May 2019 TBR

I know that I rarely post my tbr before my wrap up, but I was a mess in the month of April and have started May off a mess as well. Also this is a very special tbr that I like to call: May Favorite Murder! (it’s clever af okay.) In order to celebrate the release of Karen Kalgariff and Georgia Hardstark’s book on May 28th I have selected some books they recommend throughout the podcast series to read this month! Let’s get into it!

Shout out to my roommate Grace’s tbr for holding up the sign.

The Stranger Beside Me – Ann Rule: Perhaps the truest of true crime books, I will be kicking off this month with Ann Rule’s classic book about good old Ted Bundy. Coincidentally the Netflix film about the serial killer starring Zac Efron, just came out the other day, so I can watch that too!

My Sweet Audrina – V.C. Andrews: Remember that time when Karen and Georgia tried to start a book club? but then remembered how FUCKING WEIRD “My Sweet Audrina” was? And never talked about it again? Well I got my used bookstore copy and I am prepared for the weirdness.

Mindhunter – John Douglas and Mark Olshaker: I’ve wanted to read this book since I watched the Netflix series (where tf is season 2 netflix?) so it was convenient that they also talk about it on mfm, including that live episode where Cameron Britton, who plays Ed Kemper on the Netflix show, shared his hometown!

Let The Great World Spin – Colum McCann: In a special Q&A episode Karen and Georgia are asked “if they could only choose one book to read for the rest of their life, what would it be?” Georgia says Middlesex, which if you know me at all you know I have already read, and Karen says The Davinci Code…but then corrects it to Let The Great World Spin in the next episode. This worked out well for me because I conveniently already own this book and I also really didn’t want to read the Davinci code.

American Psycho – Brett Easton Ellis: Alright so this one is actually never mentioned in the podcast…BUT since another one of my reading goals is to finish the books on my shelf that I haven’t read I decided it was necessary to include at least one. This one fit the theme so it’s going to get read!

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup – John Carryrou: This one is currently on hold at my library and has also been on my tbr for quite some time. It’s Karen’s fucking hooray in one episode and also a super interesting story.

Whoever Fights Monsters – Robert K. Ressler: I’ve been trying to include one audio book per month so this is this month’s audio book! Karen has talked about it multiple times on the show, and I believe it is similar to Mindhunter so I’m sure it will be interesting

Chase Darkness With Me – Billy Jensen: Yay Billy Jensen! Everyone’s favorite true crime journalist, released an audio book exclusive for Audible.com and I would love to get to it this month! Also if you haven’t listened to Exactly Right’s “Jensen and Holes: Murder Squad” yet, I HIGHLY recommend.

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April 2019 TBR

It’s the fourth and I haven’t posted a TBR yet?? Well don’t worry because here it is. It’s a big boy, and I am almost certain I won’t finish it but we’re going to give it the good old college try. Also I will be posting three times this week so check back for a series review on Saturday. Posting will continue regularly on Mondays and Fridays next week. Okay! Let’s get into the books!

This isn’t even all of them.

1. Envelope Poems – Emily Dickinson: This month had a ton of large novels, and literary fiction so I needed to pick a couple palette cleansers. I love Emily Dickinson’s poetry and I have had this compilation for years so I think I should get around to reading it.

2. This Is Not The End – Chandler Baker: You guys, I. Have. A. Problem. This is yet another book that I bought for the cover, which is ridiculous because this doesn’t even seem like a book I’d like! It’s YA and the author’s name isn’t capitalized on the cover which bugs the living fuck out of me. I have very low expectations for this one so maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

3. Bloom – Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau: It’s another graphic novel! It’s about gay boys! That make bread! What’s not to love! There’s something about monochromatic illustration that just gets me every time. This one will hopefully be another quickie.

4. Looker – Laura Sims: This has been on my list of new releases to read since the beginning of the year. It’s a suspense/mystery novella with an awesome cover. It’s also Laura Sims debut work so I am pumped.

