Tag: fantasy

Monthly TBR – October 2023

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Happy Friday friends and welcome to my Monthly TBR for October! For us nine-to-fivers, it’s the end of another working week. I’m looking forward to a relatively chill weekend. Yes, I’ll have my usual housework to do, and some gardening to try and squeeze into an upcoming short dry weather spell. Otherwise, you know I’ll be curled up with a book… or playing a new seasonally apt game on my Switch called Graveyard Keeper. No… I’m not morbid at all…

But, you’re not here for that! I’m sure what you’re really interested in is to find out what I will be reading throughout the month of October, so don’t let me keep you anymore – let’s get onto that subject. 

In my monthly wrap-up for September, I discussed my intention to be a little less ambitious with my reading lists. For several months, I’ve not gotten to the end of my monthly TBR’s. There’s nothing wrong with this, but I have been setting myself a reading pace of about 100 pages a day, which is quite a lot. This month’s list has a more conservative 1,900 pages to be read in the ‘traditional’ way, compared to my previous goals of 2,500 odd a month! 

As a means of a compromise, I am going to try and utilise audiobooks a bit more to help me get through the page count. I’ve not listened to them for a little while, and they give me the opportunity to cover content during times when I can’t cosy up on the sofa and read conventionally. October’s Monthly TBR has five books and two audiobooks on it: – 

 

Fixed Reads

 

Priest of Bones

The first book of this monthly TBR is my carryover from September – Priest of Bones by Peter McLean. Having heard great things about the book, I was excited for this to come up as the poll pick on Instagram.

I am enjoying the narrative so far, although as of right now, it’s not quite living up to the hype for me. It’s decent, don’t get me wrong. Would I say I loved it though? Not yet at the least. I can see some elements coming into play, that might make the narrative more interesting… but we’ll see how this goes!

 

The Puppet Maker

The next book on my fixed reading list for October is one that I am reading to provide a review for later this month. Cue thriller season, as it’s one of several books in the genre I’ll be picking up throughout the course of the month. I’m also excited for this police procedural thriller because it representation in the form of a disabled protagonist. It’s not an narrative you see very often, and certainly not in a professional setting.

I’m excited by the mystery that the synopsis of this book presents, and I can’t wait to share my thoughts with you on the 20th of October.

 

Warrior Prince

Another book I am reviewing as part of a blog tour is Warrior Prince by J.C. Duncan.

This is one for my historical fiction fans! As a regular reader of the genre, I’m looking forward to a slightly different take on the setting of the Vikings. Instead, we are based in what is now European land rather than on English soil.

Many of the books I have read in the genre are from the perspective of Saxons. I’m looking forward to exploring this time period from a new perspective. It promises all the conflict and action that I know and love, but from a fresh viewpoint!

Stick around for my review of this book on the 26th of October.

 

Cinderella’s Crimes

A little, while ago, I decided to check out some upcoming releases on BookSirens and found Cinderella’s Crimes. My review for this book is due by the very end of the month. I don’t download from this site very much, often because I commit to blog tours instead.

I’m looking forward to making time for this book though. The main event of the book is a heist. Having enjoyed other fantasy books with a heist as the main objective of the story, I’m excited to see if the book pulls it off so well. As well, there are hints at the book including thriller elements. What better time than to read the book in the most sinister month of the year?

 

TBR Jar – The Flood

I’m looking forward to the book I picked out of my TBR jar this month as the author is a fellow Manxie!

This month’s pick is The Flood – a story of a woman who returns to her hometown to find the place flooded, and her sister’s body. The synopsis has me intrigued enough, though I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to potentially feature and support a local author. The book is also conveniently a mystery/thriller as well, making it a perfect selection for this month!

In order to help me get through this reading list, I have decided to pick up a copy of The Flood via Audible. Having sampled the narration, I like the style and I’m interested to ‘dive’ in…

Alright, I’ll see myself out…

 

Mood Reads

 

Killing for Company

Killing For Company was my runner-up in the Instagram poll I ran at the end of August. It may have come 2nd to Priest of Bones, but it brought the book into the forefront of my mind and I’ve decided to pick it up and include it in this monthly TBR.

Killing For Company is also an ideal read as I am aware that I’m behind schedule to read 15 non-fiction books by the end of the year. So far, I have completed eight books this year from the genre. Killing for Company is the first of two non-fiction books on October’s monthly TBR.

I remember awhile ago I watched a documentary about Dennis Nilsen and I was intrigued. What is it about morbid fascination with serial killers? Regardless, I am one of those people who find them interesting. With this in mind, I’m looking forward to picking up Killing For Company.

 

The Shining

it wouldn’t be October without a King novel making it to the list. I’ve been threatening to read The Shining during spooky season for a number of years now, and as of yet, I have not done it. This is the month that changes!

I’m looking forward to picking up this iconic horror novel. I intend to try and read this closer to the end of the month (hopefully for obvious reasons)…

 

Surrounded by Idiots

The second non-fiction book and second audiobook I will be listening to in October is one I’ve ironically already started – the irony being that it is the last on my list, but one of the first I’ve picked up! I recently attended a training course at work that covered different communication styles. Surrounded by Idiots is largely based around the same communication model that course was based on. I want to learn more, and so I’m picking up Surrounded by Idiots to explore how these different styles can affect people behaviour.

