Tag: Nikki Erlick

Sunday Summary – 13th July 2025

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If you’ve had glorious weather this weekend as I have, then I hope you’ve been able to make the most of it! Welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update! After a busy week and weekend, I’m here to catch you up on reading progress this week.

Overall, progress has taken a slower pace this week. That’s because real life priorities had to come first. We’ve had a busy week at work. I knew this was coming and so I only planned to share a Top Ten Tuesday post before today’s Sunday Summary. However, even that ended up being late. This belated post went out on Wednesday, so if you’re interested on books I’m planning to re-read, go and take a look at that post.

 

Books Read

The Anxious Generation 

In last week’s Sunday Summary update, I confided that I only had 30 pages left of this book to finish. Whilst my intention was to pick up the book and finish it last Sunday, it was Monday in the end.

The Anxious Generation was a very informative and interesting read. I already had a good measure of the book from what I’d read so far, so the ending and my feelings about the book weren’t really a surprise.

 

The Measure 

Next, I moved on to a kindle read – The Measure by Nikki Erlick. You may recall this is the book we’re reading together in the book club I host at work.

This week, I haven’t made a load of progress with the book, although I have really enjoyed starting it. The blocker on reading progress this week hasn’t been any fault of the book, but rather my time. Quarter end is a really busy time and it was especially rough this time as we had several people out of the office. I did quite a bit of overtime. To top it off, I didn’t make any reading progress on Saturday because I was out at a hen do all day. At least I got to enjoy the beautiful weather! 

As of this Sunday Summary update post, I’m 25% into The Measure. It’s a really interesting book and premise so far. I really like where the book is going in terms of exploring individual stories, but also highlighting changes in society. If you are unfamiliar, the book is about what happens when people have the knowledge of how long they are going to live. There are some really interesting character discussions and events that take place as a consequence. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this progresses and fingers crossed I can make a good deal more progress now things are settling down.

 

House of Frank

A book I have started this week, that isn’t on my official July TBR, is House of Frank. This will probably come across as an unusual choice, but it makes sense when I explain where it’s come from.

I have just become a moderator of an online book club called the Cottagecore Fantasy Book Club over at Chantelle Solace. With my experience of hosting our work book club, I volunteered and was offered the position of moderator to help with the book club. Naturally, I need to read the books that this club are reading, hence why I have started House of Frank.

Reading progress on this book has also been slow. I’ve literally only read the first chapter so far, but I think this is going to be an interesting and cosy read. Given that one of the main topics it’s dealing with is grief, this sounds like an unusual combination but one I’m happy to explore. 

I’ll be sharing more on that next week. If you’re interested, you can find out more here.

 

Alan Turing: The Enigma 

I haven’t made any more progress with Alan Turing this week. After a very slow start last week, I’ve not been able to psyche myself up to pick up this book again.

So much so, I’m only including this book in today’s post to let you know that I’m DNFing it. I’m not enjoying it, so there’s no point in forcing myself to continue when I could be reading or listening to something else more interesting… 

 

Books Discovered

I’ve picked up one book this week. As and when I pop into one of our bigger Tesco stores, I usually take a look at the little bookshelf they have near their customer services area. Most of the time, they don’t have anything that catches my eye. 

However, this week I found a copy of Janice Hallett’s The Examiner in a really good condition. I really enjoyed reading The Appeal so I’m excited to be able to try another of her books written in mixed media format. And, I dId a good deed in getting my copy as charity benefits! 

 

Coming Up… 

So, what’s the plan next week? Well, given most of my time sensitive deadlines are now over at work, scheduling should return to normal. 

This week I’m returning to my draft review of Stolen Focus in an attempt to finish it off to a standard I’m happy with. In terms of word count for the review, I’m not far off where I want to be. It’s hopefully just a case of refining it, but we’ll see.

On Friday I return with my regular First Lines Friday feature. In the spirit of making things more interesting, I’ll set myself a challenge here and now to feature an upcoming read from my 20 Books of Summer reading list. I hope you can tune in to see what that is! 

Lastly, I’m back again for another Sunday Summary instalment at the end of the week. With work deadlines less imminent and more staff in the office next week, I should get my time back. 

What are you reading this week? 

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Monthly TBR – July 2025

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The books in today’s monthly TBR are all part of my 20 Books of Summer Challenge. It shouldn’t be a surprise, in a broad sense, what I’ll be reading over the next few months. In my recent Top Ten Tuesday post, I shared which books on that list I’m prioritising soon. 

