Tag: Lunatics

Sunday Summary – 16th June 2024

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Good evening friends! In today’s Sunday Summary post I have the usual catch ups to share with you – books read, a small haul I’ve acquired this week, and lastly, what’s coming up next week.

Before that though, firstly I will say happy Father’s Day both to any dads out there, but especially my own. He really is the best! Yes I’m biased, but I pay for this little corner on the Internet so I’m allowed to be…

Now, onto my usual updates. My first post of this week was my review of Ordinary Heroes by Joseph Pfeifer. I initially intended this review to go out a little earlier than it did. However, to get in a place I was happy with it, I postponed posting until Thursday once the tweaks had been made.

Last week’s missed First Lines Friday became this week’s content instead. In Friday’s feature, I share he opening lines of a post-apocalyptic fantasy I’m looking forward to reading. I’ve recently read other works by the author, and this complete change of genre has piqued my interest.


Books Read


Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes

When I spoke to you in last week’s Sunday Summary update, I shared that I was 75% through Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes. I also expressed my intention to push on with this audiobook over the course of this week as I was close to finishing it.

The good news friends is that I did indeed finish this audiobook. In fact, I finished it on Saturday morning and honestly, I’m glad I was at home for the final chapters. I would be lying if I said I didn’t get teary on several occasions. That’s not unexpected given the circumstances and my family history Alzheimer’s.

I really enjoyed this audiobook and I would recommend it to any Pratchett fan to get some insight on the man behind the Discworld novels.


Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots: A History of Insanity in Nineteenth Century Britain and Ireland

Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots

I didn’t pick up or read any books for the first few days this week. I confess that is because whenever I thought about this current read, I decided to do something else instead.

It became clear by the middle of the week that I didn’t have much in the way of motivation to pick up this book. If you remember my previous Sunday Summary post, you’ll recall that I found the style of the book a little dry.

Given that I have less time to read now than I did at beginning of the year, I decided that there was no point in struggling on with this book. I don’t want to kill whatever reading motivation I have. So, Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots is a DNF at about 25%.


Master of Sorrows

This Sunday Summary post commemorates a milestone. I have been attempting to read Master of Sorrows since February, no less. As of this summary post, I have officially started the book!

Admittedly, I’m only so far as completely the prologue and partway through reading chapter 1. However, it is the start that I have been unable to make with the last four months. Naturally, I’ll be able to give you more of an update next week.


You Coach You

Last, but not least, I started my listen of You Coach You  by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis. I knew I wanted to listen to this on audio as non-fiction works really well for me in this format.

Not only that, but I enjoy listening to a podcast that Helen and Sarah put together, Squiggly Careers. It’s because of that podcast that I’m picking up this book at all. I already know I really get on with their content in audio format, so it made sense to me to pick up this book in audio too.

As of this Sunday Summary update, I am an hour and a quarter into the audio and looking forward to getting stuck in properly.

It’s fair to say that audiobook progress has been significantly better this week than physical. I’ve listened to over four hours this week, which has to be up there near the records.


Books Discovered

This week I have been bad. And I mean BAD!

I’ve picked up no less than nine physical books this week. In my defence, I purchased six of them for less than £3 each, meaning that I haven’t forked out a huge amount of money.

Both myself and my mum want to pick up books by Steve Cavanagh, and on Monday I found five I didn’t already own. As well as those five, I also picked up Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig for the same price.

On Saturday, my boyfriend made the mistake of encouraging me to go into Waterstones. In my defence, I was only going to look in the window. Instead, I stumbled across buy one get one half price tables, as well as the sequel to my current read, Master Artificer. At least I had some credit on my Waterstones card…


Coming Up…

I’ll be back with a Top Ten Tuesday post to kick off the new week. This week’s feature is upcoming books on my Summer 2024 TBR. I quite enjoy writing these posts as I get to look ahead at what direction I want my reading to take and get excited about future books… and then making time for them!

Next Friday, I’ll be back with a Shelf Control post feature. I’ll take a look at the next upcoming book on my reading list, share some details with you about it and most importantly, why I’m excited to read it. I hope you can join me for that.

