Tag: amreading

Sunday Summary – 10th August 2025

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Another Sunday Summary graces your screens on account of the fact that another week is over. Aren’t they flying by? In today’s post I have a great line up of current reads to update you on, as well as a couple of new books purchased. 

Before that though, the first port of call is always to catch up on the content I’ve shared so far this week. That way, if you missed anything, you have a chance to catch up! 

The first post of the week was my August TBR. Naturally the books I’ve been reading derive from this list and it’s been a great start to the month. I’ve made a good start so far this month, so I’m optimistic 🤞🏻 let’s hope that’s not famous last words…

On Friday I published a First Lines Friday post featuring an author I’m listening to currently. If you read my August TBR you’ll have a better chance of guessing the author. However, when it comes to books, he’s written several. Take a look and see if you can guess which it is. 

I’ve reviewed another recent read on Patreon this week. If you are curious about Little Fires Everywhere – maybe to decide whether to read it for yourself, or to compare notes, please consider subscribing to gain early access to reviews for all the books I’m reading! 

 

Books Read

 

Stormdancer

Stormdancer was always going to be a pretty quick finish this week. As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I only had a couple of hours of the audiobook left. 

Naturally, being this close to the conclusion I rapidly picked this up at every opportunity to get to the end. I really enjoyed the book and I’m curious about how the story will continue. The good news is I already have the audiobooks! 

 

If We Were Villains

As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I’d started the first 40 pages of If We Were Villains and was already intrigued. 

It’s fair to say that sentiment has held! I’ve been reading If We Were Villains throughout the week. Admittedly, I held off posting tonight to try and get the book finished this evening before this Sunday Summary went live. I’ve fallen a little short, but I only have 60 pages left! 

The story is really compelling and I’m looking forward to finishing this book. Fingers crossed I can finish it tomorrow! I really need to know how it all ends! 

 

The House Witch 

As part of the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club, I’m reading along with The House Witch. Admittedly I’ve only just started this book. Currently, my plan is to read this little by little throughout the month. The chat is set up with a rough timeline week on week to discuss, so at least I have some benchmarks to aim for. 

At the end of this week, in theory, I should have read up to and including chapter 17. I haven’t, my next priority will be catching up on this book before picking up another read! 

 

Tyrant’s Throne

Finally, the last book I’ve started this week is Tyrant’s Throne by Sebastien de Castell. 

This is the fourth and final book in his The Greatcoats series. With finishing series being a priority in this year‘s resolutions, you can see why I’m excited to read and finish this book. I’m glad that I picked this up so soon after finishing Saint’s Blood. It had been some time since I picked up this third book in the series. Not wanting to end up in the same position as last time, I’m keen to finish the series whilst events are straight in my head. 

As of this Sunday Summary I’ve listened to one and a half hours. It made a good introduction. I’m looking forward to listening more over the next week! 

 

Books Discovered

I popped into town yesterday and a window-shop turned into a couple of purchases. 

The God of the Woods, Waterstones current book of the month, caught my attention. As well, Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT and the Race That Will Change the World also appealed to me. 

Both these books were part of Waterstones ‘but one get one half price’ offer, so it would have been rude not to, right? 

 

Coming Up… 

 Next week I plan to start the week with a Top Ten Tuesday post. The subject of next week’s feature is ‘books guaranteed to put an end to you book slump’. It’s an interesting topic. It happens to all of us, and I’m glad to share my guaranteed books to pull me out of it. Hopefully they can help anyone else in the same situation. 

On Friday, I’ll be back with a Shelf Control post. In this week’s instalment of the feature, I share a dystopian novel that caught my eye and I’m interested to try! 

Finally, next Sunday I’ll update you on my reading progress over the next seven days in my Sunday Summary regular feature. I hope you’re looking forward to this next one already! 

On Patreon, I’m planning to share my review of Samantha Shannon’s A Day of Fallen Night. If you’re interested in my thoughts on this prequel, make sure you’re following me on Patreon. 

Until then, happy reading and I’ll see you around! 

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Monthly TBR – August 2025

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It’s the beginning of August and I’m with you today to share my monthly TBR. It’s the final month of the 20 Books of Summer Challenge. Whilst I fully expected to be a little behind with this challenge as it was a stretch goal, I’m hoping to read as much as I can from that list before the end of the month.

When I shared my monthly wrap-up post just a few days ago, I was very close to completion with both of my current reads. It feels like great progress to share in this post that I have finished both of those books. They won’t feature in this TBR, but mentally it helped set me up for what I can only hope to be success with this monthly TBR. 

So, shall we actually get round to talking about the books on the list?

