Tag: J K Rowling

Top Ten Tuesday – Books to Read If You Love… Fantasy!

I wanted to take part in today’s Top Ten Tuesday post as I have extensive knowledge and experience in reading fantasy novels. If you read my blog you’ll know I absolutely love fantasy and I have ever since I was a teenager.

I have significantly diversified since my teenage years (partly because I read that much fantasy I got bored of the same thing over again), but it’s a genre I always go back to. It’s like a comfort blanket to me; it’s always there for me to go back to and I do so regularly.

Naturally, having read a lot of fantasy books, I have distinct favourites from genre. And today, I’m sharing those favourites with you and why they make the cut.

 

Game of Thrones series – George R. R. Martin

There shouldn’t be any surprises that this is on my list… and of course it’s on the top of my list! There are so many reasons that I think this is fantastic and if you read my blog already you’ve heard it a million times before. The narrative is great, the writing is fabulous and the characters are so tangible that it doesn’t feel like you’re reading a book. Honestly, it’s amazing, and I won’t bore you with telling you why I think so all over again

 

Mistborn series – Brandon Sanderson

This was the first series I read by Brandon Sanderson and I stand by the fact that it’s my favourite. I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who has yet to try any of Brandon Sanderson‘s writing. It is a series, but it’s a very approachable one. If, like me, you love the idea of a magic system having a basis of science then this is definitely one for you!

 

The Kingkiller Chronicle series – Patrick Rothfuss

It has been so long since I picked any of these books up, and I’m still waiting for the last of the series, but I’ll never forget the impression this made on me as a teenager. For the reasons I love a Game of Thrones, I love this series as well. The characters are so detailed and know one of them perfect and they acknowledge this. The world building is also spectacular. The narrative style is also unique as the book is written as if the main character is telling the tale in recollection after the event. At the time I read this series, this was the first time I’d come across this technique. I think it really works!

 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone series – Laini Taylor

The reason the series is on the list is because I loved it, despite it having so many elements that I should have enjoyed. I’m not a big fan of romance, and typically YA is not my style (with a few exceptions) but I love this series so much that I read it in a matter of months. That’s unheard-of for me! Are usually drag them out for so long but I had to binge read this – it was that good!

 

The Raven’s Mark series – Ed McDonald

Blackwing

After I finished the last book of the series, Crowfall, I cried because it was over. How sad is that?! It will become apparent to you that a lot of the books on this list are designated so because the character development is far more than superficial. There’s character development, and then this character development and these books take them one step further. Ryhalt Galharrow is the kind of character you don’t want to like… but you can’t help it! Somehow addressing his faults makes him endearing to us as the reader. He is entirely human in his mistakes. He kills people, and has own selfish reasons for doing the things he does. But we also see the other human side of him – The part of him that is scarred emotionally and how he reacts to events in the book certainly demonstrates that.

Just go and read it, okay? And try not to cry like a baby like I did.

 

Gentlemen Bastards series – Scott Lynch

It’s hard to believe from reading the series that it is Scott Lynch‘s debut. The narrative is absolutely amazing and and I loved the crassness of it. It’s clever and witty and a fun read… Especially if you like characters of a less than honest nature!

Again, please go and read this. However-a word of advice: if you take offence to the swearing in the title, definitely don’t read this book. It doesn’t get any better!

 

The Broken Empire series – Mark Lawrence

I really liked The Broken Empire because again, it has a main character who from the beginning you don’t want to like but end up doing so anyway. This was the first series I read by Mark Lawrence and it’s inspired me to continue to read his works. I really liked the narrative and my teenage self really enjoyed these books. It’s series that I plan to go back and read again and that should tell you everything.

 

The Relic Guild series – Edward Cox

The narrative of The Relic Guild was so out there, and the series went on in a direction I completely didn’t anticipate from the beginning. That’s what I really enjoyed about this series. It was also very cleverly thought out and very easy to read considering the sophisticated magic and plot twists involved.