5. Clever Girl – Tessa Hadley: Another book without capital letters on the cover! I picked this one up at the Boulder Bookstore because…I liked the cover! (shocking I know.) It’s a contemporary set in the UK.

6. Lullaby – Chuck Palahniuk: A few years ago, I inherited my ex-boyfriend’s Chuck Palahniuk collection, and I have two left. I’ve decided to torture myself and read them both in one month! Hopefully, these are two of his less fucked up books.

7. Invisible Monsters – Chuck Palahniuk: Here’s the second one! I have this one on audio book from my library so I’ll probably end up listening to it.

8. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn – Betty Smith: This month’s bookclub book! If you are interested in reading with us this month, message me on instagram @avejam_ !

9. The Sun Is Also A Star – Nicola Yoon: I read Everything Everything a couple years ago, and since this one is being made into a movie next month, I decided to read it. I don’t think I’ll like this one too much, but it’s an easy read so I kind of need it this month.

10: Where The Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens: This was not originally on my TBR at all but just today a volunteer at work gave it to me, after telling me how great it was, so I’m throwing it on the list!

And that is my April TBR! I know it’s excessive, but I did finish nine books last month so I have faith in myself. What are you guys reading this month?

March tbr

Some books for March

It’s March people! Which means it’s time for a new tbr. I used January and February as warm up months just to get used to reading again, so I set some smaller goals for myself. Well not this month. I am going back to my elementary school days and although I have set my reading goal for the year at fifty books I am hopeful that I will reach one hundred. I did some math and that means I have to read nine books a month as well as working at my two jobs. So without further ado, here are the nine books I’m reading in March.

Deadman Wonderland Volume Two – Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou: This was set to be on March’s tbr but I ended up reading it between my wrap up post and this tbr. Whoops! Oh well, it puts me a little ahead for the month at least.

We Are Okay – Nina Lacour: Introducing another member of the “Ave just bought it for the cover club.” This his been on my shelf for ages. It’s a really small book and I have no idea what it’s about. I’ve only just started it and it seems like it revolves around this girl trying to cope with grief or trauma from something. It’s YA contemporary so my expectations aren’t that high. I’m just hoping it’s a little better than my last, “purchased because it was pretty;” Sad Girls.

The Ask And The Answer – Patrick Ness: I’m wrapping this series up this month so I have the second and third book on my tbr. I’m really excited to finish these

Monsters Of Men – Patrick Ness: See above

Circe – Madeline Miller: Yay! This is March’s Book Club Book! If you don’t know already, my friend Grace and I have started up an internet book club via Instagram. This is our first read ever! I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book, and I used to be really into Greek mythology so I’m sure I’ll like this. If you are interested in joining our book club please get in touch with me on Instagram @avejam_

On A Sunbeam – Tillie Walden: I saw this while browsing at the bookstore awhile back and knew immediately that I needed this book. It’s a THICC graphic novel and I am so excited about it.

Tweak – Nic Sheff: Did you know that the film “Beautiful Boy” starring my favorite boy Timothee Chalamet is actually based on two memoirs? I sure didn’t but I’m glad I found this book at Barnes and Noble because now I do and I plan to read them both before watching the movie. Normally I wouldn’t care that much about reading the book before the movie if it was a memoir but this one is about drug addiction, which I love to read books about, so I figured I’d like it.

Beautiful Boy – David Sheff: Hey! It’s the second memoir! I think I’ll probably like this one less, because it seems less edgy. I think for these I’ll read both at the same time.

Call Me By Your Name – Andre Aciman: Timothee Chalamet more like Timothee chalaMARCH am I right!? Sorry that was bad. I decided to theme my reading because why the fuck not! I haven’t seen Call Me By Your Name yet either and I know it’s a pretty quick read so I decided to make it my ninth read. I’m always down for some good gay romance, lets be real. And Army Hammer in those athletic shorts. Yummy.

February tbr

Books to read this month.

