I’ve been in the process of organizing my bookcases. It’s a large task, as I haven’t really organized it since we moved into our apartment back in September/October. I only had a few days to really get everything somewhat set up, as we had furniture to build and boxes to pack away, so I ended up pretty much throwing most of my books on shelves and calling it a day. As of now, I’m about halfway organizing, which has been made difficult because I’ve become a book collector.
When everything started to go downhill in January/February in the US, I started buying books. I had a thought that I may end up stuck at home, and I wanted some written entertainment that wasn’t on a digital screen. By the time I counted up the list, it was long. Most are books that I had wanted to read for years, some were ones that were new, and a few were rebuys from my list of books I gave away before the move in November 2018.
Manga and Light Novels
I have been reading manga since the end of middle school or beginning of high school. There was a time I didn’t dare go in that direction of the bookstore (re: senior year of college and two years following), mostly because I was made to feel… almost embarrassed about my love of Japan, anime and manga. Of course, I got over it, and now I’m back to loving what I love.
Knowing that I was going to want to read something I would end up enjoying, I jumped into Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, which is a manga retelling of the game by the same name. I have a special place in my heart for SAO, regardless of what everyone else says. I also caught up on the light novels (17-19), which I actually read. It’s fun comparing the LNs to the show, which is doing a decent job of vegetable-Kirito…
I also started three new series on a bit of a whim, which are the first new series since I fell for SAO. Bloom into You is a light yuri manga with a total of eight volumes, seven that have been currently released. I’ve been enjoying reading something that years ago I would have been scared to even touch in my household. Thankfully things are better. I also went ahead and started a three volume series called Our Wonderful Life, which is another yuri manga that follows four people and I really enjoy every page. Not Your Idol is more of a thriller/mystery. The first volume kept my interest enough to want to continue onto the second volume, which releases in September, I believe.
Series and Collections
I try to be a smart buyer, so I try to get box sets when I can. I came across the first three books for the A Twisted Tale series, which are different takes on the classic Disney stories. Those novels are As Old As Time (Beauty and the Beast), Once Upon a Dream (Sleeping Beauty), and A Whole New World (Aladdin). I also got my hands onto another book in the series, titled Reflection, based on Mulan.
I took the time to repurchase a couple series I had sold before I moved. I was able to get the Hunger Games trilogy ahead of Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (more on that book later), though I ended up giving the trilogy to my cousin later on. I also went ahead and repurchased the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, as well as finally buying the Heroes of Olympus series and the first three volumes of the Trials of Apollo. I went ahead and grabbed those when I found out that the final book in the Apollo series is set to pause or end the series apparently.
As for other books, I picked up the Shadow and Bone series, as well as Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, all by Leigh Bardugo. So many people have recommended them, as well as the Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater. Because of the BBC and HBO series, I also picked up another set of the His Dark Materials series. I didn’t want to really touch my really nice set that was given to me by a couple of the residents at my old job before I moved to California.
The last series I got was actually me completing a series, or at least filling in some gaps. I picked up The Shadowhunter’s Codex, Ghosts of the Shadow Market and Chain of Gold all by Cassandra Clare. It’s been years since I started this series, but it has a special place in my heart. I’m planning on rereading the series around October-November I think.
YA Book Club Reads
Back in August of last year, I joined the Barnes and Noble YA Book Club, as hosted at my local B&N. Since then, I’ve bought and read most of the books, baring two because they happened to be historical fiction, which is beyond not my genre.
The three books that I was really excited to read were Most Likely by Sarah Watson (April 2020), The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (June 2020), and I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick (July 2020). Also, I just ordered next month’s pick, Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon.
I gave They Went Left by Monica Hesse a chance, but it was historical fiction and that just doesn’t work for me. But I did try it. But I guess May just wasn’t my month, because the other book that was announced as a bonus was The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins, which is on my “most disappointing” list.
Other Pick Ups
This post isn’t going to cover every novel I picked up, mostly because this would be a novel in of itself. Before Book Outlet became bookshop-non-grata, I had two big orders come in, mostly filling holes in my collection. A couple highlights included The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James, which is a fun little novel, and The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour, who wrote the beautiful novel We Are Okay.
I went ahead and got Aurora Rising and Aurora Burning by Aime Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, mostly because I loved the Illuminae Cycle.
Besides a host of ransom novels that I grabbed for various reasons, the only other big “book” purchases were not actually novels at all. Thanks to the quarantine, I ended up playing the heck out of Animal Crossing and Pokemon Shield. I picked up the guidebooks for both games. Why the guides? When I was growing up, I would always buy the guide for games. This was before walkthroughs and guides were readily available on the internet. I still get them for two reasons. The memories… and I’m a completionist so I use the guides to make sure I’m getting everything.
In conclusion..
Like I said at the top, I ended up “stocking up” as it were almost as soon as the world started getting crazy. Some were books to fill gaps, others were series that I never touched but everyone says to read, and still others were impulse buys. Some are brand new novels, others were released 10+ years ago.
All told, 100 books and manga have been added to my bookshelves since January. It seems like a lot (and it is), but I am reading through everything slowly. There’s so much that I ended up missing due to college or my old jobs. I’ve been taking the time to really get back to
I guess the only thing I have point out is this is only my physical reads. I’m not much of an ebook reader, but I have picked up a few since all this has started. Maybe I’ll expand on those one of these days.
Until next time!