Hopefully without all the racism and sexism…
I can’t believe we are at the start of a brand new decade! And what a decade the 2010s were!
But honestly? I’m glad to see the back end of it and I’m trying really damn hard to be optimistic about the next decade.
If you would like to buy any of the following books please consider using my Book Depository Affiliate link!
TBR
│The Raven Cycle│Maggie Stiefvater│▶️│
│4│The Raven King│
│Villains Series│V.E. Schwab│▶️🔄│
│1│Vicious│▶️🔄│
│2│Vengeful│
│Percy Jackson and the Olympians │Rick Riordan│▶️│
│2│The Sea of Monsters│
│3│The Titan’s Curse│
│4│The Battle of the Labyrinth│
│5│The Last Olympian│
│Companion│The Demigod Files│
│Companion│Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods│
│To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Series│Jenny Han│▶️│
│2│P.S. I Still Love You│
│3│Always and Forever, Lara Jean│
│The Conqueror’s Saga│Kiersten White│▶️🔄│
│1│And I Darken│🔄│
│2│Now I Rise│
│3│Bright We Burn│
│The Dark Artifices│Cassandra Clare│▶️🔄│
│1│Lady Midnight│
│2│Lord of Shadows│
│3│Queen of Air and Darkness│
│Harry Potter Series│J.K. Rowling│🔄│
│1│The Philosopher’s Stone│
│2│The Chamber of Secrets│
│3│The Prisoner of Azkaban│
│4│The Goblet of Fire│
│5│The Order of the Phoenix│
│6│The Half-Blood Prince│
│7│The Deathly Hallows│
│Montague Siblings│Mackenzi Lee│▶️🔄│
│1│The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue│
│1.5│The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky│
│2│The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy│
│Shadow and Bone Trilogy│Leigh Bardugo│
│1│Shadow and Bone│
│2│Siege and Storm│
│3│Ruin and Rising│
│The Diviners│Libba Bray│
│1│The Diviners│
│2│Lair of Dreams│
│3│Before the Devil Breaks You│
│4│The King of Crows│
A lot of these books are books I had on my TBR last year and never got to as well as some series I started but didn’t finish. And they are almost entirely books I already own except for the last three books in the Diviners series.
And much like last year, I want to focus on my owned TBR in 2020. I didn’t get through as much as I had hoped in 2019…
Or at least it didn’t feel like I got through that much because, if I’m being honest with myself, I did buy a lot of books I haven’t read yet throughout the year.
But this year?? This year is the year I finally get a handle on my owned TBR, I swear it! You will not defeat me books!!!!
I’ll be posting a list of all the books on my owned TBR shortly that I plan to update as I read as well so you can look forward to that post while I try to procrastinate writing it because I know it’s going to be a lot of work.
Structured TBR
I do plan on keeping a structured TBR this year, but slightly different from last year.
I want to read at least 3 owned books a month and 1 of those must be an ARC. I’m not counting ARCs as owned books as well since I’m doing the StartOnYourShelfathon and CW has said that ARCs count as owned books for the year long readathon focused on reading own books.
I want to aim to read 4 books a month and of those books I want 3 to be diverse books of some kind.
I’m allowed 1 library book. I’m trying to stick to audiobooks and graphic novels as they don’t really interfere with the rules. But I would like to read a few new releases via the library this year. We’ll see how I go.
Essentially I can read as many audiobooks as I want as long as they’re from the library, or if not from the library, then as many as I can afford to pay for. I’m thinking about signing up for Scribd to help with this as my library is really lacking in the audiobooks department!
These are the rules I’ve come up for myself, knowing I’ve already failed the first month of the year but I barely exist in January so like does it even count???
Past Grey Reads
🍃 Grey Reads For Mental Health Awareness // Love Doesn’t Cure All (Thank Fuck For That) – Made You Up
🍃 Grey Reads // It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas – My True Love Gave To Me
🍃 Grey Reads // I Paid $12 for Disappointment – Let It Snow
TBW
Films
│Little Women│🎥│2019│🎬 Greta Gerwig│🌟 Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh│
│Bombshell│🎥│2019│🎬 Jay Roach│🌟 Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie│
│Seberg│🎥│2019│🎬 Benedict Andrews│🌟 Kristen Stewart, Yvan Attal, Gabriel Sky│
│Birds of Prey│🎥│2020│🎬 Cathy Yan│🌟 Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ewan McGregor│
│Mulan│🎥│2020│🎬 Niki Caro│🌟 Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Jet Li│
T.V. Shows
│The L Word│Season 2-6│📺│2004-2009│💭 Michele Abbott, Ilene Chaiken, Kathy Greenberg│🌟 Jennifer Beals, Leisha Hailey, Laurel Holloman│
│The L Word: Generation Q│Season 1│📺│2019-│💭 Marja-Lewis Ryan, Michele Abbott, Ilene Chaiken│🌟 Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moennig, Leisha Hailey│
│Sex Education│Season 2│📺│2019-│💭 Laurie Nunn│🌟 Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Ncuti Gatwa│
│The Haunting of Hill House│Season 2│📺│2019-│💭 Mike Flanagan│🌟 Henry Thomas, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel│
│Russian Doll│Season 2│📺│2019-│💭 Leslye Headland, Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler│🌟 Natasha Lyonne, Charlie Barnett, Greta Lee│
│Lucifer│Season 5│📺│2015-2020│💭 Tom Kapinos│🌟 Tom Ellis, Lauren German, Kevin Alejandro│
│Killing Eve│Season 3│📺│2018-│💭 Phoebe Waller-Bridge│🌟 Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer, Fiona Shaw│
I have totally already watched the first three of these but I made this list before then and I don’t want to swap them out because I can’t be bothered.
