Tag: non-fiction

Sunday Summary – 22nd October 2023

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I’m back with another Sunday Summary update for you all, and I have plenty of reading progress to catch you up on! Have you had as good a week as I have?

Before we get into my reading updates for the week, let’s do our usual quick catch up on what posts I’ve shared in the week. If you’ve missed any, now is your opportunity to catch up.

My first post of the week was a discussion post outlining my favourite and least favourite fantasy tropes. Since I shared a detailed look at my favourites recently, I included them on this post only as a comparison to my least favourite… as some are linked.

On Friday, I detoured from my usual feature posts to share my review of The Puppet Maker. If you are partial to a police procedural or mystery/crime novel, I strongly recommend checking this out!

 

Books Read

 

Warrior Prince

I left off in last week’s Sunday Summary update having read the first 10% of Warrior Prince. A decent start, but it was just that. I’d only picked up the book for the first time that morning! This week, I dived into the book in earnest as it is the next book due a review here on my blog.

I’m a big fan of historical fiction, and I’ve been reading a lot of Viking based fiction set in modern day England. Warrior Prince differs from that format – it is instead set across Nordic and Eastern European backdrops. I’ve enjoyed the change of focus, as it isn’t an element of Viking history that I’ve considered before. Of course I know that they would have set out to other countries other than the UK; in fact, my own little island is one of such places. It’s not something I’ve seen very much of in terms of availability to read though.

The book is full of action, and is an interesting insight into the history of what we now know as Eastern Europe. The scope of locations throughout the narrative are quite varied, going to show that things like borders and restriction of movement were completely different. The one constant since time began is war… and that is something we see a lot of in this book. The conflict and the politics, together with the action, made for an interesting read. If you want to read my full thoughts on the book, you don’t have long to wait!

 

Cinderella’s Crimes

The next book I picked up this week was Cinderella’s Crimes by Kelsey Josund. The tale is a reimagining of the traditional fairytale, only Cinna is not your average step child turned housemaid. She’s a bitter woman. Cold and calculating, she’s devised a way to turn her life around and get what she thinks she deserves – and it begins with a heist.

The plot is very well thought out and paced throughout the book. Not everything is revealed to us readers straight away either, keeping us guessing. Although Cinderella’s Crimes is one of the shorter books I have read this year, it doesn’t lack for detail. As you can only expect with two individuals running parallel heists, there is a lot of action and moving parts to juggle. The said, the plot was very easy to follow and was, overall, engaging.

I’ll be publishing my review of this book at the end of the month, so I hope you can check this out too!

 

Surrounded by Idiots

With just 20% left of Surrounded by Idiots, I left this until last. In fact, as of writing this paragraph, I’m listening to the last 26 minutes of the audio. I’ll have it finished by the end of the night edit: finished whilst editing this post.

The book has been really interesting in both understanding various personality types. More specifically, my personality type has proved interesting, and how I am perceived by others. I’m very strongly yellow, meaning I’m quite a social person and am prone to talk a lot. The funny part is that yellows tend to talk about themselves… which I can’t really argue about in this Sunday Summary now, can I?

This has built upon some knowledge I already had from a work course, and it’s helped me consider with more time and detail how to understand and work with different people.

 

Books Discovered

Dominion

I added one book to my reading list earlier today, having had a chat with Chris this afternoon about current reads. He is currently reading Dominion, and I like the sound of this alternative fiction.

The book explores what British life could be like had the country surrendered to the Germans in WW2. Chris is really enjoying the book, and I like historical fiction, so I definitely want to take a look!

 

Coming Up…

My first post of the week will be shared on Tuesday next week. With a review going live later in the week, I want to keep this post quite light in topic. With this in mind, I plan to share a Top Ten Tuesday post and share my top atmospheric books with you!

On Thursday, I’m taking part in the blog tour for Warrior Prince. If you like the sound of the book above, I’d love for you to take a look at that post when it goes live!