 

Fixed Reads 

 

The Giver

Starting off with my book club commitments, the first book I need to read is The Giver by Lois Lowry. Following on from The Measure, The Giver is also set in a dystopian world and was very clearly one of the inspiring stories behind this book. When talking about it in our book club discussion last week, Meg recommended picking up The Giver as it’s a great book itself. However, we also decided it would be interesting to see how this book influenced The Measure. 

The good news is The Giver is quite a short read. This book is actually aimed at a middle grade or young adult audience. As a result, its page count only sits at around 240. That should be plenty easy to get through! 

 

The House Witch

Next, I am picking up The House Witch with the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club, over the course of this month. I came to the party late last month. Consequently, I ended up bingeing House of Frank in order to catch up. Instead, I’ll be picking up The House Witch incrementally so I can contribute to the discussion on a weekly basis. 

As a result, you’ll see me chipping away at this slowly over the course of the month. That is, unless I get carried away and binge the whole lot early on. We’ll see how my experience goes of the book 😌

 

If We Were Villains 

The next book I’m including in this early section is If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio. I’m including this as a fixed read on this monthly TBR because I have started already. As of this monthly TBR post, I have read around 100 pages so far. Although I can be very hit and miss with Shakespeare, its influence on the narrative isn’t putting me off. In fact, it’s been nice to read a book that dabbles with Shakespeare but isn’t so heavily that I’m put off.

If you are unfamiliar with the premise of the book, If We Were Villains is about a group of theatre students in their final year of education. The school of arts they attend specialises in Shakespeare. Now, I haven’t got to the juicy bit where someone gets murdered. Not yet. However, the parallels of tragedy between Shakespeare’s writing and what inevitably comes to pass are starting to weave their way into the narrative. I’m excited to see what happens and so I imagine this book will be read pretty quickly! 

 

HR Disrupted

I often talk books at work, and a conversation with our HR lady has resulted in my borrowing HR Disrupted from her. She started explaining to me what an HR Disruptor is and what it means in terms of breaking the traditional moulds and practices of HR. I was intrigued, and you know me 😉 I’ll read books on pretty much any subject! 

This is a fixed read this monthly TBR as naturally I want to return the book to its rightful owner ASAP ☺️

 

Mood Reads 

 

The Pagan Lord

Regretfully, I didn’t get to The Pagan Lord, which was on my monthly TBR for July. This is a carry forward, and I’m still looking forward to continuing with this series.

This TBR is a little on the long side, and I will admit that it is ambitious. However, with some shorter books on the list, The Pagan Lord among one of those, I’m hopeful I can catch up with my Goodreads reading challenge. I’m looking forward to reading this 300-page book to get myself back into the Last Kingdom, also known as the Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell. 

 

The Dragon Republic

Another carryover from my July TBR is The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang. I’m looking forward to this second instalment in The Poppy War series. 

I’m planning to pick this one up later in the month. Whilst momentum is strong, I want to try and blitz my shorter reads. The Dragon Republic is about 650 pages – it’s not short by any means. If my experience of the first book is anything to go by, it’ll be a slower and more detailed read. 

 

Tyrant’s Throne 

A final book of a series I’m looking forward to listening to this month is Tyrant’s Throne by Sebastien de Castell. 

It’s also my main audiobook of the month! Naturally, I hope I can finish this in good time and squeeze in another 20 Books of Summer entry before the end of August. The audiobook is 16 and a half hours at x1.2 speed, so not unachievable… 

Having just listened to Saint’s Blood, I’m eager to finish the series whilst events are fresh in my mind. 

Summary 

With a total of seven books, 2200 pages, and 16 and a half hours of audio on this month’s TBR, I’m optimistic for a productive month of reading. 

I’ve already made a great start finishing two carryovers from July that aren’t featured in today’s monthly TBR; I’ve wrapped them up already! Let’s hope we can keep the momentum going! 

What are you reading this summer? 

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Sunday Summary – 3rd August 2025

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We’re back with another weekly round-up in this Sunday Summary. I hope you’ve had a great week? As always, I’ll catch you up on the posts I’ve shared, as well as what I’ve been reading.

My first post of the week was my Firsts of 2025 book tag post. It was a fun way to look back at some of my milestones of 2025. If you haven’t yet seen the post, there’s a link above if you want to check it out!

My second post of the week went live on Friday. As it was the first of the month, I came in hot with my monthly wrap-up for July. It was a decent month of reading, although I didn’t get through my whole TBR.

Elsewhere, on Patreon, I reviewed All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. In that post, I shared that there were aspects of the book I enjoyed, but there were others I struggled with too.


Books Read


House of Frank

In last week’s Sunday Summary, I shared I was 65% through House of Frank. I also shared I was optimistic to finish the book and share completion in today’s post.