 

Harry Potter series – J. K. Rowling

The Harry Potter series is one of those eat you could pick up at any age. I first started reading these in my teenage years and you may know that I have picked these up again this year. I read the first five books so far. Even going back to the beginning, I found them really easy to read, but without being babyish. The plot and themes of the box get a lot darker for further on you go, so there is stark contrast to my last experience of the series versus restarting it. However, I really enjoyed going back and experiencing this again. It has been a long time since I picked these books up (I think I last read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows over eight years ago), But I’m loving taking the time to read them. It’s a classic series that is great for everyone!

 

Discworld series – Terry Pratchett

I love the Discworld series because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. But, at the same time, Terry Pratchett is able to include some quite serious themes, including gender equality, death, fame etc in a fun way. I would never have said that I would be a huge fan of satire, however the Discworld is a bit of this and I think it’s great. Put it this way – I have read 18 books from the series so far. That reminds me, I haven’t picked one up for quite some time. Maybe it’s time to start thinking about the next one!

 

Have you read any of the books listed in today’s Top Ten Tuesday post? Let me know in the comments! Or, do you have another favourite but I haven’t listed?

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Sunday Summary – 12th September 2021

Welcome back to my regular Sunday Summary update post. I didn’t share an update with you last week as there wasn’t much to tell. My sister and her boyfriend Chris came over for a visit and so consequently, I took a break from both reading and blogging for the time they were over.

I have been back since the beginning of this week, however, and I’ve already shared a couple of posts with you. With not sharing my regular Sunday Summary update, you didn’t know what I had planned. However, sharing my Monthly Wrap-Up for August shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise. I would’ve shared this the week prior if not for their visit, and it’s a post I’ve been sharing at the beginning of each month since the beginning of this year. Reading progress was better in July, but I’m still happy with what I managed to read in August. I’m now getting back into the swing of reading more regularly and that habit has continued throughout August!

Later in the week, I shared a First Lines Friday post; this week’s featured book has just been published and I’m excited to give this a go! It’s written by an author I have come to love. Whilst the genre is a little out of my comfort zone, for this author I’m willing to give it a try anyway.

 

Books Read

I could not be happier with this week’s reading progress! Considering I practically didn’t pick up a book for the whole of the week prior, I’ve certainly made up for it this week. As of my last Sunday Summary update I was around halfway through Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. I’m pleased to say that I finished this yesterday. When you take into consideration that my edition of this book is 766 pages long, you can already see that reading half the book in just less than a week is already a lot of reading!

Well, we don’t end there. After finishing the book I decided I wanted something a little lighter to pick up next. I don’t mean that just in terms of size either. I love that the later books of the series have a darker side, but in contrast I wanted something significantly more lighthearted as a break. Don’t forget, I read both Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix one after the other. So, with that in mind, I remembered a recent recommendation by my boss to read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. It was just what I needed; so much so, I managed to read this in one sitting!

Lastly, I picked up my third book of the week this morning. I wanted to continue with the slightly lighter tone, however move away from narratives aimed at children. After combing through my to be read list, I settled on The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. If I recall correctly, I think I’m around 15% of the way through this book at the moment. Again, I’m really enjoying the lighter side of the book as the narrative is in itself quite humorous. But, the book also has a lot to offer in terms of insight into mental health as well, which is really interesting at the same time!

 

Books Discovered

Over the last couple of weeks, it’s fair to say I’ve fallen off the wagon a little. I feel like I’ve added quite a few books to my list. I have managed to take a few off as well, but if I’m entirely honest I think I breakeven at best.

The first book added to my list in the last couple of weeks is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. This recommendation actually came to me from my sister’s boyfriend Chris. He has just read the book himself and after telling me about it, he very kindly left his copy with me to borrow.

The second book added was also the featured book shared in my First Lines Friday post this week. As I’ve said, I’ve come to love Jay Kristoff, in particular his Nevernight series. When I saw a post this week about his new release, Empire of the Vampire, I knew I had to give it a go. Based on the introduction I shared in that post, I am more convinced than ever that taking a little step out of my comfort zone will pay off.

Lastly, I added one more book to my list today after being introduced to it by my mum. She mentioned that she had just ordered this new release and I think it has a lot to offer. As I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, it was 20 years ago yesterday that the world changed forever. The 9/11 attacks are unforgettable recent history, and the book my mum introduced to me, Ordinary Heroes, is written by the first FDNY chief on the scene on that fateful day. Having recently watched a documentary offering insight into the attacks from the perspective of those on the ground at the time, this memoir can definitely shed new light on the widely publicised event, but in more intimate detail. I’m a firm believer that we can learn from our history; that’s why I enjoy reading it so much.

