Category: discussion

Aria @ Book Nook Bits is the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

 January 5: 2023 Reading Wrap-Up

Prompts: Happy New Year! How many books did you read in 2023? What were some of your favorites? Least favorites? Did you meet your reading goals for the year? What do you want to continue in 2024? Any reading-related changes you’re planning to make?

Welcome to a new year of LTB here at DTRH, everyone! It’s the first Friday of January and it’s time for a new topic. Although I did do a mini-reflection last week, that doesn’t stop me from going through some of these more concrete questions here in today’s prompt!

I think I read about 40 books last year in 2023, and I really ramped it up at the end. There were, as usual, periods of no reading and periods of binge-reading. But overall I think it was a great time. I don’t want to pressure myself too much to read when I have too many non-pleasure (read: work and school) readings to do already, just to make sure I keep the fun in reading, for which I think I have so far been successful!

Some of my favourites included The Only One Left, Babel, and The Ivory Key series. Many of these were surprising finds, but definitely gave me new hope into each of their genres. I was beginning to think that my standards have become too high, but nope, books can definitely still hit the mark, I just have the find the right book. That’s a relief for sure. As for least favourites…well, no need to bash those authors. I’d rather just forget them.

My goal was set around only 30, so I certainly met that goal! I have a friend who has made it a new goal to be more intentional with their reading, rather than just to meet a certain number. So their goal is to read from certain genres and certain authors, all to intentionally create a list for their goal. While I don’t think I will be doing something so concrete, I think I also want to err on the side of reading things that will matter to me, rather than just reading to fill the time or to reach a book count.

I’d definitely love to slip in a few more fantasies if I can, though I’m usually scared to start them as they tend to be longer. But other than that, I think I’ll be sticking to the regular scheduled programming, and hopefully get a chance to read more ARCs this year to review!

What are all your plans for this year? Sticking to the same old or trying something different? Let me know in the comments below!

Aria @ Book Nook Bits is the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

December 29: End of Year Freebie

Prompts: It’s the fifth Friday of December, and almost the end of the year! Use this week to revisit an old LTB topic, or write about something you’re interested in! You can also check out the LTB archives on my blog and on Rukky’s for more topic ideas.

Welcome to the last week of LTB here at DTRH for 2023! It’s been quite a crazy year (do we say that every year?) and I have no doubt 2024 will also be just as eventful in its own way. Nevertheless, I wanted to take a moment at the end of this year to reflect a bit on some reading or bookish things from 2023.

I definitely succeeded this year in making sure reading was not a chore this year, and that I really only read when it was enjoyable for me. That being said, as a result I read significantly less books, unsurprisingly. But looking back, I think that was still for the better, and it was likely a lot of other factors as well that ultimately led to me reading less books this year, which I think I ought to be kind to myself about.

I had my ups and downs this year with blogging too as I experienced many things for the first time, which made me busier than usual. But I think overall I was still able to achieve my goals and look back fondly on this year as a success regarding the bookish side of things. I may have read less books in number, but I was also able to reach out to different readers this year to get suggestions on books that I would never have otherwise read. I also read a number of books for my book club that I may not have picked up otherwise. I would call that a success too!

For me I’d say this year was definitely a bit different from the rest, but all in a good way. In fact, I think there will be several things in store for next year, if things do pan out. So hopefully there will be some exciting new content for you all in the community in 2024! I am certainly looking forward to it, and I hope that I will also continue to grow as a reader and as a blogger.

I anticipate (once again) some busy moments in the upcoming year already, and I am unsure how it will ultimately affect my reading habits, but if this year has taught me anything, it’s that I really do love to read, and especially when someone else talks up a book, it really does get me excited to commit to a book no matter how busy I am that time of year. I’m glad to know that I don’t really have to worry about me “giving up” on books, and really all I got to do is to slip in various pockets of time for me to read, even if they aren’t necessarily long stretches. Looking back, I read a lot on the commute this year, which definitely helped to increase my reading volume in the end.

How do you all feel about all things bookish, looking back on this year? Is it an anomalous year, or just the same old? Do you prefer it that way (same or different)? Let me know in the comments below, and Happy New Year!

Aria @ Book Nook Bits is the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

December 22: What Counts as YA?

Prompts: Young adult fiction (YA) is aimed at 12 to 18 year old readers, but what actually makes a book YA? Is it just the characters’ ages, or more about the content and themes? Are there any books that have been marketed as YA that you feel are really adult?

Welcome to another week of LTB at DTRH, everyone! Today’s topic is all about YA. Except, what is YA exactly, and what counts as YA? I have a feeling it might be slightly different to everyone. But what is YA in the general community?

I suppose the prompt has the right of it, and the most “correct” way of describing YA fiction is that it is aimed at 12–18 year old readers. I can definitely accept that. But what does aimed at an age group even mean? Most often, the characters will be about the same age, but again, is this a defining feature? Is it possible to have “YA” with older charaters?

YA has mostly been explained to me by the characters’ ages and the themes of the story. Whether it is adventure or fantasy, I imagine that for the most part there is a type of development that comes with the story. Not that the characters necessarily age within the book (or even series…) but usually there is some sort of growth or change that will accompany the story, perhaps even teaching a lesson. So I guess for me, I feel like it’s very quintessential YA when there are teenagers or even pre-teens going through school or some other sort of journey and “growing up” through the experience. Or at the very least, they often reflect on the experience afterwards.

I think my view of it is probably fairly accepted in the YA community (correct me if I’m way off though!), although I think the difficulty doesn’t come from categorizing the quintessential YA fiction novels. It’s really those novels that are aimed at a slightly younger audience (9–12) or perhaps slightly darker tales aimed at those 16+. Do those still count as YA?

I think for me, YA is already such a general umbrella term, that it’s fairly safe to be over-inclusive. I think people in the community (or even those who are not) understand that this is generally quite a broad term, and that a more direct question is needed if you are trying to figure out if a book is appropriate or not. Like any label, it is really there only for convenience, and overly scrutinizing the boundaries of such labels may not be that useful for anyone, especially for such a broad term. I myself definitely need more information than just “it’s YA” if I want to know about a book.

I think there are certainly a couple of books that I have read that have quite adult themes and I did wonder if a book like The Gilded Wolves does fall on that boundary line. I think it does mostly still classify as YA in my books, but the themes and events do make me think that it is more appropriate for a slightly older reader within that range. I suppose 12–18 is quite an interesting range, as 12 is quite young, and 18 is basically the age of majority. This makes for interesting classifications of books, but I think I haven’t really run into YA books that were simply completely incorrect.

What counts as YA to you? And do you think that there have been any egregious mis-classifications in a YA book? Let me know in the comments below!