The culmination of both these lists is my July Monthly TBR. Take a look at the books coming up on this month’s list – I’m very excited to pick each and every one of these up! 

 

Fixed Reads 

 

The Anxious Generation  

The first of my carryovers from June is The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. As of my monthly wrap-up post, I’d read the first 60 pages. As of drafting this monthly TBR, I’m another 100 pages along. Progress therefore stands at about 50%. 

The Anxious Generation has proven to be an interesting and relatively easy read. For a non-fiction, informative book, it’s not dry. The facts and figures are easily spelled out and backed up. Perhaps I’m biased by the subject matter meaning so much to me. Either way, I’m really enjoying The Anxious Generation so far and hopefully I’ll blast through the last half before the end of the week! 

 

Saint’s Blood

The second and final carryover onto this monthly TBR is my audiobook listen, Saint’s Blood. I’m even closer to the finish line with this book, with just 45 minutes listening time left as of drafting this post. I will absolutely finish this book tomorrow at the latest! 

Saint’s Blood has been a great listen and I’ve loved getting back into this series. With just one book left after this one is finished, it makes sense to pick the sequel up soon and finish the series. That way it’s fresh in my mind, and it’s a tick in the ol’ box for my series completion resolution 😅

 

The Measure 

I’ve convinced book club to pick up The Measure this month. I was a little worried about squeezing in book club reads on top of my Summer Challenge TBR. However, it was my turn to pick a book and so I made it work to my advantage! 

I think this will be a good fit for the group as well. The story type appeals to the reading tastes of several in the group. That’s a great start. Also, I think this will have some really interesting talking points for our meet-up. 

Win-win! 

 

Mood Reads 

 

The Pagan Lord

I’ve convinced my boyfriend Shane to start watching The Last Kingdom. We’ve recently finished watching Vikings (which he introduced me to), and he’s liking it so far. 

I reviewed Death of Kings recently and shamed myself a little over how long it’s been since I picked up the series. It’s quite a long one, so not a likely candidate for a finish this year. Pagan Lord is book seven of the series. I think there are 13 in total off the top of my head. That’s no reason not to make progress with it though! 

At around the 300-page mark, The Pagan Lord will make for a good recap to the series. I have watched the series, so I should be able to pick up the storyline quickly enough despite the reading gap. It should also be a relatively quick read – helpful to getting caught up with my reading goal! 

 

If We Were Villains

The oldest book on this monthly TBR, in terms of how long it’s been on my TBR, is If We Were Villains.

I’ve had a copy of this on my bookshelf for years. It’s finally time to get to it! Although I’m not a big Shakespeare fan, I do love literature and drama. This combination means I’m looking forward to this book. In the past, I’ve enjoyed dark academia books. If We Were Villains falls into this category. It all bodes well – let’s just hope the book lives up to my expectations. 

 

The Dragon Republic

Whilst events of The Poppy War are fresh in my mind, I want to pick up the sequel. As the second book of a trilogy, progress with The Dragon Republic means I’ll have just one book left in the series once it’s done. Naturally, I’ll then look to finish the trilogy this year! That’ll be another series ticked off my list ☺️ 

The Poppy War was a great read. It wasn’t the fastest because the story was quite dense. Not in a bad way. I enjoyed taking my time over it. I don’t know if The Dragon Republic will be the same. Having laid the groundwork, events could go either way. Things could speed up now the world-building is established. Equally though, if there is more to lay down it could be a repeat of the same. I’ll just have to see how it goes. If I expect the latter then I won’t be disappointed if reading progress is a little slower.  

 

Alan Turing: The Enigma

Another chunky read on this monthly TBR is in the form of an audiobook. I’ve deliberately chosen to listen to the book for this reason. As I’m so close to finishing Saint’s Blood, I should have plenty of time to listen to Alan Turing. 

I added this book to my reading list after watching The Imitation Game. I’m intrigued to learn more about the person who had such an important influence on history. What shocked me most was how Alan Turing was treated after all he did to end WW2. I’m hoping this is covered in the book, because it’s a significant part of Mr Turing’s story. I’ll let you know in due course whether it does and what my thoughts are on the book. 

 

Summary 

I have a good number of books on this monthly TBR. However, given I’m close to finishing the carried over books from June, I think this is achievable. Even if I have a repeat of this month and get very close, I’ll be happy. 

What books are coming up on your reading list? 

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