I'm Back + Some 2019 Thoughts, Blogging Goals, & 2020 Book Books I'm Looking Forward To

It’s been a while, but I’m finally ready to get back to blogging. I have quite a list of things I need to cover today including: some of my thoughts from 2019, my blogging goals for the year, and a list of the 2020 releases and other books that I’m looking forward to reading.

A lesson from 2019

I had originally wanted to post this before 2019 was over, I, however, never got around to finishing it. By the time I did, it was already January, and what I had to say was easily edited down to about an incredibly short paragraph. So it goes: one of the main things I learned and accepted about last year was that plans fall through. No matter how good the plan is, how well thought-out it was, there’s always some variable that’s waiting to throw the proverbial monkeys-wrench into it. It happens. It does. On another similar note, I also realized it’s also okay if my priorities weren’t on the blog. I know in November and December of 2019, my priorities weren’t on Our Thoughts Precisely. I had other more important things to worry about, and as a result, a lot of the posts I thought I would write are still sitting unwritten. It happens, and that’s okay.

2020 Goals

I want to read The Hobbit and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. That’s it. I don’t have any other blogging goal besides getting those books off my TBR list before 2020 is over.

2020 Books I’m Looking Forward To

• Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire (January 7, 2020): in the latter half of 2019, I really got into the Wayward Children series, and I ended up reading all four books in preparation for Come Tumbling Down. The book is already out, and I hope to read it sometime soon.
• The Last Emperox by John Scalzi (April 14, 2020): The Interdependency is one of the science fiction series I’m currently reading. After the end of The Consuming Fire, I’m really looking forward to seeing what Scalzi does with the series in the third book.
• A Murderous Relation by Deanna Raybourn (March 10, 2020): I’ve a read a couple of books from this series, and I’ve liked them. The synopsis for A Murderous Relation seems exciting, so I’m looking forward to it.
• The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman (January 7, 2020): The Secret Chapter is another book that’s already been released. I’m looking forward to it, and I hope to read it soon.
• Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings (July 28, 2020): This is one of the novellas I’m looking forward to. I mean, the synopsis on Goodreads says “gothic delights,” which pretty much sold the story to me.
• A Crown So Cursed by L.L. McKinney (sometime in 2020?): A Dream So Dark was one of my favorite sequels released in 2019, and I’m really looking forward to the third book in The Nightmare-Verse series.
• The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor (March 24, 2020): So far I have enjoyed the Welcome to Night Vale books, and I’m looking forward to the third one in the series.
• Prosper’s Demon by K.J. Parker (January 28, 2020): Prosper’s Demon has an intriguing cover and synopsis, and I’m really looking forward to it.
• The Memory of Babel by Christelle Dabos (May 12, 2020): I have enjoyed the series so far, so The Memory of Babel is one of the 2020 book releases I’m most excited about.
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (June 30, 2020): I finally read Gods of Jade and Shadow, and I loved it as much as I thought it would. So I'm looking forward to Moreno-Garcia's next novel, Mexican Gothic. 
• Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis (July 21, 2020): The synopsis is interesting, so Axiom's End has to be on this list.
  

Backlist Series & Book I Want To Try

• Lord of the Rings + The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch
• Tensorate series by J.Y. Yang
• East by Edith Pattou

Comments from Andrea 

Over the past couple of years, my life has been full of unexpected evens. So my goal for 2020 is to get back into blogging. One of the books I'm looking forward to this year is The Last Odyssey by James Rollins. Cheers to new adventures!

This post is long enough as it is, so for now I’m going to leave it at that. Regular blog posts resume next week. What are some of your 2020 goals? And what are some of the 2020 new releases or backlist books you’re looking forward to?

 

Happy New Year! It's 2020...

Happy New Year! It's 2020. We're not back to blogging yet, but we will be sooner or later. We hope everyone has a great day today.

My Favorite Music of 2019

I tried to listen to as much new music as I possibly could in 2019, and I have a number of albums that I’ve added to my regular playlist because of it. So today, I’m going to go over some of the albums, songs, and EPs I listened to in 2019. I don’t have any specific criteria for this list other than the fact that I listened to it this year.

