ARC August 2018!

The wonderful bloggers at Read.Sleep.Repeat are back with their annual ARC August, a month long reading challenge to read and review as many galleys as you can. If you’re like me (well nobody is as bad as me), you’ve definitely hit that point where you’re struggling to keep up with all those advance copies and review requests.

This kind of challenge is perfect for me – I probably won’t catch up, but I would like to make a dent in my enormous unread pile and amp up that pitiful Netgalley percentage. I’ve got a lot going on in August with respect to work, but thanks to this challenge there will be not one, but two readathons this month, of which I can participate in at least one. Just check out their announcement post for all the details.

Here’s some of my ARCs I plan to catch up on during this challenge:

Just use the hashtag #ARCAugust throughout the month to share whatever ARCs you’re reading, the hosts have some neat prizes if you sign-up. 

If you’re participating, let me know in the comments, and what you’ll be reading! Good luck!

-J

#24in48: Summer readathon time!

Summer readathon season is upon us, and we’re kicking it off with #24in48 this weekend. It’s pretty straightforward: Read for 24 hours of a 48 hour weekend. 

I was travelling during the last round of #24in48 a few months ago, and while I read for 24 hours, I didn’t really get to engage in readathon mode (books, social media, beverages, snacks, etc ). I haven’t effectively done a reading marathon since, so I’m celebrating the departure of my reading slump by hunkering down with my books and snacks for some good old fashioned reading marathon time. 

In the interest of getting to some books I’ve been meaning to read for a while now, here’s my stack:

If this is your first time here, or your first time participating in a readathon, I recommend checking out the FAQs page for tips, start times, and such. Oh, and sign-up. Definitely sign up. 

You’ll most probably find me all over social media for this – Instagram, Twitter, Litsy. Cheering is a huge part of the weekend- so don’t hesitate to find readers on the hashtag and drop motivating words, memes, or GIFs. 

July 21-22. Midnight on Saturday to midnight on Sunday. Join us. Happy reading!

-J

 

 

Asian Lit Bingo 2018

Hello friends,

It is that time of the year again! Asian Lit Bingo is organized by a bunch of us over at Lit CelebrAsian to celebrate Asian authors from May 1-May 31. There’s a reading challenge with a bingo card, a bunch of author interviews, features, discussions, etc. and we’ll be using the hashtag #AsianLitBingo across a variety of social media platforms to share these. Lit CelebrAsian is an initiative created by The Shenners, who brought together a bunch of Asian and diaspora bloggers from all over the world who are invested in supporting and promoting Asian voices in publishing. You can learn more about us over at our blog, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Tumblr. 

Take a look at this year’s bingo card: 

Don’t forget to post a sign-up post on your preferred social media platform and link-up to the Lit CelebrAsian masterpost. Yes, there are prizes, and you do not want to miss out. You get points for posting a review for each book that you do read that qualifies for the challenge, and reviews on sites like Amazon and B&N are super helpful to authors- so it’s a win-win. 

I have not made a TBR because I’m kind of in a reading slump and don’t really want to set myself up for failure. I will be posting updates on Twitter using the hashtag and just roll with anything I pick that fits one of the bingo slots. I’ll put all these together in a wrap-up post at the end of the month for the link-up. 

Join us, friends! This is such a great way to be intentional about your reading, especially if you’ve been meaning to read more by marginalized authors. There’s so many amazing books out there by Asian authors that deserve our love and support. 

Let me know in the comments if you’re planning to join us, and what you plan to read!

 

 

 

January 29, 2018: It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme currently hosted by The Book Date. It’s a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week, and add to that ever-growing TBR stack.

Hi friends,

Wow, it’s been a week. I’ve not been this busy in a long time, and I’m definitely still getting super exhausted from days that are productive and busy but not even close to what used to be my threshold for busy in the past. Apparently my post-op body is still getting there, and I keep reminding myself that I am still only almost 6 months post-op major neuro surgery and recovery is slow, and it’s going to be a while before I can go back to that kind of workload.

Tl; dr I was too tired/did not make time to post anything on here since last Monday. 

Onto happier things; we’re just coming off of 24in48, and as per usual, it was a spectacular weekend. 1850 participants from all over the world, say whaaaaaaaaat? Absolutely stellar show from Rachel, Kerry, and Kristen, all of whom I adore dearly. Kudos on orchestrating a phenomenal and fun experience for everybody that took part. Remember, whether you read one book or 10, one hour or 24, you were a champ for carving out time in your busy, busy life to take part and peek into the giant, global bookish blanket fort that is a readathon, and you are allowed to feel good about that. 

