Tag: reading

I Don’t Mind Spoilers

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Hello my dear readers, I hope life is treating you as well as it can. If you’re reading this, you’re back for yet another Thursday Thoughts post.

This week’s topic? I don’t mind spoilers.

Seems pretty straightforward, so let’s get into it!

Everyone reads books, watches Netflix, TV, plays video games, or takes in some form of entertainment that can be spoiled.

Sometimes it’s inevitable. We can’t help things being spoiled for us. That new movie is just too good for strangers not to talk about on the bus, or that big sports game is flooding TVs everywhere you go, or even the series finale of your favourite show is being talked about all over social media.

It is very difficult to avoid them. Spoilers are everywhere you go in life. Sometimes they are obvious with articles or videos being made about them, sometimes they are less obvious, where spoilers are in memes.

But to be honest?

I don’t mind spoilers. I don’t mind stories being ruined for me. I don’t mind discussing the end of a book series with someone, knowing I am three books from the end. I want to know what happens at the end of the TV season, because the middle is often too boring.

I actually enjoy it. I enjoy spoilers.

I CRAVE to know the ending of whatever book, movie, or TV series I am taking.

If someone won’t tell me, I will look it up. I’ll spend hours clicking through the Wiki, putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

I’m always looking up a character’s ending, or when this event happens, or when someone might die.

I can’t wait to find out the answer on my own by reading the book or watching eight more episodes.

I NEED to know what happens.

Very few people I know of are the same as me. Most people hate having things spoiled for them, because it ruins the fun.

It ruins the adventure, it ruins the surprise.

That makes sense to me, and I can agree that the moments I didn’t have spoiled for me get a larger reaction out of me. I remember literally fist pumping when Andolin Kholin (Stormlight Archive) dueled a bunch of shard bearers solo. That moment wasn’t ruined for me, and it was AMAZING.

But having things “spoiled” for me actually makes me more excited for a book. It makes me more excited to get to that point and see it unfold for me.

If you’re one of the few people who don’t mind spoilers, let me know in the comments. Please tell me I’m not alone!
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Why Is Reading So Important?

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Hello dear readers, welcome to a bit of a longer post.

Reading is such a big part of a lot of people’s lives. Whether its for entertainment, research, or just stress relief, reading is important to a lot of people for different reasons.

Since reading is so important, I thought I’d do a bit of a discussion piece about it…so I hope you enjoy!

Reading is Fundamental in Society

Reading is obviously important for everything you do. Reading this post, reading a recipe, or something more common like road signs. Reading is everywhere, even if you don’t really think about it.

Developing reading habits when you’re young is important, because without at least a base level of skill, things become frustrating to you. Following instructions, filling out an application, or even finding a job can be that much harder if you don’t have reading skills.

Reading Develops the Mind

Reading helps develop your mind in so many ways. Your mind is a muscle, and any muscle needs exercise. What’s one way to exercise it? By reading, and developing your language skills.

Reading also develops the imagination.With reading, a person can go anywhere they want. They can literally imagine fantastical worlds. Non-readers don’t get to explore these worlds like a reader does. It helps build your creative skills. It gives you a chance to imagine the story how you want it, and your mind changes the story with each new piece of information it receives.

Reading Helps Us Discover New Things

How do you discover new things if it wasn’t for reading? Sure you could watch a show, but you read what that show is about, you read that new magazine, that new book, that review. You read to discover new things that you might enjoy.

Reading Improves your Focus

The internet has fundamentally changed our world for good and bad. For many people, a large part of their day is spent mindlessly surfing, chatting, watching videos, or doing other mindless things online.

Reading draws your attention. It draws your focus to the page, and forces you to concentrate on what you are reading. It helps us to train our brains to live in the present.

Reading can do some marvelous things if you let yourself sit down and do it.

What does reading do for you? Let’s talk about it in the comments, or send me a message on social media!
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My 2020 Goals

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Hello dear readers. I hope all is well with you. I hope life is treating you well, and the words on the pages keep you hooked on your books.

2019 is officially over. It seems like it flew by, and I can’t believe I just completed my first full year of blogging.

There were some ups and downs for sure, but we weathered through them…and now we are in 2020!

If you haven’t checked out whether I completed 2019’s goals, check them out here.

I’m going to give my 2020 goals, both for the social media, and my reading goals. This will probably be a long post…so bare with me.

I’m going to start with my reading goals for 2020. I am still amazed at the people who can find the time to finish 100+ books a year. I don’t understand how they have the time or money to finish that many, but I tip my hat too them. You are truly worthy of calling yourself a reader.

I, on the other hand, am going to set the bar much lower. Since I prefer the books that are around 700-1,000 pages, and I don’t find as much time to read as I’d like to.

