The best of 2014

It's that time of the year again, when our days are numbered and soon we'll have to start another trip around the sun. Yeah, it's a new year, a new start, yey, party. I don't really think of it that way. It's just another day, except this day is the day when we paint the sky with fireworks that kill our planet a little more than usually. And I hate the noise, it kind of scares me. And the party, well, my kind of party is something with very little alcohol and no loud music, with only my closest friends.

It hasn't been the best year, but I hope the next one will be a little better. I have been lost, found, and lost again. But at least I have read some great books and seen good movies, that must be something, right? Let's just focus on those now.

The best books I read this year:

• Metro 2033 by Dmitri Gluhovski
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
• He eivät tiedä mitä tekevät by Jussi Valtonen

The best movies I saw this year:

• Gone Girl
• How to Train Your Dragon 2
• The Maze Runner
• The Help

And some random facts because why not:

• I read a total of 32 books, of which 23 I had never read before
• I bought a total of 19 books
• The lowest rating I gave to a book I read this year was two stars
• ...and I gave five stars to 4 books
• I joined Goodreads in April and have not regretted that decision
• I saw 5 movies in the cinema, and one of them twice
• I participated in NaNoWriMo and wrote a 50 000 word story in November

My goal was originally, when I joined goodreads, to read 20 books. I changed my reading challenge to 15, because you can't mark reread books on goodreads, and I had already plans to reread some books. And then, I left home for Christmas a little over a week ago, with 29 read books and one I had to finish by the end of the year. Did i? Yes I did, and then I read two more books. I'm very happy with that number, 32 books, because I didn't read a lot for the first three months of the year, nor did I read when I was writing Nano. But it was a good reading year, and I think discovering booktube and goodreads made it even better.

For next year:

• reread the Harry Potter books
• read every day
• read a total of 40 books (of which I think at least 25 should be new reads)
• go watch more movies at the cinema

So, this is it. 2014. I'll be waving the year goodbye, and doing that very happily. 

I hope you have a Happy New Year, wherever you are. See you again in 2015.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

 It's almost Christmas, it's almost Christmas, yeyyy! Anybody feeling the stress? I sure am. I still have a couple of gifts to figure out, and I'm freaking out a bit. I'm never this late, how did this happen?! I hope I can get them sorted tomorrow.

So, I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or a wonderful whatever-you-celebrate-or-if-you-don't-celebrate-at-all. Have a great one anyway. :)

This is my advent calender. Well, one of them, I have three actually. But it's the first chocolate one I've had in, like, over ten years. Merry Sithmas! (And please don't laugh at our Christmas tree, we couldn't find a fake one small enough for our small apartment so that is what we got instead...)

'Tis the season to be jolly

My mother asked me a couple of days ago what book I'd like to get for Christmas. A book. How am I supposed to pick just one book?! What? I don't even know what I'd like to read next if I had all the books I want to read in front of me right now!

By the way, I love Christmas. I love opening presents, I love giving presents, I love wrapping presents. I love gingerbread cookies, and baking them, and I love gingerbread houses. I love all the decorations, I love Christmas songs, though not that much when they are played in every store when shopping. I love advent calenders, and I have to have one every year. I love eating so much chocolate you think you'll never eat anything again, and then eating some more. I love the peace and the calm, and feeling no stress for at least a little while.

And I love staying up until 6am to finish reading a book I got for Christmas.

I love you... you're gonna die, right?

I have been very absent this month, but I do have a good reason for that; I've been participating in National Novel Writing Month, known also as NaNoWriMo. It will be over in a couple of days, after which I hope I will have written a story of 50 000 words. Not quite there yet, but I still believe I can do it. I mean, I'm definitely not quitting now, when I only have a bit over 5 000 words to go.

But that is not the point of this post. I wanted to talk about favourite characters, and how it sometimes feels like all of one's faves die. I get Very Attached to my favourites. Like, it's kind of ridiculous sometimes, but I just love them so much. (They are my babies.) When you love a character, like really love them and want to keep them from harm and feed them chocolate, realizing some people may die before the end tends to be very stressful. For example, there is still a hundred pages left in the book, and it is not looking good for the main characters. Or, there is a war going on and people are going to die. And sometimes the death just surprises you, leaps at your fave from nowhere and takes them with it.

