Tag: non-fiction

Sunday Summary – 30th April 2023

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Happy long weekend all! It’s time for my weekly Sunday Summary post, catching you up on all the latest reading progress and bookish news of the week.

The first post I shared this week was published on Wednesday. In that post, I reviewed the very first book I read in 2022. Yes, that is how far behind I am on reviews! The book is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay; one I wouldn’t necessarily have discovered/picked up on my own, but it was recommended to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

On Friday, I shared the next instalment of my series, Shelf Control. For this week’s post, I featured a legal thriller written by a prominent author in this genre. I have featured one of his books before, as that is also on my reading list to pick up! However, I am still yet to read any of these books. Check out this week’s post to find out who I’m talking about.  

 

Books Read

 

Stolen Focus

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update, I was a third of the way through Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. Naturally, I have been progressing with this book throughout the week, and I finished it on Wednesday.

I like how this book discusses some individual things we can do in order to improve our own focus, but also highlight that we’re up against it. It seems that a lot of self-help books try to point the finger at individuals for a lack of focus. However, as this book rightly points out, we live in a world where increasingly, everybody is vying for attention. I mean, look at me – even by writing this blog post, I’m hoping to take a small portion of your attention. Hopefully, not in an aggressive or distracting way… but still.

This book covers both sides and it’s packed full of research that has been collated in order to educate us about our focus. It was a really informative read, and the narrative style was enjoyable.

 

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

Next, I decided to pick up my book club read, The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi. I am enjoying this book, but at the same time, it’s not one that I am being successful in reading very quickly. When I was getting my facts together for this post, I surprised myself when I saw that I’d finished Stolen Focus on Wednesday. That’s not that long ago, but it feels like I’ve been working through The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi a lot longer than that.

It’s a fun book. In essence, we follow an adventure led by Amina, an infamous pirate. Through her quest, she seems to be getting together old friends in order to help her find a rare treasure and uncover what is currently a bit of a mystery. I won’t say any more than that, so as not to spoil the book. I am at the halfway point right now, and I’m interested to see where this is going to lead.

One of the elements I have liked very much is that the book is set in the Middle East. Quite often in fantasy, the setting is either entirely fictional, or heavily westernised. That clearly isn’t the case in this book! I like that it explores what it is to be a Muslim. The protagonist has clearly not abided by that faith in her past, but she is trying her best now. It is a perspective I don’t see very often, and I read a lot of fantasy! I’m enjoying this change of scenery and focus when it comes to religion.

 

Books Discovered

I have absolutely no news in terms of additions to my reading list, or book purchases this week.

 

Coming Up…

It is the beginning of a brand-new month next week. So, that means it’s going to be a busy one!

I’m taking advantage of the bank holiday tomorrow in order to update you with my monthly wrap-up for April. Most of that reading progress has already been covered in my Sunday Summary post. However, I do intend to make further progress in my current read tonight, so that will be included in that post.

On Wednesday, I’m taking part in the blog tour for Eagle of Mercia by M.J. Porter. I read the book earlier this month in advance of the tour, and I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you. Eagle of Mercia is the fourth book in the Eagle of Mercia Chronicles. I’ve had the pleasure of touring for each of these books so far. I’ll be continuing by sharing my thoughts on this latest book next week.

I also have my May TBR to squeeze in. I already have quite a full schedule planned this week, but I don’t want to leave it until next week to tell you what I’m reading. So, I am going to share my May TBR on Thursday.

On Friday, I am sharing a First Lines Friday post with you. When I drafted my blog post to go live this Friday, I made a bit of a boo-boo. I only realised that I drafted a First Lines Friday post in error, thinking that was the post due this week, until I was setting the post up on my blog. So, I decided not to waste the effort I’d made so far and I’ve already scheduled it to go live this Friday. With all the posts I’m sharing in addition to this next week, maybe that’s not a bad thing that I’ve already done it…

And of course, I will end my marathon run with another Sunday Summary at the same time next week! It’s a good job we have another bank holiday next week, because I’ll need the rest!

 

For now, that is all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post. I am going to make a little more progress with The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi before turning in.

