2021 Shelf Reduction

 I've always insisted that I have 2 hobbies.

1. Reading

2. Buying books

Why are they separate hobbies? I hear nobody asking. Well this blog isn't called Loaded Shelves for nothing. During lockdown numero uno, I had some more-serious-than-usual anxiety attacks and as a coping method I decided to write a list of every single physical book I had in the house. Yup. The answer to the question I didn't really want to ask myself is 947. Ok ok it wasn't but it's been Christmas since so it's risen slightly. I didn't really put any thought into the number itself as that is all it was, and then I saw my friend @librarylooter post about the 2021 Shelf Reduction template from @laurasloaninglibrary and I thought...I wonder how many of those 947 are still unread? 

578

Oh my.

I knew it would be a lot but I had absolutely NO idea it was quite that bad. I think it became pretty clear what my 2021 bookish challenge was going to be and I thought maybe I could actually revive this blog and see how I get on reducing my physical bookshelves. It would be great if anyone wanted to stick around and cheer me on?

SO! There are few things to it and unfortunately (because i'm using my work laptop) i'm not actually able to share any images with you, so please do check out @laurasloaninglibrary for her amazing templates!

Step 1: Count your total unread books. - Mine was 578

Step 2: Each month there are 4 columns to complete 'Read', 'Added', 'Unloaded/donated' and 'new total'. As you can see from the categories, you don't necessarily have to READ every single one of those books to reduce your shelf, you can also do a bit of a sort out and unhaul some that you're unlikely to read. For example, I have quite a lot of physical books that I also own on the kindle, so I could reduce my number by unhauling the physical copies. Additionally, when you acquire new physical books you're also bound to declare them too, so if you're a compulsive book buyer *cough* hobbyist then you could well be increasing your number as you go. 

The aim of the game is to essentially complete the template at the end of December 2021 with a number that is less than the one you started with. With a starting figure of 578 you'd think that would be a pretty easy task but honestly? Buying books is like a drug to me and i'm also gifted them from my husband, friends and family too so I need to be careful!

I'm quite excited about the task ahead if i'm honest and I really hope I can reduce that number at least by double figures! Please let me know if you're taking part, I would love to see your progress and follow your journey - especially if you're on instagram!

Review // Sunflowers in February by Phyllida Shrimpton

Published: 8^th February 2018

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Format: e-Book

Synopsis: Lily wakes up one crisp Sunday morning on the side of the road. She has no idea how she got there. It is all very peaceful and beautiful. It is only when the police car, and then the ambulance arrive, and she sees her own body that she realises that she is in fact... dead. But what is she supposed to do now? Lily has no option but to follow her body and see her family - her parents and her twin brother start falling apart. And then her twin brother Ben gives her a once in a deathtime opportunity - to use his own body for a while. But will Lily give Ben his body back? She is beginning to have a rather good time...

Thank you to Hot Key Books for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sunflowers in February is Phyllisa Shrimpton’s debut novel so I didn’t really know what to expect – which is exactly why I couldn’t wait to get started on it. I must admit, a little bit of the draw was how much I love things to match – reading a book with February in the title, *in* February? Yes please! I’m easily amused by small things....

Right from the off the book had me, truly and completely, in its grips. Lily is a flawed character and it’s not tried to be covered up. In fact, it’s her flaws that really make the book what it is – which is a beautiful book that reflects upon a person’s need to discover what it’s like to really live. Lily has to deal with discovering her own dead body and how her absence from the world affects those around her. Often, she has little regard for anyone else’s feelings bar her own but again, this is just one of her flaws that is both acknowledged and worked on throughout the book.

It’s important to point out too, that this isn’t just a book about Lily. It’s about her parents, her twin brother, her friends, and more importantly about the reader. I know that I at least found myself wondering about the differences I have made in people’s lives and whether the life that I lead on a daily basis is one that ultimately will bring me happiness. I don’t mean in a religious way either, just whether i’ll be able to look back and feel like *i’ve* lived the best life I could.

The discovery of Lily’s killer and the consequences of that are just one factor to keep you reading but it isn’t held as a turning point for the book itself, just a turning point for Lily as a character and what she has learned about herself and her life. Though it’s an emotional and sad book, it’s not all inner reflections and a big ol’ cry fest. Of course at the heart of it, that’s what you get, but on the surface it’s a really simple and easy book to read.  Let me a bit less positive for a moment though.

