Category: Notes

June marks a new year. A new reading year. Another year of reading my TBR. But before I do anything else, I need to recount my books. I want to start with a clean sheet. I’m afraid I miscount some books. Here’s the thing, I never wrote down a list of all the books. So, I’m not sure which books I counted for the TBR and which I didn’t. Not every book I own is part of this challenge. Some books I sort of inherited, and others were given because the other person didn’t want them anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’m interested in reading those books. Now, with a list, there will be no more mistakes. June I was still feeling the downfall of a subscription to Everand. I like the idea of reading whatever you want at any moment, but it always takes a toll on my TBR. …

Every time I have to write an update for the Hardest Reading Challenge You’ve Ever Done, I get so excited. I would lie if I said it was so easy and that I’m not starting to question my life choices… BUT! I’m enjoying to see the progress. The books of September After the flop of A Study in Charlotte last month, I was missing a 4+ book series to read. The next one on the list was Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco. Now, this is the book I was looking for. I don’t care if any part of the book is historically accurate because it was what I wanted from a mystery set in the late 1800s. I loved the characters. I loved the banter. I loved the mystery, even though there isn’t much hands-on investigation. I wanted to read this book for a long time, and I’m …

I want to keep these updates monthly and neat… And I’m doing a terrible job! I swear I’m not taking this long to read the books. Once again, I bring you another late update for the Hardest Reading Challenge You’ve Ever Done. Please don’t be confused. I know we are at the end of September, but this post is about the books I read in August. I’m already writing the next update, so it will be on time. Before I get ahead of myself, let’s travel back to the 7th of August. The books of August I started the month reading The Bachelorette Party by Sandra Block. I received an ARC to review closer to its September release date. It’s a thriller quite fast and intense, verging on horror. I already have a review here on the blog if you are interested to know more about it. Sadly, I couldn’t …

Please note: This is the 2024- 2025 edition of this challenge, not the HRCYED 2.0 for 2025-2026. Often, I spill here and there about a readathon I’m excited about. I can’t resist. I see a readathon, I see a challenge, I’m in. And the hardest, the better. Now, do I finish the readathons I started? No. So far, I’ve only had one completed readathon, but that doesn’t push me away to keep trying. When I saw on my YouTuber feed, in big bold letters, The Hardest Reading Challenge You’ll Ever Do, I knew I was in even before hitting the play button. Qwordy is a channel I’ve never seen before, but that didn’t push me away from this challenge. And to be honest, I need to spend a little more time browsing the interwebs because there are so many reading challenges and readathons for every taste that comes from small …

It has been two years. Two years since I decided to tackle my TBR and reduce it to zero. Am I closer to that number than I was when I started? I like to think that I’m crushing it! Although I’ve only managed to cut it down to about 20 books. So, 10 books read per year. At this rhythm, it will take me a decade. At best! Looking back, the project was structured to force me to read the books I already own. That has changed completely. I ended book-buying bans, went through reading slumps, and thought about ending the challenge altogether. But life continues, and I’m still determined to see this through. I imagine I’m just taking a stroll, enjoying the view, and sizing down my TBR in the meantime. February I was still feeling the high of finally being out of the reading slump, and I got …

Another four months passed since my last update. I’m so happy my reading is back to normal, and I feel motivated again to tackle my TBR. Some progress was made. Some were undone, but better months will come. The slump curse was lifted, and I’m in an amazing reading mood and ready to wrap up 2023 and have a great 2024. October Coming out of a reading slump is not always easy but very exciting. And audiobooks can be helpful. I didn’t make any progress in reducing my TBR, I even increased it. Although sometimes going out to dinner is better than forcing me to cook something at home. So I started the spooky month with The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, which was great. This is the type of horror I like. No confirmed supernatural things, only vibes. Then I listened to Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. …

After reading Deep Work by Carl Newport, I was determined to try the four philosophies of work he presents in his book: rhythmic, bimodal, monastic, and journalistic. I already tried the rhythmic philosophy and have a blog post about how it went. Right after, I moved along to the bimodal philosophy. I planned to do it for a month, from the 17th of October to the 13th of November of 2022. But things didn’t go as planned, so I stretched the experiment until the 4th of December. Then I wrote an entire blog post going over the experiment and what went wrong, and after 1550 words, I decided not to post it. My objective with this series is to understand and experiment with various ways of scheduling to achieve productivity most effectively. And reading back the post, I only saw myself trying to do something I wasn’t prepared for. I …

My reading year has been extensive and quite hectic. And it’s not over yet. Between amazing books and a huge reading slump, I’ve been conflicted about my feelings towards this pet project. On one hand, I want to see it through, but on the other, I’m questioning if it’s worth it. If it will change anything. Lately, I’ve been thinking about joining my read and unread books and treating my entire book collection as a whole. All the possibilities of what I can read, instead of putting pressure on me to read the ones I haven’t yet. While this quarter update is still haunted by the slump of months past, it was also a time of change and realisation that hopefully will affect the upcoming months and maybe even my relationship with my books. I hope this can take the dreaded reading slump out of the horizon for a while. …

Back in May, I decided one random day at 2 am to crochet flower pot coasters for Mother’s Day (celebrated on the first Sunday of May here in Portugal). I found it while casually browsing Pinterest and decided it was the right gift. I didn’t even know if I had any yarn I could use. But I was determined to make them myself. And this late-night decision marks the beginning of my crochet adventure. Ever since doing those coasters, I’ve learned a lot, made many mistakes and became slightly obsessed with crochet. After 2 months, I’ve been crocheting almost every day, and now that I took a little break to avoid burning myself out, I can’t stop thinking about it. I guess this means I’m a crocheter now. In this post, I’ll share everything I’ve done for the past couple of months, what I’ve learned, and even share patterns and …

Update 28th July: Ninten Talk is back at it again with a new ACNH challenge Rags to Richies. New ways to play the game are always welcome when trying to fight burnout. So check it out and let yourself be inspired by other ACNH players. More popular than the newest instalment of the Animal Crossing franchise is the Animal Crossing New Horizons (ACNH for short) burnout. If, like me, you have been playing the game since launch (or close to it), you probably know what I’m talking about. I mean… You probably found this post because you are trying to cure your burnout like the rest of us. So please join me as I try to ignite my passion for this game again. I’ve seen countless videos and read countless posts about “how to fix ACNH burnout”, and here you won’t find any mention of “decorating your island”. If that …