(This paragraph has spoilers for Harry Potter.) Sirius Black is my favourite character in Harry Potter. I love him. And the way he died, it just came out of nowhere and left me staring at the book in a bit of a shock. Like, what. How. Why. And then came the Deathly Hallows, after Dumbledore had died, and everyone just knew a lot of people were not going to make it. I was really scared that one of the main trio was going to die, I was afraid Luna Lovegood, my other favourite, was going to die. I read the book in fear, but I knew the deaths were coming, just not who they were. And yeah, it still makes me cry a bit, but at least I've now read the book so many times it isn't as surprising anymore.

(This paragraph has spoilers for the Maze Runner trilogy. I don't mention the events or the characters' names, but still. Spoilers.) My favourite characters survived the first book. Well, I did cry when a character died in the end of book 1, and he was lovely, but not in my top two. Then came book 2, and I was scared one or both of them were going to die. Luckily, they didn't. But then came book 3, and brought with it some events and revelations that made me really scared to continue reading. I was afraid to turn the pages, if it was there that I would see my favourite boys dying. And then it happened. In a way that was horrible and made me cry for a few pages. My ultimate favourite character from this series, dead. I kind of knew it was going to happen, after the things told in the beginning of the book, but it still really shook me. After that I was really fucking scared for my other favourite, who then kindly didn't get himself killed.

And gosh, I love when reading something can give you that kind of feeling, The same with tv and movies. I love it when you are sitting and gripping the book or the edge of you seat with white knuckles, because you really want to see your favourites survive. If it's at all in the genre where it's possible that people are going to die, I want to be afraid for them. I want to be gasping when things are revealed, and cry when someone dies a tragic death. (And here we could argue what or if all deaths are tragic.)

And killing people for the sake of killing people, or not killing anyone ever? If you're fighting a big monster, and suddenly all of you survive, that's not very realistic. That's something I really don't like, authors being afraid to kill people in fear of the fans being upset with them. Dude, just go for it, not everyone can survive if you have like six main characters. If you want your story to be realistic, you have to make some sacrifices. But then again, there is too much. I don't feel like all the people that died in Harry Potter had to die, but on the other hand, it was a war.

So yeah, even if it hurts, sometimes people have to die in order to keep the story realistic. Even if those people are always someone's favourites.

Ps. The Finnish parliament just said YES to marriage equality today. It's not quite legal yet but we're getting there. Fucking finally, now I don't have to move somewhere else out of embarrassment.

Taylor Swift book tag

This looked like fun, so here, have some Taylor Swift songs paired with books.

1. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - pick a book or series that you were pretty sure you were in love with, but then wanted to break up with.
Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice. I tried to read it,  but I just couldn't get into it and was moving so slow that in the end I just decided to give up. So we're on a break, Lestat and me. I think we'll try getting together again some day.
2. Red - pick a book with a RED cover.
Skipping this one because I'm just too lazy to find a red book and take a good picture of it, sorry.
3. The Best Day - pick a book that makes you feel nostalgic.
I'm going to have to go with Harry Potter. These are the books that really got me into reading, and these are the first books I ever read in English. I have a lot of fond memories and I just really love these. And I also keep re-reading them every few years.
4. Love Story - pick a book with forbidden love.
Mehh... I don't really like forbidden love that much I think? Or romance if it's not clearly chick lit or clearly stated that the book has romance? And I honestly can't think of a book with forbidden love right now, and I'm too lazy to start staring at my shelf.
5. I Knew You Were Trouble - pick a book with a bad character you couldn't help but love.
Ohmygod why are these questions so hard?! I wanted to say a book I haven't already picked, but I don't know if I love any bad characters in other series... But yeah, there is a character in the Inheritance Cycle who is a bit of a bad boy, in a way, and I just love him a lot. I'm not going to say who it is because he isn't "bad" until a bit later in the series, if someone hasn't read the books and doesn't want to be spoiled. I love that he isn't necessarily purely evil, but it's more the things that happened to him that made him that way. 
6. Innocent (written b/c of Kanye West!) - pick a book that someone ruined the ending for.
Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I was spoiled by a freaking Youtube video by quite a popular booktuber. And the 'spoilers' warning was said after the spoiler. This kind of ruined the whole Divergent series for me, but especially the last book, as I was just waiting for the *spoiler* to happen.
7. Everything Has Changed - pick a character from a book who goes through extensive character development.
I was thinking about this for a long time, but then thought of Eragon in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. Actually, I could think of other characters in that series who develop nicely as well... but I'm gonna go with Eragon. He's really young in the start of the series, but grows and learns and I just really want to re-read this series right now, it was a bad idea to think of Eragon. (Can you tell I love this series? 'Cause I do. It's another series I grew up with.)
8. You Belong With Me - pick your most anticipated book release. 
I'm going to change this one a bit because I have no idea what's coming, and pick a book I was the most excited to read this year. It's going to have to be the Scorch Trials (and the Death Cure) by James Dashner. There is no other book I could pick for this.
9. Forever and Always - pick your favorite book couple.
Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth in Persuasion by Jane Austen. I just loved this book so much and was really stressed while reading because I just wanted them to be together but everything happened and gosh I love this book.
10. Come Back, Be Here - pick the book you would least like to lend out, for fear of missing it too much.
I don't know, I don't really want to lend out any of my books, because I have so many terrible experiences with that. Just last spring/summer I realized my mother had lent out one of my books without my permission and it took forever for me to get it back. And once our dog got my old copy of Eragon out from my mother's bag and ate it (and now I have a crappy paperback instead of the beautiful hardcover and will forever be bitter about that). Ugh, never again, I feel bad even thinking about lending out my precious books. (I almost wrote babies. I could have written babies. They are my babies.)