The good news is I can share that I finished the book! It was a good read and I enjoyed this cosy fantasy. It was different to the books I’ve read lately and I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts on the book in the cottagecore fantasy book club I moderate!

Stormdancer

Stormdancer was the second book I hoped to have finished this week. This didn’t quite come to pass, but I now only have two hours of the audiobook left. I’ll be very surprised if I don’t finish it in the next week!

I’m really enjoying this audiobook and the unusual genre combination. What more, events are leading up to a conclusion now and I have no idea how this book will wrap up! I thought I did, but the narrative has just pulled the rug from under Yukiko’s feet and I want to see what happens next ASAP!


If We Were Villains

I’ve started If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio today, but only just. So, I don’t have a whole lot of progress to note. However, it’s good for you to know what’s coming up on my reading list so you know what book I’ll be updating you on in the next week! As of this Sunday Summary, I’ve read the first 40 pages and I’m intrigued. Let’s hope that continues.

I’m looking forward to getting into this fully. It’s been on my TBR shelf for quite some time…


Books Discovered

During book club on Wednesday, I was recommended two books by my colleague Meg. The first is the book we’re now reading for August – The Giver by Lois Lowry. The second book is called The Five People You Meet in Heaven.

The third book I’ve added is called The Wealth Ladder. As regular readers will know, I am picking up more non-fiction than ever. As well, I think this will be a useful and informative read.


Coming Up…

With early August hot on our heels (where has THAT gone?!), my first post of the week will be my August TBR. It’s my last chance to progress with my 20 Books of Summer Challenge. I hope you can take a look with me to see what’s coming up on my reading list soon.

On Friday, I’m back with another First Lines Friday instalment. The last time I shared this post, I set myself a challenge. This time, I’m keeping things open and interesting.

Finally, next Sunday I’m back with another Sunday Summary update post. As always, I’ll keep you informed on the books I’m reading, reviewing, and what I’ve posted online.

Until then, happy reading and I’ll see you next time!

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Monthly Wrap-Up – July 2025

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In today’s monthly wrap-up, I have a number of books to update you on progress for. Over the course of July, I finished three books in full. I also have two carryovers into the beginning of August (but not long left for either) and one DNF to report.

Let’s dive into today’s monthly wrap-up so you can see which is which!


Books Read


Saint’s Blood

An audiobook carryover from June was my listen of Saint’s Blood by Sebastien de Castell. Admittedly, as of my monthly TBR post, I only had an hour and 15 minutes of the audiobook left.

I finished it off pretty quickly! It was fun to get back into this series as it’s been a little while. Now I’ve finished this book, I’ve only got one book left in the series before I can mark this as complete.


The Anxious Generation

The next and final carryover from June was my physical read of The Anxious Generation.

I had more of this book to read into July. In June, I read the first 60 pages of the book, but that was all. By the time we were four days into July, I’ve progressed to 50% and I finished the book a few days later.

The Anxious Generation was a really informative read. I’d go so far as to say that I think this book should be more widely read. Understanding the changes in childhood experiences (both ways – this book compares and contrasts play-based childhoods and phone-based childhoods throughout) has opened my mind to why we’re seeing generational challenges today.

I rated The Anxious Generation four stars. It was an easy read even though it cites data and statistics. It’s written in layman’s terms so is approachable for all.


Alan Turing: An Enigma

Unfortunately, I have a DNF to share this month. I started listening to Alan Turing: The Enigma this month and I put it down within a couple of weeks.

I couldn’t get on with the book. The early narrative covers Alan’s early life and it was just dry. I was bored. Ultimately, I decided it wasn’t worth pushing on with an audiobook I wasn’t enjoying. I didn’t want to listen to it, nor risk getting into a reading slump over it. So, onwards and upwards….


Stormdancer

… and straight into Stormdancer I went!

Stormdancer has been a much better experience and I’m glad I made the switch. It’s an unconventional genre mash-up – Japanese fantasy and steampunk!

Not that I really had any doubts. Jay Kristoff is a regular feature on my blog now and I haven’t read a book of his I didn’t like. It’s also got me excited as I’ve got another standalone of his, more similar to this series than anything else I’ve read, upcoming on my TBR.

I’ve listened to Stormdancer for the rest of the month of July and as of this monthly wrap-up post, I only have two hours of listening time left.


The Measure

I picked up The Measure on Kindle Unlimited as it was the book I chose for book club. The Measure was already on my TBR and I was sure the premise would make for some great talking points.