I paced myself this time around; I managed to read for 24 hours, but didn’t read as much as I usually do. Through the week I only managed to finish Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann ( I’ll have a review coming out soon, that book affected me in unexpected ways). During readathon I read: Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (absolutely stunning verse novel), Illegal Contact and Down By Contact, both by Santino Hassell (both on audio, which was an interesting experience, both super hot, and both roping in serious social issues and feels amidst the fluff. Also oh my god Noah), Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor (satisfying end to the trilogy), Giant Days Volume 5 and Volume 6 ( I love these girls so much) by John Allison (Author), Max Sarin (Illustrator), Liz Fleming(Inker), Whitney Cogar (Colorist), and Jim Campbell (Letterer), and Winter by Ali Smith (my first time reading her work, her writing is absolutely gorgeous, this was unexpected and beautiful). I also got halfway through Trainwreck by Sady Doyle on audio. 

I am currently visiting some extended family but will be back home tomorrow afternoon. I don’t know if it’s my anxiety or the fact that my routine has been disrupted several times in the past couple of months with extended family times, but I just want to go back home asap so that I can get back to my walks and PT and cleaner eating habits and sleep in my own bed. It is possible I’ve become even more of an introvert in the last six months. 

On the reading roster for this week:

It’s very ambitious, I know, but this comprises of books I’m halfway through, books that need to go back to the library in two days, and ARCs that are already past their pub date. I do have a seven hour train journey tomorrow so I’m hoping to get a substantial amount of reading done on it. I am determined to get my Netgalley review percentage up to at least 80 in the first quarter of the year, so definitely making sure my currently reading pile includes a galley or two at all times.

That’s all from me, folks. Hope you have a glorious Monday and stellar week. 

If you participated in #24in48, link me to your posts, updates, Litsy/Instagram handles, or just share what you read, in the comments below. Or feel free to share what you’re looking forward to reading next. Or, ya know, non-bookish life updates. Talk to me!

-J

#24in48 Readathon: July 2017

Heyo, it’s that time of the summer again, #24in48 is back!

I think I’ve been pretty vocal about my love for all things readathon before, and I stand by them all. Squaring away some quality reading time with a bunch of other bookworms all over the globe is just as amazing as it sounds. I can’t get enough of it. As most of you know I’m currently laid up in bed, so this readathon couldn’t come at a better time for me. Not only does it keep me occupied the whole weekend, but a whole lot of other people will be pretty much doing what I’m doing, and we’ll all be revelling in the joy, which I’m really looking forward to. 

In case you’re new around here or to the bookish internet in general, 24in48 is a fun weekend readathon organized by Rachel Manwill. The “aim” is to read for 24 hours over the course of a 48 hour weekend. I say aim, but really, it’s about chalking away some time for yourself to read, a break from the humdrum and chaos that is life and such. It’s also a great time to stuff your face with snacks and beverages, discover readers from all around the world, squee about books and bookishness, and have a grand time. Super low key, super chill. If you haven’t signed up yet or are looking for more information, you can check out the official site. 

Here’s my stack of reading material for the weekend. Plenty more than I’ll actually get through, but I like having more options than not:

Anyone notice a theme here?

I’m pretty much most active on my Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat (jananivaidya), and Litsy  (@theshrinkette) during readathon time, because those are quick and easy places to update my progress and what I’m doing throughout the weekend. This time, just to make things easier, any readathon updates I make will be within this post itself, including a wrap-up at the end. 

That’s all I have for now. Sign up if you haven’t already, and drop me a line to let me know if you’re participating so that I can keep an eye out for your social media posts. Cheers!

Day 1:

Typically I try and get in about 15 hours of reading on the first day, when I’m super pumped and motivated by the challenge. This time around, I had a couple of commitments, and an unexpected visit from a friend, so I was able to read for about only 10 hours. Luckily for me, I started the challenge at the official readathon start time, which gives me till about Monday morning 9.30 a.m. to get in my 24 hours. Here’s my reading stats so far:

Time Read: 10:00:51

Books read: The Liberation of Sita by Volga, A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi, and The Duchess War by Courtney Milan. 

No. of pages: 771

-J

#AsianLitBingo: A May 2017 Reading Challenge

Hey booknerds,

I’m sure you’ve seen the #AsianLitBingo floating around the Twitterverse this past week. It’s a challenge created by the amazing Shenwei (if you’re not following them or their blog already you need to fix that now). In the U.S., the month of May is Asian American Heritage Month, so a bunch of us Asian bloggers are choosing to showcase Asian authors this month via this challenge. Along with the bingo, we’re planning to have a bunch of discussion posts, author interviews, listicles, etc., so keep an eye out for those as well!