What are you reading?

 

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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 – 9th April 2023

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Happy Easter everyone and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary, regardless of whether you are religious or not! I hope you’re having a lovely weekend, however you are spending it.

In an ideal world, I’d have loved to have spent my whole weekend plonked on my backside and reading a book. However, household jobs get in the way, as always. I had to make the most of good weather on Friday to get out and tidy the garden. Thankfully I managed to get it all finished before the rain has come in. It wouldn’t be a British bank holiday without a bit of rain now, would it?

Onwards and upwards. This week I’ve had a busy one as I had to flit back to a four post schedule. Not only did I need to catch up and share my monthly wrap-up post for March, but I also had an obligation to review a book for a blog tour (Thanks For Sharing), and keep you up-to-date with my April TBR.

As always, I’ll provide a link to each of those posts above, if you want to go back and take a look at them.

 

Books Read

 

Thanks for Sharing

Due to the rapidly upcoming blog tour, in last week’s Sunday Summary post I shared that I was temporarily setting aside The Mad Ship in order to progress with Thanks For Sharing. As of that last Sunday Summary post, I had read the first chapter of the book, which was about 15% progress.

As my review was going live on the blog on Thursday, I had to get a shift on with this book. This was a really easy book to pick up. I was interested in the subject matter as I have recently been appointed a sustainability champion at work. I’ve also recently started recycling at home. I wanted to pick up Thanks For Sharing as a way of exploring other ways we can live a more sustainable lifestyle. Some of those are discussed in my review post on Thursday. If you want to check out more detail, I suggest you go back to that review.

Even though this book had an informative tilt, the narrative was really well written. Eleanor Tucker, embeds humour and plenty of real life anecdotes to bring us in to the family fold and her experiences of a sharing economy. I laughed out loud throughout reading this book. So, if you have any reservations about the subject matter being on the dry side, I can assure you, that is not the case!

 

The Mad Ship

With Thanks For Sharing now complete, I moved back to continuing progress with The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb.

I haven’t made any showstopping progress with this book – I read around 170 pages in the latter half of this week. I’ve had a busier blogging schedule this week, as well as jobs around the house and garden to do. It’s not surprising that my reading progress is less than I have enjoyed in the last couple of weeks. But, I’m still happy with the progress I’ve made and I’m looking forward to continuing this epic fantasy to see where we end up next.

 

Books Discovered

Recently, I started listening to a careers based podcast. I can’t exactly remember how I stumbled upon it. I must have been looking for a specific topic or episode, and from there, I started listening on a weekly basis. If you’re interested, the podcast is called the squiggly careers podcast.

After listening and enjoying more episodes featuring various topics that Sarah and Helen discuss, I discovered that they published a book in 2020 with a similar name to the podcast. That’s not the book I’ve added to my reading list. When looking into that first book, I discovered You Coach You, which they published in 2022.

Although a slightly different medium, I expect the same kind of narrative voice and feedback to come through from the book. As I’m trying to read more non-fiction this year, and I’ve already established a connection with these two authors, I imagine I will enjoy and find this book useful!

 

Coming Up…

I’m stepping back to a three post schedule next week. It is definitely a lot more manageable and sustainable in terms of my time, and also allows me to get more reading done. And let’s face it, that’s what I’m here for!

On Tuesday, I plan to share a discussion post with you. If you have been reading my blog in the last few months, you’ll know that I have started reading books as part of an online book club. In that post, I’m going to talk about the benefits I think there are to joining a book club and reading books out of your comfort zone.

On Friday, I’ll be back with a First Lines Friday feature post. As always, I’ll be taking a look for a book with an exciting introduction, and I’m telling you all about it!

My last post of the week will of course be my usual Sunday Summary update.

Now that you are all caught up, I am going to cosy in on this rainy Sunday evening and make more reading progress with The Mad Ship… and maybe tucking into Easter egg. Who am I kidding, there’s no maybe about it!