The whole feeling of the book changes at around 3^rd of the way in. The body swapping, other dimensional aspect just felt absurdly strange considering the beautiful heartfelt writing that preceded it.  It got easier to take as the book went further on but at times it felt a little ridiculous and really took the book on a different path. It didn’t lessen the meaning of the book, but I think it will suffer slightly due to the ‘freaky Friday’ feelings that came from it.

Overall though it was a great read. I couldn’t put it down and it’s stayed with me after the fact of reading it which is quite rare these days! I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for Shrimpton.

Review // The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily - Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Published - 6th October 2016
Publisher - Electric Monkey
Format - Paperback
Synopsis - Dash and Lily have been dating for nearly a year, but when Lily’s beloved grandfather falls ill, the repercussions take their toll on everyone. Even though they are still together, somehow the magic has gone out of their relationship and it’s clear that Lily has fallen out of love with life. Action must be taken! Dash teams up with Lily’s brother and a host of their friends, who have just twelve days to get Lily’s groove back in time for Christmas. 

I have been raving about Dash & Lily since I first read it in 2012. It seems incredible to me that it was 5 years ago already! My love for Cohn & Levithan began with Nick and Norah and I've been following throughout their entire co-writing career. This second instalment was off my radar for a long time, too long really and it was by chance that I saw it pop up on my Goodreads newsfeed. I'm also incredibly lucky that my wonderful bookish best friend Holly, picked me up a signed copy from her trip to London. She is so thoughtful and honestly, it was one of the most heartfelt Christmas presents I received. Is there anything better than your friends not only knowing, but really getting how much you love a book/character. So where do I begin? It's pretty hard.

As I said, it's been 5 years since I read Book of Dares and it's been a a fair few since i've had a re-read. I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't get the most out of it without re-reading the first book but I was too desperate to read it to wait.

I needn't have worried at all. Right from the first page, my love for the characters, their bond and the world Cohn & Levithan created for them came rushing back to me and my heart swelled. I hadn't realised just how much I had missed them. As it was a Christmas present, it was still pretty festive when I read it and the Christmassy vibes were gorgeous and definitely helped extend the festive period over new year. My heart was pulled a million ways as Lily lost her sense of self, and Christmas but that's what really makes these books for me, the way that they pull together and are strongest in their hardest times.

I LOVED seeing the families behind Dash & Lily and getting a lot of interaction. Lily's brother was everything you want in a brother, and was just an all around loveable character. Boomer, (oh Boomer...) lit up the page and my heart with his adorableness and tree-loving ways. I honestly just can't get enough of him. 

Aside from just how much I love the characters, it was so nice to see them growing up (both literally and mentally) and taking on adult responsibilities. I myself have grown a lot since I last met with Dash & Lily so it was only fair that they did too. Their isn't much of a time gap between Book of Dares and Twelve Days of Christmas, but it was enough to really understand that sense of change. This book definitely reminded me to slow down and to enjoy life, and especially appreciate and nurture the love in my life (and not just romantically!)

Reading Cohn & Levithan's books has always been a genuine pleasure and i'm forever grateful that just for a brief moment, Dash & Lily forced their way back to me, and I welcomed them with open arms. Not that i'm greedy or anything but if we could get an update on Nick and Norah... ;)

Hello October // Brianna Reviews - Taken by Benedict Jacka

Published: 6^th September 2012

Publisher: Orbit

Format: Paperback

Synopsis: Welcome to Fountain Reach. Ancient seat of the Aubuchon dynasty. Majestic setting of the White Stone tournament Alex Verus' (not necessarily reliable) reputation attracts all sorts. Most are plain bonkers. Yet there's one invitation he just can't refuse At Fountain Reach, Alex is perfectly placed among the noted and notorious to figure out why apprentices have been vanishing. But the tournament is a minefield of ancient grudges and new threats and Alex can't afford to miss a trick as his elusive adversary stays one step ahead in this most dangerous of games.

Alex is definitely beginning to pick up a reputation for investigating things – or maybe just for finding is way right slap bang in the middle of trouble. He has been asked or pointed in the direction of Fountain Reach by several people and he has also been asked to quietly looking into the disappearances of several apprentices although a lot of people seem to know that he has been asked. So obviously Alex and Luna set off for Fountain Reach to investigate the creepy house.

I would like to start off by saying: Yes, no Deleo/Rachael!

As predicted both Sonder and Talisid make a reappearance, the more I see Sonder the more I like him. Other reappearances include Onyx and Morden. But sadly no appearance from Starbreeze, I hope she comes back soon. 

