Tiny Navajo Takes a Break!

Hey guys! Just an FYI, I’m actually surprised I’m remembering to do this, but! I’m actually going on vacation for the next two weeks, and I honestly forgot to write any posts for this Wednesday and next. So, this is a small post to tell you why there won’t be any reviews for a couple of weeks, but then I’ll be back on it!

In the meantime, what do you bring for entertainment while on vacation? My go-to is books, as well as some downloaded YouTube videos. I also bring my journal so I can write about my days and how I’m feeling.

Tiny Navajo Reads: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

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*Published November 17th 2020 by Hanover Square Press, first published December 6, 2015*

I had seen then book wandering around on Bookstagram and Booklr, and the premise sounded so intriguing that I had to read it!

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And then I bought it…that may tell you just how much I loved this book >.<

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

You know that feeling when you see a book everywhere and you have no real idea what it’s about, but you keep seeing it so you feel like you need to read it? This is essentially what happened to this book for me! And I want to read books written in different parts of the world, so this one seemed to be a good idea to start with.

This book has an intriguing premise of this small, relatively unknown cafe that has a rumor going around about it. This cafe has the ability to send people back in time, but there are a lot of rules that you have to follow in order to travel back into the past. Once people hear that there are so many rules to follow, this kind of discourages them from wanting to travel back in time at all.

This doesn’t discourage everyone though. This book holds the story for 4 people who decide to go back in time. I won’t tell you all the rules or who these 4 people go visit, that is for you to find out. And I will say that that is what reeled me in when I kept seeing this book pop up everywhere.

I didn’t know a whole lot about this book and I honestly didn’t want to! I wanted to be surprised and just enjoy the story without thinking about it too much. I’m glad that I did, because I will say that I devoured this book in about 5 hours once I had downloaded it from Libby, borrowing it from my local library (do this, is good for you and for your library!). I loved seeking why these 4 people wanted to go back in time and how it affected them when they came back to the present, and how it changed their perspectives.

This is the thing, time is relative. The passage of time is made up by humans and it’s super ridiculous, but we still feel it. So, to go back in time and to re-experience a specific time, that can and does change how one thinks. Not only thinking about their own lives but about how their lives affect others. And this can change how one interacts in the world, for better and for worst.

I highly recommend that you give this book a try. It is sweet, it is a little bit sour, and it does encourage you to think a bit more deeply about things in your life. What are things that you have been putting off thinking about? Why are you putting it off? Comment below and let me know! Happy Reading!

Tiny Navajo Writes: Books to Take Off My TBR

Hello hello again! Today isn’t going to be a review but a list of books that are going to be coming off of my TBR because it is too damn long and I know that there are books that I will never read on that list. So, here are the books that will be leaving and asked not to return!

• Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
• Imprudence by Gail Carriger
• Order of the Wicked by Danielle Paige
• Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
• The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
• The Dragon and the Pearl by Jeannie Lin
• Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
• Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

I will that at the time I had added this books, I was looking forward to reading/trying these books. This was also before I started grad school for my master’s degree now and before I started working full-time in any capacity. And I was also adding more books to this list every week because I worked in a public library and was looking for each and every new book that looked interesting as it came in as holds and just as new books.

While I have started to rediscover my love for reading again, I have lost a desire to read books that are popular or the newest. I want, and will, read books that I actually want to read. Part of that has included going back to books I had read in middle school and high school that I know I enjoyed and reread several times in order to remember what it was I loved about those books. I’ve done that with at least two series already and I’m remembering more and more why I loved reading these particular books and what drew me to them in the first place. It will also help me to find books similar to these ones again to keep feeding that joy of reading again.

Do you guys find that you put books on your TBR that are more by popular demand than by an actual desire to read? And if so, what do you do about these books when it comes to starting to work on your TBR list? I’m allowing myself to permission to let these books go and to walk away. Life is far too short to try and read books I don’t want to read and I need to remind myself that by unloading books from my TBR list. I encourage you to do the same when you can.

Happy reading!

