My Must Reads for 2023

Happy 2023! What books are you excited about reading in 2023? Here is the list of books I would like to read in 2023:

1. Homecoming by Kate Morton (2023)
2. Spare by Prince Harry (2023)
3. Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby (2023)
4. Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez (2023)
5. Touch by Olaf Olafsson
6. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
7. Category Five by Ann Davila Cardinal
8. The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
9. Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton
10. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

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My Top Ten Favorite Reads of 2022

Out of the more than 100 books I read this year, here are the ones I enjoyed the most:

• If You Ask Me by Betty White
• Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
• The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
• Taste by Stanley Tucci
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
• Our Riches by Kaouther Adimi
• Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee
• The Book of Boundaries by Melissa Urban

Favorite Read of 2022:

                    Finding Me

                           by

                     Viola Davis

Completed 24-Hour Readathon – October 2022

I have completed Dewey’s 24-hour Readathon! To be honest, the last few hours were much tougher than in the past, so this might be the last time I do the full 24 hours. I am overall very happy with my reading progress during the readathon. I definitely made a dent in my TBR & currently reading book pile.

Goals

• Finish 5 books – I finished 7 books
• Read at least 1,200 pages – I read 1,227 pages
• Read for the full 24 hours – I did read for the full 24 hours
• Post at least 10 times to social media – I posted more than 40 times to social media (goodreads, facebook, litsy, instagram, & twitter)
• Track progress in bullet journal – I did this (see below)
• Drink at least 100 ounces – I drank 64 ounces
• Play bingo – I had multiple bingos on the below bingo card

Closing Survey

1. How would you assess your reading overall? I am thrilled with the fact that I finished 7 books, including finishing two books for November book club meetings. I will say that I wish I had picked a couple of better audiobooks. 
2. Did you have a strategy, and if so, did you stick to it? I actually 100% stuck to my reading plan that I put together the day before.
3. What was your favorite snack? I did enjoy my readathon taco dip.

Books Finished

Books Started

If you participated, how did you do? Can’t wait to do this again in the Fall!

24-Hour Readathon Halfway Point – October 2022

I’ve made it to the halfway point of Dewey’s 24-hour Readathon. I’ve been reading for 12 hours. I may not have finished that many books yet, but I am averaging more than 50 pages an hour. I think I am on track to completing my readathon goals. I also got to enjoy a fair amount of outdoor reading time too.

Mid-Event Survey

1. What are you reading right now? I am reading It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (audiobook) and Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig (physical book).
2. How many books have you read so far? I’ve finished 2 books.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the readathon? For many readathons now, I have had Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest on my TBR pile and never get to it. I will change that today.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? It is always a bit distracting to share a space with someone not participating in this readathon, but it hasn’t been bad.

Finished Reading

Currently Reading

Looking forward to the next 12 hours! Hope everyone participating is doing well and hitting all their reading goals!

Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon Begins! October 2022

It’s that time again! The semi-annual Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon begins now!!! As always I’ve been looking forward to this. My reading life has actually been struggling a bit recently, so I am exciting to get back on track. This is officially my 11th time participating in this readathon. 

Goals

Here are my goals for the readathon:

• Finish 5 books
• Read at least 1,200 pages
• Read for the full 24 hours
• Post at least 10 times to social media
• Track progress in bullet journal 
• Drink at least 100 ounces
• Play bingo

TBR Pile

Physical Books:

• Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
• The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl
• Our House by Louise Candlish
• Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig
• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
• A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Audiobooks:

• Unmasked by Paul Holes
• It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
• A Place in the World by Frances Mayes
• The Serial Killer’s Daughter by Kerri Rawson
• The Wilderness of Ruin by Roseanne Montillo

Opening Event Survey

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? I’m reading from Houston, Texas today.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? I’m looking forward to all the books in my stack and especially looking forward to finishing all the books I have started.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I tend to eat unhealthy snacks that I do look forward to: pizza, taco dip, and ice cream.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! My reading life has been put on hold lately to accommodate my second passion – travel. Glad to be traveling again!

Social Media

I will be posting updates on multiple social media outlets:

• Litsy – @Morr_Books
• Twitter – @Morr_Books
• Goodreads – @Morr_Books
• My Blog – The Great Morrison Migration

Are you participating in this readathon? If so, let me know in the comments what you are most looking forward to and let me know what you plan to be reading.

Completed 24 Hour Readathon – April 2022

I managed to read for the full 24 hours!!! I accomplished all my goals for this readathon as well. I do always wish I could have read more books, but I still did really well. I normally include the readathon’s closing survey as part of this post, but they haven’t put it online yet, and while I did survive the full 24 hours without too many issues, I am super tired right now and don’t want to wait for them to update the site. I will simply focus on how I did on my own readathon goals.

