[Top Ten Tuesday] Bookish Discoveries Made in 2019

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish but is currently being run by That Artsy Reader Girl. A prompt is given each week, and I hope to do it every week so I always have something going up on Tuesdays. This week I am talking about bookish discoveries I made in 2019. This was a hard one to think of, but it was still a lot of fun to compile the list!

Let's jump into my choices this week!

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The Viz App & Manga

I have been reading manga for a while, not as often as I'd like to, but in 2019 I read quite a lot of manga. I read 19 volumes of My Hero Academia, and I continued it on the Viz app because there are more chapters than volumes. The Viz app is perfect for that! It's around $3 a month and I think it's worth it with the amount of manga available in their library. 

Web-Toon App

In the same web-comic mindset as the Viz app, I also got really into so many Web-Toon comics. The app is filled with so many creative and amazing webcomics that I highly recommend. I have so many to recommend that I feel like this section would be far too long, so I may write up a blog post of all the ones I recommend. 

Scribd App

My husband Matt and I were considering Audible, which is a fantastic audiobook app but the price was a bit steep for us since we'd both want to listen to books and we have completely different tastes in books. So we'd have to pay double. But then we discovered Scribd, which has been great! It isn't a perfect app. It gives off this unlimited books/audiobooks vibe but it definitely cuts you off after you've listened to 2-3 audiobooks. Which works for Matt and I, because we don't listen to more than one audiobook each every month. Sometimes if we are a little ambitious, it's a bummer to see that we have to wait for more. I haven't been cut off in terms of e-books, so that seems to be more unlimited than the audiobooks. It's been a good app for us, and I definitely recommend it. 

Goodreads Challenges Are Unnecessary (for me)

In 2019 I set my Goodreads Challenge to 1 book, and that was the best choice for me. I wanted Goodreads to document the books I read without me having to hyper focus on numbers. Throughout 2019 I didn't feel the pressure or need to keep tabs of how many books I read up to that point. I picked up books because I was interested in them without the length of the book deterring me. This was the best decision for me, and something I plan on continuing as long as I feel the need to, which does include 2020. This is totally a personal thing, so I don't think my choice is better than anyone else's choice. I just wanted to share, because I think it's a freeing decision. 

Photo Credit

Bullet Journaling 

 In 2019 I started a bullet journal and I loved it!! Unfortunately, the last two months got pushed aside so long that I never finished it, so I am dedicated to finish the entire year this year. I loved setting up each month and documenting the books  I read, movies and shows I watched, the highlights of my months, and the games I played. I loved having this tangible evidence of how my year went. Plus, it not only helped me become more confident in my art and calligraphy, but also seeing my progress in both of them was amazing. 

The Mustard Seed

This is a bookstore that is local to us and I love it so much. You go in and there's a fairly good selection, and once you pick the books you want (or bring your own) you can pick out your own teacup and tea. You can buy either just one serving or a full teapot. It's such a nice place. We've been there three times now, and the last time we went for our anniversary and had the tea and it was SO good! I am already planning our next trip once the snow/ice has melted some. 

Print: A Bookstore

Back in September, Matt and I were treated to a fantastic day in Portland by our amazing wedding parties for our bachelor/bachelorette parties. The ones that could make it (a good chunk of our parties live states away) came with us, of course, and we went to three bookstores and a comic book store. I'll be talking about all of them in this post, but first I'll talk about Print: A Bookstore. This bookstore is gorgeous with a fantastic variety of books, bookish accessories, and pins. I would go to this bookstore every day if I could, I fell in love with it. 

Longfellow Books

This is another bookstore we went to, and this is another one I absolutely loved. It had a fantastic selection and there were big comfy chairs to get comfy in to read your new books. I wish I could go into Portland all the time because I'd go to Longfellow Books all the time. I am hoping we can take a few trips this year once winter has thawed. 

Sherman's Books and Stationery

This is the third bookstore we went to (technically the first one, but I, for some reason, went all out of order) and I really love this bookstore! The selection isn't as big as the previous two, but it has a good amount of books published the last few years and ones recently published. The store also had fantastic pins and beautiful earrings. I wanted so many of the earrings and I got the most gorgeous book that I still need to read ASAP.

For our wedding we got a gift-card and I got another book at a different location and I think this location was a big bigger, and I believe it's closer to us so we could easily go to this one more often! 

Casablanca Comics

I don't think we got a photo of just the outside of this comic book store, so I am using one of Matt and I the day of our bachelor/bachelorette party. This comic book store was amazing. I ended up taking so many photos of ones I wanted to read in the future. They also had so many cute pins. Matt and I have a comic book store we love located in New Hampshire, but that is a bit of a drive (about 2-3 hours) so to know that we have one a bit closer to us is dangerous, but exciting. 

Thanks for reading!
What are some bookish discoveries you made in 2019?