Tiny Navajo Writes: Life Update

Hey everyone…I do know that it has been a while since I’ve updated, or even written on this book blog. The main reason for it is because I had started a new job back in the beginning of June and it has kind of taken over my life as I am trying to figure out how to work with it. I have been working in an academic library for the past 3 months and I. AM. LOVING. IT!!! I love my new job and I love that I seem to have actually found my dream job. Which I wasn’t really expecting as I thought I had found it back in the public library system I was working in the last five years.

Working in an academic library though, I’ve been exposed to so much more as well as being able to work with college students to help them figure out how to be legit adults but to also learn new things from them as well. I’ve also seemed to have found my people, the weird, the fantastic, those that want to improve the world in weird and wild ways! I am so glad to be working where I am working right now!

Because of that though, it does mean that I have less time to read and review books. I do miss reading for pleasure, as a lot of my downtime is taken up by reading fanfiction and playing video games as it doesn’t take up a lot of brain space. A lot of my brain space right is being taken up by learning what I need to do and this new working environment. And as I’m slowly settling into my new routines, I’m starting take back some brainspace to actually read and write for myself again.

I will say that I will strive to make more time to read and write reviews for myself again. I’m not going back to my old schedule of posting every weekday, but I will try to post at least once a week right now, even if it’s just a little post saying what I’m currently reading and working my way through right now.

That’s all I have right now. I hope that for everyone else, that your Fall weather is treating you right. I hope that if you’re in school, that you’re doing okay in school. If you’re working, I hope that your work is treating you well. And if you are sick or hurting, or just tired, I hope that you find the peace and calm you need.

Happy reading!

Tiny Navajo Writes: Creatures of the Night Book Tag

My dudes and dudettes! It is Thursday and time for another book tag! Yes! I’m quite loving book tag Thursdays, it’s encouraging me to look outside of what I would normally read to get answers. Anyway, today’s book tag was found at Foxes and Fairy Tales and it just sounded so intriguing that I had to look into it so I could do it myself.

The point of this tag is to find a book that is focused on the specific ~Creature of the night!!~ and list them. I have read a lot of supernatural books, so it’ll be interesting to see what I can come up with.

This tag originated with Katytastic over on YouTube and you check out her own video and see what she chose.

Vampires

Bloodlust and Bonnets by Emily McGovern. Hilarious vampires and Lord Byron is even featured!

Bloodlust & Bonnets by Emily McGovern

Werewolf

Soulless by Gail Carriger. Definitely a story that focuses heavily on werewolves in Victorian London society.

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Zombie

Manners and Monsters by Tilly Wallace. Another wonderful story about zombies in Regency London. I love Hannah and Viscount Wycliff!

Manners and Monsters by Tilly Wallace

Ghost

Taproot by Keezy Young. A beautiful love story between a gardener that loves plants and can see ghosts and the ghost that is in love with him. Super adorable and I need to reread this graphic novel!

Taproot by Keezy Young

Witch/Warlock/Spellcaster

The Conductors by Nicole Grover. I haven’t written a review for this one yet, but it is so good! Combining magic with the Underground Railroad and trying to help those who are in need and and being refused help from those in authority.

The Conductors by Nicole Grover

Fairy/Fae

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. This is such a great book and has wonderful, well-rounded characters and I highly HIGHLY recommend you trying listening to it when you have the time.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Demon

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson. I may be stretching it a bit here, but Nimona is a demon/devil girl who is seeking to being the bad guy’s henchman. How isn’t that cool!?

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

Angel

I got nothing here…you think that I would, but nothing about angels.

Alien

Refraction by Naomi Huges. An interesting story about aliens and what happens when they come to Earth.

Refraction by Naomi Huges

This was a fun book tag and it took me a while on some of them, but I believe I got some good answers in here. If you’re interested, you should also do this book tag or just leave a comment below to let me know what you would put in some of these categories!

Tiny Navajo Writes: Top Ten Book Titles That Are Complete Sentences

Hi guys! It’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday! TTT was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This is going to be a fun Top Ten Tuesday! Well, I think it will be at any point. Today’s theme is all about the book titles that form complete sentences. I don’t read many books whose titles form complete sentences, so it’ll probably end up being just the ten books I know of that form complete sentences. Either way, wish me luck!

