Calendar Girls July: Best Book Adaptation

This month’s Calendar Girls Theme is Drive-in Movie: Best Book Adaptation. Thanks to Adrienne @ Darque Dreamer Reads for hosting.

I’m not really feeling this today, guys. Normally I could go on and on about movie adaptations, and what makes one good or bad. I could list my favorites and what makes them amazing. I could talk about why it’s so important to see them as separate and not compare them. I could talk about favorite adaptations from other genres, like musicals and TV and opera. But not today.

Today I’m having a hard time not feeling guilty for doing something as pointless as writing a blog post about books.

So you’re getting the short version. Maybe another time I can write more.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

It’s no secret that The Lord of the Rings is one of my all-time favorite books. And the movie trilogy came at just the right point in my life when I was impressionable enough to become full-on obsessed. But it *really* holds up. My husband and I have watched it again in these last few months, and other than a few special effects shots in the first movie, everything is just as good as I remembered it. I think there’s a couple reasons:

Calendar Girls May: Favorite Slow Burn

IT’S FINALLY MAY. Thank goodness, right?

Our Calendar Girls theme this month is World Turtle Day: Favorite Slow Burn. Now, in my experience, slow burn usually refers to romance novels, which you all know are not something I’m into. But I guess there are some YA romances that I really enjoy, and most of those are pretty slow burn-y. I guess slow burn is my preferred trope?

So without my normal rambling, let’s get on with it. My pick for May is…

Calendar Girls April: Favorite Book You Discovered at a Library

It’s National Library Week this month! (Ironic considering many libraries are completely closed… Hm.) And here at Calendar Girls we are celebrating by sharing our favorite book we discovered at the library!

Oh geez. As a librarian this should be an easy question to answer. But the thing is, I discover most of my books online, THEN go to the library to get them! The last time I found a book just walking around the library and fell in love with it was, well, middle school. Eek!

HOWEVER! Since starting as a full time school librarian in April I found a picture book that I read in maybe 5th grade and had since forgotten about. IT. IS. PERFECT. So if it’s alright with you, this month my pick is going to be a picture book. Okay, here goes.

Calendar Girls February: Favorite Romantic Comedy

Happy February! All the pink stuff is everywhere, and I just spent $20 on paper trash for my kid’s classmates. (He’s two…) You know what that means! Valentine’s Day is just around the corner!

Obviously I’m not sentimental about Valentine’s. Honestly, I could care less about it and we don’t celebrate it. It’s a nice idea, I guess, but I don’t find it in any way romantic. But I will never criticize anyone who does enjoy Valentine’s Day! So for all you lovers out there, this Calendar Girls theme is for you!

Meet Cute: Favorite Romantic Comedy

This theme was not difficult for me at all. I love romantic comedies, but I have a hard time finding literary ones that I truly enjoy. To clarify, I don’t consider romance novels Rom-Coms, even if they’re funny. To me a Rom-Com MUST be PG-13 with sex only implied. Because that’s how the movies are. I’ve found a few I’ve enjoyed since I started book blogging, but with contemporary romance on the up-swing, good romantic comedies are not easy to come by. However, this past November I fell in love!

My choice for my favorite romantic comedy is…

Calendar Girls January: Best First Book in a New Series

SURPRISE! We’re still here!!! I was over the moon when Flavia, one of the original creators of Calendar Girls, offered to take over when Adrienne and I were needing to take a step back. Long-time Calendar Girls participant Dani will also be taking over hostess duties for now. It is with the utmost excitement that I leave you in their very capable hands.

Our theme this month is New Beginnings: First Book in a New Series. That means, it’s a FANTASTIC book in a series, but none of the sequels have been published yet. This … isn’t easy for me. I much prefer standalones, and I rarely read the rest of a series. However, I read several great first books in a series in 2019!

Quick honorable mentions. These two books I technically liked better and rated higher on my list last year, but in both cases I felt like they don’t quite fit the prompt. Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey was my favorite rom-com OF ALL TIME, and has a new book in the series coming out in 2020. However, romance series are typically loosely connected, so I just didn’t like it for the prompt. Enchanteé by Gita Trelease was also a favorite, however it felt like a standalone novel to me, and I understand Trelease originally intended it to not be a series. Anyway, I highly recommend both!

