Let’s Talk About Bookworm Shame

Well, not much has changed in the last few years. I continue to read, continue to swear I’m going to post more here, even draft a few reviews. And then – I never hit publish.

Most of the time work is so all consuming (usually at least a 10 hour work day) so I could lay the blame there. With Monday through Friday spoken for, how am I expected to do anything on the weekends except the stuff that doesn’t happen during the week? The usual adult responsibilities – groceries, laundry, cleaning, family obligations.

Here’s the catch, though. Like all book lovers I know I’m not the only one who uses what little time they do have to actually read. But, it seems, reading is all I have made much time for, not leaving space to write reviews, write my own novels or do much else for joy.

So here I am, yet again, typing an apologetic post for this blog that Katie and I came up with years ago, that she’s the only one who seems to actually commit time to.

How am I going to fix it and what started the shame spiral?

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2025 DNFs

Every year brings tons of new reads, as well as some books that we never quite finish. Each book has a unique reason why it was set aside whether that’s the writing style, plot, or the fact that it was simply started at the wrong time or in the wrong place.

The list below is a mix of all of them, as it often is every year.

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2024’s DNFs

2024's DNFs
By: Multiple
Release Date: N/A
Publisher: N/A
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We don’t always finish everything we read. And even the most hyped books in your favorite genre don’t always turn out to be winners. Sometimes, they’re just books picked up at the wrong time. Although, other times, they are books put down forever. In 2024, I encountered both.

Below are all of the books I DNF’d (did not finish) in 2024.

2022 Review – Brittney’s Top 10 Books of 2022

Okay, let’s face, I’m not consistent with writing reviews but I am consistent with a few key things in my life. Drinking water, taking my allergy medicine and reading every day are all things I’m good at. Writing reviews? Not so much. Could I blame this on the fact that I work overtime pretty much every week? Yes. Should I work on being more consistent? Also yes.

So, here we are in April 2023, with me finally posting my list of favorite books from 2022. I read 138 books in 2022 and here are my top 10.

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WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO? by Gareth L. Powell

By Gareth L. Powell

One of the things authors get asked most frequently is to name the other writers who have most strongly influenced their work, and I think it’s a fair enough question. No one writes in total isolation, after all. Our work always forms part of a conversation between the ourselves and the wider culture, and we are influenced, either positively or negatively, by every piece of fiction we consume.

So, with that in mind, I have been asked to write a few words about the influences behind my forthcoming novel, Stars and Bones.

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AnimeNYC 2021 – the Good, the Bad, and the Clusterfuck

AnimeNYC logo

After more than a year of online-only events big and small, many fans were itching for a return to normalcy. Despite huge strides in inclusivity online-only events have brought about, there is something wonderful about meeting friends you’ve only ever interacted with online in person, or for me, meeting up with editors, managers, and other staff I normally don’t get see in person across the manga and anime world.

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Why You Should Read Boyfriends. by Refrainbow

Webcomics aren’t exactly a new medium. These web-based comics are very popular with both artists and readers, and they have some of the absolute best artists and writers working on them. Sites like WEBTOON have become enormous powerhouses with award-winning webcomics and huge industry names on their platform. But this isn’t about the webcomics industry as a whole. Today I want to talk about the webcomic Boyfriends.

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