I’ve already listened to about 10% of the book just today, a little around lunch at work and about 40 minutes worth whilst cooking tea this evening. These are exactly the types of times I’m looking to utilise in order to make more reading progress. Depending on what I’m doing, I may or may not have capacity to multitask. However, where I can, I’m going to try and make it habit to listen to at least a little bit of an audiobook at the same time. If all goes well, this can definitely help me with some of the page count ‘burden’ I’ve experienced in the last few months.

 

Summary

So, have I stuck to my word of having a more conservative reading list in this monthly TBR? Perhaps not. I can only try to see if changing up the format I use in order to read them of my books can help me towards my reading goals. If it doesn’t work out for me, then maybe I’ll just have to admit defeat and not oversubscribe myself in future.

Have you read any of the books I feature in today’s Monthly TBR?

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – September 2023

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Hello readers and welcome to today’s monthly wrap-up post for my September reading list. In all, I read less than I anticipated. I have an inkling as to why this is, and I will discuss that later on. I didn’t want to be too hasty in changing tack, and so there was a bit of a delay in acknowledging that something wasn’t working for me.

Regardless, I had a decent reading month when it comes to the books I picked up! I enjoyed a couple of books for blog tours that I signed up for, as well as picked up some favourite authors.

Let’s dive into my monthly wrap-up!

 

Books Read

 

The Trail

In my August monthly wrap-up post, I left off with my current read being Wizard and Glass. However, with upcoming obligations to review two books as part of blog tours, I temporarily set Wizard and Glass aside on the 3rd of September.

The first of those obligations was to read a psychological thriller called The Trail. I really enjoyed this sinister feel to this book. The setting was quite unusual and unlike anything I’ve read before. If you enjoy the small town vibe in a book, then this is definitely one for you. This works in the setting of The Trail. Each of the main characters across both timelines find themselves the outsider, and this is acutely felt throughout!

I really enjoyed the sinister feel to this book and would strongly recommend it as a spooky read if that’s a vibe you’re going for in your October reading list! Naturally, if you want my full thoughts on the book, you can check out my review here.

 

Protector of Mercia

My second blog tour obligation was to read and provide a review for Protector of Mercia by M.J. Porter. That name may be familiar to you if you are a regular reader; I have featured a review of every book in the Eagle of Mercia chronicles to date.

In case it wasn’t already apparent, I am a big fan of the series. I really enjoy the unique perspective that these books are told from. Protector of Mercia differs from the earlier books in the series in that the focus of the plotline and tension is caused by internal politics rather than an external force. The change of perspective was an interesting one to read, and added to the series as a whole. Again, if you want to check out my full thoughts on the book, here is a link to that review.

 

Wizard and Glass

With my obligations over for the month, I returned to the final few hundred pages of Wizard and Glass. This book also differs from its predecessors in that the main focus of the book is Roland’s backstory. In previous books, there have been small hints to his past. However, in this book, we discover it in vast detail. The book is about 900 pages, and I would suggest that the backstory takes up about 750-800 of those.

Although I enjoyed Wizard and glGss, it wasn’t the book I expected it to be. For that reason, I rated it four stars as opposed to five. Personally, I like backstory such of this to be included in a narrative that has the present day action going on as well. This felt a little bit like an info dump.

All I can hope for is that we’ve done the legwork now and the next book in the series, Wolves of the Calla, throws us right back into the action!

 

Twelve Years A Slave

The next book I picked up had its own challenges. I never expected Twelve Years a Slave to be an easy read, and I proved right there.

Initially, I struggled with the writing style of this book. It shouldn’t really be surprising that the grammatical style of the writing is somewhat archaic and at times, difficult to read. The book was published in 1853, so why would language be the same or similar to now?

Despite the initial setback, I persevered as I was interested enough in the story of Solomon Northop to try and push on. I’m glad I did, because I went on to adapt to this new writing style and finish the book.

Although a difficult subject matter, I was really interested in this narrative. Solomon’s experience is but one of thousands, yet it is very telling of the average experience of slaves in the period. If you are a bit sensitive to reading about mistreatment of people, death, disease and depravity, then this book is clearly not for you!

I benefited from picking up the book as my history knowledge of the time period is very minimal. It’s not something that is really covered in modern day history curriculums… or at least, it wasn’t in mine. Now I can proudly say that I am at least a little bit educated on the subject!

 

A Storm of Swords – pt 1

As much as I love this series and author, I have struggled with A Storm of Swords this month. I’ve put it down to a couple of factors. Firstly, I have already read this book. As a result, I think something has switched in my brain to say that I have absolutely no urgency to read because I’ve read this book already.

Secondly, I picked this book up towards the end of September. If you’ve been reading my Sunday Summary posts, you’ll know that I’ve been busy with some other things around this time. For example, I spent a couple of evenings last week baking for a MacMillan Coffee Morning. As well, I’ve had plans that had me out of the house during my normal ‘reading’ hours.

As a result, as of this monthly wrap-up post, I’ve read approximately 250 pages of the book. that has to be about 40 odd percent of the book, which isn’t insignificant. However, it’s not as much progress as I would like given the amount of time I took to get there!