It didn’t disappoint! This book was everything I hoped it was and I enjoyed getting to talk through my thoughts on this book. As dystopian books go, the narrative was set in a world very like our own so it was totally relatable. I also enjoyed how the story zoomed in on individual characters and impacts but also looked at how the knowledge of your lifetime impacted society as a whole.


House of Frank

A last-minute addition to my reading list this month was House of Frank. I’ve started to moderate a book club online via Discord and that is the club’s chosen book.

As of this monthly wrap-up I do still technically have a third of the book left to read. In my defence I was late starting it as I joined partway through the month. It’s not stopped me participating in chats about the book so far as it’s broken down into sections for easy participation.

I will, however, try to read this last section of the book over the next couple of days. Then, we can wrap up the discussion before moving on to our next book!


Summary

That’s all from me in this monthly wrap-up update! Have a good weekend and happy reading!

Have you read any of the books I’ve featured in today’s post? What did you read in July?

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Firsts of 2025 Book Tag

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I saw this tag on The Literary Huntress and this book tag was originally created by Tanya @ girlxoxo. I thought it would be a fun and lighthearted post to share. 

 

My Firsts of 2025

First book read this year

The first book I read to completion in 2025 was Firefight by Brandon Sanderson. Firefight is the second instalment of his The Reckoner series. I have since gone to finish the series, and it’s been great to tick this off the list. I’ve really enjoyed every Brandon Sanderson book, and the reckon was a perfect place to kick off 2025 with.

 

First book reviewed

Another great first of 2025 was reviewing Ship of Magic. Robin Hobb is fast becoming an author I really enjoy books by. As of this post, I have read seven of her realm of the elder books. For context, Ship of Magic is the fourth of those. Ship of Magic was a five-star read, so it’s also a great book to have featured first in 2025. That post went live within the first couple of weeks of January and to be fair, I’ve reviewed a good few books since then! 

 

First book by a debut author

I picked up Fearing the Black Body during Black History Month. I had added the book to my reading list originally as I wanted to read about the subject of fat phobia. As a larger than life woman (and proud) myself, I was interested in the subject matter. 

This audiobook went down so well that I listened to the whole thing over the course of a weekend. To date it also qualifies amongst my firsts of 2025 in that it’s the only book I’ve read in two days.

 

First book by a new-to-me author

I’ve read a few historical fiction books and series in my time. A new one I discovered and started this year is Woden’s Spear by Donovan Cook. 

This was the first historical fiction book of the year but it wasn’t the last. The sequel is currently expected to release in November 2025 and I plan to keep up with it. Donovan cook is among my firsts of 2025 for my starting his The First Kingdom series. However, he’s written others that I’m inclined to try based on the book I read and reviewed for the release blog tour. 

 

First book that slayed me

I confess so far this year, I haven’t read a book that I’ve had big feelings about. The closest is probably The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang. 

 

First book that I wished I could get back the time I spent reading it

All The Light We Cannot See

It’s perhaps a little harsh to go this far, but the books that earns this firsts of 2025 accolade is the book I reviewed on Patreon yesterday – All the Light We Cannot See. I say this is harsh because there were aspects of the book I enjoyed. At the same time though, it was a little disappointing. It wasn’t the narrative I expected and I’d hoped for more interaction between the two main protagonists. 

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Sunday Summary – 27th July 2025

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Today’s Sunday Summary comes at the end of a long weekend! I had Friday off work this week to attend one of my best friends’ weddings. It’s been a good week – let’s take a look at what I’ve been up to otherwise…

On the blog, this is the third post of the week. The first post was my 2025 mid-year review, which went live on Wednesday. In that post, I take a look at how I’ve done against my reading goals for 2025 so far. If you haven’t caught that post already, it’s a good read.

Friday’s Shelf Control was scheduled in advance in light of my wedding plans ☺️ This week’s post featured another upcoming book by John Marrs on my TBR.

 

Books Read


House of Frank

I’ve made a good dent with House of Frank this week, although not as much as I wanted. I was hoping to share this as a completion, but I’ve been busy with other things. Aside from prepping for the wedding, I made a gift for a friend whose birthday was this weekend, and it needed finishing touches. I’m also doing Sirdar’s crochetalong, and week 1 started this week.

Still, I’ve made solid progress, and I’m now just shy of 65% through the book. Reading time on my Kindle says I’ve got a couple of hours left. I’ll probably try to binge that tonight so I can tick this off my list.

Stormdancer

I was also hoping to share Stormdancer as a completion too, but not quite. As of this Sunday Summary, I’ve only made a three-hour dent into this audiobook, and I still have just under six hours left.

I really need to get a wriggle on with this listen as I have a deadline of Tuesday to finish it! I may end up having to try and borrow it from a library if I don’t finish the audiobook in time.