Albums I’ve already talked about…

Breana's picks:

• Sunshine Kitty by Tove Lo
• Saturn by Nao
• Don’t Feed the Pop Monster by Broods
• Cuz I Love You by Lizzo
• We Need to Talk by Tayla Parx
• Songs For You by Tinashe

Albums & EPs 

Breana's picks:

• Hot Pink by Doja Cat: With Doja Cat, I never know what to expect. Her music is versatile and unique in its sound, which is something that was demonstrated on her new album, Hot Pink—released on November 7, 2019. As a whole, Hot Pink has some of Doja Cat’s best music, which is why the album is on this list.
• Hounds of Love (2018 Remaster) by Kate Bush: Kate Bush is an artist I started listening to recently. Her song Running Up That Hill was mentioned by Sherry @ Fundinmental on THIS Music Monday post, which inspired me to listen to the entire Hounds of Love (2018 Remaster) album. It’s now one of my favorite albums to listen to.
• Charli by Charli XCX: Charli was one of my most anticipated albums of 2019, and I liked it. There were a lot of interesting collaborations on it like the ones with Christine and the Queens and Troy Sivan.
• VOLTA by Cirque du Soleil: Cirque du Soleil always has good music. That being said, I really love the VOLTA soundtrack.
• Crush (Ep) by Ravyn Lenae: Ravyn Lenae is another artist I started listening to in 2019. I love the sound of all the songs from Crush. It was worth the listen.
• Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse Soundtrack: I’m kind of late to this one, but oh man, this is probably my favorite movie soundtrack to-date. It fit so well with the movie.
• 85 to Africa by Jidenna: Jidenna’s follow-up to The Chief (2017) was one of the albums I was looking forward to, and it was pretty great. There was a lot I liked about it.
• Whack World by Tierra Whack: Whack World is the shortest album on this list. Sure, it has fifteen songs, but each one is only a minute long. That being said, Whack World is excellent.

Adri's picks:

• Chronologic by Caravan Palace: I was already hyped about this album, and it did not disappoint. 
• Shadow Works by Kerli: I have to admit that I didn't listen to this album much when it first came out. However, when I got back to it, it really grew on me. Now I can't get enough of it. 
• Cosmic Wind by Lion Babe: I was so excited when I saw that Cosmic Wind had fifteen tracks, and I enjoyed every single one of them.

Singles 

Breana's picks:

• Time Flies by Rico Nasty
• Roof by Rico Nasty
• Candles by Angel Haze
• Hot Girl Summer by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign
• Motivation by Normani
• Good Thing by Zedd and Kehlani
• Hazy Shade of Winter by Gerard Way featuring Ray Toro
• Spoiled on Xmas by Dainá
• All Me by Kehlani featuring Keyshia Cole

Adri's picks:

• Brave New World by The Spiritual Machines
• East by Oshun 

So that’s about it for today. This is just a portion of the music I’ve been listening to throughout the year. I know I missed some stuff, but it is what it is. What is some of the music you listened to in 2019? Tell us about your favorite albums, EPS, or singles down in the comments below.

My Favorite TV Shows & Movies of 2019

Today, I’m going to talk about some of the TV shows and movies I watched in 2019. There were a lot of great releases this year. Some of them were really great. Others were just so-so. And some of them I just haven’t gotten around to yet. Regardless, here are some of my favorite TV shows and movies from 2019.

Stuff I’ve already talked about 

• Raising Dion
• The Dark Crystal
• Klaus

Movies

• Godzilla (2019): I was really looking forward to Godzilla: King of Monsters, and I liked it. It was an intense movie, with a lot of action from start to finish. I liked all the monster designs, as well as the overall story. However, I do think that parts of the movie relied on having some knowledge about the first movie. So I would watch them in order.
• Hobbs & Shaw: It might be a spinoff, but I liked Hobbs & Shaw. There was plenty of action, and the funny dialogue between Hobbs and Shaw was great.
• Venom: I honestly enjoyed Venom. It had a different feel—a bit of an urban grittiness with a touch of horror—that I liked. I would watch a sequel.
• Shazam!: Shazam is one of my favorite DC movies to date. It had a great cast, and generally speaking, I enjoyed the movie overall. The story was concise, with great introductions for the villain and the main character.
• Detective Pikachu: I loved this movie. It made a somewhat simple story go a long way. I liked the story and the cast and their performances, as well as the character design. All of the Pokémon looked great, mainly because of how true to their original designs they were.
• Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse: I loved this movie. It had a great story. I loved the characters and the soundtrack. I also was a complete fan of the animation. It was so stylish, colorful, and atmospheric. It made me think of comic books, and it was great.
• Aladdin (2019): I liked this version of Disney’s Aladdin. The set design was great, and it was like the original but with enough differences to make it its own thing.

TV Shows 

• Discovery of Witches: One of the book-to-TV adaptations I was looking forward to was Discovery of Witches. It seemed pretty faithful to the story. The actors seemed well-suited to roles they were cast in, and I liked their performances. I enjoyed the first season, and I’m looking forward to the next one whenever it gets released in the US.
• Father Brown: I really got into this mystery series on Netflix in the latter half of 2019. I’m not done watching all six seasons yet, but I plan to eventually get through all of the episodes.