 

Priest of Bones

Partly in the knowledge of the above, as well as a matter of convenience, I started Priest of Bones on the very last day of the month.

I wanted to pick up something new and different in an attempt to get my reading mojo back. Not only that, Priest of Bones made a great choice as I was able to download it on the Kindle app on my phone and read it whilst at my hairdressers. I only made the most cursory of starts, but it was a promising one. I like the setup of the book so far, as well as the characters. I’m optimistic it’s a switch up I need and will benefit from!

 

Summary

As usual, I set myself an optimistic reading list at the beginning of the month, and I wasn’t able to get through it! There are some good reasons here as to why, but I think I need to cut myself more slack in future and allow for taking part other things, or not being in the mood!

I say that now, but we’ll see if I can stick to that in Friday’s monthly TBR!

That’s all for me in my monthly wrap-up post for September. What have you been reading recently, and do you have any recommendations?

 

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Sunday Summary – 1st October 2023

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Good evening readers and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary update. As always, I hope you’ve had a great week, however you’ve spent it?

It’s been a very busy one here, and that reflects my reading progress, which I’ll touch on later. As a brief recap of what’s been going on outside of my reading and blogging life, I spent a couple of evenings baking for a MacMillan coffee morning held at work. That event was really successful and definitely worth the hours in the kitchen… all five or six of them! As well, I was out with friends on Thursday evening, and hosting family on Saturday. I’ve had an unusual number of plans this week!

Around that, I squeezed in a book tag post on Wednesday. In that post, I touched upon my firsts of 2023. Coming up to the three-quarter mark in the year, it was nice to go back and recap some of my milestones of the year.

On Friday, it was the turn of the next instalment in my Shelf Control series. This weeks feature was a young adult novel by one of my favourite authors of all time!

 

Books Read

 

A Storm of Swords

Last week, I shared with you how my reading progress was down, and that I thought that was partly down to a lack of urgency as I was re-reading a book. That’s definitely the case this week again, although it has been compounded by the additional plans and obligations I’ve had!

In all, I’ve only read a couple more chapters of A Storm of Swords this week. Progress isn’t going great, and so yesterday I made the decision to pick up a book I haven’t read yet in the hopes that it would spur me back into reading. I’ll try reading the two books in tandem, but if necessary, I’ll make a call next week as to whether I set aside A Storm of Swords. It’s not like I haven’t read it already…

 

Priest of Bones

I’m not a fan of reading via the Kindle app on my phone, but that is how I started this book yesterday. That was for practical reasons; I was at my hairdressers and my phone is honestly the easiest way to take books with me for the appointment.

I managed to read the first three chapters of the book whilst I was there. I’m already a fan of the writing style and the characters, so we’ve got off to a good start here. I’m hoping this is the book that will give me a kick up the bum to get back on with reading. Failing that, I’ve got some reading obligations coming up – a deadline might be what I need!

 

Books Discovered

Having added a couple of books to the reading list last week, I’ve decided to behave and I’ve not added anything new this time!

 

Coming Up…

With the beginning of a new month, next week promises both my monthly wrap up post for September on Tuesday, as well as a brand-new reading list on Friday. Out of necessity, this month’s list is probably going to include some carryovers from September, as well as three books that I need to review before the end of the month as I’ve signed up to do so. I hope you’re as excited for those posts as I am!

You know the drill – I will round off the week with another Sunday Summary update.

Hopefully I’ll have considerably more news to share with you next week! Now that I’ve decided to change tack a little, and gotten through the period of other obligations, I’m optimistic for a better run next week. You’ll have to tune into next week Sunday Summary to find out if that is the case though!

Until then, I hope to see you in the next post.

 

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Shelf Control #70 – 29/09/2023

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Happy Friday fellow readers and welcome to today’s instalment in my Shelf Control series. In today’s post, I feature a young adult novel by an author I have come to know and love every book I’ve read of his so far. I’ve recently picked up a young adult series by this author, and I’m eagerly awaiting publication of the next instalment!

As always, let’s recap the premise of this post and then get into the details of the book!

Shelf Control is a regular feature on my blog – a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies. It’s a celebration of the unread books on our shelves! The idea is to pick a book you own but haven’t read and write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up!

If you want to read more about the Shelf Control feature, check out Lisa’s introductory post.

 

The Rithmatist – Brandon Sanderson

The Rithmatist

Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

Pages: 386

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Tor UK

Publication Date: 01 May 2014

 

 

Goodreads – The Rithmatist

More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the Wild Chalklings. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles.

As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing—kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery—one that will change Rithmatics—and their world—forever.

 

My Thoughts

One of my favourite things about Sanderson novels is that he grounds the magic systems built into his stories with some scientific element. I’m hoping that’s the case with this book as well. It is something he does very well, and even still, manages to do it in a unique way for each separate series!

Whilst young adult isn’t a genre I read all that much of, I still enjoyed the Skyward series, which has a similar audience to The Rithmatist. If this book is anything like that, then we can expect a lot of angst and a desire to prove oneself in the characters driving the narrative.

