Tag: M.J. Porter

Sunday Summary – 7th April 2024

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Good evening readers and welcome to another Sunday Summary update full of bookish news and going on from here! Make yourselves comfortable so we can dive in to this week’s update post.

As always, let’s recap the blog posts I have shared in the last week. My first post of the week was a blog tour post featuring Lost Solace by Karl Drinkwater. I originally published my review of this book back in February. But when I saw the tour invite, I promised to revamp it and share it as part of the tour. It worked out nicely as the author gets more publicity, and I already had a good deal of content prepared to share.

I shared a second blog to post just a couple of days later – this one for Enemies of Mercia by M.J. Porter. This was a brand-new read and review obligation, so that was my priority for this week. I really enjoyed this sixth instalment to the Eagle of Mercia Chronicles. If you have been following my reviews of the series on my blog, you’ll be especially interested to check out this latest review!

I shared a further post on Saturday given that those tour obligations meant I couldn’t feature my regular monthly wrap-up at the beginning of this month. Instead, that went live on Saturday, and I had plenty to recap in terms of reading throughout March. If you want a summary of the books I picked up, that is the post to take a look at!

 

Books Read

 

Enemies of Mercia

The first priority I had this week was to finish my read of Enemies of Mercia by M.J. Porter. As you will see above, I had a spot on the blog tour organised for its publication, and I had the pleasure of kicking the tour off. Needless to say, it was important that I finish this read in time to share my full thoughts on the whole book.

I enjoyed Enemies of Mercia every bit as much as I expected I would. Having read five books in the series to date, I had high expectations for the characters and storyline. I wasn’t disappointed!

If you love historical fiction set during the time Vikings came to Britain, then check out this book. Whilst the main events of this storyline don’t feature Vikings too heavily, they have already had their influence on the setting and characters so far. They are more prevalent in earlier books of the series, so I recommend checking them out.

Naturally, if you want to find out more about this book, or get access to links to reviews of the early book in the series, check out that review post I shared on Thursday.

 

Empire of the Vampire

As a result of prioritising Enemies of Mercia, Empire of the Vampire took a backseat this week. I did pick the book up one evening before bed, but admittedly only read 25 pages!

So, as of this Sunday Summary post, that puts me at page 196. Now that all my immediate obligations are out of the way, Empire of the Vampire will be my main reading focus once again.

 

The Atlas Six

After sharing in last week’s Sunday Summary post that I was so close to the conclusion of this book, I made it my priority to finish this audio this week.

In fact, I finished this audiobook on Monday. As it happens, the audiobook version I was listening to has quite a bit of bonus content at the end, so I was even closer to the finish line than I thought in that post!

I really enjoyed the story overall, although I wouldn’t say it lives up to the hype it’s gotten in my opinion. I enjoyed it, but I’m not sure I will continue to read the rest of the series. I’ve enjoyed it as a standalone and I think it has some interesting ideas.

 

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before

After finishing The Atlas Six, I looked for my next audiobook to pick up. On a whim, I chose to listen to Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before.

Of late, I find non-fiction a lot easier to listen to than fiction. I find it easier to follow, and it has become my preferred method of reading this type of book. To try and pick up the pace with audiobooks a bit more, and to listen to something different, I deliberately chose a non-fiction this time.

As of this Sunday Summary post, I have listened to the first four chapters of the book, which is about an hour and 20 minutes of the audio. If you’re interested, that works out at about 15% progress.

Next week I’ll be spending several hours on Monday and Tuesday evening baking for a charity cake sale at work. That would be the perfect opportunity to make further progress as I won’t be able to conventionally sit down and read during that time.

 

Books Discovered

I picked up some book recommendations around the topic of Neurodiversity this week. It’s a topic that’s been discussed at work, and several staff (including myself) put forward recommendations of content on the subject.

Someone seconded my recommendation of Unmasked by Ellie Middleton, which was great! They also shared a couple of other books which I added to my reading list – Untypical and Dirty Laundry.

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post of next week will be my reading list for April. As I am sharing this list quite late, you’re already seeing some of the books I’ll feature show up in my reading. However, circumstantially I had blog tours come up at the beginning of the month which inevitably delayed my regular monthly posts. I am looking forward to sharing that list though and giving you some more detail on what books I plan to pick up shortly!