Hello and welcome to February. That’s right folks it just keeps going. Time. It’s crazy. Anyway this is a tbr for the the month of February. We have some more actual books this month (as opposed to graphic novels and manga) so get ready. Okay here we go.

1. The Knife Of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness: I’ve started this one and so far I’m really enjoying it so far. I read “A Monster Calls” by Ness when I was younger and really loved it so I decided to try this series. I am usually very hesitant when it comes to series’ because they are a commitment and I am even more hesitant when it comes to YA, so this book was a risk for me and so far, I am not regretting it. It’s also supposed to come out as a movie next month so that’s some convenient timing on my part.

2. Snot Girl: California Screaming – Bryan Lee O’malley and Leslie Hung: YEA VOLUME 2! I said less Graphic Novels, but we both know I need at least one graphic novel. I love this story so much and the art is amazing. I can’t wait to find out what happens next in this series.

3. I’ll Be Gone In The Dark – Michelle McNamara: I AM SO EXCITED TO READ THIS BOOK. I have heard so much about it from My Favorite Murder and various booktubers. I plan to read this one while visiting home next week. I also plan on making this the review of the month.

4. Soppy – Phillippa Rice: Hooray! seasonal pick! I felt bad reading so many books about murder and the apocalypse this month considering it’s Valentine’s Day in fourteen days, so I threw in this little book of joy to round it out. This barely counts because there are so few words, but I’m counting it so there. Happy Valentine’s Day bitches!

5. Love Poems – Pablo Neruda: I bought this little book because it was adorable and once again, if a book is a light shade of pink then there is a 90% chance I will buy it. I like that it’s pocket sized and I also like that it has both the translated poem, and the original Spanish version, because I can’t read Spanish but I sure do like to look at it.

6. Sad Girls – Lang Leav: My last pick for the month is another victim of my weird obsession with buying books just for their covers. This serious problem means that I don’t really know what it’s about but I’m sad and a girl so I’m hopeful. I’ve heard mixed reviews so we’ll see.

Those are the books I’m reading this month! what are you reading this month??? If you have any interest in joining a book club, contact me on my Instagram @avejam_

January 2019 TBR

Hello! and welcome back to averyjam.com – your favorite, poorly updated website. I’m back today with a tbr for January. I really want to try to read more books that aren’t for school this year, so without further ado, here are the books I plan to read in January!

1. Killing and Dying – Adrian Tomine: So I have actually already finished this one. I’m starting the year off with some graphic novels and short story collections just so I can gain some momentum before picking up the giant books on my reading list. Graphic novels are some of my favorite books to read and I picked this one up on a whim at the book store a while back (if a book has any shade of light pink on the cover I’m probably going to buy it). It has some heart squeezing, bittersweet story lines, and really nice illustrations. I’m a little sad it took me so little time to get through it.
2. Saga Volume 1 – Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples: Like I said, I love graphic novels and this one has been recommended to me by quite a few trusted sources. The art is gorgeous and I think the story line will be too. It has quite a few installments, so if I like it then it will keep me occupied all year.
3. Fresh Complaint – Jeffrey Eugenides: Eugenides is one of my all time favorite authors, (the author of one of the books that changed my life; Middlesex) so I was thrilled when he released this short story collection back in 2017. I’ve been wanting to get around to it since I bought it. I plan to do a full review of this book once I’ve read it, so stay tuned.
4. Not In Kansas Anymore – Christine Wicker: My mom gave this book to me last Christmas, so I figured it was time I get around to reading it. It’s a nonfiction book about witches and the like so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this one.
5. Deadman Wonderland – Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou: This is one of my all time favorite animes and I’ve owned the first book in the series for a little over a year now. Once again this should be a quick read to kick off the year.This tbr is significantly shorter than ones I’ve done in the past, but I’m coming out of a reading slump and I wanted to set a goal that was attainable. I’ll let you know what I get through and what I did or didn’t like at the end of the month!