As always, I’ll be back this time next week with a Sunday Summary post. Until then, have a great week; I’ll see you in my Top Ten Tuesday post.

 

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Sunday Summary – 15th October 2023

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It’s a chilly Sunday evening here as I’m writing this Sunday Summary post. We’re finally getting into the season I enjoy… although I’m a little disappointed I’ve had to bring out my electric blanket already. Okay, let’s be honest, no I am not! It’s very toasty…

Before we take a look at the books I have been reading over the course of this week, let’s do our usual recap the other blog posts I have shared with you earlier this week.

The first of those blog posts was a book review for Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology. I read and enjoyed the book in Summer last year. Having had mixed results with Neil Gaiman’s writing before, I wasn’t sure how this was going to go down. It is a relatively safe subject though, and it worked out really well. If you want to know my thoughts on the book, then please go and check out my full review.

The second post I shared earlier this week was my First Lines Friday. In that post, I completed the challenge of featuring a book that I intend to pick up later this year. It’s currently pencilled in on next month’s TBR, in case you’re interested. If you are as big a fan of fantasy as I am, I strongly recommend you check out that post and see if you can recognise the introduction!

 

Books Read

 

Surrounded by Idiots

I started this week having already made 40% progress in Surrounded by Idiots the week prior.

I’ve made considerable progress with this audiobook over the course of the week. I have particularly enjoyed listening to it whilst working on a long-standing cross stitch project. I’ve been working on that project on and off for probably over two years now. I like to have something to occupy my hands, but keeping my mind free enough to be able to enjoy audio at the same time.

All of my comments from last week about this book still stand. The topic is keeping my interest and is even teaching me a few things about how I can approach different people. Perhaps I will omit mentioning to some of my work colleagues that I’ve learned how to approach them from a book of this title. Whilst my immediate work colleagues could take the joke, I’m not sure about others!

As of this Sunday Summary post, I have just less than 20% left of the book to complete. On Audible, it’s indicating a listening time of just over an hour and a half; that should be very easy for me to achieve on the basis that I’ve listened to a lot more this week already!

 

The Puppet Maker

The first physical book I picked up this week was read on my Kindle in full. I have picked up The Puppet Maker in order to review the book as part of the upcoming blog tour next Friday.

The Puppet Maker is a police procedural that will appeal to fans of murder, mystery, and a disabled protagonist. Alana finds herself in the midst of multiple complex cases, one involving a small child and a missing mother, an unusual disappearance and then finally, an apparent murder.

I enjoyed this book and the opportunity it gave me to dip my toe back into the police procedural genre. The unique perspective and characters within made the book all the more interesting. Especially after the 50% mark, I couldn’t put the book down! If you want to read my full review, then be sure to check out the blog tour post going live on Friday.

 

Warrior Prince

Lastly, I made a start on Warrior Prince this morning. As of this Sunday Summary update, I am just 10% into this book. I am also reading Warrior Prince for an upcoming blog tour post… although this one is not going live until the week after next.

I can’t really say a whole lot at the moment as I’ve only just started the book. It’s made a good starting impression though, so I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the story over the next few days.

 

Books Discovered

I’ve got a good run going here. Once again, there are no new books on the TBR this week to share with you!

 

Coming Up…

I’ve already mentioned one of the posts that will be going live next week, but let’s take it from the top.

The first post I intend to share next week is a discussion post. It’s well documented on the blog that I’m a big fan and reader of fantasy. In my discussion post, I am going to share some elements of fantasy that I love, and some I don’t necessarily enjoy… at least not all of the time.

On Friday next week, I’ll be taking a break from my usual Friday features in order to bring you that blog tour review of The Puppet Maker by Jenny O’Brien.

As always, I’ll be back here next Sunday with another Sunday Summary update post for you all. I’ll get you up to speed on the reading I’ve picked up over the week and what’s coming up on the blog next!

Until then, happy reading and I’ll see you soon!

