[MINI REVIEWS] Crime Fiction Edition #1

title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot #1)
author: Agatha Christie
genre: crime fiction
published: October 30, 2012 by William Morrow
format: paperback, 247 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | Fully Booked
rating: 3 / 5 stars
goodreads

Hercule Poirot solves his first case in the Agatha Christie novel that started it all, now in a fully restored edition that features a “missing chapter” along with commentary from Christie expert John Curran. 

Who poisoned the wealthy Emily Inglethorp and how did the murderer penetrate and escape from her locked bedroom? Suspects abound in the quaint village of Styles St. Mary—from the heiress's fawning new husband to her two stepsons, her volatile housekeeper, and a pretty nurse who works in a hospital dispensary. 

With impeccable timing, and making his unforgettable debut, the brilliant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is on the case.

My Year in Books 2018

Hi,

Since it's already 2019, instead of doing a December wrap up, I decided to just do a 2018 wrap up. Esther @ Bite Into Books tagged me to post my Goodreads Year in Books.

I like Goodreads's yearly summaries and generally the nerd-iness of the numbers. I added a few stuff below just for a personal count. A reminder for myself on how much I've been spending on books and not exactly reading them. Really hoping I can get through my reading goals this year including this Beat the Backlist Challenge!

I read 16,972 pages across 57 books

AVERAGE LENGTH: 297 pages

[READING CHALLENGE] Beat the Backlist 2019

Hi,

I've been seeing this challenge around and I thought that it really won't hurt to join in the fun. I've been hoping to get through books that have been sitting on my shelf for YEARS now and this is, obviously, the perfect challenge for me.

For my tentative to-read-list, I decided to go with 10 physical books and 10 eARCs I have. The physical books are divided by adult and YA fiction. And the eARCs are divided by those I received in 2018 and those I received 2017 and earlier.

Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge is hosted by NovelKnight. I will try and participate on other challenges such as the weekly photo challenge. However, I will surly join the Hogwarts Mini Challenge under team Hufflepuff :)

Bookish Naughty Or Nice Tag

Hi,

I told myself that I won't be posting anything other than wrap-ups because life gets in the way. (although recently I'm being such a timely organized kid that all time is well spent?) But I went back to bloghopping and saw this really fun Christmas Tag by Jenniely @ A Page of Jenniely. I wasn't tagged, of course, I just thought that it's such a fun thing to do.

I'm going to do this with only 2018 in mind 😏

Received an ARC and not reviewed it ✓
Very guilty of this especially since I'm a very inconsistent reader, blogger, and reviewer. Although I do hope to review every single book I receive. Here's to being an active reviewer and blogger on 2019.

NOVEMBER WRAP UP (aka the month of book slump all over again)

Hi,

Unfortunately, blogging has dropped to the bottom of my to-do list as I'm doing a personal art project for practice. Thus, the lack of time for blogging and actually the scheduling posts I drafted in the past month.

Below are some of the letterings I made for practice, please tell me what you guys think about them. I've been thinking of setting up a paypal account and accepting commissions at some point. I want to do something I like outside of my work thus this came to mind.

  

I've also had a pretty dead-ish month in reading. I only realized it right now as I'm drafting this post. I was only able to read two books this November! TWO BOOKS! What is wrong with me? And here I thought I'm in a roll right after that fab read-a-thon month in October. I hope to pick up my pace soon. I've been picking up and not enjoying books.

In my attempt to read as much books as before, I'm joining Bekka @ Pretty Deadly Reviews's Bookish Bingo Winter 2018-2019 which runs from December 2018 to February 2019. I like that the prompts are petty vague so I can pick from a good list of books. This will also be my first Bookish Bingo ever :)

As for my work update, everything is good. Nothing special happening aside from getting some actual work and getting that feeling of importance after all these months.

books read

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot #1) by Agatha Christie | Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter #1) by Thomas Harris

OCTOBER WRAPUP (aka the month of read-a-thons)

Hi,

October was good (?). I think. I don't know. It didn't feel like a special month for me, to be honest. Reading-wise, it's been good. My reading pace is back 😊 I participated in two read-a-thons. It was supposed to be three but life happened.

Also, this post is also extremely late. But who cares? 😅

Work update: it's been good. It's not as bad as before but it also doesn't mean that I'm all good with my co-workers. Honestly, I'm still not very comfortable with them but at the very best, it's not as awkward as before (with the exception of certain people, of course). It's too difficult to be socially awkward. I honestly have NO IDEA how to talk to people like 80% of the time, I HAVE NO IDEA what to say to them or how to react to things they say (especially when I don't find the things they say funny or at the very least amusing. it's difficult to smile when you're not feeling it, yeah?).

On other news, I'm trying to get back to my blogging mood. I'm drafting reviews and other posts at the moment. I'll have everything scheduled by December 😉

books read

Perfect Blue: the Complete Metamorphosis by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, Nathan A. Collins (Translator) | The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) by Stieg Larsson | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2) by J.K. Rowling | Red Rising: Sons of Ares by Pierce Brown, Rik Hoskin (Writer), Eli Powell (Illustrator) | A Pack of Blood and Lies (the Boulder Wolves #1) by Olivia Wildenstein | Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

SEPTEMBER WRAPUP (aka the month of #mibf2018)

books read + currently reading

Hi,

I have no idea if anyone is still reading my blog because I only do wrap-ups recently.

September was a very hectic month for me at work. There was so much stress mentally and I was not enjoying the company of my co-workers as much as my previous work place. They poke fun of my awkwardness, natural silence, and inability to make a decent conversation with them (because we absolutely have NOTHING in common). There are other things I'd love to rant about work but that will be annoying and already rant them all out to my best friend and my sister. So somehow I'm all good.

ANYWAY, I went to the 39th Manila International Book Fair for two days. I went on Friday, September 14, with my best friend. We went straight to Fully Booked which was fun with the two of us actually looking through classics together to grab new Wuthering Heights editions to add to our collections THEN going on separate ways as he looks through scifi books and thrillers while I go through generally everywhere, from YA to adult fiction to manga THEN meeting up later to pay for the said books together. We had late lunch and he ordered cakes because he knows I like them 😊