Now, anyone with a blog, go do this, it's great fun! Or do it in the comments. :)

This tag was started here.

For all the Harry Potter fans

Butterbeer latte

2 tbs butter
2 tbs brown sugar
1 mug milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
a dash of cinnamon

1. Melt the butter and sugar together to make caramel.
2. Add milk, vanilla and cinnamon and stir to combine.
3. Bring to a boil and pour into a mug. Enjoy.

And a few things I have learned; You can make this from regular white sugar as well. Add cinnamon first, mix, then vanilla and mix, and last milk and mix. This way the cinnamon is really in the drink, if you add it last it's just going to float on top or be found in big chunks. You can also make more than one portion at a time, I have usually made two and that has worked really well. If you want some foam on the second mug as well, put back on stove for a little while and the milk will foam again.

I found this on the internet some time last summer, and let me tell you, it's delicious.

The Maze Runner - a movie review

This is a spoiler-free review, though the trailer might show some spoiler-ish things, if you don't want to know anything before seeing the film OR reading the book. If you want to know as little as possible about the plot, go see the beginning of my book review, I explain it there very vaguely.

(I feel so lost every time I try to start writing these reviews, it's hard. But here we go.)

I was really excited about this movie, but I tried to keep my hopes low, just in case. I mean, you can't be disappointed if you never expected anything great, right? That lesson I learned years ago, when Eragon was made into a movie. I had such high hopes... Anyway. The Maze Runner did not disappoint. It was entertaining, action-packed, thrilling and fun, and definitely worth the watch.

This is a little different from the book. I know it has to happen sometimes, because you can't show some things on screen like you would describe in a book. Most of the changes were good in this movie, which I have to say is a big bonus. That could have gone horribly wrong. Overall I think this is a really great book-turned-movie, with all the other not-so-great ones out there. (*cough*CityofBones*cough*) It works on it's own, you don't necessarily have to read the book to understand what's happening, which is also a big plus. It will give you some more backstory and a more detailed look, but I think the movie would be enjoyable even without having read the book.

I loved the music in this film, it really helped create the right atmosphere. And in the action scenes... whoa. Loved it. I liked the actors, they were all fit for the characters, though they were a bit different from what I imagined. (But that happens all the time, as is the norm with book-to-movie adaptations.) Overall I liked the sets and costumes, but some little things here and there were a bit annoying, as they had changed some things.

Please go see this. It's better than Divergent, and based on the trailers, better than the Hunger Games. (I haven't seen any of the Hunger Games movies, so I can't say for sure...) I really really enjoyed this one, and would like to see people supporting it. I think it was awesome, not as great as the book, but still awesome.

The Maze Runner series - a review

This review is for the whole book trilogy, and is spoiler-free. I might do one for the movie as well, as I'm seeing it tomorrow. We'll see.

The Maze Runner starts when a boy wakes up and the only thing he remembers is his name. Soon he finds out that the place he's in is a maze, and the group of boys that live there don't remember much more than he does. They don't know why they're there, what for, and who sent them. The first book is about them trying to find a way out of the maze, and that's all I'm going to tell about the plot / plots. The best way to read this is to know nothing, to learn as the characters are learning. Some people might find it a bit annoying, but I loved it. I loved not knowing what was going on in the world outside the maze, I loved not knowing almost anything. It was great that the whole backstory wasn't told in the first chapter, but discovered little by little the same pace as the characters.