I am going to shoot for 12 full books this year, and 10 short stories (or something similar)…and yes audiobooks will count in these numbers.

I’m hoping to exceed these numbers. I want to find a nice local park I can go to in the summer and just lay there and read for hours on end.

I’m excited to get myself back in to reading heavily again, and I have more than enough books to read.

I won’t be counting manga reading in these numbers, because I read through several of those chapters a week.

Social media goals are another story.

I didn’t hit a lot of social media goals, which upset me, but this year I am going to hit them for sure, even if it kills me.

Goal #1: Twitter

Current: 158
Goal: 325

I was disappointed I didn’t hit my Twitter goal, but I am going to spend more time interacting with my fellow bloggers, and I am going to reach that 325 follower count.

Goal #2: Instagram

Current: 51
Goal: 150

I had a nice initial rush of followers on Instagram, but it died off pretty quickly. I stepped away from it for a while, but I have a few ideas to hopefully get back into the game.

Goal #3: Facebook

Current: 0
Goal: 25

I started a Facebook page to share my thoughts and opinions with others, in a book club style group. I didn’t figure out all the rules and regulations for it at first, and I quickly lost interest in it, but I want to try again. I think it will be a good opportunity for people to share their thoughts in a slightly more permanent place than Twitter.

Goal #4: Blog

Current: 141
Goal: 300

My blog grew much slower than plenty of other people’s that I noticed, but there are many factors to that reasoning. I am happy for their success, but I am undervaluing my skills and going to shoot lower. I think I can do better than 300 followers, but anything higher will be a success.

Those are the main goals I want to achieve in 2020 with On My Bookshelf. They are probably the most important to em personally, but I do have a few minor goals that I want to work towards through the year…so here they are:

  • Host 2 giveaways (one for Christmas and one for hitting 300 followers)
  • Have 5 collaborations with authors or other bloggers this year
  • Create a blogging award (not specifically for book bloggers)
  • Create new look for this blog
  • Create a blog mascot
  • Make significant progress on my book

I hope 2020 goes well for you all, and I hope that you are able to stick to your goals and resolutions. I’m not a big fan of the saying ‘New Year New Me” but it’s true….let 2020 be your year!

Don’t forget to follow me on socials!
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Did I Reach My 2019 Reading Goals?

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Hello dear readers.

2019 is coming to an end in just a week and a half, and I am amazed by how quickly it flew by.

I remember it was January just a few days ago, and I had set my goals for the blog for 2019.

Jump forward just a little bit, and here we are, nearing the end of December, and I cant believe I have been doing this blog for over a year now.

It has been a fantastic ride, and I can’t wait to get started with 2020!

I had started 2019 with two different sets of goals for myself, reading goals and social goals.

Reading goals were the books I wanted to finish in 2019, and the social goals were the milestones I wanted to hit on social media platforms.

So let’s look at the social goals first to see how I did.

Goal #1: 100 Blog Followers

I am beyond happy to say that I achieved this goal a few months ago. For most of 2019 I was worried that I wouldn’t hit 100 followers. I would check every week, and I would do the math to see how many followers a week I would need to hit the goal, and it scared me a bit. This was the goal I wanted to hit the most, and I can’t wait to see where I can get next year.

Luckily, a few key moments during the year came my way, and I was able to hit my goal, and surpass it even…so thank you to all of those who followed my blog, liked my tweets, or did whatever it was that helped me reach this goal.

Goal: 100 followers
Start of 2019: 32
Current: 136

Goal #2: 250 Twitter Followers

Since Twitter is the social media platform I use the most for the blog (even then, not that often) I wanted to focus most of my attention there to reach the book blogging community.

I had my ups and downs with using Twitter. I connected with a lot of cool people, and had some posts that helped me a lot, but unfortunately I did not reach my goal of 250 followers.

Goal: 250
Start of 2019: 39
Current: 154

Goal #3: 100 Instagram Followers

Instagram was the other social media channel that I wanted to grow on. I’m not a great photographer by any means, but I really wanted to use it as a channel to help grow my photography skills, and interact with people.

I was doing really well for a while. Getting a picture up every week, a few new followers every week, and getting good likes on my photos. Unfortunately things kind of stopped for Instagram. I posted less, got less interactions, and wasn’t exploring content like I used to. Unfortunately, this was another goal I did not reach.

Goal: 100
Start of 2019: 24
Current: 53

Goal #4, #5, and #6

These goals I dropped pretty early on in my attempts. They were goals I thought I would be interested in, but when I tried them they either didn’t pan out well at all, or I didn’t enjoy attempting them.

These goals I am less hurt about than the other three, but I am still upset with myself for having failed them.

