“Top Ten Tuesday” is hosted at The Artsy Reader Girl.
Every week Jana picks a topic for us to do a top 10 list for and this week’s topic is…
Bookish Discoveries I Made In 2019
(these could be books, authors, blogs, websites, apps, products, etc.)
Chanda Reads Books” is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. This is at no cost to the readers of this blog.
One: Bookish home decor and gifts
Below are a few of my favorite bookish decor finds this year:
Starry Night Boats Castle, Starry Night Boats Tapestry by ArtfyArtistNetwork
-I have this hanging in my office & absolutely love it!
Ravens on Skulls Bookends
Vintage Library Bookshelf Tapestry
Blue Q Women’s Novelty Crew Socks
Knock Knock Personal Library Kit
Energizer Clip on Book Light for Reading
Custom Library Stamp
Resin Cat Reading Figurine
Natural Genuine Brazilian Extra Quality Agate Bookends
Wizard Bookends
Two: Litjoy Magical Edition crates
If you know anything about book subscription boxes you’ve heard of LitJoy, but I had never heard of their Magical Edition Crates until this year! Unfortunately I didn’t know about them until 7.1 was on sale, but hopefully they do more boxes like this in the future after 7.2 is sold (coming in April)! Click here for $5 off your first box!
Three: Watercolors
Bookish in a round-about way. I struggle with a sometimes crippling anxiety, even while medicated and regular therapy, so I’m always looking for ways to help me calm down and soothe the panic. Watercolor painting became one of those things for me this year.
Below is a list of some of my favorite supplies I started out with as a beginner and one of my first paintings, and even though I’ve gotten much better it’s still my favorite.
ARTEZA Watercolor Paint, Set of 60 Colors/Tubes (12 ml/0.4 US fl oz) with Storage Box
The Joy of Watercolor: 40 Happy Lessons for Painting the World Around You
Everyday Watercolor: Learn to Paint Watercolor in 30 Days
Creative Watercolor: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners
Watercolor With Me: In the Forest
Canson XL Series Watercolor Pad, 9″ x 12″
Four: Mary E. Pearson
The Kiss of Deception
The Heart of Betrayal
The Beauty of Darkness
Dance of Thieves
Vow of Thieves
So obviously I had heard the name and I even owned all three Remnant Chronicle books, but I hadn’t read them until this year, and I discovered Mary E. Pearson is now one of my favorite authors.
I didn’t do a review for the first two books of TRC, but here is mine from the third *don’t read unless you’ve read the books*, and my review of Dance of Thieves (the first in her Dance of Thieves Duology set in the same world as TRC).
Five: Scribd
I have mixed feelings about Scribd. They advertise it as unlimited listening for $8.99/mo, but it’s really not. You are able to listen to 3-4 books though, which is still much cheaper than buying the books on Audible and you don’t have to sit on a library wait-list, so if you listen to 2 or more audiobooks a month I recommend it.
Six: ACOBAF Book Sleeves
Full disclosure: These sleeves are hard to get because the owner is a one-woman show and hand sews them. If you can score one though they are such a great sleeve!
Seven: Non- Resident Library Cards
This was probably my biggest bookish life-changer of 2019! Did you know you can pay a yearly fee to access other library’s digital content? I did some research and compiled the best ones I could find here.
Eight: TBTBSanta
I have never done a bookish gift exchange before, but it was a really fun experience for me! You can read all about it here.
Nine: Not liking YA as much
I discovered that I don’t connect with YA books as much as I used to. This was a little sad because it felt like the end of an era, but I find so many characters unrealistic and whiny. I did enjoy a few this year (Serpent and Dove and Mary E. Pearson’s books), but those characters were more mature and I was able to easily age them up in my head.
Ten: Bookish mugs
I got my first Cara Kozik mug in my OwlCrate and quickly became obsessed! I also got this amazing Brienne of Tarth mug (WHO STILL GOT WRONGED BY THAT ABOMINATION OF A GOT FINALE!!!).
That’s it for today! Link your TTT below so I can check it out!
Chanda Reads 
I barely know anything about bookish home decor, but I’m loving what I’ve seeing so far.
My TTT .
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Thanks for visiting! I’ve loved seeing what everyone else has had as well 🙂
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I’m not much of a fan of bookish things but I really like that there are so many art relating to books. That Starry night art is gorgeous. Those coffee mugs are lovely though I think I already have way too many mugs.
Have a lovely day.
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If you ask my husband and kids I’m sure they would tell you I have way too many as well 😂 Thank you for stopping by!
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Oh. My. Gosh. How did I not know about the non-resident library cards?! *flails* You’re my hero. I live in a really teensy rural place with a tiny library. I mean, this place is so teensy that our Overdrive is literally the entire state, because the majority of the libraries in our state are too small to support something like that. I’m so getting that Brooklynn one right now, because they have EVERYTHING I want to read. o.0 I just checked against my to buy list. Including some upcoming releases that they already have holds on. I’m in love.
Here’s my TTT post.
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I did not know about the non-resident library card either! That’s so very cool! Thank you for sharing that. And my daughter has anxiety and painting has helped her a lot. ❤
Happy Reading! My TTT
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