The Weekly Wrap: December 14th to December 20th

Weekly Review

1. What I’ve Read This Week
2. My Reading Progress
3. Want to Read Updates

Upcoming

4. TBR for the Upcoming Week
5. Looking Forward

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While I read quite a few books this week, I’ve felt very lethargic and quite spacey–I woke up on Saturday thinking it was Friday! I really need to re-set this week, considering I have so much work to get done before Christmas. Also, for those who have holidays right now: happy holidays! I hope everyone is finding a way to stay connected during this time of isolation.

This past week I finished a book that I’ve been working on for quite a while: Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad. If you’re thinking about doing this workbook, please check out my review here. If you’re committed to practice antiracism, I strongly recommend starting this workbook after you’ve done some research and other readings.

Last week I realized that I hadn’t yet posted by December Book Haul (which you can read here). I love talking about the books I’ve purchased and why. This month’s haul includes a total of nine books, five of which are hard copies, which I always get so excited about (more books to add to my literal shelf)!

Part of this haul is a book I already started reading: Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks. I love it so far, and I find it pretty accessible (there were quite a few reviews that said the book, while good, didn’t meet the promise of a book that “anyone”–i.e. those not versed in feminist academia–could read).

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Up Next Shelf Progress

A reminder: my Up Next Shelf is comprised of all the unread books I want to read and have purchased.

I’m changing up my progress from a simple percentage complete to a line graph (see left) because a percentage doesn’t acknowledge how both the number of books read and the total books on the shelf fluctuate.

Net Progress = Books Added – Books Read

The total number of books on my Up Next Shelf has increased from 87 to 95 books and my books read also increased to 47 books read. I read three books from my Up Next shelf last week.

My Net Progress increased to 9 books which means I added more books than I read last week. This makes sense considering I had a book haul last week and therefore added a bunch of books to my Up Next shelf.

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You will like Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri if you appreciate:
✨ Essays
✨ Antiracism
✨ ‘Historical and cultural investigation of the global history of racism’
✨ Journey of self-love and acceptance

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You will like Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay if you appreciate:
✨ Memoir
✨ Unpacking the nuances of feminism (for example, you can still like pink and be a “girly girl” and be a feminist!)
✨ Essays on popular culture
✨ Focuses on the intersections of race, class and gender

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You will like Memorial by Bryan Washington if you appreciate:
✨ LGBTQIA+ romance
✨ Dramedy
✨ Exploration of family ties
✨ Setting boundaries and discovering self-acceptance

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So I’m continuing my bad habit of not reading the books I saw I’m going to 😅. I didn’t read either Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo or For the Love of Men by Liz Plank. So my goal is to just finish both by the end of 2020!

Also, I’ve been in the mood for a sweet romance these past few days, so a young adult romance would be perfect. I recently purchased When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon (see the details in my December Book Haul here), and while there are mixed reviews, I’m hoping it’s as cute a story as the synopsis suggests.

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I’m wrapping up my book review theme standalone fantasy novel this week! As I mentioned in my last weekly wrap, I’m expanding the theme to include two more books because I found another standalone fantasy novel I want to review 😊. I’ve also determined that this theme will be the last of 2020! I realized that the last week of December will include my 2020 Wrap and my December Wrap, so there are too many posts to include one or two book reviews. I’m also so excited that I finally get to do a wrap-up of a year! I’m already brainstorming how I’m going to format the post.

This last week I added four books to my Upcoming Release list. Do Better by Rachel Ricketts has been on my radar for a while (I follow her on Instagram), and I’m really excited to read her book, which delves into spiritual activism. Last Chance Books by Kelsey Rodkey looks like a must-read for all book lovers. It has the best book premise: an intergenerational book owner, Heroine, is in a “war” for customers against the Hero who works at a new flagship bookstore on the same street. Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart looks like an amazing Jamaican-inspired fantasy with such promising badass Heroines. Finally, Dancing with Danger by Kerrigan Byrne looks like an exciting opposites attract historical romance. I’ve been looking for a new historical romance author similar to Lisa Kleypas since I’ve read all of Kleypas’s newer books. I just have to wait until February to read them!

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