. My Nook and Kindle libraries are in the hundreds if not thousands. Maybe I'll organize my ebook libraries by genre etc. so I can find what I want to read more easily. 

Book purchases: I really should do a book buying ban, but let's be real: I'm not going to keep to that. I am going to try to stop buying books from big box stores and stick to just thrift stores, indie bookstores, and Dollar Tree. 

In terms of my loose but specific reading goals, I hope to read at least one of each of the following each month:

• a physical unread book that is sitting on my shelves
• reread an old favorite book or series
• read something by a BIPOC author
• read an ebook from Apple
• read something thematic (seasonal, themed day/week/month etc.)
• read a library book
• something that is not prose or a usual genre I read: poetry, comics/graphic novels, essays, short stories, etc.  

This list allows for double-dipping (or more) and is broad enough that I should be able to find something that applies. 

Other bookish goals: 

--be more active on Bookstagram. I did ok (it was a tough year) but could be doing more. I have some ideas for posts and should try doing more reels. I also need to interact more with the bookstagrammers I follow and who follow me and try to make more friends there.  

--I kind of want to join a bookclub. There's a Silent Book Club in my area that I might actually start going to one of these days. God knows I need to get out of the house more and make friends.

--I want to make the bottom bookshelf of my center rainbow bookshelf be rainbow as well. This will involve removing the larger books from the bottom shelves in order to make another rainbow of book spines on that shelf. I'm confident it can be done. Otherwise, my shelves don't need to be reorganized; I'm happy with them. 

Will I be able to stick to these goals? We'll see!