The Rules:

1. Book must have an Asian main character (can be one of several main characters) and be by an Asian author to qualify. It does not have to be #ownvoices, but #ownvoices is strongly encouraged.
2. Book can be a novel, short story collection, or comic book/graphic novel.
3. Book must be read during May 1st through May 31st to qualify.
4. Review link-up will close end of June 1st at midnight PST. The extra margin is to give people the opportunity to write up a review for a book they might have finished late May 31st. We’ll follow the honor system assuming you didn’t read the book on June 1st.

The Bingo Sheet:

Personal TBR: 

I’ve got a bunch of things happening this month, and I’ll be travelling to the States next week, so I’m going to be realistic and attempt to definitely complete one Bingo line. Anything else I read that qualifies for a square, I’ll try and review by June 1st.

LGBTQIPA+ Asian MC: Shikhandi and Other Stories They Don’t Tell You by Devdutt Pattanaik

West Asian MC: The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye

Asian Muslim MC: Saints and Misfits by S. K. Ali

Religious Asian MC: A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman

Poor/Working Class Asian MC: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

There will also be a twitter chat (tentatively May 27th), review link up, and chances to win prizes, all the details of which are available on Shenwei’s master post. Don’t forget to check it out for all the details and link up your sign-up/TBR posts. If you need recs for any of the squares, we’ve compiled a non-exhaustive list of titles to choose from. 

Please consider participating, or at least attempting to read more Asian voices this month. Tag anything related to the challenge using #AsianLitBingo across all social media platforms. If you’ve got a TBR planned, please share a link below, I’d love to see what everyone is reading. 

Good luck!

-J

Dewey’s Readathon: Spring 2017 Edition

Hey friends,

I know, it’s been a while. A long while. My sincerest apologies. I just cannot seem to get a handle on this life thing. We’ve moved and I’m still adjusting. It’s been weird. Also yes, I’ve had to change the blog format, for reasons (that are mostly financial). Apologies if that’s throwing anyone off.

I’ve been a little off the blogosphere and bookternet in general recently- minus yelling on twitter. Nothing outside of YA has been grabbing my attention lately, so this edition of Dewey’s could not have come at a better time. I’m more than ready to hunker down for some uninterrupted reading and bookternet time (and yes, of course, will be going grocery shopping because what is a readathon without the snack really?) It’ll be interesting because I’m in a completely different timezone this time, so my readathon is from 5.30 p.m. Saturday evening to 5.25 p.m. Sunday evening. This is going to be very interesting. Somehow, 7 to 7 doesn’t feel quite as long. I’m not sure if I’ll be awake all 24 hours this time, but really I’m just looking forward to being in the zone and have a good time. 

I’ve been particularly absent this time around- I usually like to help Andi and Heather out with writing a warm-up post or hosting a twitter chat- and the reasons are mostly along the lines of me flailing at life in general. I’ll spare you the boring details. However, I managed to spend some time yesterday catching up on the official blog, and this beautiful tribute to our dear friend Heather from Bits and Books left me teary-eyed. Please check it out. 

I will probably do one quick midway update on here and a wrap-up post at the end, but I will be active on Twitter, Instagram (Amanda aka nerdybookgirl is hosting an IG challenge), and Litsy (@theshrinkette). Use the hashtag #readathon to find your peeps!

Whether you read 2 hours or 20, make yourself sick on too many cookies, or just lounge about in your pajamas reading one book, it’s still an amazing thing to be a part of for a whole 24 hours. Don’t miss it. I’ll be there doing my thing: 

-J

January 23rd, 2017: It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme currently hosted by The Book Date. It’s a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week, and add to that ever-growing TBR stack.

Hey friends! I hope everyone had a great time participating in #24in48. I managed to read a fair bit, mostly YA, and it was fun participating on Litsy for the first time! ICYMI, #DiverseAThon started yesterday, and will go on till the 29th. Here’s what I plan to read this week for it: 

Not much else on my end, hope everyone else is doing well. As always, I’d love to know what you’re reading!

Until later,

-J

Diverse-A-Thon is Back!

Hey ho, it’s that time again! So remember a few months ago when that trashfire video resulted in a weeklong readathon dedicated to boosting marginalized voices? Well, they’re back! That’s right, Diverse-A-Thon is happening from January 22nd to the 29th, which means I get to spend this weekend participating in two readathons. My body is ready. 

