The Stuck At Home Book Tag

Hello, dear friends, and welcome back to Hardcover Haven! I hope you are all well, happy, and safe and if you aren’t, I hope brighter days head your way soon!

Here in the US, COVID-19 cases have spiked drastically in the past month, leading to most places here tightening their restrictions for gatherings and outings. Here in the Washington, D.C. area we’re all hunkering down for a rough winter filled with plummeting temperatures, spiking COVID rates, and a governmental power transition (oh goodie!). More and more it seems like making “home” (wherever that may be) into a comfortable space for the long term is becoming increasingly important. So, naturally, it seems like there’s no better time to do the Stuck At Home Book Tag!

I wasn’t tagged by anyone to do this tag, but I thought it looked like fun and figured I’d join in! Many thanks to Ellyn of Allonsythornraxx for creating such a fun tag! So let’s not delay any further—let’s jump into the fun!

✵.* • : ★ .•

RULES

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Answer all the questions down below.
3. Pingback to the creator: Ellyn @ Allonsythornraxx.
4. Nominate 5+ bloggers you’d like to know more about, to do this tag.

✵.* • : ★ .•

THE STUCK AT HOME BOOK TAG

• 

• 

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading…

📘 Lightbringer by Claire Legrand Aaaah I just began the finale to The Empirium Trilogy and I’m already freaking out!!! I’m so hyped but also so scared to finally be experiencing this book! Legrand left us with two MASSIVE and emotional cliffhangers at the end of book two and I’m simultaneously excited and terrified to find out the resolutions. I have so many questions I want the answers to…or do I??? Regardless, I’m sure I’ll be getting them. I’m sure I’ll have a trillion feels upon finishing Lightbringer, so I’m sure this won’t be the last you hear from me about this book.

📘 The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab I am s l o w l y making my way through this one and savoring every moment of it. I’ve never read any Schwab books before, but reading this one is making it easy to see why people love her work so much. The writing is absolutely gorgeous and the story is so beautiful and I just don’t want the book to end! This is one of the few books that makes me happy to be a slow reader because I am just reveling in the experience of this book.

What’s your favorite can’t-leave-the-house-activity?

After nearly a year of quarantine (god I can’t believe it’s really been that long!), I’ve developed quite the repertoire of lockdown activities, which include…

📚 Reading Unfortunately, my reading has plummeted while in quarantine due to the fact that my disabilities have meant a longer adjustment period in regards to school and life, leaving me with less time and energy to devote to reading. That being said, I still finish at least one book per month (if not more) and I still love relaxing with a good book!

⌨ Blogging Weirdly enough, while my reading has gone down, my blogging has gone up? I usually take a summer hiatus to spend time irl with family and friends, but this year’s quarantine has meant that I couldn’t do that. So, for that reason I think I’ve turned to y’all, my internet friends!

📺 Watching/Catching Up On Shows I’ve watched more shows in quarantine than I have in the past two years. Granted, that’s not a lot for most people, but it is for me, haha! I feel like I’ve rediscovered my love for this medium and I’m just now discovering and rediscovering all the great shows I’ve been hearing about for years!

🎨 Journaling/Arts and Crafts I finally got some journaling supplies and now I’m off on my full-fledged journaling journey! I primarily prefer art journaling but I needed new supplies so I finally splurged and put in an order and now I’m in art journaling heaven! I think the great thing about art journaling in quarantine is that it gives me a way to let out my thoughts while interacting with an artistic medium, which helps me feel less antsy.

🧵 Learning Embroidery I decided that if I was gonna be stuck inside, I might as well learn a new, fun, just-for-me skill—so I went with embroidery because who doesn’t want to personalize and decorate their clothing in a cool new way? So far it’s been going s l o w l y, but hey at least that’s something. And at least it gives me something to do with my hands during my college lectures. My goal is to embroider a beanie I bought with moons and stars or with flowers, so we’ll have to see how it goes!

💻 Making Digital Art for My Visual Book Blog This is something I’m always doing since I’ve been making content for my visual book blog, Inspired by Books, since 2014, but now I just have a tad more time to do so. It just gives me so much peace to get those creative juices flowing and make some photo art that’s inspired by the books I love!

A book you’ve been meaning to read forever?