1. If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane
2. The Awakening of Malcolm X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Tiffany D. Jackson
3. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
4. Don’t Tell a Soul by Kristen Miller
5. A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson
6. The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe
7. Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry.
8. What I Leave Behind by Alison McGhee
9. Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds
10. Apple in the Middle by Dawn Quigley

These are the top ten books titles that are sentences. What do you think of these sentences? Have you read any of these books? Comment below and let me know, I feel like these are all sentences, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are.

Tiny Navajo Writes: Nominated for the Aesthete Blogger Award

Well…this isn’t something I was expecting to happening, but thank you to Davida for nominating me for this award! I guess I must be doing something right in the book blogging sphere. Anyway, this award was created by Ashmita @ The Fictional Journal for these reasons:

This award is to honor every creative person, irrespective of their number of followers and views. Because, as long as you create, that is all that matters. This award is for those bloggers who put an insane amount of thought in each of their posts and for those who spread creativity like wildfire.

Ashmita

These are the rules:

• Use the official logo/graphic of the award and display it on your blog.
• List the rules.
• Show some love to the one who nominated you!
• Mention the creator (Asmita@ the Fictional Journal) and link it back to the original post.
• Tell me a something about this world that you admire.
• What is your favourite form of creativity?
• Nominate 7 lovely people and notify them by commenting on their posts; spread some love!
• Ask your nominees 4 questions.
• Share something you created. (can be anything!)
• And lastly, just so you know: I LOVE YOUR CREATIONS!

Answers from Ashmita:

Something about this world I admire:

I love the sky. I have always loved the sky and the multiple changes it goes through. The beauty of the morning sky, to the deep blue of noon, the the purple-red clouds of the evening sun, to the stars and other celestial bodies that we are able to see at night. I just love the sky and all that it shows and encompasses.

What is my favourite form of creativity?

My favourite form is painting, even if I don’t always participate or like how my paintings turn out. I just love painting, it’s so beautiful and evocative and lovely!

Answers to Questions from Davida:

What is your favorite season of the year, and what activity do you like to do during that season that makes you happy?

My favourite season on the year is Fall. I love the cooling of the weather, the crispness of the air as we start heading towards winter. I don’t like winter, mind you, but I do love feeling Fall weather. The way it’s so warm and hot in the sunlight, but then it’s nice and cool in the shadow is just perfect for me, and I love feeling that when I go for walks outside. It’s something that I love to do no matter the time of year, but there’s just something so satisfying when it comes to walks outside during Fall.

Do you like to you listen to music, and if so, what are a few of your favorite genres, songs, or artists?

I have actually started getting back into listening to music, so I’m re-finding those songs that were my soundtrack during high school, as well as newer artists or artists that are new to me. And I’ll listen to just about every type and genre of music, except for country. I canNOT stand country and so refuse to listen to it. But I’ll listen to rock, indie rock, pop, Latin, R&B, just about anything.

Is there a type of visual art (ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, photography, video, film making, and architecture), that you really love?

I love drawing and painting. I took classes for these in high school and I did okay, better with painting than with drawing (which is weird…) but I don’t necessarily participate in them all that often. I should, it would be good for me to have some creative outlets that don’t rely on the internet or use of a screen.

Desktop, tablet, or phone – how do you read and write your blog, and why do you prefer that type of device?

I prefer to read and write about my blog on a computer or laptop. It feels better for me to have it on a large screen I feel that I can better see. I don’t have the best eyesight and to reduce straining my eyes more than I need to, like having things I read digitally be slightly bigger so I don’t feel the need to squint at the screen all the time.

So those are the answers to the questions that Davida asked! I’m now going to nominate 7 people for their own aesthete blogs:

1. Jana from Reviews from the Stacks
2. Lori from The Reading Fairy
3. Lydia from Lydia Schoch
4. Susan from Bloggin’ ’bout Books
5. Kelsey from There’s Something About KM
6. Lauren from Always Me
7. Julie from One Book More

Here are the four questions I would like for anyone who wants to participate in this:

• What is your favourite genre of book to read?
• Do you eat or drink while you read? If so, what is your go-to snack?
• What is another hobby that you like to do that doesn’t revolve around books?
• Getting to know you freebie? Anything that you’d like us to know about you.