 

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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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Blog Tour Review: Thanks for Sharing – Eleanor Tucker

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Hello everybody and welcome to today’s blog tour review of Thanks for Sharing by Eleanor Tucker. Before I jump into today’s review, I’ll take the opportunity to say thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources, and also to the author for the opportunity to read and share this book with you on its publication day!

I set out to read Thanks for Sharing to get inspiration on ways in which I can make a difference in terms of sustainability – personally, and through influence as a ‘Sustainability Champion’ at work. Thanks for Sharing has given me plenty of ideas to think about! I don’t doubt that all readers can take away ideas to make small changes for themselves as well. I would recommend this book to anybody who wants to start a more sustainable lifestyle.

 

Thanks for Sharing – Eleanor Tucker

In this fascinating book, Eleanor Tucker sets out a bold vision of how sustainable sharing can save us money, and lead to a happier future.

What is the Sharing Economy? How can it help us live more affordable, more sustainable, and ultimately more fulfilling lives? What would happen if for one year a family pledged to share as much as they possibly can? Instead ofowning more and more stuff, what it’s like to stop owning things and borrow, lend, rent and swap instead?

These are big questions, but features writer Eleanor Tucker sets out to answer them in this thoroughly absorbing and entertaining guide to sustainable sharing, or as it is also known, ‘collaborative consumption’.

In this engrossing study, Eleanor straps us into on her year-long experiment along with her somewhat reluctant family. Over the course of the year, with the aid of various sharing apps, they will pledge to buy as few new things as possible, instead relying on the power of sharing, lending, renting and borrowing to supply their needs.

Each chapter introduces a different type of sharing into her day to day life, from the little ‘things’ (food, clothes) to the bigger ’things’ (cars, furniture, the space around us), and shows how the growth of tech has revolutionized an age-old practice.

The book contains best-for recommendations based around different types of sharing, to create an easily accessible shortcut into sharing.

Written with warm and relatable humour as well as a deeply-researched knowledge of the history of sharing, this unmissable guide could truly change the way you consume.

 

Purchase Link – https://geni.us/ThanksforSharing

 

My Thoughts

I have recently been appointed a local ‘Sustainability Champion’ in my workplace. We are at the stage where the team is quite new and ideas are fresh, so I wanted to look at the topic from a different perspective. Ultimately, my aim was to gain ideas as to what improvements we can make. I got that from this book!

Thanks for Sharing is split into two sections. The first mainly focuses on smaller and individual changes that people can make to reduce waste, or mass production of goods that are used infrequently and can be shared. The second half of the book deals with more of the ‘big’ ideas. For example, the impact of commuting and travel and how people can reduce their carbon footprint.

I enjoyed looking at both sides of the same coin. When we think about the environment and sustainability, we often think of these large, mass scale results that need to take place in order to see a global benefit. However, the first section of the book goes to show that we can do that by each taking small steps. Not only that, but it emphasises the point that taking any step in the right direction is better than doing nothing at all.

Let me say that again. Taking any step in the right direction is better than doing nothing at all.

I must admit, when reading some of these examples of sharing, I would think “yes, but…”. There are plenty of reasons why the suggestions made ‘as is’ in the book wouldn’t work for me. A lot of that is down to where I live, or my lifestyle. But, there’s more to the suggestions than just taking them as given. For example, food sharing apps are talked about in the early parts of the book. They wouldn’t be practical for me because food is listed and disappears quickly. Frankly, I don’t have the time to manage that. However, there is no reason why I can’t manage the food I buy and use more effectively. That part of the concept isn’t complicated, and I have plenty of other ways to make sure that food gets redistributed to someone who can use it.

Another surprising element I really enjoyed about this book, is the humour. Through Eleanor‘s narrative, we really get to know her and her family. We get to laugh at mishaps/irony of children puking on carpets just after the borrowed carpet cleaner is returned. We experience sullen children/teenagers that you can’t get off games consoles, or who make themselves scarce so they don’t have to help pitching a borrowed tent in the rain. I laughed out loud throughout reading this book.

Even though Eleanor has gone well out of her way to try different aspects of the ‘Sharing Economy’, we see a family life that we all recognise in amongst all this change. The familiarity goes along way in helping readers visualise ways we can incorporate similar changes into our daily lives. 