I feel like Luna takes a fairly central role in Taken despite that fact that Alex spends more time with Anne. I really like the way that we get to see the way in which Luna is changing in this book (for the good) there is definitely a noticeable difference between her in the last book and her in this book as she is becoming more confident and learning to control her curse more as well as learning more about mage society. There is also a change in the relationship between her and Alex, he’s no longer trying to push her away and accepting that she can also take risks, not just him.

I liked Anne from the moment she appeared it might have just been because she is friends with Luna, but she quickly won me over herself Variam took a little longer, in fact I’m still not sure I like him.

I found the house in this very creepy from the first time Alex visited it, in fact in places I almost had goosebumps, I think it’s that feeling of a building somehow watching you, that idea has always creeped me out, although I guess in this case it was more than a feeling.  I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to spoil it, not because it isn’t something you can’t guess but because I really enjoyed the ‘who did it and how’ of this book, and in my opinion it is exactly the right mix of creepy, dark and disturbing. The longer you dwell on the scene inside the old shed with the bath tub, the worse it gets.

It’s starting to bug me a little how little we actually know about Alex, I still want to know how he became a mage, was he one before he met Richard? What about his parents? How old is he? (he seemed older in this book than he did in the others) and I also wonder how much other characters know about him, is it common knowledge that he was a Dark apprentice, because Natasha has her little speech about how Anne and Variam started off as Dark apprentices, yet Variam has a go at Alex for not understanding what it was like to be a Dark apprentice and to escape from it, which if Alex’s past was common knowledge surely Variam would realise earlier that Alex wasn’t judging him and Anne.  And if Alex didn’t finish being an apprentice, how come he’s not still one, and who taught him how to be a diviner I know he learnt from the Diviner from the first book (sorry I’ve forgotten his name) but Alex mentioned that it had never been a Master, Apprentice arrangement which to me suggests that he learnt from someone else. Maybe Alex’s past is something we’ll pick up slowly from each book.

Of course I will read the next book, I want to see if Luna continues to use her whip, if anne and Variam stick around did Onyx get out or have we seen the last of him… and more importantly does Starbreeze come back?

Hello October // Brianna Reviews - Cursed by Benedict Jacka

Published: 7th June 2012
Publisher: Orbit
Format: Paperback
Synopsis: Since his second sight made him infamous for defeating powerful dark mages, Alex has been keeping his head down. But now he's discovered the resurgence of a forbidden ritual. Someone is harvesting the life-force of magical creatures—destroying them in the process. And draining humans is next on the agenda. Hired to investigate, Alex realizes that not everyone on the Council wants him delving any deeper. Struggling to distinguish ally from enemy, he finds himself the target of those who would risk their own sanity for power...

After Fated I just had to continue on to the next book which didn’t disappoint. Someone is going around draining the magic out of magical creatures  and unsurprisingly Alex ends up in the middle of it all again, you would think being a diviner he wouldn’t keep accidently ending up in the middle of stuff, although this time it’s personal as whoever is targeting magical creatures could view Arachne as a target, so Alex agrees to help a council member track down who is doing it so that the knowledge of how can be destroyed and therefore eliminate the possible treat to Arachne and any like her.

I’m very confused when it comes to the characters in this book I’m also surprised to see Sonder make a reappearance, even though I wanted him to I didn’t really expect to see him again and I was also surprised to see Alex working for Talisid again.

I find myself liking people I shouldn’t like or don’t think I should like in this, the main culprit being Garrick I just couldn’t help but like him, and I don’t know why, it’s not like he gave me much reason to like him even after everything I was still hoping he got away. Is there something wrong with me? Or is he just a really likable bad guy? The other person that is Cinder although in his case there is some reason for liking him - he was also another person I was surprised to see again – he does help Alex and he isn’t half as stupid as he seems, but he also strikes me as somewhat loyal, even though he and Alex will never be friends, I have no doubt that Cinder would stick by Alex in a sticky situation so long as they weren’t on opposite sides.  The final character, and yes I’m classing it as a character is the Monkey Paw, I sort of like it, I know it’s not particularly good but I don’t know, I get the feeling it likes Alex and part of me thinks that it was trying to help, maybe it even picked Martin to try and warn Alex away from him, or maybe not, I just know I like it and it’s definitely a character in its own right. 