 

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Sunday Summary – 8th October 2023

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Hello lovely reading friends – I’m back with this week’s Sunday Summary update!

Thankfully, I have a good deal more reading progress to share with you in today’s Sunday Summary than I have of late. But, we’ll get to that a bit later. Firstly, let’s take a look at the blog posts I’ve shared throughout the week so far.

My first post of the week was my Monthly Wrap-Up for September. I had a reasonable month in terms of the books I picked up, although overall reading progress was down. If you’re interested in that recap and taking a look at the books I read last month, I’ve provided a link to that post.

On Friday I shared my Monthly TBR with you. In my September wrap-up, I considered setting myself fewer books to read a month. But of course, I’m not doing that. At least, not straight away. I’ve decided to try and incorporate more audiobooks into my reading list as a way to manage the page count I set myself. Well, that’s the plan for this month anyway. We’ll see how it goes! As always, if you’re interested in checking out my reading list and haven’t done, so yet, there’s a link above.

 

Books Read

 

Priest of Bones

In last week’s Sunday Summary, I was just three chapters into Priest of Bones by Peter McLean. I had picked up the book last Saturday and made this cursory start. This was the book I focused my attention on this week.

The vast majority of reading progress was in the latter half of this week. In fact, I finished this book around midday today before going to my mum and dad’s. At the time I wanted to share my weekly update on Instagram, I didn’t know whether I would still be reading Priest of Bones or picking up the next book on my list, The Puppet Maker. With where I ended up, I actually decided on posting both of these photos, as I will be picking up The Puppet Maker tonight.

Priest of Bones was a decent read, but personally, I didn’t think it lived up to expectation. There is a lot of action in the book, and there are elements of political conflict too.

I can’t really put my finger on why this wasn’t a four-star read. I generally only rate books in whole stars, but some books like Priest of Bones sit in the middle. I’d give this a 3.5 stars really. I think the book had some potential that wasn’t explored as much as it could have been. On the other hand, I did enjoy the character arcs and revelations as they worked their way into the narrative.

I liked the book, and I had a good time with it. At the same time, I don’t think I’ll carry on with the series though.

 

Surrounded by Idiots

In addition to Priest of Bones, I have listened to about 40% of Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson this week.

I recently attended a communication course at work that is based around the DiSC model. I appreciate this sort of thing isn’t for everybody, but I personally enjoyed the course. It gave some fairly useful tips on how to identify where conflict may arise as a result of personality types, and how we can work wiith that.

To build on that course, I decided to pick up Surrounded by Idiots. I had an idea that the book was based around a similar theme based on the cover, and I was right! Where is that course was mainly based around communication, the book deals with more behavioural elements, which of course communication comes into.

The book has proved a nice and easy listen so far. I’m building upon some foundation knowledge I already have, and the book is proving to be nicely sectioned to deal with certain types of personalities under a general theme. For example, one of the chapters I’m listening to at the moment is about the weaknesses of each personality type. This chapter is then broken down with an effective subheading for each type, and the book then gives detail about each one. This is a consistent approach throughout the book, and it’s one that works really well for me.

I’ve listened to this book whilst doing cleaning around the house, and even at lunchtime at work. I wanted to pick up audiobooks again in order to maximise the time I can spend reading. I can’t spend every minute of every day with my butt plonked on the sofa (as much as I would like to), and this book format is great for those times where I’m up and about!

 

Books Discovered

No news is good news once again this week!

 

Coming Up…

Next week, I have some exciting posts lined up for you.

Usually I share my first post on a Tuesday. However, as I’m planning to try and cut the grass in record time on Monday night (I’ll be competing with daylight after work), I’m giving myself a little bit more breathing space and publishing this post on Wednesday. I want to take my time and write it properly, because it is going to be a book review. The book in question is Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.

On Friday, I plan to share my next First Lines Friday post. For this post, I am going to set myself a challenge. This is something I do periodically when I want to try and feature something different. For this week’s post, I am going to feature a book I intend to read by the end of the year (as a means of getting myself hyped about picking it up!)

