Earl Grey Books

Happy 1989 (Taylor’s Version) release day!

To celebrate, I thought I’d share an update on how I’m going with Genie in a Novel’s 1989 reading challenge. If you’re interested in hearing more, you can find the original announcement here but otherwise let’s get into it.

I Wish You Would: a book that you wish you could read again for the first time

I marked this one off the list pretty early on. I’d been planning to reread Touched by Fire by Kel Carpenter in August anyway, so this gave me the perfect excuse to hit two birds with one stone. I didn’t enjoy this as much this time around, but I still enjoyed it.

Blank Space: a book with the main character’s name in the title

I’d originally planned on Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid for this one but I tried it and just wasn’t interested after 25%. Instead, I switched it to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Volume 1 by Jordie Bellaire. This is the modernised version of Buffy and it was a good first volume. The art was gorgeous, the story was fun. I feel like it’s hard to say much else about short introductory comic.

Clean: a one-word title

I had a few I could use for this one but I ended up picking Malamander by Thomas Taylor. This was a reread for me and it was fantastic. This is a middle-grade fantasy about sea monsters and yet I feel like there are weirdly a few lines of the song that could kind of fit with specific characters in here. I’m probably stretching it a little, but it’s kind of fun to think about.

Out Of The Woods: a book with significant outdoor elements

I decided to pick In the Shadow of the Mountain by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado for this one, which is a memoir about climbing Everest. I was hoping I’d finish this one off in time for the post but I haven’t actually managed to do that, but I think it’ll be finished by the end of the month. It’s definitely not an easy read—there’s a lot of tough emotions so I’ve been taking this slow.

What’s Next?

I honestly haven’t decided which prompt to go with next but I have a few that I might be able to tick off—I think All You Had To Do Was Stay and Style are both viable options. AYHTDWS is a book borrowed from the library or a friend and I have a few library holds right now. Style is just a pretty cover which is so easy to mark off.

That’s all for today though. My plan is to do one more update in late December and then my wrap-up in February once the challenge is over. I’d love to hear if you’re taking part and what you’ve been reading!