Tag: books

Unconventional Places to get Books

~ Delaney ~ 7 Comments

I absolutely love both reading and the online book community. But it can often feel like you need to have an ever-expanding library, which can be costly. And we are book lovers after all: we love collecting books. However, there are definitely other ways to acquire books without having to purchase them new at full price. Today, I wanted to share with you some of the unconventional, outside-the-box places where you may be able to find books. This post covers ways to get physical books, but if you’re interested in different places to find audiobooks, you can check out my other post about that.

I specifically want to focus on some of the more ~unconventional~ places you might be able to find books either for cheap or for free. Libraries and open resources are amazing, but I want to touch on some other ways that are different, or maybe common but that you don’t necessarily think of immediately. Because with some creative thinking, time, and dedication, you can find some great books for a fraction of the price. I will also note that since I live in the U.S., these are all pretty U.S. centric, but might apply to other countries as well.

Another great thing about these methods is that not only are they better for your wallet, they are better for the planet! Each method I mention requires re-using books rather than buying new ones.

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April Wrap Up // reading new books

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Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well. I am currently doing lots of school work preparing for finals, but I am optimistic because the end is in sight, and Spring is here! The sunshine and warm weather do wonders for my mood. Especially because they give me the chance to read outside.

I read less books this month than I would have liked, but I managed to stick to my tbr relatively well, and I read some great books! I read eight books total, and some of my favorites of the month were Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie, Black Cake by Charmain Wilkerson, and Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood. I purchased 3 new books this month, all of which were published in 2022! I don’t do a lot of book purchasing, so it was very fun to get my quarterly book unboxing and shiny new covers. I did read all 3 of those this month, to mixed results. Overall, it was a good reading month! Read more about the books I read and what I posted on the blog below!

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Review: I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

~ Delaney ~ 7 Comments
  • Title: I Kissed Shara Wheeler
  • Author: Casey McQuiston
  • Genre: contemporary romance
  • Intended audience: young adult
  • Format read: eARC
  • Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
  • Pub date: May 3, 2022
  • Content warnings: homophobia, bullying
  • Rating: 5/5 stars

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

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Discussion: How I Choose What Book to Read Next

~ Delaney ~ 2 Comments

Hello hello! It has been a very long time since I did a discussion-style post, so hopefully this will be a fun change of pace! I polled my Instagram followers on whether I should write this post next, or my I Kissed Shara Wheeler review, and this one won out!

So: when I finish a book, how do I choose what to read next? The answer to this is certainly different for everyone. Lots of people have monthly TBR lists, and I tend to have a loose TBR, but rarely do I stick exactly to it. Because I tend to be a bit of a mood reader, that also definitely factors into my decision. But it turns out it is actually a combination of many different things that gets me to pick my next book.

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February and March Reading Wrap-Up // A book slump and my spring break reading marathon

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Hello hello! I am personally experiencing some lovely Spring weather today, so I am in a pretty good mood. All this Spring weather is good for me reading as well, apparently. I hit a bit of a book slump in February, so I ended up not posting a wrap-up last month. However, last week was my Spring break, where I ended up reading a total of 9 books in my 10 days of break.

I read a total of 6 books in February and 15 books in March. Despite the low book count, I did read some great books in February, including Seven Days in June and I Kissed Shara Wheeler. My favorite March read was Cultish: the Language of Fanaticism. I also went through a F/F romance phase and read How to Find a Princess and Home Field Advantage, neither of which are new favorites, but I would definitely recommend them. Given the book slump, I also 4 re-reads and 6 audiobooks over the last two months.

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Your Spring Break Reading Guide

~ Delaney ~ 3 Comments

Hello hello! I am very excited because my Spring break started yesterday! If you are on a break right now, or have one coming up soon, and are reading this blog, there is a good chance that you are going to spend some of that break reading (I know I have). So I wrote up some book recommendations based on what your other Spring break plans are. I hope you enjoy!

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Romance Reads for Your Valentine’s Day Pleasure

~ Delaney ~ 3 Comments

Happy (almost) Valentine’s Day! Valentine’s Day is a very weird holiday in that people experience it wildly differently. For some, it is a day to spend with your significant other. Some people use it to celebrate all kinds of love. Some resent it as a capitalistic exploitation of love and simply look forward to the candy. And for the book lovers among us, it’s just an excuse to read romance books. February just puts you in that romance mood, but if you don’t know where to start, here are some different books for you to check out.

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Blogmas Day 12: Reviewing Every Book I read in my Queer Studies Class

~ Delaney ~ 1 Comment

Hello and welcome to the twelfth day of blogmas! Or in other words, the final day of blogmas! I just want to take a moment to thank all of you who joined me on this journey. Writing a blog post every day for twelve days was a lot of work, and definitely something I won’t be doing again anytime soon, but it was really fun for me, so I thank you for sticking around and reading them!

As I introduced yesterday, in my Fall 2021 semester I took two different English classes, and thus read a lot of books for class. One of these classes was a course on the Harlem Renaissance, and I reviewed all the books I read for that class on my post yesterday. Today, I am reviewing all the books I read for my queer studies class. The full title of the class was actually “Rainbow Republic: American Queer Culture from Walt Whitman to Lady Gaga” but that’s a bit of a mouthful.

I read a total of seven books for this class, to varying degrees of my enjoyment. Below, I review all of them.

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Blogmas Day 11: Reviewing Every Book I read in my Harlem Renaissance Class

~ Delaney ~ 1 Comment

Welcome back to the eleventh day of blogmas! I am so happy to have you here for my book reviews today.

I briefly mentioned a few times that I did a lot of reading for school this semester. That’s because I was taking two English classes this semester! (Something I am never doing again by the way, there’s a reason I’m not an English major). So for the last two days of blogmas I am going to take the time to review all of the books I read in those two classes. Today I am going to cover all the books I read for my Harlem Renaissance class.

As a quick note, in case you aren’t familiar, the Harlem Renaissance covers a period roughly from 1917 to 1935 where there was a renewed interest in African-American art. During that time, there was an incredible amount of paintings, books, music, and other art being created. Moreover, it was becoming more widespread. Since I took an English class on the Renaissance, we focused mostly on the literature of the time period. We read lots of poems and excerpts of books for class, as well as six full books.

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