To date, I am yet to find a Sanderson book that I haven’t enjoyed! Given that I’ve read quite a few at this point, that is quite a feat. He is also a very diverse writer in terms of storylines and setting. I’m yet to find anything he hasn’t done well. I’ve already read and experienced great writing in a fantasy and science-fiction overlap, just as this book is.

I really can’t think of any reason why I should expect any different here!

Have you read The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson?

 

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Sunday Summary – 24th September 2023

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Today’s Sunday Summary comes from a rather miserable evening here on the Island! It’s blowing a hoolie out there, as we often say, and I’m grateful to be tucked in at home!

What’s been happening this week? Well, I started off the week with a Top Ten Tuesday post. In that post, I featured some of the books I anticipate to read over the course of autumn. there are a number of seasonal reads in this list. If you are interested or looking for some inspiration yourself, take a look at that post and see if anything catches your eye!

On Friday, I shared my next instalment in my ongoing series, Well I Didn’t Know That! When I wrote to you this time last week, I had no idea as to what the topic of that feature was going to be. Thankfully, not christening this enabled me to feature some topical news that came up earlier in the week. If you’re interested in reading about the recently filed lawsuit by big-name authors against ChatGPT owner OpenAI, then take a look at that post.

 

Books Read

 

Twelve Years a Slave

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update post, I was just under 70% through Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. When I left you, I had around 40 minutes reading time left in the book in order to make it to completion. I can’t recall how long it actually took, but it didn’t feel too far off that.

I’m glad I persevered with the nrrative style of this book. I won’t lie – at first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to stick with this book. It is written in quite a different style. When you consider the book was published in 1853, that shouldn’t be a big surprise. However, I’m glad I was able to get used to the style and finish it through to the end.

Twelve Years a Slave it’s quite a difficult book to read in terms of subject matter. To think that so many people were treated as badly as, and if not far worse than Solomon, is a difficult truth to swallow. However, I am a firm believer that we cannot learn from our past if we refuse to acknowledge that it happened. I found the story really insightful not only from a historical point of view, but also considering the ability of humans to endure in times of extreme hardship.

 

A Storm of Swords

When it comes to my main read for this week, I confess that I haven’t done all that well. Over the last few weeks I’ve been maintaining a reading pace of around 500 pages a week. I certainly haven’t done that this week!

I started off reading my paperback copy of A Storm of Swords. However, I found myself struggling with this a little. Some books are easier to hold than others. I’ve also been reading a lot from my Kindle, so switching from that to a paperback can be a bit of a challenge.

I ended up switching to my Kindle edition with this in order to keep making progress. That has still only worked so far, as I’ve only read 200 pages of the book this week. I will be looking to read more tonight, but in all, progress is down. Perhaps if I’d spent a bit less time playing Horizon Forbidden West this week, then I could’ve made some more progress. But then again, I had a good time so who am I to deny myself that?!

I also find that when I am re-reading books, any sense of urgency to get through them seems to disappear. If this continues to be the case, I may decide to read this book in tandem with another… but we’ll see.

 

Books Discovered

I’ve added a couple of non-fiction reads to the reading list this week. The first of which isn’t out yet, but I’m adding it so I can pick it up when it does.

The first book I have added is This Book May Save Your Life by Dr Karan Rajan. If you spend any length of time on TikTok, Facebook or Instagram watching reels, then you’ll have seen videos by Dr Rajan. I really like the humour that comes through in his videos, and when I watched one of him reading an extract of this book, it had all the elements of humour we have come to know and love. And if you wanted a fun fact, that particular extract discusses how we all begin our lives as a*seholes… literally!

The second book was also added as a result of a recommendation via Facebook reel. I’m trying to read up more on personal development and when I saw the recommendation for Radical Candor, I decided to give it a go!

 

Coming Up…

Next week is going to be a busy one, so I’m deliberately not going to do anything to onerous when it comes to my blogging commitments. Early in the week, I am going to be spending a couple of evenings baking for a Macmillan Coffee Morning that I’ve organised at work. I’m also out for several evenings this week, which is most unlike me!

With this in mind, on Tuesday, I’ll be sharing a booktag post. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve done one of these, and I haven’t really seen many about. The theme of this tag is my ‘firsts’ in 2023.

On Friday, it’s the turn of my Shelf Control feature post. In this series, I feature books coming up on my reading list and why I’m excited to pick them up! This week, I feature a young adult book by one of my favourite authors, Brandon Sanderson. Having read and enjoyed the first three books in his Skyward series so far, I’m confident that I will enjoy this one as well!

As always, I’ll be rounding off the week with another Sunday Summary update post for you all. Fingers crossed for more reading progress, although with the plans I’ve set, maybe not! 

In the meantime though, that’s it for today’s Sunday Summary post. I hope you have a fabulous week and I will catch you in the next post!

 

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Top Ten Tuesday – Autumn 2023 TBR!

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If you are looking for inspiration for spooky reads to pick up this autumnal season, then look no further! In today’s Top Ten Tuesday post, I take a look at some of the spooky reads I plan to pick up this autumnal season.

Autumn is one of my favourite times of the year. You may call me strange (and you wouldn’t be wrong), but I enjoy the nights drawing in a bit earlier, and the weather turning a little for the worse (although on the island, it’s rare we get a break from it at all!) It makes it all the easier to justify locking the front door, getting into my PJ‘s, and cosying in with a cup of tea and a good book.