Later in the week I bring back my First Lines Friday regular feature post. It’s been a few weeks since I shared one of these, and I’m looking forward to bringing it back. They are a fun type of post to share. Depending on my choice of book, I get to feature a great book I love, or get excited for one coming up on my reading list! Stick around to find out which I share in Friday’s post.

I’ll wrap up next week with another Sunday Summary post just like this one. If I have as much reading progress to share with you, then I’ll be on the right track!

Until then, have a great week and happy reading!

 

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Sunday Summary – 31st March 2024

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Good evening all and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary update post! It’s been a mad busy week with work, so there’s been a lot to juggle.

Nevertheless, I’ve kept the blog ticking over! My first post of the week was a review of one of my favourite reads of 2022 – Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. I’m not sure if I’ve done the book justice, but I’ve for sure done my best to sell it to you. If you haven’t checked out that post and you want to check out the first book of an epic series, please do!

On Friday I shared the next instalment of Shelf Control, and I finally moved away from my deluge of non-fiction. This week, I featured a historical fiction novel that I’m looking forward to. It’s set from the perspective of German youths in WW2. Having read books in a similar setting before, I’m keen to see how unique the take is on the subject. If you want to know more, here’s a link to that post so you can check it out!

 

Books Read

 

Empire of the Vampire

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post I was 12%, or about 86 pages, into Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff.

I haven’t made lot of progress in this book this week due to work, plans and other commitments. I have read about another 90 pages though, which I’m not going to turn my nose up at. What I have read I have really enjoyed. Although I’ve read the book before, that’s not hampering my enjoyment second time around at all!

I have also had to set this aside temporarily in order to read another book for a blog tour coming up soon. More on that below.

So, as of this post, I will be picking up from page 171, after I finish reading Enemies of Mercia.

 

Enemies of Mercia

Speaking of which, Enemies of Mercia is a book I’m reviewing for blog tour next week. With that in mind, I picked up this book for the first time yesterday so that I have time to read it ahead of my review date.

Enemies of Mercia is the fifth instalment in M.J. Porter’s Eagle of Mercia Chronicles. I’ve read and enjoyed the earlier books in the series and featured them for blog tours. When I saw Enemies of Mercia on tour, I signed up straight away! I love the protagonist in this series as he is quite unique. As a young boy, he saw his place in the world as healing as opposed to becoming a warrior. However, circumstance dictated that he did indeed learn to become an accomplished warrior, though he doesn’t relish the role.

I’m not too far into Enemies of Mercia, but if it’s already clear that Icel is suffering from events that have taken place in the previous book. He is not the strong warrior he was then, and I’m keen to see if this ends up being a developmental opportunity for his character.

As of this Sunday Summary post, I am 14% into the book and will be making an effort to prioritise this in the next couple of days!

 

The Atlas Six

Around this week’s busy schedule, I have taken some time away from screens and enjoyed two hobbies in tandem – cross stitch and listening to audiobooks.

Listening to The Atlas Six is a slow burn at this point just because I don’t pick up audiobooks very much. That said, I am really enjoying this audio and I feel like events are really starting to pick up. I’m now 81% into this audiobook, and I’m really looking forward to finishing it! Admittedly, I wanted to listen to more of this audio this morning, but I had other things to do and so I’ve had to wait. It’s not very often I have to make that call, but clearly the drive to listen is there.

I listen to audiobooks on x1.2 speed, so I have 2 hours and 43 minutes listening time left of this audio. That’s not long, and given I’ve already listened to more than that this week alone, I should be able to tell you this time next week that I am done with this book! Finally…

 

Books Discovered

Since adding Breathtaking to the TBR last week, there’s been no activity or further additions to my reading list.

It’s long enough as it is, so I’m not complaining!

 

Coming Up…

I have two blog tour obligations this week, although thankfully I already have content pretty much sorted for one.

You may recall that I reviewed Lost Solace by Karl Drinkwater a little while ago after reading the book last year. That book is now on tour, and I have agreed to spruce up and re-publish my review as part of the tour. Fans of science-fiction should definitely take a moment of their day to check out that post on Tuesday.

On Thursday, I am touring with Boldwood Books by sharing my review of Enemies of Mercia. If you have enjoyed any of my reviews for the prior books in the series, or enjoy historical fiction set in the Viking era, I hope you can take a look at my review.

