The Jot Down for January 8, 2023 - Reading Beyond The Book Cover

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The Jot Down – January 8, 2023

Ketchup

Nothing much to report or catch up on. I was a bum last week because of COVID. Just raggedy.

Books

In between the last WWW Wednesday post and today, I’ve completed two books: Almost American Girl (1/28/20) by Robin Ha and The Spite House (2/7/23) by Johnny Compton. All I’m going to say is, don’t read horror books in the dark. Since completing The Spite House (2/7/23), I’ve been spooked. I tried to downplay that it didn’t scare me. Why did I do that? Anytime I hear a noise, I’m thinking about the events of the book. I’m such a scaredy-cat.

On my “Currently Reading” shelf are Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson (7/20/15), Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown (2/28/23), and the same short story collections from last week, Angola is Wherever I Plant My Field (1/30/23) by João Melo and Call and Response (1/31/23) by Gothataone Moeng. Surprisingly, I’ve found my footing with Call and Response and I see myself possibly finishing it midweek next week.

Blogging

In anticipation of my 2023 reading and book blogging plans, I’ve decided to forgo doing individual wrap-ups for the last two months of 2022. COVID took me down for the count at the start of Christmas/Winter Break and although I did post some, it wasn’t the posts that I intended to publish during that period. Nonetheless, all’s well. I shared what I could and I hope the posts were received in good spirits. So, in regards to November and December of 2022, they happened and there will be one post to cover what I read in those months. Shortly after that, I will be posting some challenges or goals I’ve set for myself and sharing some of the dashboards or databases I’ve created to keep me focused and held accountable. Look out for those posts to go live soon.

If you haven’t noticed by now, I love ease. For my sanity, I will not be doing a 2022 year in reading post. I read a little over 100 books in 2022 and with my new book tracking spreadsheet, it would be more than stressful to add anything before October 2022 to it. So for the sake of being more precise and utilizing my time for more pleasurable bookish activities, I will be tracking all reading for 2023 in the new spreadsheet in preparation for the 2023 year in reading post(s). I’m trying to move forward, not backward (lol).

QOTD (Question Of The Day)

How do horror books affect you?