The genre mash-up is an interesting one, but I like how the story is progressing. I can only imagine what will happen at the end – the shogun won’t be happy with Yukiko if it’s heading where I suspect!


Books Discovered

When it comes to new books, no news is good news! It perfectly counteracts the fact that I haven’t taken any off the list either…


Coming Up…

So, aside from some reading catch-up, what’s on the cards next week?

My first post of the week will be a 2025 firsts post. Given I’ve had six months to tick some of these items off my list, I’ll let you know what some of my bookish firsts are.

On Friday, we’ll officially be into the month of August. With that in mind, I’ll publish my monthly wrap-up for July.

On Sunday, I’m sure you know what’s coming. I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary update post and fingers crossed I’ll have more finishes next week to share with you.

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Sunday Summary – 20th July 2025

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Happy Sunday reading friends and welcome to my Sunday Summary catch-up! I hope you’ve had a good one however you’ve spent it? This weekend has been quieter and I’ve enjoyed the slower pace.

But… that’s not what you’re here to read, is it? You’re here to find out what I’ve been reading. We’ll get there, right after I recap what I’ve shared online this week. 

First, I’m pleased to share that I finally got my review of Stolen Focus by Johann Hari into a place where I was happy to publish it. I thought I was happy with the word count I had, but I managed to add a good bit more before that post went live. If you haven’t yet taken a look, there’s a link to that post above. 

Next, I published my First lines Friday on schedule and fulfilled the challenge of featuring a book on my 20 Books of Summer challenge. I hope to pick up this book soon. Want to see what it is? It’s a historical fiction novel, but I’m not telling you any more… 

As well as the blog, I’ve started posting up-to-date book reviews on Patreon. Partly, that’s so I don’t end up in a position where two years down the line I’m struggling to write one (ahem, Stolen Focus I’m looking at you). However, it also gives anyone the opportunity to support me for early access to these reviews. They’ll make there way here in time, but new reviews are going on Patreon first. This week, I reviewed Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. However, I’ve also got reviews of Crashed, The Poppy War and Elektra so far if you want to read any of those. 

And now, onto the fun part of my Sunday Summary posts – the reading updates!

 

Books Read

 

The Measure 

Over the course of this week, and yesterday especially, I dedicated time to The Measure. I’ve really enjoyed this book – so much so I finished it yesterday. That means this week I read a little over 260 pages to complete this book. 

If you enjoy contemporary fiction with a bit of a dystopian element, The Measure could well be for you. I loved how this book exploded how the knowledge of one’s lifetime changed both the world and people’s individual stories. the measure of one’s life isn’t just in a span of years, and that is also a big theme of the book. Honestly, I’m glad we’ve picked this up for book club because there are plenty of talking points I can’t wait to get into with the group. 

I didn’t quite cry at this one, but there were a few close moments. It’s a very thought-provoking and emotional read. 

 

House of Frank

I’ve continued House of Frank which I’m reading as part of the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club over at Chantelle Solace. I confess though that The Measure took priority earlier in the week. Now I’ve finished it, House of Frank is now my main read. 

It’s very different the book I just read, although it still deals with the topic of death and grief. It’s interesting that I’ve ended up reading these so close together. I’m not going morbid I promise! 

So far this week, I’ve read a few more chapters. So, as of this Sunday Summary I’m 16% through the book. 

House of Frank is a cozy fantasy, so very different vibes and hopefully a quick read. I’m hoping it will make for a nice change before moving on to my next read, which is a dark academia that also features death 😅 I promise I’m okay! 

 

Stormdancer

After sharing in last week’s Sunday Summary that I was putting down Alan Turing: The Enigma, I picked up Stormdancer. 

Stormdancer is a bit unusual as it combines asian fantasy and steampunk. Not something I’ve ever read before, but I’m liking it quite a bit! I didn’t really have any doubts over enjoying the book as it’s written by an author I’ve read a small variety from already – Jay Kristoff. 

This week I’ve listened to a couple of hours of the audio. With around 10 hours left an a deadline on Audible to get it finished, I’m hoping to share completion of this in next week’s Sunday Summary. 

 

Books Discovered

I picked up a couple of audiobooks this week after seeing them advertised in their weekly edit email. The first of those is Your Boss Era. As a lifelong learner, there’s always something I can be doing better. Whilst I may not be a manager, I have become a go-to contact between teams and. I am getting towards a more senior person in terms of experience. I think the contents of the book can help me step-up and demonstrate the skills necessary for a promotion in future. 