Although it’ll be a little late compared to my usual scheduling, I plan to share my monthly wrap-up for March on Saturday next week. I need to prioritise my blog tours first. I’m also reluctant to commit to any more tight blogging deadlines next week as it’s one of my busiest weeks at work too. So, the wrap-up will be a little later than usual, as will April’s reading list.

That won’t be my final post of the week though. I’ll be back this time next week with another Sunday Summary post as usual. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to mark at least two of my current reads as complete in that update!

Until then, happy reading and I’ll see you in the next post!

 

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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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Monthly Wrap-Up – April 2023

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Hello and welcome to my monthly wrap-up for April 2023! If you’re UK based, I hope you’ve had a lovely long weekend? If you’ve spent it with a book, then that’s time well spent if you ask me.

This month started off as a parody of last month. I spent a while working through my ‘first’ read of the month (as it was a chunky read). Then, things sped up from there. I vary this month in that things started to slow down again…

 

Books Read

 

The Mad Ship

As of last month’s monthly wrap-up post, I was 120 pages into The Mad Ship. If you are unfamiliar with this book, it is an epic 906 pages total.

That left me with a lot of reading to do at the beginning of the month. I actually set this aside for a couple of days in order to read the next book on this list ahead of the blog tour I took part in. However, as soon as I finished, I jumped straight back into this one.

Much like last month, I was reading this book for a good chunk of the month. It’s obviously very long, but not only that, Robin Hobb’s narrative is dense. In my experience, they are not books that you can read very quickly, even if you try.

 

Thanks For Sharing

As I briefly mentioned above, Thanks for Sharing at the beginning of the month in order to read it in time to provide my review for the recent blog tour.

This was a complete change from The Mad Ship, and it was nice to pick up something different. I wanted to pick up this book as I have recently been appointed to a sustainability committee at work. My intentions were to read the book to get some ideas and general information about sustainability and the environment.

I got that from this book, and so much more! The book recounts the author’s experience of trying more sustainable lifestyle over the course of about a year. That might not sound thrilling to some, but this was relayed in a funny way. We get to experience the ups and downs of trying to incorporate change into family life. There is a lot of humour throughout this book, and that really helped make the reading experience that little bit more enjoyable!

 

Eagle of Mercia

I read a second book in April for a blog tour obligation, although that tour post isn’t coming until Wednesday this week.

Eagle of Mercia is the fourth book in the Eagle of Mercia Chronicles, written by M.J. Porter. So far, I have read and reviewed each of the books for a blog tour post. I have enjoyed every single one! Eagle of Mercia was no exception.

The standout element for me in these books is the perspective from which these books are written. I really like Icel, our protagonist. His is a perspective we don’t necessarily expect from this time period. He is a youth that does not long to be a warrior, although increasingly, he steps up to his obligations to protect his own. Instead, Icel would rather be healing the wounded. That is how he spent his youth, and he longs for peace in times of political turbulence.

The narrative and storyline we get to enjoy in this fourth book is quite unlike the others we have seen to date. We see our characters move far beyond their own pastures for a rescue mission.

If you’re intrigued by the sound of this book and want to find out more, check out my blog tour post on Wednesday!

 

Stolen Focus

Next, I picked up Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. This is the second non-fiction book I picked up in the month, and I found this both informative and interesting.

For part of the book, the author recounts a journey he undertook in order to separate himself from external forces stealing his focus, and invests his time into the things he wanted to do. It shouldn’t surprise you that writing was one of his main goals. What is refreshing about this book is that it doesn’t point the finger… at least, not exclusively at individuals.

Based on this author’s experience, a lot of self-help books of this nature apportion blame on individuals for their lack of focus. However, the author has researched extensively why there are a large number of external factors that are increasingly stealing our focus. He briefly touches upon a Netflix docu-film that I watched a little while ago, and I would recommend watching this as an alternative way of learning about some of the concepts in this book. It’s called The Social Dilemma.

This isn’t just a book heavy on research. If you do genuinely want some advice on little things you can do to help improve your focus, this is included in the book. However, it makes it very clear that there’s only so far you can go when you are surrounded by many external factors (technology, environment etc) that all contribute to reduced focus, so that you are forearmed with that information and don’t get disappointed if you still struggle. 