I did not do a very good job of watching the things on mt TBW in 2019 so hopefully, I’ll do better this year. I think I’ll definitely watch all the t.v. shows I’ve listed.
It’s always the films that are the most questionable because sometimes I go months without going to the cinema because I’m broke and then entirely forgetting about the movies I wanted to see in the cinema once they come out on DVD. If it’s not on Netflix, Stan or Prime Video I’m gonna forget it ever existed.
Past Grey Watches
🍃 Grey Watches // A Lesson in Bad Parenting – Home Alone
🍃 Grey Watches // Join the Kevin Protection Squad Today! – Home Alone 2
🍃 Grey Watches // Petition to Make all the Christmas Movies Gay – Let it Snow
If you haven’t noticed yet I’ve changed the whole look of my blog…Again!
This is probably the biggest change I’ve made so far though as all the past versions have been some kind of storm/lightning theme. This year I wanted something that felt a little lighter and fresher.
I am so happy with how it all looks and I’m really hoping it starts me off on a good foot going into the new year.
To Be Posted
Now content-wise I do have plans! Will I stick to any of them??? Honestly, I have no idea. If I am anything it is consistently inconsistent!
But I’m going to talk about my plans and hope that if I put them out there then I’ll feel obligated to fulfil them.
Grey’s Shelves
🍃 2018 Owned TBR Check-in
🍃 2020 Updated Owned TBR
🍃 Audiobook TBR
🍃 Series TBR
🍃 How I Annotate + Keep Notes 2020 Update
These are mostly all posts that I’ve been working on the last few months so there’s no reason for me to not post them in the near future.
You hear that future Grey??? No reason!!! Get your shit together!!!
Grey Reads
🍃 Anger is a Gift
🍃 Bad Romance
🍃 City of Ghosts
🍃 The Rook
🍃 Sharp Objects
🍃 Sadie
🍃 Immoral Code
🍃 The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly
🍃 Kill the Boy Band
🍃 Cam Girl
🍃 If We Were Villains
🍃 Sawkill Girls
🍃 Final Girls
Oh god, this is embarrassing.
I have been super behind on posting reviews because of all the hiatuses I’ve taken recently and to be honest I was so behind actually writing the reviews that I probably couldn’t have posted them if I was still posting regularly.
But I’ve caught up mostly! And the posts are written now I just have to go back and edit them all so they fit the new look! And I’m ready to get on track again!
I’ll be trying to post them all in the order I read them but ARCs get priority.
There are still other reviews I intend to post in the near future but they’re part of series so I’m going to wait until I’ve read all the books and then I’ll post the reviews consecutively.
Grey Learns
Ancient Archive
🍃 Dr Magnus Hirschfeld
🍃 Hedy Lemarr
🍃 The Night Witches
🍃 The Butterflies
🍃 Lili Elbe
🍃 Frida Khalo
Just some of the people I would like to cover in the near future!
Oh boy, do I have plans for this series!
I had wanted to cover Dr Magnus Hirschfeld for Pride month last year but didn’t have the time to properly post during June. I did still do my research on him eventually and I am so excited to share the story of his life with you all!
And in honour of the brilliant library Hirschfeld curated, and unfortunately lost to the Nazis, I’ll be doing special editions of this series that focuses on queer people of history and those will be called Ancient Archive|The Hirschfeld Library.
I was going to wait until June to post Hirschfeld’s entry but I don’t really want to wait so I’ll be posting it as soon. It was originally 18 pages long. I think I got it down to like 16 ahaha.
I have a whole list of people I want to cover in the future and I’m really looking forward to it. But I’d like to open this series up to others.
And that’s why I’m reverting back to the original name I had for this series when I first started it; Ancient Archive.
I want it to be easier for other people to post their own versions.
If you would like to make suggestions for Ancient Archive posts you can fill out a form here.
If you would like to contribute by being a guest blogger where an Ancient Archive post you have written about your chosen subject of history* will be posted on Us Your Words, you can fill out a form here. And like I’ve said on that page, if you want to participate but are unsure of what to cover let me know and I can help you choose something that feels right for you. My DM’s on Twitter are always open!
Or if you want to do something similar on your own blog feel free to do so and ping me so I can read it! You’re more than welcome to use any graphics I use in my Ancient Archive posts, including the header, explanation and shelf graphics which you can find in my Google Drive folder here.
*It can be a person, an event, a place, a time period, anything that had a significant impact and you feel hasn’t been covered enough in traditional history and isn’t centred around straight, cis, abled, white men.
Past Month In Review
🍃 Month in Review // The Month From Hell – March
🍃 Month in Review // So Many Readathons! – April | Part 1
🍃 Month in Review // I Think I Need To Delete Facebook Again – May
Goals
🍃 Read 50 books
🍃 Gain full-time employment
🍃 Get back to eating healthy again
🍃 Get back to going for walks again
🍃 Be more consistent with my blogging
🍃 Blog hop more
🍃 Start reading every single day
Past Month Ahead
🍃 Month Ahead // Writers Week, Comedy & Too Much To Do – March
🍃 Month Ahead // Going Off Grid – April
🍃 Month Ahead // Mental Health Awareness – May
2020, please be good to me.
What are you doing this year?
What are you reading?
What are you watching?
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