The baseball aspect of this blog is a whole lot of Tigers and, well, that's about it. You, my dear readers, may be surprised to discover that I do, in fact, have favorite players in MLB on teams that are not located in Detroit. Did I just blow all of your minds? The following five are players that I - in no particular order - admire for a variety of different reasons, even if their team may not be my cup of tea.

I haven't finished a book in a week. That might not sound so bad, so let's give it some context. In the first week of February, I finished four books and started another one. I read some of these at the same time, at least parts of them, but, still. Four books in seven days is, for me, a good reading week. Three books in a week is about my normal pace. But. I haven't finished any book that I have started in the past seven days. It isn't fun.

In all honesty, I don't get books recommended to me in the way that this topic probably refers to. In other words, I don't have a lot of bookish friends "in real life" that I discuss books with and get recommendations from (apart from my sister) and, in the same vein, I don't really get recommendations from friends online, either. Really, I'm a reading lone wolf (read: I'm too awkward to approach other bookish minds and strike up a conversation). Anyways, for this topic, I'm going to be discussing books that I found out about more indirectly; these titles weren't mentioned to me, specifically, but it is possible I wouldn't have found out about them or read them otherwise. On with the list.

I knew that I wanted to make a Valentine's Day-related post in which I talk about some of my most cherished OTPs (One True Pairing), but I didn't know that this idea would develop into a larger idea of a series that I am now calling In Honor Of(...). Basically, I will be inspired by a holiday, a time, an event in general, or even a specific feeling and come up with a (mostly) bookish list that relates to this inspiration. Simple enough. What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with a discussion of OTPs?

When it comes to reading young adult literature, a big complaint is that readers who are out of their teenage years may not connect to the character and the stories as much. While I read and love a lot of YA, this concern does, at times, affect what I like to read; as much as I want to create an equal balance between YA and adult fiction, I can go weeks reading only YA followed by weeks of just adult novels. This quest for a stability in my reading habits has me wondering: if I read more adult fiction to get away from the tropes and similarities of YA, why am I drawn to books that feature younger and younger main characters, despite their classification as "adult?"

For some people, the question of "who's your Tiger?" is easily answered. It's Miguel Cabrera. It's Justin Verlander. For me, it isn't that easy. When I'm asked that question, the wheels start spinning. Is it the one player I own a shirsey for? Is it the one who plays the most games? Is it the one who rides the bench most nights, flashing beautiful blue eyes? If I find myself at Comerica Park this summer, who will get the loudest cheer from me? Let's break down the candidates (listed in order from L-R in the above graphic).

To close out January and welcome February, I had a great couple of reading weeks (with the exception of one book). Before I get into those details though, I want to go over my total January reading statistics. Normally I would do this in my On My Radar post for the next month but, oops, I forgot.

In January, I read 12 books for a total of 4774 pages. My average rating was 3.42 stars. Out of those 12 books, my favorite was most definitely Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin and my least favorite was Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. I read all 8 of the books that were on my January TBR and completed 5 Popsugar challenge prompts.

I love books and I love board games. I like creating tags. I searched YouTube and the general internet and didn't find anything like this so, without further ado, I present the Board Game Book Tag! Below are 8 games and prompts or questions that somehow relate to that game. Simple enough. I tag anyone and everyone! All I ask is that you link back to my blog for credit and that you comment on this post (or let me know on Twitter, Tumblr, whatever) that you did the tag. I would love to read or watch what you guys come up with! Without further ado...

As you can probably tell, I decided to be ambitious and change up how Books and Balks looks. I'm really enjoying this simple yet elegant theme, and I particularly like the pop of the turquoise logo against the white background. There may still be some small tweaks coming and if you see any problems with the blog, please let me know!

And, yes, the new layout/page dimensions did mess up all of my previous graphics (only on the main page, once you are on that post's page they are back to normal), but I know the new dimensions I need now so the future graphics will not be all stretched out and blurry.

Hope you enjoy! There are some exciting posts coming up this month so stay tuned!

This is essentially a TBR but I wanted to give it a new name. With TBRs, I usually end up reading a couple of books on the list and then reading a bunch that weren't on the list or I spend so much time making it that I follow it religiously and feel horrible if I don't get to all of the titles. With this new On My Radar heading, I'm removing the weight that the words "to be read" carry. I don't want there to be any pressure with my reading; instead, this list will serve as suggestions for how my month will look. I will still be utilizing the New Releases, On My Shelf (randomly plucked from my unread titles basket [or if something on my shelf is standing out to me]), and Popsugar Challenge subheadings, but I will try not to be so strict in having to get to all of those titles each month.

I have still been enjoying reading but, as of late, it has been feeling very mechanical. I finish one book, rate it, review it, pick up another book. Repeat. I feel like this will only lead to a slump if I keep picking names off of a list with no regard to what I actually feel like reading at that moment. So, yeah, this is pretty much a TBR but with a different name and a different expectation. Who knows if it will actually change anything!