 

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

The last book I have been reading throughout the month of April is The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi. This was the April book club read for Ezeekat’s book club on Fable.

I’m too late to input my thoughts on the book to the group, as I am still reading this as of the 1st of May. I had hoped this was going to be a little bit of a quicker read. It is quite whimsical and fantastical in nature, yet it is still quite a substantial read. As of this monthly wrap-up, I made it to just over halfway through the book.

Although the going is a little slower than I had hoped, I am still enjoying this one. In short, the story line is set around a group of former pirates, led by an infamous woman, who are reuniting for one last adventure/mission. The setting of the book is Middle Eastern, which is unusual for fantasy. I’m also enjoying how the book touches on what it is to be Muslim and some of the religious customs that I’m not overly familiar with. It’s a perspective that I don’t see very often, but it’s one I’m enjoying!

 

Summary

In all, I read just under 2000 pages in April. That’s about 1000 less than reported in last month’s monthly wrap-up, which goes to show just how much of a roll I was on! I’m still happy with the reading progress I made, and most importantly, the books I picked up over the course of the month.

That’s you all caught up now that we’re through my monthly wrap-up post!

Have you read any of the books I’ve featured today? Are they on your reading list?

 

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Sunday Summary – 23rd April 2023

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Good evening and welcome back to another Sunday Summary update from yours truly. It’s been a great week, and I hope you’ve had the same!

I began my blogging week with a Top Ten Tuesday post. This week’s particular theme was a non-bookish freebie. So, I decided to share some of the other hobbies I enjoy other than reading! I hope it helps you get a feel for the kind of person I am and gives you a chance to learn a little bit more about me.

On Friday, I shared another post in my Well, I Didn’t Know That! series. For this week’s post, I decided to take a look at features I am yet to explore on StoryGraph, an alternative to Goodreads. Inevitably, I ended up comparing the two sites a little bit in the post. If, like me, you are a Goodreads veteran and are interested in seeing more about the StoryGraph, check out that post!

 

Books Read

 

Eagle of Mercia

As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I was just one chapter into Eagle of Mercia by M.J. Porter. It was a start, but I hadn’t really gotten that far into the book. That’s not the case now. I managed to read the entirety of Eagle of Mercia this week, and it’s been good to get back into the series.

I really enjoy the perspective of the protagonist in this series. In the three books we have read so far, we have already seen a great deal of character development. That continues throughout Eagle of Mercia, but in a way that feels natural to the storyline.

I also like how the narratives in this series vary quite significantly from each book. It would be quite easy to fall into a trap of similar events, or at least the same structure of narrative. I don’t really find that with these. They are quite action-driven books, but they don’t feel repetitive or like a regurgitation of a previous story.

 

Stolen Focus

Next, I decided to pick up a non-fiction read for a bit of a change. Stolen Focus has been on my TBR for about a year now. I initially heard about it via a podcast, and was shocked at some of the statistics that are discussed in this book. I’m still shocked reading them for myself.

I am a third of the way through this book as of today’s Sunday Summary post. I’m already thinking about some of the ways I can change my behaviour to do what I can for my focus. There was a bit of irony in that I was reading the chapter about the detriment of ‘multitasking’ (called switching in the book) yesterday morning, whilst simultaneously trying to make breakfast.

The one thing I would point out to anybody interested in this book, is that it’s message is that it’s not all about you. Yes, there are small improvements we can all make in order to preserve our focus. However, its key message is that we are in a society full of competitors furiously vying for our attention. If you enjoyed watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix, this book touches on some of the themes explored in that docu-film.

 

Books Discovered

Just after I drafted last week’s Sunday Summary post, I read about a book that I’ve decided to add to my reading list. The book is called Sensitive by Jenn Granneman. It doesn’t seem to be that well-read yet, but it was recommended on LinkedIn by somebody I follow.

I am sensitive person. If I do say so myself, I am quite good at picking up on peoples emotions. So much so, being around negative emotions can have a negative impact on me. I want to explore the subject further, and I hope to do so with this book.

I also saw another book in our local The Works store today that caught my eye. If you read my blog regularly, you’ll know that I enjoy books based around World War II. Unsurprisingly then, I have added The Auschwitz Photographer by Maurizio Onnis (translated by Luca Crippa) to my reading list. Whereas previously I have read fiction based on experiences of those in the camp, the Auschwitz photographer is a non-fiction book.