On Sunday, well, you know what’s coming next. I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary post to catch up with all my latest reading updates.

I hope you can join me for each of those as and when they go live. In the meantime, I hope you have a fabulous week. I’m off to start The Puppet Maker; I’ll see you in the next post!

 

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Monthly TBR – October 2023

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

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

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

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

 

Fixed Reads

 

Priest of Bones

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

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

 

The Puppet Maker

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

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

 

Warrior Prince

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

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

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

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

 

Cinderella’s Crimes

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

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

 

TBR Jar – The Flood

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

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

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

Alright, I’ll see myself out…

 

Mood Reads

 

Killing for Company

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

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

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

 

The Shining

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

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

 

Surrounded by Idiots

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

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

 

Summary

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

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

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – September 2023

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

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

Let’s dive into my monthly wrap-up!

 

Books Read

 

The Trail

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

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

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

 

Protector of Mercia

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

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

 

Wizard and Glass

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

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

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

 

Twelve Years A Slave

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

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

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

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

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

 

A Storm of Swords – pt 1

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

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

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

 

Priest of Bones

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

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

 

Summary

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

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

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

 

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Sunday Summary – 24th September 2023

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

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

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

 

Books Read

 

Twelve Years a Slave

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

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

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

 

A Storm of Swords

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

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

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

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

 

Books Discovered

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

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

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

 

Coming Up…

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

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

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

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

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

 

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Sunday Summary – 17th September 2023

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

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

 

Books Read

 

The Trail

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

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

 

Wizard and Glass

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

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

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

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

 

Twelve Years a Slave

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

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

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

 

Books Discovered

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

 

Coming Up…

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

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

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

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

 

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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: August 2023

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Pinch, punch, first of the month! Hello everyone and welcome to my monthly wrap-up post! It’s the beginning of a new month, so I’m excited to recap what I’ve been reading with you.

At the beginning of next week I’ll be sharing my September reading list with you. I hope you can join me for that on Monday. In the meantime, let’s take a look at my reading progress compared to last month’s TBR! I had high hopes of completing this TBR even though I put more on it in anticipation of reading more in my time off work. I did read more, but I had a good number of books on the list… and a few chunky ones as that.

Let’s recap my reading progress throughout August!

 

Books Read

 

The City of a Thousand Faces

August’s TBR was a mix of genres, mediums and book lengths. I started the month with my ‘fixed read’ that fell in middle ground in terms of length.

The City of a Thousand Faces is not your typical fantasy in terms of setting. We explore a city in a fantasy setting that reminded me very much of real life cities like Istanbul. Think arid landscapes, powerful sultans etc.

At 560 pages, this fantasy made for good exploration of a new world. The book can only be titled The City of a Thousand Faces as each character seems to have at least two – metaphorically of course! The characters and the plot are political in nature, and there was an awful lot of backstabbing!

The City of a Thousand Faces made for an okay read. It wasn’t my favourite book of the month, but I was interested to see how events concluded. It’s the most neutral review in this monthly wrap-up; the experience got better from here on out. 

 

Spike

The first a non-fiction book I picked up throughout August was Spike. If you think it is a little early to pick up and read books about the pandemic, then maybe hold off this one for a little while. If you do decide to pick it up, then I hope, like me, you find this an interesting and insightful read.

The book offers insight into the handling of the pandemic. We start looking at events from a global scale before narrowing its focus to the UK’s handling of the pandemic from the point at which it landed on our shores. There were insights in this book that are both shocking and in equal measure unsurprising. That may sound contradictory… but hear me out. What is shocking is how lackadaisical some of the approaches were when the pandemic was in its early phases. In ways, it is unsurprising based on who those individuals are!