Speaking of which, I trust I have quite the variety of those on today’s Top Ten Tuesday list. I have some classic authors on the list, as well as some other offbeat books which I feel suit the season well. I’ve been looking forward to sharing this list for quite some time, having shared both a spring and summer Top Ten Tuesday lists earlier this year, so I won’t keep you any longer!

 

The Shining – Stephen King

I have to start this Top Ten Tuesday with a classic King novel.

I have owned a copy of The Shining for several years now, but I am yet to pick it up. I’ve been saving it for a spooky season, but I’ve always allowed other reads to take priority in previous years.

That is not the case this year. I am making a commitment here and now that I will be reading The Shining this year. All being well, I hope to pick it up as soon as next month!

 

The Witches: Salem 1692 – Stacy Schiff

The Witches will make for a great read for me this spooky season. Not only is it obviously very topical, but it is also a non-fiction, helping me towards my goal of reading 15 non-fiction books by the end of 2023.

I have looked to start this book previously, but was intimidated by the page count and the size and formatting of the print in my edition. There is a lot to get through, put it that way….

Halloween (or Hop Tu Naa locally) will be the perfect time to read this though. If I’m ever going to be in the mood for such a work, then I can’t think of any better!

 

If We Were Villains – M.L. Rio

Another book I’m looking forward to picking up this autumn, although less obviously themed, is If We Were Villains. The book features crime and thriller/mystery elements, as well as the thrill and drama that only stage performers can lend to the narrative. As a dark academia novel, I think it has the perfect autumnal vibes.

I confess that I’m also looking forward to picking this up, as this is a genre I haven’t picked up again since the beginning of this year!

 

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

What book better fits the bill than a novel featuring an abandoned orphanage and children with supernatural abilities?

That’s the vibe we get in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Even from the synopsis, it is very clear that not all may be as it seems. There is a mystery to uncover, and the paranormal theme makes this best suited as a seasonal read.

If you like the isolated island/paranormal children vibe, but want to read something more wholesome than horror, then I would suggest picking up The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. It’s a great book and one I would have recommended here had I not already read it. 

 

Carrie – Stephen King

Another King classic I am yet to pick up and read is Carrie. I have a vague idea of the plot, but neither have I read the book, nor watched the film.

Stephen King is a great author to pick up during spooky season. I have previously read one of his books in October before, and it was an epic. IT, to date, is the longest book I have ever read. I read that in October 2017, and I really enjoyed picking this up seasonally. I hope to make more of a habit of picking up King books in the autumn. There is just something about the tone of each that complement each other well.

 

The Good Samaritan – John Marrs

This Top Ten Tuesday wouldn’t be complete without including a psychological thriller. The Good Samaritan by John Marrs has been on my reading list for a few years now, and I hope to pick it up very soon. It will be my first experience of a John Marrs book, although I have added several to my reading list over the course of time.

The Good Samaritan has a sinister tone, and it’s the kind of book I want to pick up whilst cosied under a blanket and surrounded by my home comforts!

 

Incendium – A.D. Swanston

Incendium makes for a seasonal read, but slightly later than the majority of the books on this list. If you read the synopsis of this book, it is very apparent that the setting is reminiscent of the gunpowder plot.

With this in mind, I would like to make Incendium a book I pick up in November. I do like me a historical fiction, and as this will be the first book of this nature I have come across, it feels like the perfect time to read it…

 

The Outsider – Stephen King

I promise that this is the last Stephen King novel on today’s Top Ten Tuesday list! I appreciate there have been quite a few!

I have featured earlier books on in this list because they have certain elements fitting for this season. Crime, thriller, and paranormal are all genres worthy of being picked up the spooky season. The Outsider rolls all of these into one!

I really like the sound of the premise for this book, and it is one that has been sat on my bookshelf, begging for me to pick it up. My poor copy has been sat on my bookshelf that long that its spine has been bleached to the point of being unreadable. I wonder if anybody will be curious and/or brave enough to approach me and ask what I’m reading?

 

Killing for Company – Brian Masters

Another non-fiction book that I’m really looking forward to picking up soon is Killing for Company by Brian Masters. You may recall that this book featured on the recent Instagram poll in which I asked my followers to decide my next read. Killing for Company did not win the vote, but only by small margin. I already had in mind to pick this book up not long after the winner… and now feels like the perfect time to do so! Wouldn’t you agree?

 

The Burning Girls – C.J. Tudor

C.J. Tudor is an author that I have already read a couple of books by, and I’m looking forward to picking up again. The Chalk Man and The Taking of Annie Thorne have both had the sinister, spooky vibes that I’m looking for. I have no doubt that The Burning Girls will live up to that expectation!

C.J. Tudor has a way of incorporating tension into her narratives. Based on my experience of these two prior books, I can’t think of a better time to delve back into her thrilling narratives.

 

So, he concludes today’s Top Ten Tuesday post, and these are my planned autumn reads. Have you read any of the books on this list? Do you have any other recommendations to share for spooky reads to pick up this autumn?

As always, I would love to have a chat with you in the comments!