 

Coming Up…

I feel like it has been a little while since I’ve shared a book review with you all, and so my plan for this week is to share my thoughts on Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. Brandon Sanderson is probably my second favourite author of all time. He is the kind of author that I could pick any of his books up and it wouldn’t matter – I’d love it regardless! He is a fantastic writer and to date, all the books of his I’ve read, I rated five stars. Steelheart is no exception! I loved the narrative and the action, and I feel sure I will continue with the series before too long. I read this first book back in 2020 and so my review is certainly overdue.

Later in the week, I will be sharing my next Shelf Control post. Having added no less than three books to the to be read pile, I should certainly get back to checking what else is on the list and making sure it’s still relevant to my reading taste!

That’s all for me vote this week. I hope you enjoyed today’s Sunday Summary update and I look forward to seeing you in the next post!

What have you been reading this week? Do you have any good recommendations?

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Sunday Summary – 29th August 2021

Hello everyone and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update post. As always, I hope you’ve had a great week? It’s especially been a good one here as we are in the middle of a super bank holiday weekend. We normally have a bank holiday in June, but this didn’t take place as planned this year as it is associated with a motorbike racing event. This was cancelled due to Covid, so we got Friday this week in lieu.

My blogging schedule didn’t quite go to plan this week. I was hoping to get my review of The Thief Taker by C. S. Quinn out a little earlier than I did, but I eventually got it to a stage I was happy with it and published the post on Thursday.

I was meant to publish a First Lines Friday post this week. However, with having the day off I got stuck into some household jobs, including taming the garden. Long story short, I had quite a busy day and I finally remembered that I hadn’t started drafting this post about 10 pm. By that point, I hadn’t chosen a book to feature and so I decided to postpone the post rather than scramble to get something sub-par ready.

 

Books Read

Reading progress this week has been good. As you guys know, I’m currently reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling. I’m now just over 300 pages into the book and it’s so easy to pick up and put down. Even though I haven’t read this book for a long time, there is still a sense of familiarity but equally, it’s keeping me engaged. I love how well these are written and I don’t think it will be too long before I finish the series; I want to try and finish them by the end of the year.

 

Books Discovered

No news to report here once again, so I’m a happy bunny!

 

Coming Up…

I’m going to be taking a brief break over the next week. My sister and her boyfriend are coming over to the island for a visit and so I’m going to be taking time out to spend time with them. My sister was over for the first time in a couple of years back at the end of June; I am looking forward to being able to catch up with her again so soon. I haven’t met my sister’s boyfriend properly yet, so I’m looking forward to that too!

I will be back at the end of next week with another Sunday Summary post, but that’s all you can expect from me next week. Until then I hope you have a good one!

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Sunday Summary – 22nd August 2021

Hello everyone and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update post. As always, I hope you’ve had a good one whatever you have been doing?

At the beginning of this week, I shared a Top Ten Tuesday post; this week’s subject was my top ten favourite places to read. As someone who reads a lot, I have no shortage of places I will pick up a book. So, this is quite an easy post for me to write. If you haven’t checked out that post already, I’d be interested to see what your favourite places are by comparison!

On Friday I shared my next Shelf Control post. For those unfamiliar with the series, I use it to review the books on my reading list and I tell you about why I can’t wait to read them. This week’s featured book was a mystery/crime novel by a new author to me. It’s unusual in that it is slap-bang in the middle of the series, however I won’t let that put me off giving it a go! I’m hoping the book can be read standalone, but we’ll see!

 

Books Read

This week’s reading progress has been significantly better than last week. I barely picked up Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last week but I’ve been making up for that since. I’ve read over 150 pages this week and I plan to take this to bed with me again tonight to continue. I’m really enjoying the book so far. It is a hefty one, but at the same time it’s very easy to pick up and read. It probably helps that I have a rough idea of the story from the last time it read it, but equally the narrative is just really easy to follow and reading doesn’t feel like a chore.

 

Books Discovered

For the second time in a couple of weeks, I can still say that I haven’t made any acquisitions or added anything to my TBR! No complaints here – the list is long enough already.