The main character is called Thomas. He's pretty awesome. I love how he keeps questioning what's going on, he keeps asking and thinking why something happens, and doesn't just go with it. He's also pretty badass. I loved so many of the other characters as well, they were brilliant. Very well written and thought-out. The new made-up words were a great addition, and I have found myself thinking with those words after reading these.

The chapters are really short, which was good, it worked for the story. Many ended in cliffhangers, and sometimes I just had to put the book down to let my brain process what had just happened. The books are action-packed, really fast to read, full of surprised and plot twists, exciting and sometimes quite scary. I enjoyed the writing style as well, and as I said, it was really fast to read.

I laughed. I cried. I was really scared my favourite characters were going to die, all the time. The story surprised me many times, and most of those were good surprises. I was often left with a feeling of 'WTF', or 'holy shit.' I loved this series, well, trilogy, as there is a prequel I haven't read (called the Kill Order). I gave the first two books, the Maze Runner and the Scorch Trials, 5 out of 5 stars, and the last one, the Death Cure, 4 out of 5 stars.

If you like great books with adventure and action, this is definitely a must-read. (And I just have to add, none to very little romance!! Yasss!!) I picked up the first one and after I finished reading, I had to go online and order the next two. And the almost-two-weeks wait was painful. but when I got the books I read them in two / three days. I finished these a couple of days ago, and I still keep thinking about everything that happened. Definitely one of my favourite series, ever.

I don't know if these are even translated to Finnish yet, but anyway, keep your eyes out for James Dashner. The movie is called Labyrintti (basically just the Maze) so that might be the title of the book as well. Anyway, I don't know how good these will be in Finnish, but in English they were just brilliant.

Gone Girl - a movie review

First of all, this is a spoiler-free review, so no worries, I won't be spoiling anything. You have to go into this movie without knowing what's gonna happen, because holy crap those plot twists are brilliant and surprising.

Okay. I have just come back form the cinema, so these will literally be my first thoughts after seeing this film. I had quite high hopes for this one, and it did not disappoint. I had read some comments and people seemed to really enjoy this. And I also read quite a few warning about spoilers and how those would ruin the movie for you if you were spoiled. I stayed away from anything to do with this movie, I really wanted to experience it without knowing more than the trailer tells me.

And if you don't want to watch the trailer, I'll try to summarize the plot a little bit. The movie starts when Nick Dunne realizes his wife Amy is missing. He calls the cops, they start looking for her and keep investigating as new leads come up. The media is very much involved, and suddenly everyone thinks Nick is the one who killed his wife, while he keeps trying to find her. That's all I can tell, and that's basically all I knew when I walked to the cinema today. It's not the best summary, but that has always been my weakness.

Well then, what did I think? This movie was freaking amazing. As I already said, the plot keeps surprising and leaving you wondering what's going to happen next. The acting is great, as far as I can tell, and I really have to say Rosamund Pike is brilliant as Amy Dunne. The costumes and sets are amazing, the music brilliant. I wouldn't say this is perfect, but I did very much enjoy this, and would watch it again.

If I had to give this a star rating, from one being I didn't like it to five being it was amazing, I'd say this is about four, maybe even a little more. Seriously a great movie, go watch it. Especially if you like a bit of mystery and suspense in your movies. (Do keep in mind that at least in Finland this is not suitable for anyone under the age of 16.)

And now I kind of want to read the book.

Revelations

I was just talking about the Maze Runner - which I'm currently reading - with my flatmate, and how it has a male main character and how it's nice to read from his point of view after all the females in the Hunger Games and Divergent. And then it struck me. I think most of my favourite books have male protagonists. I really started to think about it, and yes, it's true.

It's not a bad thing, that's not what I'm saying. It doesn't matter in the slightest. Somehow I just hadn't realized it myself, not until I really thought about my favourites shelf (pictured above; not all are my favourites, I just didn't have shelf space left anywhere else) and really thought of if the main character is male or female. Interesting, how that had never even crossed my mind before. I had just read these books, liked them a lot, and decided they were my faves.

I find a lot of female leads annoying. I don't know what it is, maybe they are a bit helpless and stupid, maybe all they think about are boys. Maybe they do things without thinking them through, maybe they have relationship issues that could be easily solved if they just used their brains a little. Maybe it's none of those things and something else entirely, I couldn't say.