And one thing that I have created: well, besides this blog (duh!), I mentioned that I love drawing and painting. Drawing isn’t so good, but I do have some paintings that I’m quite proud of, both traditional, mini-fig, and multi-media:

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Happy answering and thank you again Davida for nominating me! It’s great!

Tiny Navajo Writes: The Reader Problems Tag

Hey guys! It’s Thursday and the sun is starting to come out and will be out for the weekend, which I am super excited for as I have this weekend off! YES! Also, it also means to close to the end of the work week, so super excited about that as well. But, we’re not here to talk about my excitement for the weekend, we’re here to talk about today’s book tag which is all about reader problems! I saw this book tag over on Nottsreader’s blog and you can check out their answers to the questions here. Now, onto the questions!

You have 20,000 books in your TBR, how in the world do you decide what to read next?

My main course of action would be to decide what I feel like reading next. I’m a feelings reader, which means for me that I need to want to read in order to process reading it.

You’re halfway through a book and you’re just not loving it. Do you put it down or are you committed?

That book is going down. Life is far too short for me to muscle my way through a book that I’m not enjoying.

The end of the year is coming and you’re behind on your reading challenge, do you try to catch up? And if so, how?

If I’m that far behind, then I don’t try to catch up. But if I’m off by one or two books, then I’ll read a couple of short stories and see where that gets me.

The covers of a series you love do not match, how do you cope?

See if I can’t find the old overs in a second-hand bookshop or somewhere online, and if not, then I just deal with it. Covers are covers, what’s inside is what I’m more interested in.

Everyone and their mother loves a book that you do not. Who do you bond with over your shared feelings?

Whoever wants to talk to me about it online. That’s where I usually go, or I’ll talk to the Husband about it and he can empathize with me, even if he hasn’t read the book I’m talking about.

You’re reading a book in public and you’re about to start crying. How do you deal?

Depends where in public I am. If it’s public transport or the like, then I let myself cry just a little, then get my tears under control till I’m home. If I’m at work, I tend to head into the backroom in order to let myself cry and then get myself put back together before heading back out onto the public floor.

The sequel to a book you loved just came out but you’ve forgotten a lot of what happens. Are you going to reread it?

I’ll reread before I pick up the sequel if possible if just so I know exactly what is happening when I pick up the new book. I don’t like feeling lost in a world that I love.

You do not want anyone to borrow your books, how do you politely say no when someone asks?

I’m actually pretty okay with letting others borrow and read my books. It’s rare that I’ll say no and the only times that I really do are when it’s a special book to me and that’s when I’ll say no.

You have picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get over this reading slump?

That’s usually when I’ll try a different medium of books, such as an audiobook or graphic novel. That’s usually all that I need in order to get out of a reading slump. And if that doesn’t work, then I don’t force myself to read. I find other things to do that relax me and help me take my mind off of not being able to read, like playing video games, or journaling, or watching YouTube (though I turn to that one more often then not now because I love watching studio vlogs).

After you purchase all of these books that you’re dying to read how long do they sit on your shelves before you get to them?

Anywhere from zero time (as in I start reading it that day) to several years…like I said, I’m a feelings reader and I need to be feeling it in order to want to read it.

There are my answers for the Reader’s Problem book tag. I hope that you enjoy my answers and think of your own answers as well. What are your answers to some of these questions? What are some other problems you can think that concern reading and books? Comment below and let me know!

Tiny Navajo Writes: Top Ten Books with Nature on the Cover

Hi guys! It’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday! TTT was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

It’s May already and where is all of my sunshine? These past two weeks have been grey and cloudy and rainy, and I just want some sunshine…all well, I’ll make due by finding sunshine in the books for today’s theme, nature. So, basically, flowers, trees, shrubs, animals, anything in nature just has to be on the cover. So, here we go!

1. Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Brown. The water and the clouds in the sky of this are excellent!
2. The Star People by S.D. Nelson. The stars and what they mean in Lakota culture; a beautiful story.
3. La Luna by Enrico Casarosa. Another starry night book, with faint spots of light for the stars.
4. Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss. Greenery shaped into the figure out a skull, can’t get more nature-y than that!
5. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Skeletons are definitely a part of nature, even if it’s a part we don’t want to think about.