Goal #4: 25 Book Club Followers – Didn’t pan out
Goal #5: 50 Twitch Followers – Didn’t enjoy streaming
Goal #6: 25 YouTube Subscribers – Didn’t have as much time to make videos.

Next, let’s take a look at the reading goals I had for 2019.

Here are the reading goals I set for 2019:

January
Lord of Chaos

April
Norse Mythology
Fire and Blood
A Crown of Swords

End of 2019
7 other books

The good news: I did read every named book on that list. I finished up Lord of Chaos, Norse Mythology, Fire and Blood, and A Crown of Swords.

I don’t remember exactly, but I doubt I read all of them by the expected dates.

The real question is…did I read seven other books this year?

As I’m writing this, I honestly don’t think I did, but I’m gonna try to remember them all.

  1. Mistborn #1
  2. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
  3. The Devil’s Apprentice
  4. Outlander (Audiobook)
  5. The Path of Daggers
    Other: Where We Feel Human, Exploit Me, The Hole, D’Arnold Finds a Home, The Snow Queen

So no…I didn’t hit my 7-book goal for this year. I managed to get through five books, and a bunch of small books or short stories. All that, plus the manga I read weekly I think adds up to at least seven books, so I may not have hit the numbers naturally, but I believe I got there.

I am actually a lot less upset about my goals than I thought.

I didn’t think I had read that many books at all, and I am okay with not hitting a few of the social goals I had set for myself.

I am mad at myself for not hitting the Twitter and Instagram goals though, and I am going to beat myself up for that and push myself harder for 2020’s goals because of it.

Next week I am going to give you my reading and social goals for 2020. I have a few projects I want to try out, and maybe a giveaway or two. I’ll also have a writing goal for 2020, because I am slowly in the process of writing a book, which I have wanted to do since I was a kid.

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Anyways, if you have made it this far, thanks for the wonderful journey that was 2019! I can’t wait to share 2020 with all of you and grow alongside you!

Top 10 Tuesday: Changes in Reading Habits

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Hello again fellow readers. Today I am back with another Top Ten Tuesday Post.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018.

This week’s topic is Changes in Reading Habits.  Every reader goes through this in their life, because change is inevitable. It’s impossible to be the exact same reader, or even person you were even a year ago, so everyone understands change to some degree.

I’ve experienced a lot of change in my reading habits through my life, even through the last few months. None of these changes are necessarily bad, in fact I like to welcome change. I like adopting new things into my life over time, preferably over time, but once in a while overnight.

I won’t be giving you 10 changes in reading habits, because despite trying to think of 10 different ones I have experienced, I could only come up with eight…so I’ll give you five main ones because giving you a weird number like eight would bother me.

Mainstream Books

When I was younger I mostly read a handful of books that nobody ever heard of. I remember trying to tell my friends about them, but they had never heard of them before. I didn’t necessarily start reading more mainstream books and authors to try and fit in more, but it has been a nice change to being able to participate in more discussions with people I know that love reading.

Reading Female Authors

Going over my list of books that I have read, it is still male dominated. I’m not ashamed of that, but I have been trying to seek out more books by female authors. I haven’t read enough female authors in my life, but the ones I have read have always left a positive impression on my life. I want to pursue more books written by females because of that.

Audiobooks 

I just got into audiobooks recently because of a free trial with Audible, and I can say I have fallen in love with it. I’m the type of person that likes background noise when I am doing anything. Cleaning, walking the dog, showering, I always need some noise to keep my mind busy. Podcasts are my main source, but with my recent dive into audiobooks, I hope to explore more soon.

Manga/Graphic Novels

In high-school I started getting into Manga, because it was a new form of story-telling that I hadn’t explored yet. I quickly fell in love with some of the more popular Shonen Mangas, but discovered more and more the longer I read. I still read several mangas to this day, and some of them have to be my favourite stories I have read.

In terms of graphic novels, I have done a small dive into reading them. Like manga, they are a new way to read stories, but honestly I prefer the manga feel. Graphic novels are filled with a different art-style that is pretty to look at, and I enjoy reading them, but mangas are where my heart lies.

Time to Read

I found now that I have finished school, I am reading a lot less. I used to read on the bus every morning and afternoon, but now that I walk to and from work, I don’t have those 20 minutes each way. I am finding I don’t dedicate as much time to reading as I would like to, and I am kind of mad at myself for that. I want to get back into reading all the time, and am trying to read before bed, or when I have a free hour or two.

What have been some changes in your reading life? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

Book Review: Viking: Odinn’s Child

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Title: Viking: Odinn’s Child
Author: Tim Severin
Rating: 6/10

Happy Monday fellow readers. As always, Monday is book review day, and today I am taking a look at Viking: Odinn’s Child by Tim Severin.

