Sunday Summary – 5th June 2022
Good evening and welcome today’s Sunday Summary update post. Wherever you are and whatever you have been doing, I hope you’ve had a fabulous week doing it!
This week we have seen off one month and commenced another, and so naturally I have shared my Monthly Wrap-Up for May 2022, as well as my Monthly TBR for June. All in all, I’m really happy with my reading progress throughout May. I didn’t quite get to all the books on my TBR, but I have read a significant amount!
I’ve decided to take a slightly different approach to my June TBR. Whereas normally I set a longer list of fixed reads, with a couple of mood reads on the end, I’ve changed that up this month. I have been in a very changeable mood and have rewritten my TBR several times before posting it. Knowing that is how my mindset is working at the moment, I’ve decided to allow a lot more fluidity in my book choices this month.
If you want to find out my full thoughts on either my wrap-up or my TBR for June, you could find links to those posts above!
Books Read
I have had a fantastic reading week and I’m really pleased that something has clicked for me. Across a range of books, I’ve read 850 pages this week!
I started the week by continuing with my current read from last week’s Sunday Summary update, which was Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert. As of that update post, I had made a comfortable start of 73 pages with the book. I read the remaining 220 pages during the first half of this week. I didn’t quite finish the book in time for my monthly wrap-up post going live on Wednesday evening, but I was only 40 pages or so off! I finished it that night after FaceTiming my sister.
Next, I moved swiftly onto the first book on my June TBR, and the only fixed book I’ve set. I have been reading Wolf of Mercia by MJ Porter in time for a blog tour post that you will be seeing very soon. I wanted to make sure I started this in plenty of time to finish it and have my review ready, and I read this in its entirety this week. I must admit, I wasn’t expecting to read it this quickly, but I’m not complaining either!
I’ve really enjoyed going back to the series, having picked up from reading Son of Mercia, the first book in the series, earlier this year. There is a lot of character development that happens in and between the books of the series, and that’s one of the highlights for me. If you want to find out my thoughts on the book, keep an eye out on my blog next week for my full review!
The next book on my TBR has also been read in full this week; I finished reading this one this morning. I wasn’t sure what to expect with Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. I’ve had a bit of a rocky relationship with his books and his writing style.
I wanted to read this book because I had a physical copy that I purchased years ago, but I also wanted to give him one last chance. His retellings of Norse Mythology seemed like fairly safe ground, and that proved to be the case. Against expectations, I enjoyed this book. Not only did I really get on with the writing style, but I actually enjoyed the nature of it, and how it was a collection of many short stories. I’m not a mythology expert in the slightest, so it was nice to learn more about the Norse gods I have heard about.
As of writing this update post, I’m technically between books at the moment. However, I’ll be picking up Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb once this post goes live, so this is what I’ll be making progress on over the course of the next week.
Books Discovered
I proudly told my sister on Wednesday that I had resisted the temptation to go to our local Waterstones, and that I had been good. That was Wednesday. I caved today.
I wanted to go in and pick up a paperback copy of my now current read, Assassin’s Apprentice. I’ve seen a number of recommendations for this book and series, but perhaps the recommendation with more weight comes from my friend Rachael. She absolutely loves Robin Hobb and this series and I have every confidence that I’m going to as well.
Typically, I will purchase copies of books on my kindle in the first instance, but I will buy physical books if I really love the series or author. I’m confident this is going to be the case, so that’s why I went and bought myself a physical copy of this one.
I also purchased a second book whilst I was in there – Master of Sorrows by Justin Call. I have seen recommendations for this book by Ashleigh at A Frolic Through Fiction. Ashleigh has been reading the second book of the series recently, and she has spoken of the series very highly. For that reason, I’ve decided to give this one a go!
I have added one further book to my TBR this week at the recommendation of my sister’s boyfriend Chris. He recently picked up a copy of The Maidens by Alex Michaelides, as it is one of Waterstones book of the month picks. I read and really enjoyed another book by this author several years ago – The Silent Patient. I in turn recommended this one to Chris, as I read The Silent Patient in about 24 hours – it was that good!
Coming Up…
I’ve had a little bit of a debate as to what to post early next week on my blog. I have a review coming up shortly, so I want to keep the topic light. I don’t particularly like this week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme, so I will be making use of a book tag idea I’ve had banked for the occasion. I will be drafting a version of ‘The Last Book I… Book Tag’. I originally saw this over on Dini Panda Read’s blog, so I will be linking to that as the inspiration post and I will be answering the same questions in my post next week.
As I alluded to earlier, I will be taking part in a blog tour for Wolf of Mercia by MJ Porter on Friday next week. If you are a fan of historical fiction, or even if you just like the sound of a book set around the time when Vikings occupied Britain, this is something I recommend you check out! I would suggest similar books to these (as a reference point) are Bernard Cornwell‘s The Saxon Stories (aka The Last Kingdom). If you want to find out what my thoughts were on the first book of the series, Son of Mercia, here is the link so you can read up on it ahead of time.
And finally, I’ll be back with a Sunday Summary update at the usual time, in which I’ll share my reading progress with you and recap my week.
That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary update post. Now I’m off to pick up Assassin’s Apprentice. What have you been reading this week? Do you have any good book recommendations?
I look forward to seeing you in my next post!