My last post of the week, as always, will be another Sunday Summary update. In that post, I will share the books I’ve read over the course of the week, as well as any I’ve acquired and finally, what’s coming up on the blog.

I hope you can tune into those, but until then, that’s all for me and this Sunday Summary update.

What have you been reading of late?

 

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Sunday Summary – 9th June 2024

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Good evening friends and welcome to this Sunday Summary update post! As always, I take the time to update you on the books I’ve been reading over the course of this week, as well as the blog posts I’ve shared. Shall we get stuck in?

At the beginning of the week I shared my monthly TBR post with you. If you’re interested to see which books I plan to pick up throughout June, this is the place to go. Naturally, you’ll see some of those books in today’s post. But, if you want the full list, then check out my TBR here.

I was also meant to share a First Lines Friday post, but I confess I completely forgot. In my defence, it was a bank holiday locally and I was out of routine. I was also doing bits around the house as well. So apologies – this completely slipped my mind.

 

Books Read

 

Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes

As of this Sunday Summary update post I have listened to a further 2 3/4 hours of Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes. That’s pretty good going, even if I say so myself! That means that as of this post I am coming up to 75% progress in the audiobook.

With just a few hours left I envisage that I’ll try and push on with this audio in the next week so I can mark it as complete. I’m really enjoying this listen as I’m very interested in Terry and his life, but the narrative style makes this even easier to listen to.

 

The Long Earth

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post I was 290 pages into The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. Over the course of this week I picked up the remainder of the book, and I’m pleased to say that I enjoyed it.

I’m curious as to where the later books in the series are going to take the story. At the point of finishing this first book, I honestly don’t know what path it’s going to take. I expect a degree of conflict as this is hinted that at the end of the first book, but otherwise it’s very much open to interpretation.

I enjoyed this co-authored book. Despite not getting on with books Terry has co-authored with other writers in the past, that is not the experience I’ve had with The Long Earth. I think the two writers have come together really well to honour the science-fiction genre whilst also smattering in humour.

Needless to say, I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

 

Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots: A History of Insanity in Nineteenth Century Britain and Ireland

Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots

The final book I’ve made progress with this week is Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots. This particular book has been on my reading list since 2017 and so I wanted to pick it up at last. It also works really well in contributing towards my non-fiction reading goal for the year.

As of this post, I have read the first quarter of the book. I’m getting on with it okay so far, although I do think it’s a little dry. I have no problem with the subject of the book, but perhaps a little more humour would help it go down. Maybe I’m biased in having read Terry Pratchett recently as he, by nature, is very satirical.

I’m still going to continue with the book as if nothing else, it’s less than 300 pages. I should be able to get through that.

 

Books Discovered

I discovered news that Suzanne Collins is publishing another Hunger Games novel next year, Sunrise on the Reaping.

Having read and enjoyed all of the series so far, I am excited to pick up this prequel novel that features both a significant event in terms of the plot of the story, but also one of the prominent side characters of the main series!

 

Coming Up…

My first post of this week will be another long overdue book review. I have many of those! This week, I’ll review a non-fiction book that I loved in 2022 – Ordinary Heroes by Joseph Pfeiffer.

Since I forgot to share this week’s First Lines Friday post, I’ve decided to defer this until next week so you’re not waiting too long.

I’m sure you’ve already worked out my last post of the week will be another Sunday Summary. I’ll be back to update you on what I’ve been reading and sharing over the next seven days.

That’s all from me in this Sunday Summary post. What are you reading currently? 

 

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Monthly TBR – June 2024

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Good afternoon fellow readers and welcome to one of my favourite posts of the month – my monthly TBR. It’s a post of future plans and looking ahead at exciting books coming up on my immediate reading list!

This month I have a few carryovers (current reads and ones I didn’t get to in May) but also some new titles to feature.

So, shall we get into the details of my monthly TBR?

 

Mood Reads


The Long Earth

The first book I feature on this reading list is actually one I finished last night.

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter was a carryover from May as I hadn’t quite finished the book by the end of the month. Ironically, I have just finished it. So whilst I did technically read some of it in June, I’ll only be talking about it in this week’s Sunday Summary post.