 

Coming Up…

This week I am going to pick up where I left off with my half-drafted review of The Thief Taker by C. S. Quinn. I made a solid start and I want to pick this back up and get it into a state where I’m happy to publish it. I hope you can join me for that post!

Later in the week, I’ll be sharing my next First Lines Friday post. I’m going to set myself a challenge for this post and choose this week’s featured book is out of my top 10 reads from last year. Naturally, you can be sure that this book comes highly recommended and I hope it will catch your eye as it did for me.

Last, but not least, I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary post at the end of the week to share what I’ve been up to and what I’ve been reading.

That is, however, all from me this week. I hope you have a fantastic one and I look forward to seeing you again.

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Sunday Summary – 15th August 2021

Good evening everyone and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary update post. I hope you’ve had a great week?

In terms of blogging, my week didn’t go quite as planned. I was hoping to share a review of The Thief Taker by C. S. Quinn earlier this week. However, whilst I made a good start on it, I wasn’t able to finish it in a way that I was happy to share it. I’ve still got what I’ve done so far and this will be coming to you shortly!

I did manage to find a book to feature for this week’s First Lines Friday post. The book I featured is one I read as a teenager. I really enjoyed the book at the time, however, I didn’t go on to finish the series. I got a good way through it (I was on book 3 I believe) but whether it was because I tried to read it all at once or because it definitely felt targeted to a YA audience, I just couldn’t finish it. I was in the target audience age bracket at the time, but it’s not a genre I read a lot of anyway. And it did feel a little bit… Not childish, but I certainly felt like I was too old to appreciate it. I can’t say if I’d agree now, but it’s worth a look and if you like fantasy then it may just be for you anyway!

 

Books Read

I’ll hold my hands up and admit that reading progress has been very light this week. And by light, I mean that so far, I’ve read a single chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I did that this morning because I felt conscious of the fact that I haven’t picked it up all week.

I will be rectifying that tonight. There isn’t a particular reason why I didn’t pick this up all week; I’ve just been enjoying doing other things. After sharing this post, however, I will be picking this up and even taking it up to bed with me tonight!

 

Books Discovered

For the first time in a couple of weeks, I can say that I haven’t made any acquisitions or added anything to my TBR!

Hoorah!

 

Coming Up…

I like the idea of this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic. This week’s post will be all about my favourite places to read. It’s one of those subjects where it’s interesting to see how well other people’s answers compare to your own. So, please take part in the comment section after I share that post because I would love to know what your favourite places to read are!

Later in the week, I’ll be back to sharing another Shelf Control post. In case you aren’t familiar with this series, the aim is to share details of the books on my TBR and why I want to read them.

Last, but not least, I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary post to round off the week.

That is, however, all from me this week. I hope you have a fantastic one and I look forward to seeing you around.

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Sunday Summary – 8th August 2021

Good evening everyone and welcome back to another Sunday Summary update post. I hope you’ve had a lovely week, whatever you have been doing! I have had a good one, albeit run-of-the-mill – work, home, eat and sleep… oh, and read!

In addition to that, I have shared a couple of blog posts with you. My first post of the week was my monthly wrap up for July. I can’t believe it’s August already! I feel like I say this all the time but honestly, where is this year going? In that post, I shared all the books I’ve been reading (and there have been a lot more than of late) as well as the posts I shared last month.

On Friday I shared my first Shelf Control post for a little while. It was lovely to go back and look at my TBR and talk about why I can’t wait to read the next book on my list. This week’s featured book was a non-fiction novel called Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots, and looks at the history of psychology and how patients were treated in the 19th century.

 

Books Read

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update I was around two thirds of the way through Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Although longer than its predecessors I didn’t struggle to make progress with this at all. I love these books and the series and I’m glad I took the plunge with reading this one. It’s encouraged me in that I know I can pick up something longer and not lose momentum. You’ll know that I haven’t been reading as much so far this year as I’ve been giving myself a little bit of a break. I’m just now getting back into the habit of reading more regularly and this series is helping me do so!