Next, I picked up another book that tickled my lexicon fancy. I loved English and words – so much so I wanted to be a speech therapist. The job wasn’t really viable here and there were aspects to it I wouldn’t have enjoyed, so I didn’t pursue it. However, I still have a love of language and words. That probably doesn’t surprise you when you consider I consume and write so many in a week of my own free will! That book is called Algospeak, and particularly focuses on how social media has shaped modern language. 

 

Coming Up… 

The final section of today’s Sunday Summary is about what’s coming up content-wise next week. 

On the blog, my first post well be a mid-year check-in my my progress towards my reading goals in 2025. It almost feels like that compulsory HR mid-year review, but don’t worry – I’ll make it more fun!

Next, on Friday I’ll release another Shelf Control instalment. This one will be prepared ahead of time as on Friday night, I’ll be out attending one of my best friend’s weddings. Don’t worry, I won’t let you down. It’ll be scheduled in advance 😉

Finally, the last post on the blog will be next week’s Sunday Summary instalment. I’m hoping to have at least two bookish completions with you this week! It’s rapidly coming up the end of the month and I still have a few books on the TBR to get to. Fingers crossed for some reading productivity! 

Off the blog, I have two reviews to catch up with on Patreon – Ultra-Processed People and All the Light We Cannot See. If you are interested in either of those two books, I hope you can subscribe over on Patreon so you don’t miss out! 

Until next time, may your tea be hot and your book better than real life ☺️

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Sunday Summary – 13th July 2025

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If you’ve had glorious weather this weekend as I have, then I hope you’ve been able to make the most of it! Welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update! After a busy week and weekend, I’m here to catch you up on reading progress this week.

Overall, progress has taken a slower pace this week. That’s because real life priorities had to come first. We’ve had a busy week at work. I knew this was coming and so I only planned to share a Top Ten Tuesday post before today’s Sunday Summary. However, even that ended up being late. This belated post went out on Wednesday, so if you’re interested on books I’m planning to re-read, go and take a look at that post.

 

Books Read

The Anxious Generation 

In last week’s Sunday Summary update, I confided that I only had 30 pages left of this book to finish. Whilst my intention was to pick up the book and finish it last Sunday, it was Monday in the end.

The Anxious Generation was a very informative and interesting read. I already had a good measure of the book from what I’d read so far, so the ending and my feelings about the book weren’t really a surprise.

 

The Measure 

Next, I moved on to a kindle read – The Measure by Nikki Erlick. You may recall this is the book we’re reading together in the book club I host at work.

This week, I haven’t made a load of progress with the book, although I have really enjoyed starting it. The blocker on reading progress this week hasn’t been any fault of the book, but rather my time. Quarter end is a really busy time and it was especially rough this time as we had several people out of the office. I did quite a bit of overtime. To top it off, I didn’t make any reading progress on Saturday because I was out at a hen do all day. At least I got to enjoy the beautiful weather! 

As of this Sunday Summary update post, I’m 25% into The Measure. It’s a really interesting book and premise so far. I really like where the book is going in terms of exploring individual stories, but also highlighting changes in society. If you are unfamiliar, the book is about what happens when people have the knowledge of how long they are going to live. There are some really interesting character discussions and events that take place as a consequence. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this progresses and fingers crossed I can make a good deal more progress now things are settling down.

 

House of Frank

A book I have started this week, that isn’t on my official July TBR, is House of Frank. This will probably come across as an unusual choice, but it makes sense when I explain where it’s come from.

I have just become a moderator of an online book club called the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club over at Chantelle Solace. With my experience of hosting our work book club, I volunteered and was offered the position of moderator to help with the book club. Naturally, I need to read the books that this club are reading, hence why I have started House of Frank.

Reading progress on this book has also been slow. I’ve literally only read the first chapter so far, but I think this is going to be an interesting and cosy read. Given that one of the main topics it’s dealing with is grief, this sounds like an unusual combination but one I’m happy to explore. 

I’ll be sharing more on that next week. If you’re interested, you can find out more here.

 

Alan Turing: The Enigma 

I haven’t made any more progress with Alan Turing this week. After a very slow start last week, I’ve not been able to psyche myself up to pick up this book again.

So much so, I’m only including this book in today’s post to let you know that I’m DNFing it. I’m not enjoying it, so there’s no point in forcing myself to continue when I could be reading or listening to something else more interesting… 

 

Books Discovered

I’ve picked up one book this week. As and when I pop into one of our bigger Tesco stores, I usually take a look at the little bookshelf they have near their customer services area. Most of the time, they don’t have anything that catches my eye. 

However, this week I found a copy of Janice Hallett’s The Examiner in a really good condition. I really enjoyed reading The Appeal so I’m excited to be able to try another of her books written in mixed media format. And, I dId a good deed in getting my copy as charity benefits! 