Oh god, so many! Like, where do I even begin??? But I think one of the big names on my list is Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. So many people just RAVE about the book and I know it has made so many other Black readers feel seen in YA fantasy for the first time and I want to get in on that haha!

An intimidating book on your tbr?

Um, all of them? Hahaha! But if I had to choose one I think I’d say The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon because it’s a very popular Adult fantasy book that I previously temporarily DNFed because it wasn’t really holding my attention.

• 

• 

• 

Top three priority books on your tbr?

Other than what I’m currently reading?

📘 A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik whoooWHEE! If this book ain’t been the talk of the town these past little while! For those who have no clue what I’m talking about: A White reviewer said this book was “microagressively racist” against Black folks and Indian folks at which point several Black readers who had actually read A Deadly Education were like, “…No? It’s?? Not??? We don’t see any issues????” (Idk about the validity of the Indian rep complaints, though). I’ve also heard that the book makes a “joke” about Arabs being terrorists which, as someone who is part Arab and had to live being derisively called a terrorist in the post 9/11 landscape, I find really offensive. Anyhoo, if you want to know more about the book and the various complaints, I recommend watching Jess Owens’ video review of A Deadly Education. Regardless, I was gifted the audiobook and thus feel like I have to read it, so I’m praying it’s not that bad.

📘 The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow This book is about suffragette witches and um? Hello?? Is this book calling my name? Yes, yes it is. I am so freaking excited to finally get to this audiobook! I’ve also been hearing great things about this one, so I can’t wait to see for myself.

📘 A Sky Beyond The Storm by Sabaa Tahir The finale to another one of my all-time favorite series and yet again I’m unsure if I’m ready for all the feels I’m certain it will bring. My sweet beans, Helene, Elias, and Laia, were left in pretty dire straights at the end of A Reaper at the Gates and I can’t imagine they’ll survive the series without making some serious consequences. I’m sure I’ll shed plenty of tears and perhaps even curse the gods for making me love this series so much, but, nevertheless, I’ll definitely still be reading this book and inflicting the pain of it onto myself anyway.

Recommend a short book.

I’ve actually recently finished the first volume of the newest run of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer graphic novel series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer Vol. 1: High School Is Hell, and I’m surprised to say I really loved it! I say I’m surprised because, um, have I ever watched Buffy?…No. I know, I know—but growing up my family has never had cable! Regardless, this newest run is a great place to start as it’s actually Buffy just rewritten for modern day! And so far I’m loving the endearing characters, the interesting plot lines, and the GORGEOUS art! Bottom line? 10/10 highly recommend.

Recommend a long book.

Oh this is a tough one! There are so many great books that are just absolute tomes! I think I’m gonna go with House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas, which rings in at a whopping 801 pages! (Yes, yes, I know, I’m a Maas fan and I’m trashy and basic blah blah let’s move on) I’m in the middle of this tome, which is Maas’s first official Adult release, and I’ve found that, despite its size, it’s a relatively “easy” read for a chunky Adult fantasy. Maas is a master a creating characters who are easy to root for, as well as at crafting stories that’ll grip you from start to finish (as a matter of fact, I maintain that Maas is more of a storyteller, rather than a writer, but that’s a discussion for a different day)! House of Earth and Blood is the same in that regard, making it easy to fly through its 800 plus pages!

Something you’d like to do while stuck at home?

🧵 I definitely want to learn more hand embroidery techniques and to eventually embroider something on a beanie that I bought for that purpose.

💻 I also want to learn even more about coding HTML, CSS, and JavaScript so I can eventually build a website!

What do you plan on reading next?

I think I’m probably gonna go for A Sky Beyond The Storm as I’m really excited for it and I already have serious FOMO seeing other readers talk about having finished it.

✵.* • : ★ .•

So that’s all for today, friends! I hope you enjoyed finding out a bit more about my quarantine reading life!

✵.* • : ★ .•

I NOMINATE…

Sumedha @ The Wordy Habitat

Rae @ Rae’s Reads and Reviews

Belle @ This Belle Reads Too

Saoudia @ With Love, Saoudia

Sofii @ A Book. A Thought

✵.* • : ★ .•

SPILL THE BEANS, FRIENDS!

How have you spent quarantine? Did you learn any new skills or learn more about an existing hobby? Did you watch or read more than usual? What are three books you feel got you through during quarantine? Spill the beans in the comments!