This book is so good that I finished the final third in one sitting. Yes, you read that right. Around 220 pages were read over a few hours on Tuesday evening to finish the book. It was a bit of a marathon session but it got to the point where I was so close to the end that I didn’t want to put it down! It was brilliant; I love the change in tone from the previous books. It’s a lot darker and a lot more interesting given that I’m now a slightly older audience than I was when I first read the book.

I loved it so much that I have dived into Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix already. Again, this is significantly longer than the Goblet of Fire, but I’ve already made a dent and gotten around 75 pages in.

 

Books Discovered

I met up with some friends earlier this week for a catch-up and my friend Natalie has kindly loaned me a book that she has talked about with me before. A few months ago she started reading Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo and she was keen to hear what my opinion was on the book. So, I’ll probably be picking this up shortly so that I can return it to her in good time.

 

Coming Up…

This week I want to share with you a book review for something I read last year. I’m gradually chipping away at the books I still owe reviews for and this week’s feature book is going to be The Thief Taker by C. S. Quinn. I enjoyed the setting of this book and the action within so I hope you can join me for my review and find out all my thoughts on the book.

Later in the week, I will return with another First Lines Friday post. As of writing this post, I haven’t got any particular book in mind, but I will come up with something during the week and fingers crossed this will appeal to you if you haven’t read it already!

Last, but not least, I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary post to round off the week.

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Sunday Summary – 1st August 2021

Hello everyone and welcome to today’s weekly wrap-up Sunday Summary post. As always, I hope you’ve had a wonderful week wherever you are and whatever you have been doing!

This week I opted for a slightly lighter schedule, and I’m glad I did. I chose to do this as I have recently taken part in a couple of blog tours in reasonably quick succession. It also turned out to be beneficial as I started learning some new things at work this week – I’m in the middle of changing my job role and I have a lot to learn! Generally, I don’t take work home with me, but I will admit with learning the new stuff, it’s been on my mind a lot.

Despite this, I still managed to share the planned discussion post with you. In that post, I share the character types I feel are very underrepresented in books, particularly in the fantasy genre. If you haven’t checked that post out already, you can take a look with this handy link.

 

Books Read

Last week I started reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and as of last week’s Sunday summary update, I was around a third of the way through the book. I’m pleased to say I’ve made an equal amount of progress this week, putting me at 440 pages (roughly) through. I’m enjoying it so far and despite at length, there is no drag or difficulty with getting into it. Sometimes if books are a little bit longer and I’m not quite in the mood, I can get bored… but this is not the case here! I’d forgotten how much I loved these books. The difference between the first three and the Goblet of Fire in terms of content and tone is quite big. I’m loving this later book more and so I think I will be jumping into the rest of the series and finishing this quite quickly!

I also started a second book this week, which I wasn’t particularly planning on! I was having a browse through the e-books my library offers and I found something that loosely relates to my job. Without going into too much detail, my job is investment-related. I took a qualification that I completed in February this year and through that, I enjoyed reading around the subject.

The book that I picked up from my library is Stock Investing for Dummies by Paul Mladjenovic. I appreciate a lot of you probably find that quite a dry reading subject, but we all have different things that float our boat. I’m currently around 20% through this one and I will be continuing to read this over the next couple of weeks – at least I should be because that’s when my loan runs out!

 

Books Discovered

I have a small confession to make. I decided to go to my local bookstore at the beginning of this week. It’s recently been payday, and I was in the mood to have a browse. Needless to say, that resulted in my being in the mood to buy, and I treated myself to three new books.

My argument/justification is that this first book was already on my TBR. It’s also one of the older books on my TBR, so I’m likely going to be picking this up before long anyway. Those of you who read my blogs or follow what I’m reading will know that I am fascinated with World War II and the Holocaust. A weird subject, I know, given the unpleasantness surrounding it– however, I find the subject as interesting as it is harrowing. I’m confident that I’m going to love it and so I decided to pick this up in paperback.

The second book I picked up is a recommendation from my sister’s boyfriend Chris. We are both regular readers and judging by our bookshelves, we have a very similar reading taste. Chris has recently read both Barack Obama’s A Promised Land and Michelle Obama’s Becoming and recommended the latter to me as it’s less heavy on the political side. So, when I stumbled across this in the buy one get one half price section, I had to! I swear that section gets me every time.