And sometimes it doesn't have anything to do with what sex the main character is; sometimes the story is just so good it could be written from either male or female point of view and nothing would change. This is the case in a lot of my favourites, but I do admit that I love the main characters in some if not most of them. They wouldn't be my faves if I didn't love more than just one aspect of the book; if I did it'd just be a good book, or a good main character. Or good writing, maybe.

I don't know what the point of this was, I just started to think about this yesterday. It's interesting, at the very least. And as I'm really enjoying the Maze Runner, I think this will be a continuing thing with my favourite books. But I don't mind, I love me some great male protagonists. ;)

Having a shitty day? - Bake!

Is your patronus on holiday? Need something to cure the sadness? Look no further; with these cupcakes you can get rid of any dementors in your area! Add however much cocoa powder you need to drown your demons, and everything will be alright again!

 Nah, just kidding. Okay, I did have a bit of a shitty morning, and then made myself feel a little better by baking some cupcakes. And now I feel like I can actually smile again, so yey. :)

This is my favourite cupcake recipe, it's so easy and fast to make and I have never failed with it. The frosting is just caramel flavoured cream cheese and powdered sugar, and gosh it's good. But anyway, here it is; the perfect cupcake recipe;

3 dl flour
1,5 dl sugar
2 ts baking powder
2 ts vanilla sugar
75 g butter
1 dl milk
1 egg

Mix all the dry ingredients, then mix in softened butter. Mix in milk and egg. Add whatever you like, chocolate chips, blueberries, M&M's... Bake medium sized cupcakes in the oven at about 200 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes, bigger ones longer etc. If you're making chocolate cupcakes, add about two tablespoons of cocoa powder, and add a little less regular flour. And the tip I have to give for every kind, don't add all of the flour at first, just check if you need all of that. Leave like 0,5 to add in the end if the batter is too runny.

This makes for about 12 medium sized cupcakes.

2014 book haul, part 1

First of all, let me apologize for the picture, I know it's not that great. I was too tired to take another one when I realized this one was a bit blurry. You can see the books though, and isn't that the point.

So, book haul. I'm quite proud of myself, these are all of the books I have got this year so far. And it's only 14 books. 7 in Finnish, 7 in English. And I have only bought books when I have read books I hadn't read before, as is my rule. It's not a book buying ban, I know, but that would just be cruel.

First is City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare, the last book in the Mortal Instruments series, which is about badass demon hunters and vampires and werewolves and a girl who isn't as human as she thought she would. And then there is a boy. And I actually really loved the first three, some years ago when I was younger. Now... This last one was not as good as the first three in the series, but better than numbers four and five. And Alec and Magnus, being their magnificent selves, made this a lot better. Still, I only gave this 2 out of 5 stars, because I think the story should have ended in the third book, and I only bought this because I had to know what happened after book five. Couldn't leave the series there, even if I kind of wanted to. I might do a review on the whole series later, but I won't promise anything.

Next we have Panic by Lauren Oliver. Panic is set in a small town where there is nothing to do during summer, so the teenagers have invented a game called Panic. It's about a series of scary tasks you have to complete, and the winner will get a huge amount of money. I saw a lot of videos where people talked about this book, and just had to buy it to see what I would think. And I know a lot of people have said they couldn't really get attached to the characters / get into the story etc. but I really enjoyed this. I think I read it in a day, just couldn't put it down. 4 out of 5 stars.

Then, Hollow City by Ransom Riggs, the second book of the Miss Peregrine's series I believe it's called. The sequel to Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, anyway. I can't really tell anything about this as it starts right where the first book ended, but you should know it has cool pictures. And I don't really know why, but it took me a really long time to read this book. It was really fast, a lot was happening in a really short amount of time, and it felt a bit rushed. I did like it a bit more towards the end, though, but I still kept mixing the characters with each other. I'm torn between 3 and 3.5 stars.

Next is a book I haven't yet read, as I just bought it a week ago. Breakfast at Darcy's by Ali McNamara is exactly the type of book I read as a sort of guilty pleasure; I don't know if I should admit that I read these books. But it looked like a fun read and was only 3€ at my local library. The main character has inherited an island, but in order to fully claim it she has to live there for a year with a bunch of other people, and that's about all I know about this. I will probably save this one for winter, just because the cover has snowflakes in it.

Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant by Veronica Roth. Set in a dystopian future where the people are divided into factions based on their personalities. The main character is 16 and has to choose whether to stay in her old faction or go to a new one and never see her family again, and that's basically how the story stars. There is a revolution and awful leaders and of course a love story (...). I was mainly interested in these because they were talked about a lot, partly because of the movie. I think I was too old for these, I just didn't really like them, and found the main character really annoying. The first one was the best of the three, the other two... meh. I was also spoiled on the ending of book three and that really made it worse for me. 3 stars for the first, 2 for the next ones. Also I feel like I should mention I liked the Divergent movie more than the book.

Next is Persuasion by Jane Austen, which I absolutely loved. The main character was engaged to this man when they were younger, but now many years have passed and they meet again, and the story is about how they handle the old feelings that aren't at all dead or forgotten. It was so cute and lovely and just perfect. I might even say it's better than Pride and Prejudice, which I also love a lot. 5 out of 5 stars and straight to my favourites -shelf.

Then another book I gave 5 stars to, Metro 2033 by Dmitri Gluhovski (or Dmitry Glukhovsky as it's spelled on goodreads). This book fucked me up a bit. I started it at night, and after one chapter of being scared I decided to read this only when the sun was up. Seriously, I have never been this scared when reading. And it was so good. I even made my flatmate read it. It's about the world after a war, where what's left of humanity lives underground in the Moscow metro, fighting enemies from inside and out, and the main character might be the only one that can save humanity from extinction.

I have just realized this will be a really long post, but I haven't read the last five books so maybe I won't have that much to say about them. I hope.

The Summer of Dead Toys by Antonio Hill is about a detective that gets assigned a case of a 19-year-old boy who has fallen from a window, but it isn't what it seems. I'm quite excited about this, and that's a lot coming from someone who doesn't really like crime thrillers like this.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is set in Nazi Germany where a girl reads stolen books to her neighbours and a Jewish man hiding in the cellar. I don't really know anything about the story, I just know a lot of people have absolutely loved this book. That was all it took for me to buy it. That and the fact that it was cheap.

Resurrection by Steve Alten, a sequel to Domain. (And I have just found out this is a trilogy. Oh boy.) Can't really tell much about this without spoiling Domain, but it's about the end of the world and stuff. Took me forever to read Domain, but I read it at the perfect time as the events took place in 2012 and that's when I was reading it. So I didn't mind taking forever to read. I don't honestly know how excited I am about Resurrection, since Domain was what it was. But we'll see, maybe I'll get around reading this one some day.

Next one is a book by a Finnish author, Con Rit by Risto Isomäki. This is also about the end of the world or something along those lines. I know, I have bought really cheerful books this year. A thriller, too. I don't know, something about this seemed so interesting to me but I can't really explain what.

Aaand last but not least, Stardust by Neil Gaiman, who happens to be my favourite author. This is about a boy who goes to a fantasy world to look for a fallen star to give to a girl he's in love with. I really really like the movie, so I wasn't sure if I'd even want to read this, but I found this at the library the same time I got Breakfast at Darcy's, and I just can't resist cheap books. Or Neil Gaiman.

TBR jar and what does that mean

When I first saw the letter combination of TBR, I had no idea what that meant. TBR what? What does that mean? Then I found out the letters stand for To Be Read, and felt a bit stupid. But I was new to the booktube community on YouTube, and forgave myself this little bit of stupidity. Later I saw a bunch of videos titled something like 'my TBR jar', and, interested, watched those. And now, some time later, I have my own TBR jar.

The idea of this jar is simple; write the names of the books you have owned for ages and haven't gotten around to reading on pieces of paper, put the papers in a jar, pick one every month to read. Simple. Some people have an additional rule, which is that if they don't feel like reading the book they pick that month, they have to get rid of it. Because if the book has been on their shelf for four years, and they don't feel like reading it now, they probably never will. I think this is a very smart rule if you own a lot of books, but since I don't have hundreds of books, I won't be doing this. I just have a lot of books that are not necessarily something I'd pick up from a bookstore that I want to read. (I won a giveaway some years back in a book fair and got like ten books, mostly from Finnish authors.)

I felt like I needed a TBR jar, because I tend to read only books that I know I will enjoy, or that are at least in a genre I usually enjoy reading. And I don't really read a lot of Finnish authors, which I should, so I'm trying to fix that too. I will be keeping the books even if I don't read them when I should, or if I don't like them, but maybe some day when I have a larger collection I will get rid of those I didn't enjoy. I do want to read more from genres I haven't tried yet, and to be honest I want to give everything a try.

So starting in September, I will be picking a book from my jar to read that month, my goal being a shelf full of books I have actually read.