 

Author Bio

Eleanor Tucker is a former advertising creative and features writer for The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent, Marie Claire, and Psychologies, commentating on gender, society, sustainability, tech and lifestyle. She now writes, speaks, and advises startups all over the world on the sharing economy space.

She is on the board of the CBI council Sharing Economy UK, and also co-founded and chairs the committee of the Sharing Economy Global Summit. Passionate about the potential of online platforms to democratize, empower communities and help us live more sustainably. Elle advises on gig and sharing economy models – working internationally to help start-ups and scale-ups to launch, grow and thrive. Originally from Oxford in England, Eleanor was educated at Edinburgh University in Scotland, where she now lives with her husband and two young children. THANKS FOR SHARING is her first book.

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Sunday Summary – 2nd April 2023

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Good evening and welcome to today’s weekly catch up post – aka my Sunday Summary! I hope you’ve had a good week? I’ve had a good one as I took the latter half of the week off work. I did a couple of small jobs around the house. Otherwise, I dedicated my time to reading, gaming and some cross stitch!

Naturally, I’ve also been posting bookish content for you. On Wednesday, I shared my last review of my re-read of the Harry Potter series! I really enjoyed reading these books again as an adult. If you want to read all my thoughts on the books and the wider series, there is a link above to that last post. That also contains links to the previous reviews if you want to catch up from the beginning.

On Friday, I shared a Shelf Control post. In this series, I feature books coming up on my TBR and share them with you. I also talk about why I’m interested to pick these books up. I confess that behind the scenes, I’ve even whittled down my reading list by doing this series. This week’s featured book is a work of classical fiction by a Russian author and philosopher. No, not Leo Tolstoy. I was inspired to pick this up based on my experience of War and Peace though!

 

Books Read

 

Soul Identity

I picked up from last week’s Sunday Summary post by finishing Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder. As of that post, I was 71% through the book. My plan was to finish the book on Sunday after my Sunday Summary post went live, which I did.

Two small comments I would make is that I don’t feel the relationship between the protagonist Scott, and Val, was necessary. Also, I didn’t like how the majority of female characters were introduced by their appearance. They’re not deal-breaking things, but it did bring my review down to 4 stars.

Otherwise, I enjoyed the book overall. It explores some interesting spirituality and religious concepts of reincarnation from a scientific perspective. I knew that was the premise of the book, but had no idea how the story would go about it. It was perfectly enjoyable and quite an easy read.

 

Death of Kings

Another easy read I picked up this week was Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell. This is the sixth book in his Saxon Stories series, also known as The Last Kingdom.  At around 350 pages, this book is a good length to progress the story without getting bogged down in too much detail.

There is still plenty of action that takes place in these 350 pages. As ever, we see the conflict Uhtred has between his Saxon birth but Norse upbringing. Needless to say, it gives a unique perspective to this historical fiction narrative… and he gets up to a lot of mischief!

It was good to finally go back to this series. I read the previous book, The Burning Land, back in 2020. Now I’m back into the series, and actively looking to read sequels this year, you can expect I’ll be picking more of these books up soon!

 

The Mad Ship

So, with the last of the books on my ‘set’ TBR read, I achieved my stretch goal this month by starting The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb. Before the end of the month, I read the first 120 pages of this 906 page epic! As of this post, I am now 174 pages in – a healthy start!

In what I’ve read so far, we are only really just getting caught up with all the plot-driving characters in their various locations. Robin Hobb isn’t exactly known for short chapters. It’s taken that time to pick up where we left off in the last book. I can’t wait to see where the narrative takes us from here!

 

Thanks for Sharing

In addition to the above, I’ve also started a book on my April TBR. That’s because I’m taking part in a blog tour for the book next week. I signed up for it just a couple of weeks ago, so I need to get a shift on with it!

Thanks for Sharing is a short non-fiction book about sharing rather than purchasing new. The author spent about a year experimenting with different ways to share various goods and reduce consumerism/waste. I’ll admit I was inspired to take up the offer of this blog tour as I’ve recently taken up the mantle of sustainability champion at work.