In 1001, the young child, Thorgils Leiffson, son of Leif the Lucky and Thorgunna, arrives on the shores of Greenland to be brought up by a young woman—Gudrid. Thorgils is a rootless character of quicksilver intelligence and adaptability. He has inherited his mother’s ability of second sight, and his mentors teach him the ancient ways and warn him of the invasion of the “White Christ” into the land of the “Old Gods.” Guided by a restless quest for adventure and the wanderlust of his favored god, Odinn, Thorgils’ fortunes will take him into worlds of unimaginable danger and discovery.

Odinn’s Child was one of my first real experiences into the historical fiction genre and Viking culture as a whole.

I had been a fan of history and fantasy since I started reading, but most of the stories that I experienced and fell in love with up to this point were Ancient Mediterranean or the Middle Ages.

Knights. Dragons. Magical swords. Castles.

Demi-Gods, Ancient heroes. Magical Monsters.

These were the stories that wowed me as a young reader, because Vikings, Ancient Egypt, and dozens of other cultures weren’t brought to my attention as much.

Odinn’s child changed that though. It opened my eyes to what the Vikings were, and the Norse Mythology that came along with them.

Norse Mythology, bloody battles, and a brief glimpse into the world of 1000s Europe, Odinn’s child is the first volume in the Viking Trilogy and all 350 odd pages will leave you wanting more.

The story follows a young boy, Thorgils Leiffson, the son of Leif the Lucky and Thorgunna as he arrives in Greenland to be fostered by a young woman – Gudrid.

Thorgils is a quick witted, intelligent, and very adaptable character that has inherited his mother’s ability of second sight.

Thorgils, who is basically orphaned, is raised by various mentors during his time in Greenland. They teach him the ways to worship the Norse Gods, along with their ancient customs, and warn him of the ‘White Christ’ that is making its way into the land of the ‘Old Gods’

Thorgils has a sense of adventure and looks to Odinn as his favoured god. Death, battle, disease, execution, and shipwreck are just some of the adventures that await Thorgils in Odinn’s child.

Severin does a good job of giving readers a steady look into Thorgils progression from a boy to a man.

He learns from several mentors, about many different things, but it never seems rushed, despite being contained within 350 odd pages.

The look into the Viking culture and the spread of Christianity into their lifestyle is an interesting plot for the book.

It’s not the major plot-line, but it nicely compliments the story and helps drive it forward by introducing new conflicts and characters.

Historical fiction isn’t a genre that I have delved too deeply into, but I want to get into the genre. I still have my copy of Odinn’s child from when I read it as a young teenager, and I might read it again to re-experience a series I loved as a kid.

Having a favourite genre…

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As a reader, it is impossible not to have a certain genre or genres of books that you gravitate towards.

Maybe you love going on a thrilling chase through space, shooting lasers and meeting alien life forms. Maybe you love a wise old magician shooting fireballs from his staff, vanquishing the dragon that has plagued his country for eons. Or maybe you love crying alongside two characters who are so madly in love, but the world seems to be keeping them apart.

Either way, everyone has a genre that they like, and everyone has a genre that they don’t like.

What I want to talk about today is the genres that you don’t like, but first, let me tell you a little bit about me.

I can appreciate almost any genre of any form of art, music, books, or whatever you have in mind. I don’t necessarily like every genre, but I can appreciate and understand why people like those genres.

I have a favourite type of music — country — but I don’t limit myself to just country music. I listen to a bit of rap, a pinch of hip hop, some top 40, and just a dash of classical.

It’s the same thing with my reading habits and the genres that I like. Obviously my main genres would be historical and fantasy, but I don’t limit myself to those categories, and I think it is wrong if you do.

I don’t think you should limit yourself to a few genres just because you aren’t a “fan” of fantasy, or you can’t stand sci-fi, or romance books make you want to vomit.

If you don’t like a certain book, by all means don’t feel obligated to finish it, but if you’re not a fan of sci-fi, but you love romance…what about a sci-fi romance book.

Blend the love and the hate together and try it out. It’s got a bit of what you love, and a bit of what you hate, so maybe that’ll save it for you.

Maybe it will, or maybe you’ll think the romance aspect of the book was ruined because of the sci-fi part. That decision is yours to make.

What I really want to say is this.

Just because you hate a genre, or you hate a certain stereotype in a genre shouldn’t mean you shun it completely.

In today’s world, where reading is slowly becoming a dying passion, I don’t think us readers have the luxury of hating anything. I think we need to appreciate what we can about books, and do our best to keep them alive. Don’t hate on a certain genre because you don’t like it. Instead try to find a niche area of that genre that you do like.

Not only will it broaden your mind and understanding, I think it will also help you realize how much you love reading and make you fall in love with it all over again.