Photo looking down at a black t-shirt that says lavender lover in purple embroudery with a sprig of lavender. Next to the shirt there is the book Late Bloomer which features a cover with two women kissing surrounded by flowers.

June 2024 Books with Bella

šŸŒˆ Happy Pride Month!! šŸŒˆ Iā€™m so happy itā€™s Pride Month oh my GOSH itā€™s one of my most favorite reading times of the year I absolutely love reading queer books. Iā€™ve set a really ambitious TBR, classic, because I just want to read so much queer rep. But first - I did read six books in May!! It was such an awesome month for reading. I hosted the first Books with Pals steam and we yapped about Babel (and tons more) for sooooo long truly we could not stop talking about books....

June 6, 2024
Several books stacked in piles on a black table. Books on top of the piles that are visible include Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher and The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.

May 2024 Books with Bella

Wow, okay, Iā€™ve got to be honest, April flew by and I canā€™t believe I just had to write my May TBR..? But Iā€™m back to my nonsense and have a way-too-big list of hopeful reads this month. I couldnā€™t stop myself. But before that - April reads! I had a somewhat ambitious TBR for April including one book club book and two Books with Pals books. And they were not short....

May 2, 2024
Photo of Bella standing in a bookstore on a canal boat. Bella is looking at a shelf of books.

April 2024 Books with Bella

Hi pals, first things first my March reads were so minimal but I have a very good excuse!! I spent two weeks in March traveling throughout the UK with my partner for our first major vacation in such a long time. It was so lovely! I got to run through Hyde Park, see Hadrianā€™s Wall, say hello to some internet pals, hike up Arthurā€™s Seat, and so much more! I anticipated doing a lot of reading while away on vacation but honestly I was just so caught up in the travel my brain did not have space for books....

April 5, 2024
Photo in Bella's streaming room of Bella reading a book during stream. Bella is looking down and reading The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. There is a green pomodoro task timer on the bottom of the screen and an image of the book cover with the words current read at the top.

March 2024 Books with Bella

I had some truly incredible books on my February TBR and I got throughā€¦ not as many as Iā€™d hoped! Haha, this seems to often be the case when I find too many great books to read in a month. But I know Iā€™ll just keep making too-big TBRs, oh well! This past month of reading included some of the best books Iā€™ve read in a while. Iā€™m not always a fan of YA fantasy but Legendborn had me on the edge of my seat and Iā€™m already so eager to read the second book in the series....

March 1, 2024
Photo in Bella's streaming room showing them holding up two books, Legendborn by Tracy Deonn and The Color Purple by Alice Walker.

February 2024 Books with Bella

Itā€™s February which means itā€™s Black History Month here in the United States! This is a time to celebrate, uplift, and share Black voices, Black stories, and Black joy. Itā€™s also a time that white folks (including me) should prioritize educating ourselves on Black History and listen up to the stories and experiences Black folks are sharing - and keep that energy going all year round! My February TBR is full of Black authors and Iā€™m excited to continue prioritizing diversifying my bookshelf and my reading throughout the rest of the year and beyond....

February 2, 2024
Image that says Books with Bella thank you for an incredible year of reading. There are blurred book covers in the background.

2023 Wrap Up

2023 was such a phenomenal year of reading and Iā€™m so glad I got to share so much of it with yā€™all through Twitch, YouTube, Discord, and this website! To say goodbye to all the books I read this past year, please enjoy the presentation I made for stream highlighting some of my favorites from the year, some that made me cry, and even some I really didnā€™t love (it happens)!...

January 13, 2024
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 itā€™s been a while since Iā€™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, itā€™s official. I have to admit it. Iā€™m in a reading slump!!! I still read some lovely books in November, but Iā€™m being extra gentle with my December TBR. Even though there are books I know Iā€™m excited for, Iā€™m intentionally keeping my TBR super short so I donā€™t get overwhelmed by it. I hope something inspires me out of this slump, Iā€™ll let yā€™all know next month! November Reads Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune ā­ 3 October Discord Book Club selection Something About Her by Clementine Taylor ā­ 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

Octoberā€™s TBR got shifted around a bit so that I could prioritize some really important learning I wanted to do this month, but Iā€™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 admitā€¦ I (for the first time) was way behind on our Discord Book Club pick but itā€™s fine! It happens! Anyways, happy reading yā€™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 Iā€™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