 

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Sunday Summary – 17th September 2023

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Good evening friends – it’s great to catch up with you again in today’s Sunday Summary update post. First of all, I hope you’ve had a great week This week has been a little less manic, thankfully! I caught up with some obligations I signed up to for this month. Once my review of The Trail went live earlier this week, I could breathe a sigh of relief. If you’re in the mood to pick up a psychological thriller this spooky season, then I suggest you go and check that review out!

Later in the week, I shared the next in my rotation of Friday feature posts. This week, it was the turn of my First Lines Friday post. In last week‘s Sunday Summary, I set myself the challenge of featuring a book I’ve added to my reading list in the last six months. I had an interesting time picking this week’s feature, sampling a few books on my reading list before committing to this feature. I’m excited for them all, but if you’re interested to go and read that particular introduction and details of the book, you can find that link here.

 

Books Read

 

The Trail

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post, I had just 30% left of The Trail to finish before my review went live on Tuesday. Fortunately, I didn’t need to pick up this book again on Monday; I finished it on Sunday night as I hoped! It ended up being a slightly late one, but then I couldn’t sleep anyway… Needless to say, Monday wasn’t a very fun day to then have to draft my review on! I have to say in the circumstances, I’m pleased with how I managed.

If you want to check out my full thoughts on the book, then I’m obviously going to recommend you to that post. What I will say on the ending of this book is that it surprised me. I didn’t expect this ending at all, but I really enjoyed how this narrative came together.

 

Wizard and Glass

I almost forgot to include this in today’s post. When I was looking back at what I read over the course of the week earlier today, I was a little disappointed with myself that I hadn’t read all that much. However, I was completely forgetting that I also re-visited and finished Wizard and Glass.

I picked this book up again and finished the remaining 30% (about 260 pages) as my reading obligations were over for the month. Despite having put it down for just over a week, I managed to get back into the narrative really easily. I finished the book within a couple of days, and I’m intrigued to see where the next book in the series is going to take us.

Wizard and Glass wasn’t the book I expected it to be. Where the previous books have showcased events in the present day, the majority of Wizard and Glass is spent recapping Roland’s early life and how he became obsessed with the Dark Tower. Don’t get me wrong, I like a bit of backstory. However, I didn’t expect this to span the vast majority of the book.

I still enjoyed it overall, and I’m looking forward to getting back to the present day in Wolves of the Calla.

 

Twelve Years a Slave

The final book I picked up over the course of the week was Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. I initially took a digital copy of the book out from the library in order to read it. However, as I took a little bit longer reading the earlier obligations, my library loan expired yesterday and somebody had a hold on it. I’ve ended up buying a copy on Kindle in order to finish it, because I didn’t want to wait another two weeks! It’s my own fault…

This week they’re a lot of 70/30 splits in the reading progress we’re talking about, because I am just under 70% through Twelve Years a Slave as of this Sunday Summary update! I am enjoying the book, although I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a challenge to read – in every sense of the word. Not only is the subject matter difficult, but in my opinion, the narrative doesn’t flow as easily as modern day language. It’s important to remember that this book was written and published in 1853. In my opinion, the narrative is very overly punctuated – so much so, I’m having to almost glaze over it when I’m reading. It took some getting used to, but now I’m into it, I’m just not looking at it too hard!

All the same, I’m glad I added this book to my TBR and that I have finally gotten around to it. In terms of reading time, I have about an hour and 40 minutes left to finish the book. I probably won’t get that done tonight, but I hope to have it finished by the end of tomorrow.

 

Books Discovered

I’m on another run of no new additions to the reading list; I think this is three weeks on the trot now?

 

Coming Up…

I’ve had Tuesday’s post pencilled into my diary for about three months now! I’ve enjoyed sharing Top Ten Tuesday posts featuring books on my seasonal TBR’s… and next week’s post will be no exception. On Tuesday, I am going to share my top ten reads on my autumn TBR!

On Friday, I return with the next instalment of Well, I Didn’t Know That! I’m going to be completely honest with you in that the subject matter of that post is as yet undecided. I’ve been having a think all this evening, but I’m yet to come up with anything that I am happy to commit myself to. Rest assured, I’ll have something decided ready for that post on Friday.

And, as always, I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary post this time next week!

That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post. Have a great week, and I hope to see you in the next!

 

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Sunday Summary – 10th September 2023

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I’m back a little later than usual with my weekly Sunday Summary update. Today I’ve been taking part in a blog tour post, and that’s needed to take priority. So, I’ve deliberately scheduled this post for 11:59pm BST – the last possible moment for this to count as a Sunday Summary and give my review of Protector of Mercia as much headline time on the blog!

In addition to today’s blog tour post, I’ve shared a couple of posts with you throughout the week. I began the week with my Monthly TBR post. I’m picking up quite the range of books once again this month. The unusual thing is that this month’s books have a lower average page count than I’ve been picking up of late!

On Friday, I shared another Friday feature. This week, it was the turn of my Shelf Control feature. In this series, I take a look at upcoming books on my TBR and share why I’m excited to read them. This week’s featured book is a translated historical fiction mystery. I’m excited for this combination!