This ‘thon is hosted by the wonderful Joce, Christina Marie, Monica Watson, and Simon Savidge. They are all booktubers, but there are participants from all over all varieties of social media. For example, I learned from Joce’s announcement video that Naz and Mara will be joining the hosts to promote Diverse-A-Thon across both Instagram and the blogging platforms. 

The great thing about this ‘thon is that it’s a super low stress one- there are no reading challenges or specific prompts involved. Participants can read one, two, or ten books within the space of the week. There will be daily twitter chats, which are very interesting, and give you an opportunity to discuss a lot of key issues surrounding diversity in publishing, as well as get a ton more books recommendations. The group book selected this time is The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. This is one hundred percent optional, and will not detract from your readathon participation if you don’t choose to read it. 

Personal note: I’m not sure if the challenge specifies this, but I’d like everyone to keep in mind that promoting diversity in reading is about boosting marginalized voices and experiences. So if you’re choosing to only read books by white/cis/het/able authors who’ve included marginalized characters in their story, then that isn’t really the same thing. If we are to change the landscape of publishing, then we need to support authors and experiences that are of a wide range and a variety of intersections. I don’t intend to police anyone’s reading choices, but I’d just like to gently remind everyone why these events are being organized in the first place. 

If you need more incentive: Naz is letting everyone that participates and creates a sign-up post with a TBR submit that post to earn 1 point towards a badge for #ReadDiverse2017 (Yes yes that definitely motivated me to create one instead of simply participating in the ‘thon). 

Alrighty, since I’m still in my YA/light books zone, here’s potentially what I’d like to read during the week: 

Meanwhile, let me know in the comments if you’re participating. This is such a cool initiative and I’m glad to be participating. Know that I’m a social media junkie that will be cheerleading you through the week if you need a boost. I am also linking the announcement videos by Joce, Simon, and Christina Marie if you’re looking for more information, or just really cool booktubers. Be sure to follow the official Diverse-A-Thon twitter account for the latest updates!

-J

 

 

#DAReadathon TBR

I have several issues with the lack of diversity in the world of Harry Potter, especially with the kind of crap JKR has been putting us through this year. But I think you’ve known me long enough to know I can’t resist a readathon, especially one that is focused on promoting diverse books. I’ve been mulling over my reading goals for 2017, and it only seems fitting to kick it off with a readathon highlighting diverse books, organized by an awesome blogger. The details are right here, and I’m excited to be repping team Slytherin!

Aentee has given us eight awesome prompts, and I’ve picked one book each in order to rack up some sweet house points:

 

I haven’t read a lot of books repping ace characters, and it is totally for lack of trying. I’m making more of an effort and have found quite a few titles, so I’m reading one that has been recommended to me the most from all corners of the interwebz. 

 

 

 

It’s safe to say that I’ve discovered plenty of gaps in my reading, so many that I’m not actually sure I’ll get to all of them in my life, but I’ll be damned if I don’t keep trying. So for this category, I’ve picked this highly acclaimed title which hits both titles by Non-US/European authors and features lesbian characters. 

 

 

 

This book has been sitting on my shelf for months; I only bought it because the premise sounded interesting. A quick scroll through Goodreads indicated that this is highly acclaimed, so I’m using this readathon as an excuse to crack this beauty open. 

 

 

 

You guys, my body is so ready for this movie. I can’t explain what it means to see women of colour nerds on screen. It is going to be glorious, and you bet your bottom dollar I need to read the book before I go see it on screen. 

 

 

I keep picking this book up and I’m never in the right mood to read it, but I’m thinking having a print copy will help me this time. I know it’s a slow burn and there’s a ton of world building, but I have mad respect for the author and I’d really like to finally be hooked along with the rest of you. 

 

It’s really simple, my library hold finally came through, and I need to read it because the holds list is a mile long. Also, I’ve heard so many good things and I’m having serious FOMO. THAT COVER IS EVERYTHING. *heart eyes for days*

 

 

This book has been recommended to me by both Naz and Bina, which made it the perfect pick for this prompt. I’m knee deep in my need for intersectional feminist works, so this automatically made the list for that as well.

 

 

 

 

Right, those are my picks. Looking for more options? Allow me to direct you to Naz’s blog, where he gives us more than 60 awesome options for the readathon prompts. Excited to see everyone’s picks, and looking forward to start off the year reading fantastically inclusive books! 

-J