I enjoyed this introduction to the series and I’m curious to see where the later books pick up from this first novel. I’ve gathered the scope gets quite a bit bigger just on the titles alone. I have those books in e-book format so I can pick them up whenever I’m ready!


Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes 

My second carryover from May that is working progress is Terry Pratchett’s biography, A Life With Footnotes.

At the moment I am around 50% through this audiobook, so I’m well on the way to completing this before the end of June. I’ve already enjoyed the first half of this audio, looking at Terry‘s early life, career and establishing himself as an author. We will inevitably move onto the less pleasant side of his later years, his Alzheimer’s diagnosis and ultimate passing, soon. I’m still looking forward to listening to this despite the difficult topic.

I admit I’m curious to see if Terry’s Alzheimer’s affected him in ways that are familiar to me through a family member suffering with the disease also. I’m also interested to see what impact it had on his career. I know in the end he was dictating his books to Rob, but also what other potential impacts there were that we haven’t talked about yet.


Master of Sorrows

I have a couple more carryovers from my May TBR, but these are books I did not get to start.

Are you surprised that once again, Master of Sorrows has been kicked down the line? Well, not anymore! It’s the first physical book I am going to pick up in June now that I’ve finished The Long Earth and nothing. will. stop. me. I have been trying to read this book since February – I’ve waited long enough!


Obsidio

The final carryover from my May TBR is Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman.

Obsidio is the last book in the Illuminae files trilogy. I want to get to it to both finish the series, but also see how the two storylines we’ve enjoyed so far intertwine.

I anticipate Obsidio will be a relatively short read. Although it’s a good few hundred pages, the book is written in mixed media format. It has a lot of imagery so whilst there are some pages of solid text, there are plenty where there are not. I’ve really enjoyed into the world of mixed media from a variety of genres, but I do particularly like it in the science-fiction young adult series. It makes it very approachable to all readers and especially so to those who may be picking it up for the first time.


The Other People

Mum has been making her way through books written by C.J. Tudor after I introduced her to The Chalk Man and The Taking of Annie Thorne. She has recommended The Other People to me as her favourite book so far. Naturally, I want to see what it’s about!

Especially as I’ve not dabbled in the genre for a little while, I’m looking forward to seeing this book is about. This synopsis sounds as good as ever and I trust my mum’s judgement that I will really enjoy this one as she did!


Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots

Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots

In an effort to keep up with my non-fiction reading this year, I’ll be picking up the e-book Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots. This has been on my reading list since 2017 so is long overdue a read. At under 300 pages, this is also really achievable for me to pick up and make light work of.

I’ve already started this e-book as it was a convenient one to pick up after finishing a physical read of The Long Earth. I want to read on my Kindle for a bit! Aside from audiobooks, I’ve picked up a lot of physical read lately.

In just the half hour I started this last night, I am already well into the first chapter and intrigued as to where this book will take us.

If you are unfamiliar, this is a non-fiction book about how treatment for individuals in the UK and Ireland with mental health issues has changed in the last 200 or so years. By all accounts, we start this book with a lot to be desired in terms of treating people humanely and with dignity.


You Coach You

The last book on this monthly TBR is also a non-fiction and a book I intend to pick up via audio after finishing Terry Pratchett’s biography. The book is You Coach You.

I want to pick up this book for a couple of reasons. The first of these is that coaching is a skill I’m working on personally this year. I totally understand that not everyone is interested in personal development, but I’m still young and haven’t lost interest yet at the very least. On a serious note, I’m the kind of person who believes there is always more to learn. I can always improve.

So, coaching is a skill I want to work on. The other reason I want to pick up You Coach You in particular is because I listen to Helen and Sarah‘s podcast, Squiggly Careers. I already love their content and their style, so picking up their book makes infinite sense! They also narrate the audiobook, so I know exactly what I’m getting into when I start listening to this.

I can’t wait!


Summary

With a few shorter books on my monthly TBR, and a plan to pick up Master of Sorrows as a priority, I have confidence that June is going to be a productive reading month!

That’s all for my Monthly TBR post.

What are you reading?

 

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