I quite enjoyed this read, even when you take into consideration the topic and the consequences of this event has had our lives as we know it. The pandemic has impacted us for a number of years already and will continue to do so. This book only touches on a relatively short period of time and there may well be more to add to this at a later date. Should such a book come out, I would definitely read this one as well.

 

Ship of Destiny

The longest book on my August TBR that we’ll talk about in this monthly wrap-up was Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb. I’ve been looking forward to this conclusion to The Liveship Trader trilogy – and for very good reason! These books are very quirky in their fantasy set up, and at last we see the events over the prior 1800 odd pages lead characters into their destinies.

With prior Hobb books, I have on occasion felt the length and depth of the storylines. That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed them. However, I am very conscious of the fact I’m reading them, and that I’m having to read quite a lot in order to get through the page count. That wasn’t the case with Ship of Destiny at all. I was so invested in the narrative that the pages flew by, despite the dense storyline and events to take in. I’d go so far to say that I think Ship of Destiny is my favourite Hobb book so far!

 

A Brief History of Time

My second non-fiction read of the month was A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. This book pushed me out of my comfort zone because it is quite technical (and I am not). I enjoyed the concept of science and space despite not being so versed in complex, physical and mathematical equations and concepts. This book has those in abundance, although Stephen Hawking does do his best to explain these in simplified and practical examples.

Even though I’m not technically minded, I was able to read A Brief History of Time on a relatively superficial level and still find it interesting. I’m sure there is plenty more that other readers could get out of the book. However, I will save that for them. Although it is a science book, you don’t have to be too scientifically minded to understand the theories, principles, and discussion points that Stephen Hawking brings up throughout.

 

Leadership and Culture

Non-fiction isn’t a genre I read a whole lot of, although you know by now that I am trying to read more it. My third and last non-fiction on my August TBR and for inclusion in this monthly wrap-up is Leadership and Culture. I read this book whilst I was off work and managed to read it quite quickly. As someone who is invested in improving office culture and would be interested in a management position in future, I wanted to read this book ahead of that time to effectively set myself up.

This book has a lot of practical examples of do’s and don’t’s when it comes to management versus leadership. These are all examples I have seen in the workplace and felt their effects as well. I’m sure everyone has! For anyone who currently is in a management position and wishes to make improvements, the book is full of practical tips in order to identify or work on sticking points. Although I’m not necessarily in a position to adopt any of these now, I am in a position to encourage the healthy habits that some of these tips try to adopt. I can help encourage others to speak out by speaking out for myself, for example.

 

Wizard and Glass

The last book to feature in today’s monthly wrap-up is my final read of August, Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. I was determined not to leave it another four years before I returned to The Dark Tower series. It’s not even been four months… I’m sure you’re proud of me! On a serious note, I really enjoyed going back to the series and exploring the narrative and history of the world in a little bit of a different way. Whereas previous books hint at prior events and leave a lot to the imagination, this book seems to have more of a focus on building up that backstory.

It’s no wonder I didn’t get to the end of this before the end of the month, all things considered. This book is nearly 900 pages in itself as well! 

 

Summary

Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get to Lost Solace. It was ambitious to try and tack this onto the end of what is already an extensive reading list. It’s not going away though. As I didn’t get to it in August, expect this to feature on September’s TBR coming out on Monday next week.

Over the course of August I read in excess of 2,500 pages. That’s an average of 80 pages a day, so not insignificant at all. I needed to read 107 pages a day in order to get through my reading list. That was quite an ambitious target! If I had no other plans for my time off work, this may have been a possibility. The fact is, I did use that time off for other things as well. I still made fantastic reading progress and I’m pleased with what I’ve achieved!

That concludes this monthly wrap-up post. What books have you been reading recently? Do you have any recommendations for me?

 

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Sunday Summary – 27th August 2023

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Welcome to my Sunday Summary update post this August bank holiday weekend. I hope you’re having a good weekend whatever you’re doing. My time off work is coming to an end, but I’ve made good use of the time!