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So, here it is! My favorite first book in a new series. A series that I (and I can’t stress this enough) actually plan on reading.

2019 in Review

I think I speak for everyone when I say THANK GOD 2019 IS OVER. Golly, this has been a stressful and difficult year for me, to say nothing of the state of the social internet. But I’m so excited about 2020 and what it’s going to bring for me professionally, personally, and as a blogger.

It’s been an interesting year for me here at my third year at Never Not Reading. I set an all-time personal record, reading 74 books this year (mostly thanks to my children’s and young adult literature class). I “discovered” graphic novels and non-fiction. But I haven’t been blogging much. Non-review posts have basically dropped off my blog altogether this semester, and my bookstagram has come to a screeching halt a whopping three times this year. So the blog has had its ups and downs.

So thanks, y’all, for reading. This community is so amazing and supportive, and I love every one of y’all.

So! Let’s get to wrapping this year up!

Top 10 of 2019

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See full post here.

Calendar Girls December Wrap-Up

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope every had some time off, enjoyed time with family, and ate plenty of delicious food. The haul posts on Bookstagram have been fun! As the month is wrapping up, it’s time to look back at our Calendar Girls posts.

Christmahanakwanza: Best Diverse Cast

Our Picks

Beauty Queens – Katie (that’s me!) @ Never Not Reading
Six of Crows – Adrienne @ Darque Dreamer Reads
Six of Crows – Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile
Aurora Rising – Teri Polen
Beauty Queens – Deanna @ Deanna Writes About

Calendar Girls December: Best Diverse Cast

Christmas time is here!

Alright, now that the Snoopy gifs are out of the way, happy December Calendar Girls! I don’t know about anyone else, but I am ready for a break from my semesters, some hot chocolate, and some holiday cheer. Also, a little good news on the job front wouldn’t hurt, so please keep keeping your fingers crossed for me!

This month we’re talking all about books with diversity. I’m very much looking forward to talking about this, partly because I have literally no idea what I’m about to pick, and partly because I’m ready for some great recommendations! I know that I don’t read enough books with diversity (my penchant for picking up older novels really bites me here), and my tbr is currently hanging out *whispers* below 85. So! Hit me with em!

I think what makes this theme tricky is the wording of diverse “cast”. I read plenty of books by and about people of color, and the number of LGBTQ books has definitely gone up since I started blogging. But it’s tricky to find a book where the characters are black, white, gay, latina, east-asian, lesbian, blue, green, orange, and everything in between. Also, I feel like picking a Sci-Fi book where we’re past the point of segregating ourselves is cheating. (Plus, I already picked The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, so…)

Calendar Girls November Wrap-Up

Happy Turkey Week America! For those of you who aren’t American, enjoy puzzling over the bizarre traditions we have surrounding a quite unique holiday. One of my favorite that I suggest looking up is the President pardoning a turkey. Like, what?

So, here we are in the last week of November. We’ve had a couple of new faces to Calendar Girls this month, welcome! I hope you all have enjoyed the opportunity to talk about some SUUUUUUUPER strange books! I didn’t think any of you would be able to come up with anything more bizarre than my pick, but boy was I wrong! Congrats to everyone for being so widely read in weird stories!

Eleven: Strangest Book You’ve Ever Read

Our Picks

Middlesex – Katie (that’s me!) @ Never Not Reading
Etiquette and Espionage – Adrienne @ Darque Dreamer Reads
Wink Poppy Midnight – Ashley @ Inside My Minds
Dark Matter – Teri Polen
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Deanna @ Deanna Writes About
Assassination Classroom – Dani @ Mousai Books
Reincarnation Blues – Liz @ Stellar Kitten Reviews
Snotgirl – Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile
City of Dark Magic – Brittany @ Perfectly Tolerable

Our Favorite Pick Is…

Calendar Girls December Theme

Is anyone else’s family starting to ask about Christmas lists? Like, I haven’t even started thinking about Thanksgiving yet, and all of the sudden people want to know what I (and my kids) want for Christmas. What if my kid suddenly discovers he’s obsessed with something new 1 month out like he did with Halloween?!

Anyway, it’s almost December! So we’re here ready to go with our December theme. Y’all, this was no contest. Which, when you consider the current book blogging climate, was really no surprise. So, here it is! The December theme!