Good morning bookworms! Well, I am finally home and back with all of my books, which makes me very happy. I watched a lot of ‘booktube’ while I was away on vacation and really enjoyed hearing about everyone’s book goals for the year, as well as their most anticipated reads. I wanted to put down my bookish goals for the year here; mainly so that I can hold myself accountable to what I write.
1. My Goodreads reading goal for the year is 62 books. I should have no problem with this as my goal in 2017 was 50 books and I ended up reading 77. One of the things that boosted my number for the year was my introduction into audiobooks which I mentioned in an earlier post. My reason for not selecting a higher number for this year is that I have a lot of really large books on my TBR (to be read list), including It by Stephen King, continuing the Dark Tower series (next up, book 5 which is 700 pages), reading book 4 in the Song of Ice and Fire Series and a possible reread of The Stand. I know those will all take up a lot of time so I didn’t want to set my overall goal too high.
2. Focus more on my blogging and reviewing every book I read instead of just rating them. It is easy to fall into the trap of just assigning a rating to a book once you finish it on Goodreads, thinking you’ll go back at a later time to write a review and then forgetting about it. I did that a lot this year so I would like to get better at being sure to review all of my books upon completion. I have started carrying a notebook where I take notes while reading if I have any thoughts or feelings on a story that I want to be able to remember. I am hoping this will help me come review writing time.
3. Book ban and #unreadshelfproject2018 – so this is a big one and will probably be my most difficult goal. I have put myself on a book ban until I clean up my unread shelves (see photo above for example of my cluttered bookshelves)! I buy so many books but then get distracted when new releases come out – I am participating in the unreadshelfproject2018 on bookstagram to try to help me clean up this issue. I have put myself on a book buying ban until April 1st to help this process along. It is so hard, you guys! I want all the books! A friend of mine had given me a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas so I allowed myself to use that yesterday (that was my one exception) and now I am done until April (sheds tears of sorrow…..).
4. Start booktube channel by the end of the year! You read right, I am planning to bring megsbookrack to YouTube with my very own booktube channel. I need to get a studio space set up for that, etc., so am hoping to be able to begin on October 1, 2018. That is the current goal – mostly because I need to be able to do a Spooktober TBR video! Everyone knows the best month to read is October!
So, those are the goals I have set for myself for this year. What are your bookish goals? I would love to hear them!
Cheers and happy reading!
Okay, back to the topic – Wonderblood by Julia Whicker! I finished Wonderblood late last night and needed to sleep on it before I could formulate my thoughts into a coherent review. Firstly, this is a debut novel for Julia Whicker and although this book did not blow me away, I would certainly be interested in other books (unrelated to this one) that she may write in the future. I enjoyed her writing style a lot which was not just agreeable but at times absolutely lyrical.
The first, Triangle: The Fire that Changed America by David von Drehle, tells the harrowing story of the disaster at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in the Greenwich Village industrial area of New York City back in 1911. The fire, that started close to the top of the building swept through three floors and ultimately took the lives of close to 150 people – mostly young, immigrant women. This book tells their stories, the events of that infamous day and the results that such a catastrophe set into motion. 
The next, Trapped Under the Sea: One Engineering Marvel, Five Men, and a Disaster Ten Miles into Darkness by Neil Swidey, focuses on the waste treatment plant project on Deer Island in Boston Harbor back in the 1990s. Due to a massively polluted Harbor the Commonwealth of Massachusetts undertook this enormous project that required multiple different companies, teams and specialties. This is mainly the story of the tunnel under the Harbor and the 5-men sent in at the end to remove plugs prior to use. 
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill is another one of my 5-star reads from this year. I finished up with this one in September and was once again blown away by Hill’s talent. I had previously read his novel, Horns, which has since been turned into a movie starring Harry Potter…..I mean, Daniel Radcliffe. For those of you who have never heard of Hill, he is the richly talented son of my favorite writer, Stephen King. Is writing genetic? Possibly.
Expected Publication Date: March 2018
Octavia E. Butler (1947 – 2006) is a phenomenal American science-fiction writer who I certainly wish I would have discovered earlier in life. Her writing is intelligent, heartfelt and oddly prescient of today’s political climate, e.g. The Earthseed Series, (please look this up on Goodreads if you haven’t heard of it).
Kindred, originally published in 1979 was the first Butler book I read and I am very glad I started with that one. In fact, I feel that is a good starting point to anyone new to her writings. 
The first book of the Bill Hodges Trilogy, Mr. Mercedes, is a fast-paced crime thriller with the most dangerous villain I have read in a while. Brady Hartsfield is smart, deranged and so easy to hate. Along with his truly vile mother, Deborah, these two will leave your stomach churning. Brady is so creative in his wickedness it isn’t surprising it takes three books to tell his tale.
One of my favorite books that I have read this year was actually my 2nd audiobook – The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (the pen name of the beloved J.K. Rowling – yes, that J.K. Rowling). Originally published in 2013, this gritty crime novel introduces us to the gruff and brilliant detective, Cormoran Strike and is the first book in a currently four book series.
Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman, first published in May of 2016, had some moments of suspense but overall, I would give this book 3.5-stars. It was entertaining but fell a little short of being truly captivating. I listened to it on audiobook which was fine. They used two narrators to differentiate between present time versus flashbacks. The text mixed long-held family secrets together with a modern murder investigation. A lot was revealed over the course of the book that brings to mind the concept that no matter how perfect a family appears on the outside, for the most part, we all have secrets and skeletons in the ole’ family closets. I’m not sure I would really seek out other books by this author – as far as modern thrillers go, for me, this one fell a little short of the ‘thrilling’ part.
Hello book friends! I just wanted to give a quick status update on my progress through The Darkling Bride by Laura Andersen. As I may have mentioned in a earlier post, I received an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of this book from the publisher, Ballantine Books, in exchange for an honest review which has an expected publication date of April 2018.