The last book I picked up was also from the section, and it’s called Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes. Having touched upon Greek myth in a couple of books I’ve read, it’s plain that women are portrayed as the lesser sex or just outright evil. This is the topic of Pandora’s Jar, and I’m interested to see what perspective it has to offer.

 

Coming Up…

Somehow it is August already, and so my priority for the week will be to share my wrap-up post for July. I’m feeling really good about sharing that post as I met my goal of spending more time reading than I have of late. I’ve read quite a few books (short stories and full-length novels) and I’m feeling really good about the habit I’m getting back into. But, more on that in my post next week.

Later in the week, I’m going to get back into my regular Friday feature. This week is the turn of a Shelf Control post… in that, I’ll be sharing the next book on my TBR and why I can’t wait to pick it up! as always, I hope you can join me for either of these posts.

And last, but not least, I’ll wrap up the week as usual with my next Sunday Summary update.

That is, however, all from me in today’s Sunday Summary update. What have you been reading? Have you treated yourself to any new books this week?

 

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Sunday Summary – 25th July 2021

Good evening everyone and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary update post. I hope you’ve had a brilliant week wherever you are? It has been a good one here; we’ve had some gorgeous weather… and because my Internet was down on Thursday night, I took the opportunity to go out and sit in the garden after tea to read. And it was wonderful! 

On blog related matters, I have shared a couple of posts with you so far this week. My first post was a Top Ten Tuesday post, and the subject was Books I Have Read in One Sitting (Or Would if I Had the Time). I did have to stretch that definition a little bit, as I quickly ran out of short stories that I’d finished in one sitting (genuinely). I opened it out to books I’d read within a 24-hour period, and this enabled me to finish my list!

My second blog post of the week was another blog tour review for Karl Drinkwater. Last week I took part in the blog tour for the third book in his Lost Tales of Solace series; this week’s post was for book four, Ruabon. If you really enjoy science fiction, or are just interested in giving it a go, and please check out any of my reviews for this series so far-I hope they encourage you to give them a go!

 

Books Read

After finishing The Taking of Annie Thorne by C. J. Tudor last week, I wanted to pick up a longer book than I have read recently. But, I also worried that the book choice had to be the right one to make sure I keep up momentum. At first I had an inkling to try and restart reading The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. I picked this up and made a very good attempt at it previously, but ultimately I DNF’d this book at 70% because I was struggling with it. My friend absolutely loves the series and I was kind of gutted that it wasn’t working for me when I picked it up.

I had quite a serious urge to give this a go again, so much so that I read the first couple of chapters. However, I will admit that I think the timing of trying to pick this up again might not be right. As I said, I don’t want to lose momentum and I’ve just started reading more regularly! With that in mind, I put this down again for now and instead I have picked up Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling. I am re-reading the Harry Potter series this year, and given that this book weighs in at just over 600 pages, I felt it was the right book to pick up next. So far, it’s really working for me. I’m currently around 220 pages in and I’m absolutely loving it! I’m also planning on reading some more tonight before I go to bed, so that figure will technically go up after this post. 

 

Books Discovered

I’ve been really good again this week and I haven’t added any new books to my To Be Read pile.

 

Coming Up…

Having taken part in a couple of blog tours recently, I’m planning on a two-post schedule on my blog next week. Because I’ve been sharing reviews, I think I’m going to share a discussion post mid-week, and follow-up later with my usual Sunday Summary update for variety.

For my discussion post, I want to talk about the types of characters I want to see in books more. I have one definite idea in mind at the moment, but I’m going to have a think about this over the next few days and share all my thoughts with you about characters I would like to see more of in that post.

That is all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post however! What have you been reading? If you have any ideas for my discussion post, what characters would you like to see more of in books?

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Sunday Summary – 21st February 2021

Hi guys and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary post. Have you had a good week? Mine has been – I’ve enjoyed some great books, TV and even a film this week. For many years I haven’t really watched much in the way of TV, but with less pressure put upon myself to read all the time, I’m finding it on more often. It’s a funny coincidence that the film I ended up watching most of was the film edition of my current read! What a coincidence, eh?

In terms of blogging, I shared one other blog post this week. I finally put together my review of Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor; I hope it does the book/series justice. It’s one of my favourites and I hope that comes across. If you haven’t checked out that post yet, please do!