Aside from reading, I’ve been keeping to my usual blogging schedule. My first post of this week went live on Tuesday; I shared several books I unhauled earlier in the week. It’s not a common post I share, but it felt apt as I’d just gone through my shelves to make some room anyway!

Next, I shared my regular Friday feature post – Well, I Didn’t Know That! For this week’s feature, I shared some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned taking an online course on social media marketing. If you want to improve visibility and engagement on your posts, why not give some of these a try?

 

Books Read

 

A Brief History of Time

I left off in last week’s Sunday Summary having read 25% of A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. If you haven’t read this book, it’s quite a technical science book about space, time, and the theories as to the history of the planet and universe as we know it.

I’m not a science geek, so I ended up reading and understanding the concepts in the book on a superficial level. It was easy enough to follow, especially as Stephen Hawking helped explain some of the principles of the theories in approachable, everyday terms. I was initially sceptical of the later chapters being a bit difficult. But, the way the book has been written means that what we’ve read and understood previously helps us understand these later concepts!

I enjoyed this non-fiction book, not only for the subject matter but also for the change of pace. It was a stretch out of my comfort zone, but I wouldn’t rule out reading similar books in future!

 

Leadership & Culture

I jumped out of one non-fiction book into another, and quite a different subject matter entirely! Leadership & Culture concerns management in the workplace, and how different management styles can affect the work dynamic, trust and ultimate success of companies. The book mainly targets current managers, however, can easily be read by aspiring managers too. I’d argue if you want to get into a position like that, you want to learn this before you start on the wrong foot!

The authors of the book both have extensive leadership experience. They draw upon techniques and real examples of how leadership vs. management impacts employees and companies, as well as suggesting exercises to identify where improvements can be made by the reader in their own environment.

Leadership & Culture was a very quick read to pick up. It had a nice tone and easy-to-follow narrative style that I enjoyed. Should I find myself in a management position in future, it is a book I will revisit to implement the strategies detailed within.

 

Wizard and Glass

The final book I started this week is Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. This is the fourth book in The Dark Tower series -one I have really enjoyed to date!

Getting into Wizard and Glass has been a breeze. Since I’ve not left it so long since I read the last instalment earlier this year (compared to the four-year gap starting The Waste Lands in May), I’ve been able to pick up where I left off without a recap. The events of the book pick up exactly where he Waste Lands finishes. That book had a really interesting cliffhanger of a conclusion, so it was great to get straight back into that and resolve what was happening early doors.

As of this Sunday Summary update post, I am 159 pages into Wizard and Glass. Overall, I’m still a little behind schedule to finish my reading by the end of the month. However, I’m not too far behind and what I’ve read of Wizard and Glass has gone really quickly. I found this with the prior book in the series as well. If I remember correctly, I read that in just a handful of days! I’m hoping for a similar experience here!

 

Books Discovered

Having read a great recommendation/review earlier this week, I have added a book called Among Thieves to my TBR. I even did myself a favour and made a note of the link to that post, so you can go and check it out for yourself!

After reading the review and the synopsis of the book, I have every faith that I’m going to enjoy it. I have read similar books and themes previously and got on with them really well! here’s hoping I have the same experience with this book!

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post next week is going to be another book review. As I’m sure you won’t find it difficult to believe, I have quite a list of books to catch up with and share my thoughts on. Next week’s featured book is one I read even though it is a genre I don’t read a lot of. I decided to pick it up purely because I enjoyed the Netflix series, (against all odds I hasten to add!) If you haven’t guessed already, it’s The Duke & I by Julia Quinn.

On Friday, we will be officially in the month of September! With the coming of the new month, I’ll inevitably be kicking off with a wrap-up of the books I read throughout the month of August!

As always, I will be sharing another Sunday Summary update with you next weekend and going over the latest books I’ve picked up, any I’ve added to the reading list, and a schedule of what you can expect content-wise the following week.

That’s a wrap for this Sunday Summary post! Let me know in the comments what book you are currently reading!

 

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