 

Coming Up…

It’s been a few weeks since I shared a book review with you all. Now that I’m finally done with documenting my thoughts on the Harry Potter series, you can expect to find some variety in my reviews going forward! This week’s review will be for the very first book I read in 2022, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.

On Friday, I’ll be sharing my next Shelf Control post with you. If you are unaware, this is the series in which I feature upcoming books on my reading list that I’m excited to pick up. Naturally, I tell you all about these books in this post, and why I can’t wait to read them. This week’s book is a legal thriller by a big-name author who I’ve yet to read any books by!

Finally, I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary post in a week’s time. In that post, I’ll tell you about the books I’ve been reading, and all my other bookish updates.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s Sunday Summary!

Have you read any of today’s featured books? What are you reading now?

 

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Sunday Summary – 16th April 2023

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Good evening and welcome back to another Sunday Summary update post. As always, I’m looking forward to sharing all my bookish updates with you in this post! Before we dive into the books I’ve been reading this week, let’s take a quick recap of the blog posts I have shared with you.

I began the week with a discussion post, which I shared on Tuesday. In that post, I share the benefits I have enjoyed by joining an online book club. I also talk about why I think anyone can also benefit from joining a similar group… whether online or in person. 

Next was the turn of my First Lines Friday feature post. For this particular feature, I shared a historical fiction novel sat on my bookshelf and begging to be picked up. A word of warning that it is an introduction from a book set in the Auschwitz-Birkenau, concentration camp during the Second World War. Naturally, it very quickly establishes the way in which those interred were treated (which is to say, abysmally) very early on. If that’s the sort of thing you’re not comfortable with reading, then by all means skip this post. However, if you’re intrigued by books in this setting as I am, there is a link for you to check out that post above!

 

Books Read

 

The Mad Ship

I didn’t appreciate how much of a push I’ve made with this book until I took a look at where my progress was this time last week! As of last week’s Sunday Summary update, I was around 350 pages into this book. That alone is the length of some of the other books on my April TBR all by themselves. However, these books are incredibly chunky. The Mad Ship weighs in at 906 pages… and I finished the remaining 550 odd pages over the course of this week!

I only finished The Mad Ship last night, so it is taking me most of the week to do that. But, that’s crazy progress! It’s a significant page count, but it’s also a very dense storyline. It’s not something you can read that quickly. Well, it’s not something that I can read that quickly. Needless to say, I am both really happy and a little bit amazed that I’ve been able to make such progress and finish this book. Not that it’s been any effort – in fact, it’s been quite the opposite. The narrative got to a point where I really got into it and I’ve wanted to pick it up and see what happens next!

 

Eagle of Mercia

Since I have a couple of books with a similar setting on April’s TBR, I decided to pick the first of these two books next. My logic behind this is that I can separate the two books with another genre in between so I don’t mix them up on my head. I’ve also picked this first one in particular as I have to have this read by the beginning of May to review for the upcoming blog tour. I have only read the first chapter so far, but it is a start.

I’m hoping this will prove an easy and relatively short read in comparison to The Mad Ship. If that proves to be the case, then I may find myself in a similar situation last month. I spent a good deal of time reading A Game of Thrones, but then whipped through several shorter books in the latter half of the month. That may yet happen again this month. 

 

Books Discovered

On the book acquisition front, it has been a quiet week! Well, technically I did have a book turn up on my doorstep earlier this week, but it wasn’t for me so it doesn’t count!

 

Coming Up…

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is a non-bookish freebie. That means I have free rein on the topic, and I plan to use that post to tell you a little bit more about me. I’m not going to reveal any more than that at the moment in case I decide to change the angle in which I tackle this post. 

On Friday, I plan to share another Well, I Didn’t Know That! post. In a previous post in the series, I took a look at the Goodreads website and talked about some of the lesser explored features. For this post, I am going to be doing a similar take, but this time with StoryGraph. I am relatively new to StoryGraph, so I’m sure there is plenty I am yet to have discovered about the site!

You know the drill by now. My final post of the week will be at the same time, because it’s my Sunday Summary update.