 

Coming Up… 

So, what’s the plan next week? Well, given most of my time sensitive deadlines are now over at work, scheduling should return to normal. 

This week I’m returning to my draft review of Stolen Focus in an attempt to finish it off to a standard I’m happy with. In terms of word count for the review, I’m not far off where I want to be. It’s hopefully just a case of refining it, but we’ll see.

On Friday I return with my regular First Lines Friday feature. In the spirit of making things more interesting, I’ll set myself a challenge here and now to feature an upcoming read from my 20 Books of Summer reading list. I hope you can tune in to see what that is! 

Lastly, I’m back again for another Sunday Summary instalment at the end of the week. With work deadlines less imminent and more staff in the office next week, I should get my time back. 

What are you reading this week? 

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Belated Top Ten Tuesday – Books I’d Love to Re-Read!

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Today’s Top Ten Tuesday post is regretfully coming out later than planned. Unfortunately, despite my prep work on Monday to get this post ready for drafting, work got in the way. 

We’re usually busy at work after a bank holiday anyway. Combine that with quarter-end and there being several people out of the office. It’s fair to say yesterday didn’t particularly go well.

Long story short, I ended up logging back on at home during the evening and so I didn’t have time to finish this Top Ten Tuesday. The good news is that I’ve managed to get my most time sensitive work now finished. And, I’ve been able to draft this post for you just a day later than planned (instead of a week!)

So, I hope you’re excited to read this Top Ten Tuesday post and that it was worth the wait!

 

Books I’d Love to Re-read

 

The Hunger Games

I’ve been threatening to re-read The Hunger Games for a little while now. I’m hoping to do so later this year!

It’s been a little while since I read the books of the main trilogy. These are the books I want to go back to in particular because they are the ones I’ve not read for a while. I read A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes last year and Sunrise on the Reaping just recently. I haven’t decided if I’ll include these two books in my re-read as yet, but no doubt I’ll update you on that as and when the re-read happens.

 

A Game of Thrones 

If there was one series I had to limit myself to read for the rest of my life, I would choose to read and re-read A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.

It’s my favourite series of all time. That shows in the way I have a copy of each book in physical, ebook, and audio format. It also shows in the number of times I’ve read the books (the series to date twice and the first book four times!) 

There is so much detail in the series that every time you go back, you pick up on something new. It’s also very difficult to get bored of as there’s so much going on and so much to take away.

 

Mistborn 

I read the early Mistborn books when I was a teenager. Having finished the series as an adult, I want to go back and appreciate these earlier books from an older and more experienced perspective.

I loved these books when I was younger and I’m interested to see how much, if at all, my experience changes second time around! 

 

The Midnight Library 

I have already read The Midnight Library twice. I initially read it for myself, and then picked it up again as one of our early book club reads. The Midnight Library is a very profound narrative. It’s a narrative in which you can take something new away each time you read it. 

I’d be interested to see if the book lands differently reading this at different times in my life, each with its own pressures and joys.

The Midnight Library is a pretty rare entry on this Top Ten Tuesday and that it’s only one of two entries to the list that isn’t a series! 

 

Empire of the Vampire 

I’ve enjoyed the first two books of Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire series so much that I already know I want to re-read it once it’s done. 

I believe the final instalment is coming out later this year. Honestly, I will be very sad to see this finish. But that opens the door for a re-read! 

 

Babel 

So far, I have only read Babel once. However, I loved this book the first time round. When I first read the book, I only had a token appreciation for its nods to historical English colonialism. When I go back to re-read this book, I want to do so with a better understanding of this point in the narrative. 

It just goes to show that you can learn about a wide variety of topics in books where you don’t even realise that’s a theme… 

 

Realm of the Elderlings

I’m only on book 7 of Robin Hobb’s The Realm of the Elderlings series. However, I already know that this is a series I will read and re-read throughout my life.

Here’s a huge thank you to my friend Rachael for getting me into this series. Whilst I had already purchased a copy of the first book, Assassin’s Apprentice, she gave me the nudge to get started. I’ve never looked back!

The world in which I have read so far has such a detailed history and lots of complex action. It also has its fair share of heartbreak. I sobbed finishing Fool’s Errand. If you know, you know. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the series entails in the first place, and then no doubt can’t wait to get back to it! 

 

Harry Potter

A classic story, Harry Potter is going to be a well-read series throughout the ages. I have a particular love for this series because I grew up with it and I aged with it.

I have already re-read the series once in my life. Reading these books from an older perspective was already more interesting. I have more of a love for the later books in the series where events get a little darker than the comparatively lighthearted first books. 

