Photo of the back of Bella's head and shoulders in front of a shelf of books in a bookstore.

January 2024 Books with Bella

We are SO back (I made it out of my reading slump). We came up with so many incredible ideas for how to get over a reading slump - re-reading old favorites, reading short books, listening to audiobooks, etc. But, incredibly, the book that got me out of it was one of the ARCs I read last month. I guess a little pressure helped afterall. Anyways, I did so much reading on vacation and was actually able to focus on my books for long periods of time (not a huge feat but idk it feels like it’s been a while since I’ve been able to read without distractions)....

December 28, 2023
Close up photo of someone's hands holding a few books. There are bookshelves in the background.

December 2023 Books with Bella

Alright, it’s official. I have to admit it. I’m in a reading slump!!! I still read some lovely books in November, but I’m being extra gentle with my December TBR. Even though there are books I know I’m excited for, I’m intentionally keeping my TBR super short so I don’t get overwhelmed by it. I hope something inspires me out of this slump, I’ll let y’all know next month! November Reads Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune ⭐ 3 October Discord Book Club selection Something About Her by Clementine Taylor ⭐ 4 digital ARC - pub....

December 21, 2023
Photo of Bella holding three books in their arm. The books shown are The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey, Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield, and Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

November 2023 Books with Bella

October’s TBR got shifted around a bit so that I could prioritize some really important learning I wanted to do this month, but I’m so proud of all the books I was able to read! Lots of scary stuff, and lots of learning. A really really solid month. I will admit… I (for the first time) was way behind on our Discord Book Club pick but it’s fine! It happens! Anyways, happy reading y’all....

November 6, 2023
Photo of Bella's hand holding up two books, I Saw Ramallah and They Called Me A Lioness. The bottom right of the photo includes a circle with the Palestinian flag and the words 'Streamers for PCRF - Free Palestine.'

Reading Raid Train for Palestine

This post is a little different from the usual, but I wanted to keep track of all the incredible books I’ve seen and been recommended lately. This started with my involvement in the Streamers for PCRF events organized by Sinarynn and Kyuneho. They created this incredible Reading Raid Train (among other events) to have two full days of streamers sharing and uplifting Palestinian voices by reading childrens books on stream....

October 26, 2023
Photo of two open books being held up. One has a bookmark featuring different summer berries and the other has a bookmark featuring fall items like mushrooms, lanterns, and leaves.

October 2023 Books with Bella

Woohoo, we did it! I hosted the Summer or Fall Readathon with Bookie last month and it was such an incredible time!! We hosted two read-in events, one in each of our Discord servers. We just hungout with folks for a few hours and read together, it was truly the coziest vibes. It was so exciting seeing everyone share readathon progress, I’m still buzzing. Plus I got through four books!!...

October 6, 2023
Photo of the book The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi up close on white and green fabric. The top of the book cover is visible and shows the title and a pirate ship surrounded by tentacles.

September 2023 Books with Bella

August was a big catch-up-on-ARCs month for me but boy howdy were the ARCs good! I finished Cleat Cute in about 24 hours during a power outage. And I flew through The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi switching between the physical book (which is beautiful) and the audiobook which was so phenomenally performed I’m still thinking about it. If you’re looking for an audiobook, get it! If you’re looking for some reading motivation and a community to read with, join my friend Bookie and I for our Summer or Fall Readathon taking place in our Discord communities and our Instagram accounts....

September 7, 2023
Photo of two books, Station Eleven and Pageboy, laying on a wood deck with some grass in the background.

August 2023 Books with Bella

The best part of July might have been spending time at the beach with a book. The worst part was definitely the extra long power outage but honestly having a book made that not so bad! I got through a ton this past month, including a few incredible audiobooks like Happy Place (Julia Whelan is such an incredible narrator) and Pineapple Street. I’m impressed with how many 5-star reads I had this month, but I can’t not talk about the first 1-star of the year....

August 12, 2023