 

I hope you have enjoyed today’s Sunday Summary post and have had a fabulous week.

Are you reading anything at the moment? Do you have any book recommendations for me?

 

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Monthly TBR – April 2023

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It’s the Easter weekend and I’m excited to share my monthly TBR post for April 2023!

March was a bit of an unusual one in that I read lots, and had a very successful month that way. The reads I picked up weren’t as highly rated as those I picked up earlier in the year. However, I’m really happy with the overall experience.

This month, I’m aiming for a repeat of that… albeit if I rate these books higher than those I did in March, that’s a bonus. I have a very different selection of books to pick up, but I’m looking forward to them all!

Enough waffle – let’s dive into this monthly TBR!

 

Fixed Reads

 

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

I am back to taking part in the online book club run by Ezeekat. This month’s featured book is a relatively new publication – The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi. I really like the sound of this new fantasy novel. It sounds like a little bit of an epic fantasy in setting, but with strong piracy themes. It’s a little bit different to the sort of fantasy book. I will pick up under normal circumstances, and that’s why I would like to give it a try!

 

Thanks for Sharing

As of writing this post, I’ve already read and reviewed Thanks for Sharing for a blog tour.

I wanted to pick up the book as a means of getting some inspiration for ways we can live a more sustainable lifestyle. It was an interesting read all about the various ways we can adopt a sharing economy for goods that are infrequently used, or by goods with expiry dates coming up.

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

 

Eagle of Mercia

Another book I’m reading for an upcoming blog tour is Eagle of Mercia by M.J. Porter.

So far, I’ve already read the first three books in this series, Son of Merica, Wolf of Mercia and Warrior of Mercia. I’ve really enjoyed reading and reviewing the series so far, and I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

I’ll be sharing my review for the upcoming blog tour on 3rd May, so I’ll be reading this in April ahead of that date.

 

Wolf of Wessex

Once a month I pull a book out of my TBR Jar (aka an owl mug sat on my bookshelves). This month, I pulled Wolf of Wessex by Matthew Harffy.

It’s pure coincidence that I’ve ended up with two historical fiction novels in a similar time period on my TBR this month. Based on the synopsis, the setting of Wolf of Wessex is slightly different. The narrative doesn’t deliberately allude to conflict between Saxons, but that may well presented self in the narrative. The book is very highly rated, and as this is a period of history that I clearly enjoy as I read it a lot, I’m looking forward to seeing how the narrative unfolds and whether I wish to pick up more books by this author.

 

Mood Reads

 

The Mad Ship

A bit like last month, I’m not really reading my books in the typical order. In previous months, I have prioritised my fixed reading list, and then move onto my mood reads later.

This month, I started the month with 120 pages of progress into The Mad Ship. Starting this book was my stretch goal outlined in March’s monthly TBR post. I then had to put this down temporarily in order to prioritise Thanks For Sharing for the blog tour. Now that obligation is complete, I am back with continuing with The Mad Ship.

Hardly unexpected, but I’m really enjoying this book so far. The first book does a lot of the ground work in the setting of this new trilogy. Now that is all set out, we can dive into the narrative and further the storylines quite quickly. I am already a third of the way through the book and enjoying it completely.

 

Stolen Focus

I wanted to read another non-fiction book this month. Looking through my TBR, I decided to get my hands on a copy of Stolen Focus by Johann Hari.

Some days, I am really good at setting myself goals and achieving what I set out to do. Other days, I can be really distracted. I am the type of person who will do multiple things at once in the name of multitasking, but really, am I achieving much? No, most often.

One of the things I’m working on is trying to pinpoint where the distractions come from so then I can limit them. I’m hoping this book can help with some insight as to why this happens, what circumstances may cause this in order to work on it.

 

Stretch Goal

 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

As I did last month, I am setting myself a stretch goal of starting The Hunchback of Notre Dame before the end of the month.The average page count per day required this month is slightly higher. As of writing this post, I’m also slightly behind on my daily target. With that in mind, I might not get there. But, it is a goal to aim towards.

Another reason for doing this is that splitting down larger books intentionally over a couple of months makes them a little bit more manageable. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is quite a hefty book. Don’t get me wrong, I can read chunky books over the course of a month. I did it last month, and I’ll be doing it this month as well. However, with this being a classic as opposed to a book from my favourite genre, I will find this more approachable to read if I’m splitting over the two months.