I picked this book up just this morning and I’ve already progressed through the first chapter. That’s about 15% progress. Given the deadline, I’ll be prioritising this read in the short term and then going back to The Mad Ship once I’ve finished this one. Given that it’s only 250 odd pages, I should have this finished in a day or two.

 

Books Discovered

I’m back to a week of no news this week. Since I added four books last week, I haven’t been out or particularly looking for anything new.

So, no news is good news!

 

Coming Up…

I’ve enjoyed a three post per week schedule for the last fortnight, but out of necessity, I will be sharing four posts next week.

Since we are already into the beginning of April, my first post of the week will be my monthly wrap-up post for March. I’ve had a great reading month, so I have plenty to share with you in that post. I hope you can log on to check that out in the next couple of days.

Next, I have my blog tour post for Thanks for Sharing going live on Thursday next week. As I mentioned above, I’ve only just started the book today. However, I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts on the book and whether I’ll be trying anything featured in the book for myself. 

I also have my monthly TBR for April to publish. I’ve already christened the list, so I know what I’m picking up this month. You can expect that list later this week. I’ll be aiming to publish the list on Friday, but I won’t kick myself if it gets pushed out to Saturday.

I’ll round up the week with my usual Sunday Summary update, with all my reading progress in the usual format.

For now though, that’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary.

What are you reading?

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – February 2023

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Good evening and welcome to my wrap-up post for February 2023! I set myself a lofty goal for February, which equated to attempting to read around 107 pages a day.

This was ambitious and I’m not surprised that I haven’t achieved it. However, I am really happy with the reading progress I’ve made. I’ve picked up the majority of the books I set out to, and I have read books from a diverse range of authors in line with it being Black History Month!

Let’s take a look at the books I picked up throughout the month!

 

Books Read

 

The Chimp Paradox

When I drafted my monthly wrap-up post for January, I was 72% into The Chimp Paradox by Professor Steve Peters. If you want to know my feelings on the book, then it’s probably best to go and check out that post. In short, I decided to whip through to the end of this book relatively quickly. This last little push on progress didn’t take too long and I swiftly moved on to my February TBR!

 

The House of Fortune

Next, I picked up the last book I had hoped to read in January. I picked up a copy of The House of Fortune from my local library.

Having read mixed reviews on the book, I didn’t want to commit to buying a copy if I didn’t enjoy it all that much. As it happens, this was a fairly decent read. I didn’t enjoy all of the characters individually, but the overall story comes together really well. I managed to read and return my copy to the library in just over a week. Not bad going really!

 

Illuminae

For my next read, I decided to change pace and genre completely.

Illuminae is written in a mixed media format. The story is told through messaging exchanges between characters, as well as interviews, logs, and other mixed written accounts. If you are a fan of books written in this style, such as The Appeal by Janice Hallett, then this will definitely suit you. I enjoyed the sci-fi setting in combination with this writing style. The different ways in which events are recounted really fit in with the storyline and the events that take place.

Although Illuminae is one of the longer books on my February TBR, it didn’t take that long to read. It being written in the style it was made it really easy to digest, and, in some cases, the word count per page is a lot less than you’d expect if you were reading traditional prose.

 

Becoming

In my next read, I change genre and pace yet again. Going back to a more traditional written format, I picked up a memoir by Michelle Obama – her first book called Becoming.

Becoming was the perfect book to read in fitting with this month’s theme of black history month, and also ticking a box towards my goal of reading more non-fiction. It also turned out to be a brilliant read. Although I’m not overly invested or interested in politics, I felt that Becoming struck the right balance of incorporating the struggles Michelle and Barack experienced in the early chapters of their life, up until their days in the White House. This book is not really political and doesn’t push too much of an agenda.

I expected to enjoy it, but I thought it was going to be more political. I’m glad that it wasn’t as it suited me perfectly.