I also drafted 90% of my Harry Potter tag post, but unfortunately, I ran out of time to finish it and publish it yesterday. My laptop decided to inconveniently download and install some updates late yesterday evening. Let’s just say that it’s gotten to a certain age where downloading updates renders it practically useless in terms of doing anything else! Want to flick from a word document to a web page? Sure, but you’ll have to wait five minutes, the programs will ‘not respond’ at least twice and after all that, don’t dare to scroll the web page unless you want to repeat the whole process. So, come 10:30 pm last night I’d had enough and gave up.

 

Books Read

I’ve made progress on a number of books this week. As of last week’s Sunday Summary post I was currently reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling. I went on to finish this book this week and it was honestly as good as I remember it! I really enjoyed this second book of the re-read of the series. Thankfully the early books aren’t too long, so it didn’t take long to read at all. Once I’ve read the third one they get a bit chunkier though!

Next, I picked up my current read, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I bought this on Kindle a few years ago and I decided that it was the book I wanted to pick up next. Over the course of the week, I’ve read a quarter of the book so far. Ironically, I’m about at the point in the book where I picked up on the film on Friday night, so I know what happens. I’m still looking forward to reading it though –it hasn’t spoiled it for me at all!

Lastly, I listened to some more A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin this week. I have started listening to it when commuting as I said I was going to. I still listened to the radio a couple of times, but I think getting back into the habit of listening to audiobooks on a regular basis will help me get through more of them than I am currently.

 

Books Discovered

This week’s discovered section is going to be comparatively boring to last week’s update. There’s nothing to add here and that’s probably for the best!

 

Coming Up…

Since I’ve already written 90% of the post, it makes sense to share my Harry Potter Book tag early next week. I’ve enjoyed writing it and I hope it makes for fun reading for you!

I’ll be sharing another review with you later in the week. I have a number of reviews to catch up on, and this week’s review is for a book I read late last year that I had been asked to read in exchange for an honest review. London: Auxiliary 2039 is a cyberpunk thriller novel that I loved. The plot was interesting and I enjoyed the mystery behind the narrative. I hope you can check out my full review next week!

 

Until then, that’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post! Have a good week, happy reading and I’ll see you around!

 

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Sunday Summary – 14th February 2021

Hi guys – Happy Valentine’s Day and welcome to today’s weekly Sunday Summary update. I hope you’ve had a great week wherever you are? Mine has been pretty good. I’ve been kept busy at work and I’ve been spending my evening binge-watching TV (quite unusual for me, but I’ve enjoyed it!).

Aside from that, I shared an audiobook review for Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo on Tuesday. It was the review I was supposed to share last week but just needed a bit more work before I was ready to publish it. I have to confess that this was my only post this week, despite my plans to share a second review later this week. I’ll be honest with you… I just didn’t get around to it. I love Dreams of Gods and Monsters and I need to get the review right to do it justice.

 

Books Read

I’ve made some more progress with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets this week. AS of last week’s Sunday Summary update, I was a third of the way through the book. I’m now nearer two thirds through and I’m looking forward to finishing the re-read of this book.

I’ve also listened to a little more of A Game of Thrones since my last update. Not much, but a couple of chapters here and there makes a difference. I still have a good few hours to listen to but I’m going to start listening to my audiobooks on my commutes again. It works out at an hour a day roughly, so it all helps.

 

Books Discovered

 

I haven’t made the most progress on reading or blogging this week, but I have made up for it in other ways. This week I celebrated my birthday and I was very lucky to get a number of books gifted to me! I received the Nevernight trilogy by Jay Kristoff in paperback and also two clothbound classics – Frankenstein and Animal Farm.  I love each and every one and I can’t wait to re-read them all!

 

Coming Up…

I’m going to share the review I didn’t get around to for Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor. To make sure I get the chance to do it, it’s the only review I’m planning on sharing this week.

I’ve been inspired by my current read to take part in a Harry Potter-themed book tag. I enjoyed reading the Harry Potter tag shared over on the blog All You READ Is Love and so I want to share my own answers to this! It’ll be a nice light read for you guys and fun for me to draft. I hope you enjoy it as much as I will.

 

Until next time, have a great week and I’ll see you in my next post!

 

 

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