Even if I can just start the book, I’ll be happy bunny!

 

Those are the books on my monthly TBR for April. 

Are you reading anything over the Easter weekend?

 

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Sunday Summary – 13th November 2022

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Good evening and welcome to another Sunday Summary update! This week I’ve been busy reading and preparing for yet another blog tour, at the same time as having a busy working week. I’ve also been fitting in more TV time than usual as I’m currently watching I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! I don’t normally tend to watch much television during the week, so I’ve had to make a conscious effort to fit this in. I didn’t watch the last two series set in the UK; I’m glad to see it finally back in Australia.

Aside from all that, I have shared my typical two blog posts with you this week.

On Tuesday, I decided to take part in the Top Ten Tuesday post of the week. For that post, we had the decision to feature our top ten books as part of a series we would like to begin, continue with, or finish. Given that I need absolutely no help in starting new series, I put the emphasis on those I would like to finish. The thought process here was that it will inspire me to pick up those that I am close to the end of. Therefore it would result in a reduction of my ‘ongoing list’. I feature some fantastic series in this post and already have some I’d like to read soon!

Later in the week, I shared my Shelf Control regular feature post. This month I seem to be featuring a lot of historical fiction novels, and this post is no exception. I will admit I made a bit of a gaff when I bought this book. I didn’t realise it was part of a series! That said, I’m still going to read the book anyway and I will base my decision of going backward based on whether I enjoy the last book or not! If you want to find out which book I’m talking about, you can find a link to that post above.

 

Books Read

In last week’s Sunday Summary post, I was up to page 154 of Babel by R.F. Kuang. I had to set the book aside the week prior in order to read another book ahead of a blog tour post. This week, I had a small window in which to make a little more progress, before I had to put this down once again for another commitment. On Sunday night I read another chapter of Babel, taking me up to chapter 10, 172 pages in.

My next commitment was reading Warrior of Mercia by M.J. Porter. If that name rings any bells with you, it may be because I read the first two books in her Eagle of Mercia series earlier this year. When I saw the advertisement for this tour, I knew I wanted to continue with the series and the unique perspective we get in these books.

And this book didn’t disappoint. The main character is unique in that he does not relish his role as a warrior. If given the choice, he is a man who chooses to heal rather than hurt. However, the progression we have seen in his books relates to his acknowledging that he has a part to play in both roles.

I’ve been reading Warrior of Mercia for most of this week, finishing the book last night. I enjoyed this every bit as much as I expected, and I can’t wait to share my imminent review with you!

I was hoping to have gone back to Babel again before the end of the week, however that hasn’t panned out. Now I have no more interruptions, so this will be my main read for next week. I’m keen to move on as I’m looking forward to picking up another book on my November TBR. I saw a TikTok video/review of this particular book yesterday. It suggests that Malice by John Gwynne is very like A Game of Thrones. It is also been on my reading list for a very long time, so I want to jump in and make a start. Rather than allowing myself to “pick up the two at once”, (I will not read both at the same time) I’m going to make myself finish Babel first.

What also hasn’t worked out this week is listening to more of Queen of Our Times by Robert Hardman. I’ve had the opportunity, I just haven’t taken it up. I need to make more of an effort to make this a habit, and that is my aim for next week.

 

Books Discovered

Would you believe I walked into a bookshop today and didn’t purchase anything for myself? I wish to be showered in praise for the mighty accomplishment of discipline. It’s not something I normally have.

Mostly when it comes to food, but also books!

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post next week is my blog tour review of Warrior of Mercia by M.J. Porter. Typically I will try and prepare my blog posts a week in advance. But for obvious reasons, I haven’t been able to do so completely. As my tour post goes live on Tuesday, I’ll be finishing this off on Monday night and getting this ready to go live!

Later in the week, I will be sharing another regular feature. This time, it is the turn of my First Lines Friday post. I have tried something different in terms of book selection this week, and I hope it pays off!

Lastly, I’ll be back again this time next week with another Sunday Summary update for you. As usual, I’ll be talking about the books I’ve read and any added to my reading list (although hopefully none). Lastly, I’ll share details of what posts you can expect on the blog next week.

Until next time, have a fabulous week ahead!

 

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