Linz The Bookworm: A Year of Surprise Books and a Life Update

Hello, readers! I swear that I'm still alive. It's been a hectic year, and to keep my sanity, I had to let some of my hobbies hang out in the dark corner of my mind for a while. Sorry. There's probably some spider webs in there, a closet full of skeletons, and a really annoying jukebox that meshes two songs together in ways that shouldn't happen.

I think my last post was in May, and a lot's happened since then. I'll provide a brief life update after the book-related content, so you can skip it if you're not interested. This post should have actually happened in July or August at the latest, but you'll understand why it didn't with the life update. Anyway, July 2024 was my first birthday back in Indiana. I can't remember if I wrote about it or not, but all I wanted was a game night with my girls. My friend Ashley came, and despite my saying no gifts (no one listened, which is very on-brand for these lovely ladies), she came with this massive box. It was filled with books that were individually wrapped and numbered. I don't have a picture of the entire box, but here is essentially what it looked like when I was trying to track it after I opened it.

It turns out that Ashley went through her own collection of books and picked out ones she personally thought I would love. There was one rule to this gift, and that was I could only open one book per month. This is honestly one of the sweetest and coolest things someone has done for me. I have no idea how long it took Ashley to put this together, but the amount of thought that went into it was insane. Honestly, there were a lot of crappy days in 2024 and early 2025. However, this gift gave me something to look forward to on those hard days. I found myself looking at a calendar on those hard days and checking to see how long I had to wait until I could open my next book. This gift was and still is appreciated on many levels. I really hope to pass this kind of gift on to someone else someday.

I haven't gotten a chance to read the books she provided yet, which I feel bad about. I read Lore on Kindle before receiving this one, but it's one I'll reread sometime. The Midnight Library and The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, I think I had on Kindle at the time, but I hadn't read them. I'm hoping this upcoming year I'll be able to dive into at least some of the books Ashley gave me. I also have a stack of books that Tress loaned me from one of the JordanCons. I'm a little behind on reading.

For those wondering, a 2026 Reading Challenge will be available around Christmas as usual. Tress and I have been collecting ideas throughout the year and plan to compile them as normal. I've actually read/listened to 30 books this year, but I just haven't had the time or energy to post about them. However, the Reading Challenge will continue as normal. I'll also do my yearly update around New Year's. If you follow me on StoryGraph, you can see what I've been reading lately.

Life Update:

As I mentioned earlier, I'd like to provide an update on my life since May. I promise, I'm okay, I just got busy. I believe this has been my reason for the decline in my posts over the years. In June, I started dating an amazing man named Josh, and since we both work a lot, I've been trying to spend as much time with him as possible. During the summer, we've been riding on his motorcycle and exploring Indiana.

Additionally, I've been making a concerted effort to reconnect with nature. So there's been a lot of visiting parks and taking photos. I was driving an hour to work each day (one-way), and so in August, I moved closer to work, and Josh and I moved in together. There's been a lot of just trying to sort out life, but honestly, that's a good thing. I've been more at peace than I have felt in so many years. Oh, plus I'm still in school and hopefully will be done with my fourth degree in a couple of months. (I know Tress. I keep doing this to myself.) And, recently, a couple of weeks ago, we adopted a kitten named Cosmo. Nebula's still getting used to that change. Pictures of the life stuff can be found below.