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Book covers for: Chlorine Sky, The Star People, La Luna, Ghost Wall, and Harrow the Ninth

6. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. I would say an elk is definitely nature related. You should really read this Native American horror story; one of the good ones.
7. A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett. An illustration of Terry Pratchett floating in clouds, very intriguing.
8. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Again, skeletons. Need I say more?
9. The Humane Gardener by Nancy Lawson. A yellow background with beautiful greenery surrounding the title. Very very beautiful in my opinion.
10. Sorry for Your Loss by Jessie Ann Foley. A beautiful sunrise on this cover, which fits perfectly with the theme of the book as well.

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Book covers for: The Only Good Indians, A Slip of the Keyboard, Gideon the Ninth, The Humane Gardener, and Sorry for Your Loss

There are my ten books with nature on the covers. I choose these ones mostly because they’re ones that I’ve read somewhat recently and have left some sort of impact on me. The covers are beautiful and they all connect with the story of the book as well. I highly recommend that you try out at least one of these books and see what you like. What are some of your favourite covers with nature on them? What drew you to those particular covers? Comment below and let me know; I’m a sucker for good cover art!

Tiny Navajo Writes: Ten Recent 5-Star Reads

Hi guys! It’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday! TTT was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

It’s Tuesday once again and it’s time for another top ten…though this is more of a recent ten, rather than a top ten. Not sure I could do a top ten of this week’s theme. Anyway, this week’s theme is all about the ten most recent 5-star reads. And I have been reading some really good books lately, but this isn’t about the 4-star reads, or teh 3-star reads; no, this is about the 5-star reads. So, here we go!

1. The Castle School for Troubled Girls by Alyssa Schienmel. I was not expecting this book to pull me in as much as it did, it almost felt like a mystery or an alternate dimension kind of book, but it was really good! Definitely deserved all 5 stars I gave it.
2. The Knockout by S.A. Patel. A second generation Indian girl who fights Muy Thai, even though her culture states that to fight it far too rough for girls. I liked that Kareena took her interests into her own hands and didn’t let anyone tell her she couldn’t fight. It also took her time to find those that would support her in anyway they could and she realizes she could have had friends and support system for a long time, if she had told others about her fighting.
3. Amelia Unabridged by Ashley Schumacher. Amelia loses her best friend but gains so much more in this book, and I make it sound so very callous when I put it that way, but the story is so much more and you should definitely read it!
4. The Awakening of Malcolm X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Tiffany D. Jackson. I never knew much about the Civil Rights Movement, other than what is taught in school and there is so much there that is glossed over or not talked about. So, reading this fictionalized biography of Malcolm X was fascinating and I’m curious about his life.
5. One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite. This is a good luck into what it means to be a Black girl and what it means to have the label “one of the good ones” placed on you. What does it mean to be “one of the good ones” when there are good ones everywhere?
6. If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane. I am apparently a sucker for the fake dating to actual dating trope and this audiobook plays it off really well! Such a sweet story and one for anyone who has been unfairly dumped before.
7. Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas. We catch a glimpse of what it’s like for Maverick growing up in a neighborhood where it’s expected he’ll follow in his father’s footsteps and become a gang member, where it’s expected that in doing so, he’ll only follow in his father’s footsteps and make no real choices of his own. Where, as a child, he learns to grow up quickly to care for his child.
8. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. Historical fiction about LGBTQ clubs in San Fransisco in the late 1950’s.
9. Sleepless, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 by Sarah Vaughn. A wonderful fantasy world where royalty are guarded by the Sleepless, those who vowed to stay awake always to protect those they guard.
10. Persephone Station by Stina Leicht. I loved this space opera that gave me Firefly vibes and I hope to read more from Stina Leicht.

There are my ten most recent 5-star reads. I enjoyed these and I hope that there something that piques your interest here. I’m always ready to talk about the books I read! What are some of your most recent 5-star reads? Why were they 5-stars? Comment below and let me know!