Arachne… what to say about Arachne… she is a GIANT SPIDER! I just can’t get passed it, I try and I like her but then I remember she is a giant spider and I just can’t feel so warm and fuzzy about her, I mean she is a giant spider, just nope. But I didn’t want anything to happen it her.

There are two things I feel very sad about the first is Starbreeze, will she come back, will Alex find another way of contacting her? Or is Starbreeze gone forever? Because I really like the air-headed air elemental.

The other thing is that I feel as if something was lost between Luna and Alex in this book but I can’t quite put my finger on what, but also that fact that even in Elsewhere they can no longer touch, but I guess I’ll just have to wait and see where it goes for both Luna and Alex and Starbreeze.

I know I’ve not discussed the plot all that much but I think that’s because to me the majority of the plot in Cursed is the characters

I will definitely be reading the next book in the series – I don’t think you could stop me if you tried although I am a little apprehensive as I don’t own the 4^th one so I am going to have to stop after the next one, which makes me sad. I hope Alex’s last question to Arachne about the dragon is answered, because although Alex can work it out, I’m not sure I can. And I wonder if we’ll see more of Cinder, I’m sure this time that we’ll see more of Sonder, and part of me is equally sure that Cider will pop up again, personally I don’t much care if Rachel/Deleo makes a reappearance because I don’t actually like her.

Hello October // Brianna Reviews - Fated by Benedict Jacka

 Published: 1st March 2012 
 Publisher: Orbit

 Format: Paperback

 Synopsis: In the heart of Camden you'll find the Arcana Emporium, run by Alex Verus. He won't sell you a wand or mix you a potion, but he might just be able to help. That's if he's not too busy avoiding his would-be apprentice, foiling the Dark, outwitting the Light or investigating a mysterious relic that has just turned up at the British Museum.

If ever there was a case of judging a book by its cover this was it. I had seen the first 3 books of this series in a shop I was working in at the time and every time I saw them I thought the covers were really pretty, eventually I bought the books, but it wasn’t until I got home that I even looked to see what they were about. Given my recent confession about magic you could imagine my dismay at realising they were about magic. I shouldn’t have worried luckily Fated is as good as its cover.

Alex Verus is a mage who runs a magic shop in Camden, London. He’s not really too fond of spending time with other mages and has very few friends (I’m not too fond of the one that is a giant tarantula!)he’s been keeping himself to himself after a bad experience with a dark mage (that might be a bit of an understatement) but his life doesn’t stay free of mages for long as several different mages sought him out for help.

I really, really liked this book. One of my favourite things about this book is Alex’s humour while narrating it’s not often that I chuckle at the actual narration of a book (or not as much as I did with fated) One of my favorite bits might have been his description of Unicorns or maybe his explaination of the mindset of diviners. I also like the way that Alex acknowledges that it took him a long time to figure out what the cube does while I had figured it out well before him.

At first I wasn’t a fan of starbreeze but I quickly fell in love with her and her incredibly short attention span and I loved and honestly was a bit surprised at the fact that she stuck around to help at the end when things started to get a bit hairy.

I’ll be honest Arachne terrifies me no matter how nice she is, and she is kinda amazing but no matter how amazing she is I just can’t shake the fact that she is a giant spider bigger than a car!

And of course I liked Luna ad feel really sorry for her. But I do wonder how Alex manages to be around her so much without accidently touching her in some way, I might just be really clumsy but I’m not sure I could spend that much time with someone without accidently coming into contact with them at some point, never mind staying at least an arm’s length away. It has also occurred to me that if Alex and Luna worked together they might even have all bases covered as Alex can’t predict events that are purely chance, but Luna’s curse can only affect things that are purely chance; I wonder if that was by design or by… chance (sorry).

I only really have two issues with Fated and they are pretty small as issues go. The first is I would like to know more about Alex and his past, I understand why we don’t get more information since it’s from Alex’s POV, but was he always a mage? Are you born a mage or do you become a mage? And how did he escape from Richard?

The other issue I have is that at the end part of the story was resolved that I wasn’t aware needed resolving. At the end it says that Arachne went back to her home, but I wasn’t aware that she had left, I might have just missed it – I was pretty tired while reading some bits as I had stayed up late to read it.

I am definitely going to read the next one – in fact I’ve already started! And since I loved it so much I now have an excuse to buy the other books in the series with their beautiful covers. I sort of hope Sonder shows up again I was just beginning to like him when Fated ended. And I’m really interested to see what happens with Luna’s curse as it seems like she was starting to direct it rather than it just being there.