 

Nevernight Chronicles

Nevernight

Jay Kristoff features for a second time here in today’s Top Ten Tuesday post. I first discovered his writing when listening to his Nevernight Chronicles books. I loved this story so much that I definitely want to re-read it. This time, I want to experience the books in either e-book or physical format as opposed to audio. I really enjoyed the footnotes and witticisms throughout the narrative, and I want to see how differently these come across in the different format as opposed to audio. 

 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Although I’m not much of a romance girly, I could route behind the character Karou and the romance that unfolds in Daughter of Smoke and Bone. 

Plus, Laini Taylor has such a beautiful and effortless writing style. Daughter of Smoke and Bone would be such an easy trilogy to pick up and read again. And again… 

 

 

Summary

Apologies this Top Ten Tuesday went live later than planned. However, it’s been a fun post to write, and I definitely need to write my priority list on when to re-read each of the books and series featured in today’s post.

Have you read any of the books on today’s Top Ten Tuesday? Have you ever re-read any of the books?

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Sunday Summary – 6th July 2025

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Happy Sunday reading friends! Welcome to this Sunday Summary update post. Thankfully, where I live, we have a local bank holiday tomorrow, so my weekend isn’t quite over yet. With any luck, I’ll be spending at least some of tomorrow with a book in hand! 

Before I get ahead of myself thinking about next week, let’s look at what’s happened in the last seven days. 

The first post I shared this week went live on Tuesday. It was my monthly wrap-up post for June 2025. Before I got really busy at work, I wanted to draft and publish this post. Whilst I run my blog out of work hours, if I’ve had a long day, I don’t always feel like doing the blog stuff afterwards. Mindful of my time and energy, I’m glad I got this one done in good time. 

Next, I shared my TBR for July on Friday. With the same in mind, I started this a couple of days before it went live. This gave me loads of time to plan the books I’m picking up this month and prepare that blog post. If you haven’t yet read that, here’s a link so you can find out what I’m reading in the near future.

 

Books Read

 

Saint’s Blood

Picking up from last week’s Sunday Summary update, I listened to the final four hours of Saint’s Blood over the course of this working week. Not that that was difficult to do. I was at a point in the story where I was really engaged with what was going on and I wanted to see how the book would end.

I do a lot of my audiobook listening in the week whilst I’m commuting to and from work. Because it’s been quarter-end at work, I haven’t been going out at lunchtime as usual. So, I’ve managed to fit in a little bit more listening there too! 

I really enjoyed Saint’s Blood and getting back into this series. I’m not entirely sure what the fourth and final book of this series will entail. What I can tell you is that I plan to pick this up before too long so I can finish the series before the end of the year. 

 

The Anxious Generation 

On the physical book front, I have made a real effort to read The Anxious Generation this week. As of my monthly wrap-up post, I had made a healthy thought to the book, but I was only 60 pages in. As of this Sunday Summary update, I have just 30 pages left. 

I’ve made a good push to get the book finished today, but I’ve not quite got there. I am hoping to make the final push with this book before I go to bed tonight so I can start afresh tomorrow! 

The Anxious Generation is an interesting read. Whilst quite factual and somewhat statistical, the book and its narrative are engaging to read. At the moment, I’m reading the author’s practical advice for what government, schools and parents can do to minimise the impact of handheld access to social media and the wider internet. I’m looking forward to seeing how it ends.

 

Alan Turing: The Enigma 

In the last couple of days, I’ve started listening to a biography on Alan Turing.

I wanted to pick up this book since watching The Imitation Game. For a man who had such a massive influence on British history and breaking German cipher codes in WWII through developing a computer, he was very poorly treated.

So far, the audiobook is going through his early life. If I’m honest, I’m finding this a little dry at the moment. Fortunately, I’m listening to this audiobook whilst also doing craft projects so I’m somewhat engaged by those. I’m going to stick with the audiobook a little bit longer and see if things get more interesting. 

 

Books Discovered

This week is another week with no new additions to the TBR. Given I have completed books this week and added nothing to the reading list, we’re heading in the right direction for once.

 

Coming Up… 

With an anticipated busy week next week, I’m going to reduce the pressure on myself to blog. It’s a busy time at work, we’re several staff down and it’ll be myself and my manager largely holding down the fort for our team. 

I’d already earmarked next week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme as one I wanted to feature. That post is about the books I want to re-read. So, I’ll probably draft this post tomorrow ready to go live on Tuesday. Then, I’ll have a short break until the end of the week. 

The final post landing this time next week is another Sunday Summary update. Stay tuned to find out if I stick with Alan Turing‘s biography, as well as which book I pick up next after The Anxious Generation. 

I hope you all have a fabulous week, whatever you have planned! Until next time, happy reading! 

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