 

Books Read

 

Wizard and Glass

This week, I’ve had to temporarily set aside Wizard and Glass in order to prioritise a couple of reads for blog tour obligations. I was hoping to pick this up, even just a little over the week. However, that didn’t happen. I’ve read 570 pages over the course of the week to get as far as I have for my blog tours… that’s already a lot! So, this section is a quick update to say there’s no update.

 

Protector of Mercia

As you’ve probably guessed, my first priority of the week was reading Protector of Mercia ready for today’s blog tour post.

Having enjoyed the prior four books in the series so far, I was looking forward to this fifth instalment. Protector of Mercia varies from the series so far in that the internal politics that have so far been the backdrop of the series get to shine. In this book, we get to explore more in the way of character dynamics and relationships between Saxons. There’s also a wider story arc that we have finally got some detail on, and I can’t wait to see how this progresses.

If you want to check out my full review, you can find that post here.

 

The Trail

My next reading priority is The Trail by M.A. Hunter. I am reviewing this book, also for a blog tour, early next week.

As of this Sunday Summary post, I’ve made great headway with the book and I am on the home stretch. With just 30% left and a predicted hour’s reading time left to complete it, I’m hoping to finish the book before turning in tonight. Otherwise, I’ll be spending my lunch hour finishing it tomorrow so I have tomorrow evening to compose my review.

The Trail is a dark, atmospheric small town thriller about a woman who went missing 30 years ago. After remains are found, Nora’s daughter heads out to try and get answers; has her mum finally been found? What happened to her all that time ago? Only, Jess and her prying questions are unwelcome…

I hope you can check in and read my review very soon!

 

Books Discovered

Once again, there are no updates here for you this week. I managed to browse Waterstones this week and come out empty-handed. You must be proud of me!

 

 

Coming Up…

it shouldn’t surprise you that my first blog post of the week is my review of The Trail as part of the blog tour with Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources. My slot on the tour is Tuesday, so that post will be going live early doors.

I’ll be back again on Friday with my next Friday feature. This week, I’ll be sharing a First Lines Friday post. I’m in the mood for a challenge along with this post, so here are the rules. For next week’s feature, I need to choose a book I’ve added to the TBR in the last six months. I hope you can join me for that post.

Lastly, I’ll be rounding up the week with another Sunday Summary post. As usual, I’ll be updating you with the books I’ve read over the course of the week, any changes to my TBR, and what’s coming up soon on the blog.

That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary. I’m off to continue The Trail. What are you reading?

 

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Monthly TBR – September 2023

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Hello fellow reading friends! I hope you’re as excited for my September Monthly TBR as I am!

I usually set myself a challenge every month and that’s no exception here! However, this month the stretch is more achievable. The books I set out on this list come out to around 2500 pages in total. Over the course of the month, that works out at needing to read an average of 83 pages a day. That’s about what I’ve been doing anyway.

I do have a small stretch in that in addition to the books shared on this list, I also need to finish my carryover book from August, Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. That adds an additional 400 pages to the monthly total, and ups the daily page count to 97 pages. As I say, a bit of a stretch, but not unachievable!

This month, I have a fairly even mix of fixed reads to pick up, as well as some that I have some freedom to change if I need to. Let’s get into this monthly TBR and take a look at what’s coming up reading-wise…

 

Fixed Reads

My first reading priorities of September are to pick up and finish two blog tour reads. I’m hoping to have both books finished by the 10th of September (at the latest, the first review is due on the 10th). I’ve already made a healthy start into the first and I won’t be hanging around to start the second.

The deadlines then slacken a little, as the remaining books on my ‘fixed’ reading list come from my monthly TBR pick, and a new feature, a book chosen by my Instagram followers.

 

Protector of Mercia

Protector of Mercia is my current read (Wizard and Glass is still ongoing, although I will be reading it around PoM if I can).

Protector of Mercia is the fifth book in M.J. Porter’s Eagle of Mercia series. I’ve already read and reviewed the first four books on my blog (review of Eagle of Mercia, book four linked here as that contains links to all prior books). Having really enjoyed the unique perspective these offer, I’ve been looking forward to taking part in that over the latest book… which incidentally was published today.

As I’ve already briefly alluded to above, the review deadline for this book is the 10th of September. With just a few days left before that review was due, I am making all haste through this narrative and enjoying every second of it!

 

The Trail

The next book I will be picking up straight after Protector of Mercia is The Trail by M.A. Hunter.

The review deadline for The Trial comes thick and fast after Protector of Mercia, being just two days later. I’m sure you can see why I’ve put down Wizard and Glass for now in favour of these books. I decided to take part in the blog tour for this book based on the sound of the synopsis. I haven’t read anything by this author before, so it will be a new experience for me. having not read a thriller for a little while, I’m looking forward to a change up in genre as well.

 

Twelve Years A Slave

September’s TBR Jar pick works really well with my goal of reading more non-fiction. I happened to pull Twelve Years a Slave from the jar.

I feel like I featured on my blog not that long ago, but in reality, it’s probably longer than I thought. Already, I’ve downloaded a digital copy of this book from my library already, and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in! Although I am familiar with the title, and I know that there has been a film based on this true story of the author, I am very ignorant of what actually happens. It’s for that reason that I am looking to pick this book up.