Some things I had time to rewatch 

• The Mummy (1999): Pretty much the only version of The Mummy I ever watch.
• Total Recall (2012)
• Men In Black
• Hell Boy
• Coraline
• Corpse Bride
• The Martian
• Independence Day (1996)
• Ready Player One

So that’s it for today. What are some of the movies and TV shows you watched in 2019?

The Cookie Book Tag (Round 2)

It's December 25th, so Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! I hope everyone has a great day with family and or friends. The year is almost over, and today we're going to do a book tag. It has been over a year since Adri and I first participated in the Cookie Book Tag. Today, we're going to do it again to see how our answers do and don't differ. Before we begin, here are the more technical details about the tag.

The Cookie Book Tag was created by Nicole @ Sorry, I’m Booked. And you can check out the original tag post here: Sorry, I’m Booked, The Cookie Book Tag.

The rules…

• Link back to the person who tagged you + the creator of this tag 
• Pick a book that corresponds with the cookies theme 
• Have fun 
• Tag 1-3 people

Chocolate Chip: A Classic Book That You Love or Really Enjoyed (interpret classic how you want, it can be a classic written 100 years ago or 20 years ago)

Breana: I actually have two answers for this one. This year I finally read Dracula by Bram Stoker and Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. They're currently two of my favorite classic novels.

Adri: Oh that's an easy one. My answer is Remember Me by Marry Higgins Clarke. It was just lying on one of my mom's bookshelves, and I thought to myself "Why haven't I read that?". So I did, and I loved it. 

Thin Mints: A Fandom That You Really Want to ‘Join’ AND/OR a Hyped-Up Book You Want To Read (your source(s) of a book being hyped can be from anywhere)

Breana: I'm not looking to join a fandom, but I have a couple of books that I want to read: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow and Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. 

Adri: I don't really have an answer for this question, because the hyped book I was looking forward to is the one I'm currently reading. It's called You're Not Listening by Kate Murphy. 

Shortbread: An Author You Can’t Get Enough Of

Breana: I think the fact that I've read Katherine Arden's middle grade series and fantasy trilogy says a lot about how much of a fan of her work I am. So there's that.

Adri: I have a trio of authors to talk about. I got started with Stephanie Burgis's work after reading the Kat, Incorrigible series and have been interested ever since. Then there's Tony DiTerlizzi who wrote one of my favorite series: The Search for WondLa trilogy. And finally Sandra Burke, who has written several books on fashion, from illustration to business.  I can't get enough of Burke's books.

Samoas/ Caramel DeLites: An Emotional Rollercoaster (this cookie was hard … so any book that made you feel more than one emotion, strongly. The choice of emotions is up to you)

Breana: The Missing of Clairdelune by Christelle Dabos had so many twists and turns, and that ending gets me every time. 

Adri: If I told you how I felt about The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, it would be a spoiler.

Oreos: A Book Whose Cover Was Better Than The Story OR Vice Versa, Where The Story Was Better Than Its Cover

Breana: In 2019, I didn't really pay attention to book covers like that. I mainly read what I wanted to read.

Adri: Out of everything I read recently, I have yet to encounter this problem.

Tagalongs/ Peanut Butter Patties: A Book That Wasn’t What You Expected (good, bad, or just different, interpret how you wish)

Breana: A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney. I went in with no expectations, and it ended up being one of my favorite sequels of 2019.

Adri: Plus Style by Suzan Nanfeldt. Since it's an older book, I really wasn't expecting anything other than basic styling advice. However I did learn some things from it that I hadn't thought of.

Snickerdoodles: A Book You May Never Stop Rereading/ Loving

Breana: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is such a fantastic story. I reread it earlier in 2019, and I still appreciate it just as much as when I first read it four years ago. 

Adri: My answer for this one is The Theory of Fashion Design by Helen L. Brockman. It was published in 1965, and I actually haven't finished reading it. However it's everything I'm looking for about dresses, and though it is outdated I will always reread it.

Bonus: Choose a cookie I didn’t list and make up a question!

Our question from 2018: Monster Cookies have bold flavors and a long and varied list of ingredients such as M&Ms, chocolate chips, peanut butter, oats, and even sometimes raisins. It’s like a handful of cookie types mashed into one monster of a cookie. So… Monster cookie: name a book with a bold and whimsical title or a book title with four or more words.

Breana: Down Among the Sticks and Bones, A Dream So Dark, The Winter of the Witch.

Adri: The Princess Who Flew With Dragons.

That's about it for today. We tag you to do the cookie book tag to see how your answers differ (if you've done it before), and if you're curious about our original take on the tag visit the post HERE.