Goals

• Finish 4 books – I finished 4 books and started two additional books. See below.
• Read at least 1000 pages – I read 1,149 pages.
• Read for the full 24 hours – I made it the full 24 hours.
• Post at least 10 times to social media – I posted a lot more than 10 times to Litsy, Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter.
• Track progress in bullet journal – I used my bullet journal to track my hourly progress. See below.
• Drink at least 100 ounces of water (gotta stay hydrated!) – I drank 102 ounces of water.
• Celebrate! – A full day of reading is always a celebration, but I also enjoyed reading outside for a while too.

Books Finished

Books Started

I rocked it! I met all my readathon goals. If you participated, how did you do? Can’t wait to do this again in the Fall!

24 Hour Readathon Halfway Point – April 2022

I’ve made it to the halfway point of Dewey’s 24-hour Readathon. I’ve been reading for 12 hours. I may not have finished that many books yet, but I have read more than 450 pages. I think I am on track to completing my readathon goals. I also got to enjoy a fair amount of outdoor reading time too.

Mid Event Survey

• What are you reading right now? The Monuments Men & A Tale of Two Cities
• How many books have you read so far? I have completed 2 books so far.
• What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the readathon? I should be able to get to Murder Book and The Importance of Being Earnest.
• Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I have not really had interruptions today. I’ve been given lots of space to read in peace. We shall see if that continues.
• What surprises you most about the readathon, so far? I was surprised that the readathon hosts decided not to do blog posts/updates. 

Finished Reading

Currently Reading

Looking forward to the next 12 hours! Hope everyone participating is doing well and hitting all their reading goals!

Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon Begins! April 2022

It’s time!!!! The semi-annual Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon begins now!!!! As always I’m super excited and ready to go! This is officially my 10th time participating in this readathon. I am celebrating by focusing mostly on my large TBR pile. I will still keep an eye on social media and post a bit here and there, but I mostly want to focus

Goals

Here are my goals for the readathon:

• Finish 4 books
• Read at least 1000 pages
• Read for the full 24 hours
• Post at least 10 times to social media
• Track progress in bullet journal
• Drink at least 100 ounces of water (gotta stay hydrated!)
• Celebrate!

TBR Pile

Physical Books:

• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Memories Dreams & Nightmares by Belizean authors
• Weather Book by Michael Oard
• Murder Book by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell
• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
• The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
• Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
• The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson
• The Cat Who Saved Books by Susuke Natsukawa

Audiobooks:

• The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel
• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Jack & Jill by James Patterson
• “H” is for Homicide by Sue Grafton

Opening Event Survey

• What fine part of the world are you reading from today? I am reading today from Houston, Texas.
• Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? I just purchased Murder Book at a fantastic independent bookstore and am looking forward to reading it.
• Which snack are you most looking forward to? I’ll be making a taco dip for snacking and celebrating with an aperol spritz.
• Tell us a little something about yourself! I am allergic to peanuts. A couple readathons ago, I definitely accidentally at something with peanuts but managed to survive without a hospital visit and finished the readathon.
• If you participated in the last readathon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first readathon, what are you most looking forward to? I am focusing more on reading than social media to try to get through more of my TBR pile, which is a bit large. 

Social Media

I will be posting updates on multiple social media outlets:

• Litsy – @Morr_Books
• Twitter – @Morr_Books
• Goodreads – @Morr_Books
• My Blog – The Great Morrison Migration

Are you participating in this readathon? If so, let me know in the comments what you are most looking forward to and let me know what you plan to be reading.

WWW Wednesdays – April 6, 2022

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Time for another WWW Wednesdays, which is brought to you by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. If you too want to participate, answer the above questions and post that link on Sam’s page.

Currently Reading

Finished Reading

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont – audiobook = ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
IJTP Book Club: Space Invaders by Nona Fernandez – book = ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee – audiobook = ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Reading Next

What are y’all reading? Feel free to leave a comment below on the books I’m reading, the books you are reading, and/or your own WWW link.

HAPPY READING!!!

WWW Wednesdays – March 30, 2022

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Time for another WWW Wednesdays, which is brought to you by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. If you too want to participate, answer the above questions and post that link on Sam’s page.

Currently Reading

Finished Reading

The Girl From Widow Hills by Megan Miranda – book = ♦ ♦ ♦
The Atlas of Happiness by Helen Russell – audiobook = ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Getting Good With Money by Jessi Fearon – audiobook = ♦ ♦ ½

Reading Next

What are y’all reading? Feel free to leave a comment below on the books I’m reading, the books you are reading, and/or your own WWW link.

HAPPY READING!!!