It offers a perspective I have never read before, and provides the educational aspect that I need. I’m a firm believer that we shouldn’t shy away from even the nastiest parts of our history. How can we learn from such things if we try to hide from them?

 

Priest of Bones

The last book on my fixed reads list of this monthly TBR is Priest of Bones by Peter McLean. In order to choose two books from my reading list, from which to poll my followers, I used a random number generator. This month, my followers had the choice of picking either Priest of Bones, or the runner-up, Killing for Company. I would have been happy with either choice, but I’m excited that this particular book won. I am predominantly a fantasy reader, yet I only have one other fantasy on this TBR (excepting Wizard and Glass once again!)

I suspect I’ll be reading the runner-up selection next month, as I’m keen to get to that one as well. If you want to have a say in my future polls, be sure to follow me on Instagram ahead of the next vote.

 

Mood Reads

 

A Storm of Swords – part 1

One of the things I set out to do earlier this year was to re-read the A Song of Ice and Fire series (aka A Game of Thrones), ahead of publication of the sixth book in the series. There were rumours that this was going to be towards the end of this year, although I’ve heard very little since.

That works out for me, because I am nowhere near as far along with the re-read as I initially planned. Instead, I’ve been picking up some other great reads, and this has fallen by the wayside a little.

In September, I’m going to be reading the first part of A Storm of Swords only. That’s hefty enough at about 600 pages. This is also the longest book on this monthly TBR… by a long shot! More typically, I would read books closer to an average of 500 pages. This month I’m uncharacteristically less at 357!

 

Lost Solace

The one book I didn’t touch at all in August is Lost Solace by Karl Drinkwater. I’ve read a number of books related to this main series and reviewed them for blog tours in the past. Lost Solace has been on my backlist to read. Since I didn’t get to this book in August, I am making it the highest priority mood read of the month.

 

The Last Thing To Burn

I’ve been a member of a local bookish group on Facebook for a while, and another member recently suggested starting a book club. There’s nothing set in stone as yet. But, I quite like the sound of the book that’s been chosen. So, I’ll read it in case an event (virtual or not) goes ahead.

 

Summary

As if quite often the case nowadays, I have quite the range of books and genres in this list!

Have you read any of the books listed in today’s monthly TBR? Are any of them on your reading list?

 

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Sunday Summary – 3rd September 2023

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We’re back with another Sunday Summary post, so make yourself comfy! I’ve had a pretty good week all in all. I’ve kept up with my average reading speed for the month despite being back at work (and with one stint of overtime too). It’s fair to say I’m back into the normal swing of things!

As always, let’s take a look at what I’ve shared already in my blog this week before my reading updates. My first post of the week was a review of a book that pushed me out of my comfort zone, but didn’t bowl me over. I’m not a romance reader, but I read The Duke and I as a result of enjoying the Netflix series, Bridgerton.

My next and most recent post (before this one) was my Monthly Wrap-Up of all the books I picked up in August. As always, I set myself an ambitious TBR that I didn’t quite finish, but I got close enough to be happy with the end result. If you want a reminder of the books I read in August and a feel for my overall impressions ahead of review, check out that post!

 

Books Read

 

Wizard and Glass

My week has been dedicated to reading Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. As of my last Sunday Summary update post, I had made a healthy start to this book having read the first 160 pages. Since that post, I’ve got onto read a further 500, which I’m pleased with! You must be thinking, “Gosh, Rebecca, you’ve got to be at about the end by now?” Unfortunately not! Wizard and Glass comes in at just under 900 pages, so I have a little way to go yet. My current page count puts me at 70% progress through the book.

Events that have been building up are just starting to come to a head now. I’m really excited to see where the plot goes from here and how the conflict unravels. My goal for the evening is to get through as much of this book as possible, as I will have to put it down briefly in order to fulfil other reading obligations. More on those below and in my upcoming Monthly TBR post. Depending on how quickly I read these two other books, I may get to dip into Wizard and Glass throughout the week. If the plot gets good, I’m going to find it very hard to resist the temptation regardless!

 

Books Discovered

No news is good news this week! The TBR hasn’t changed at all in the last seven days.

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post of next week will be my monthly TBR for September. I have a number of exciting books coming up in that reading list. I have a couple of thrillers, some fantasy, a non-fiction, historical fiction… sci-fi too. It’s a diverse one! It’s also been fun to include my Instagram followers on one of these picks this week. I hope you can check out that post on Tuesday!

On Friday, I’ll be sharing the next instalment in my Shelf Control feature. This week’s featured book is unusual in that it’s one of a few translated books on my TBR; this particular historical fiction/thriller was originally written and published in German! If you’re intrigued, please do check out my post on Friday!

Sunday is going to be a busy day on the blog as I’ll technically be sharing two posts. The first book I need to read on my September TBR is for a blog tour post due on Sunday. If you’ve read any of my reviews for M.J. Porter’s Eagle of Mercia series, then you can look forward to my review of the fifth book in the series (released next week) in just a week’s time!

I’ll also share my usual Sunday Summary post on that date. As priority needs to go to the blog tour, I will share my Sunday Summary update at 11:59pm.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Sunday Summary! I’m off to devour as much of Wizard and Glass as I can!

In the comments, drop me the title of the last book you couldn’t put down at the end!

 

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