January 2019 Wrap Up

Happy New Year Readers!

Sorry to have been so MIA lately, honestly I'd love to say that I was holed up somewhere reading all the books, planning out reviews and read-a-longs, but I wasn't. I was dealing with grief, depression, holiday feels realness, and emotional stagnation. Thankfully, I'm coming out of that.

January has been a very bookish month for me. I've gotten through 12 reads, only one wasn't the best, and I'm 23% through my Goodreads challenge. Yes, this year I've only challenged myself to read 52 books, just one a week for 2019. Something I've noticed while reading my way through grief is that I will read a LOT, and listen to a LOT of audiobooks and podcasts as a way to avoid my emotions. For the past few years I've set myself up for these reading challenges, to successfully complete them, and while I have finished everything I wasn't fully enjoying the stories. I was reading to fill in the time that freed up in my life because taking care of my dying parents was no longer on my plate. I was reading to fill the hole in my chest that grief created. Yes I loved some of the books I read last year, I still can't shut up about Sadie, but I put all of this immense pressure on myself to be the book girl that I lost the fire that made me a reader in the first place. So 2019 is the year of the story for me. I'm reading books, I will always be reading books, but I'm reading them solely for the stories they contain. I'm not trying to fill bingo cards, check off challenges, or hit triple digits like I have in years past. This year, I'm just reading for the sole enjoyment of reading.

So, without further ado.....

Here are the first 12 books of 2019!

1. Essentialism by Greg McKeown 
2. Empress of the East by Leslie Peirce
3. Nixonland by Rick Perlstein 
4. Impeachment by Jeffrey Engel, Jon Meacham, Timothy Naftali, and Peter Baker
5. Playing With Fire by Lawrence O'Donnell 
6. An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen 
7. Verity by Colleen Hoover
8. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Mass
9. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Mass
10. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
11. White Lies by Lucy Dawson
12. Two Can Keep a Secret  by Karen McManus

What I'm currently reading:
Queen of Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

Stay tuned for my RBG special, my hot take on Bad Blood, and much more this year.

XoXo
BrainyHeroine

August Book Round Up!!

Good Morning Readers!

August has FINALLY reached it's end, which means it's time for a book round up and then, later, a September TBR!!

So what did August look like bookishly? Like this...a whole lot of insomnia + lots of time off + lots of simultaneous reading + audiobooks

The Wildling Sisters
Still Lives
Social Creature
Black Rabbit Hall
Heart of Thorns
The Essex Serpent
The Dinner List
Ghosted
Sweet Little Lies
Dance of Thieves
Kiss of Deception
Heart of Betrayal
Beauty of Darkness
Every Single Secret
Under the Banner of Heaven
The Ghosts of the Orphanage
And I Darken
Now I Rise
Bright We Burn
Lies
The Death of Mrs. Westaway
Believe Me
With You Always
I Will Never Leave You
Ginsburg Rules: A Collection of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court Decisions
The Lullaby Girl
The Girl in the Moss
Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and The World's Most Famous Detective Writer