 

The Rise of the Dragon

I went back to a favourite world in picking up The Rise of the Dragon by George R.R. Martin. I was very lucky to receive a copy of this book as an early birthday present, and it was only fitting I read it this month. The Rise of the Dragon covers the early history of the Targaryens, but in a way that is approachable to all readers. I have read Fire and Blood, the first detailed book of the Targaryen history. This is written more like a chronicle, with a lot of information, analysis and opinion.

That’s absolutely fine if you enjoy that style and are a big fan of the series. However, if you want an overview of the history and the events that run up to the main series (or the history featured in the TV spin off – House of the Dragon), then The Rise of the Dragon is better suited. It is also full of beautiful and detailed illustrations. I really enjoyed going through these as I was reading the stories and enjoying the varied artistry styles.

 

Africa Risen

My last read of the month is my current read, Africa Risen. This is a short story anthology, featuring speculative fiction written by black authors. This book is my book club read with Ezeekat’s book club. Whilst I haven’t completed the book in time for the end of the month, I can still offer some feedback on what I’ve read so far.

I am enjoying this collection of short stories. There are similar themes throughout these tales which are from a completely different perspective I never thought of before. There are some more obvious themes, including identity, racism, slavery, and mistreatment. But there are plenty others. For example, water features repeatedly in the stories in a completely different way to western novels. Whereas in the latter, it is a very basic, mundane and uninteresting element, that is not the case in the stories. Water is revered as life-giving, revitalising, and something special.

To a society that has an abundance of it, there is definitely a completely different attitude to it. And that’s something I’ve never thought of before, even though it is obvious in hindsight.

As of this monthly wrap-up post, I am 68% through Africa Risen. I’m hoping to finish this book very soon; my intention is to finish it within the next day or two, so then I can move onto my March TBR!

 

DNF’s

None to report this month!

 

Unread

I had hoped to pick up another couple of books throughout the month.

The first of these two as a relatively short book at just under 300 pages – The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean. I’ve been looking to pick up this book for a couple of months, and I was hoping it was going to be a good and short palate cleanser to help keep momentum going. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get to this one. However, I would like to try and pick it up soon.

The second book on my list is a fairly recent acquisition – In Every Mirror She’s Black by Lola Akinmade Aketstrom. I would have been extremely happy if I’d made it to the end of the month having started the book. It’s obviously not quite panned out the way I had hoped, but never mind! I have still read plenty throughout the month and pushed myself to do so, whilst still balancing my time. That was what I set out to do.

 

That’s *all* for today’s monthly wrap-up post for February.

Have you read any of the books featured in this post? What have you been reading?

 

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Sunday Summary – 26th February 2023

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Good evening and welcome to today’s weekly Sunday Summary update! As always, I hope you’ve had a good week? What have you been up to?

In addition to reading and blogging, I picked up an ongoing cross-stitch project and played Stardew Valley on my switch. I’ve also watched most, if not all, episodes of Wednesday on Netflix. It’s been a good week of doing some different things.

Onto the blogging front, my first blog post was a Top Ten Tuesday post. This week’s theme was sharing our favourite heroines. A lot of the heroines on my list have a lot in common. They are women who stand up in the face of adversity, and do not shy away from who they are. They are also brave, smart, and these are all things that I strive to be. If you want to find out who made the list, you can check out my top ten tuesday post.

My next post was my next instalment of Well, I Didn’t Know That! In this week’s post, I decided to take a look at functionality on Goodreads that I don’t currently use, but may well do so in future. I mainly use the site as a book database and to log what I’m reading. However, there are a lot of news articles, book recommendations, and community elements to the site that I don’t make the most of. If you want to check out what those are, again, there is a link above.

On Friday’s First Lines Friday post, I featured the final book of a trilogy that I read last year. My challenge for this post was to feature a book I read in last year. In the end, this was quite an easy choice. I featured one of the earlier books of the trilogy in this series before. They have engaging opening lines to suck the reader in, and the storylines themselves are fantastic. As I mentioned in that post, this is a series I have now read twice, and also purchased for two friends. Curious as to what Friday’s feature was? You know the drill – it’s linked up.

 

Books Read

The Rise of The Dragon

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post, I had two current reads on the go. The first of those books was The Rise of the Dragon by George R.R. Martin. I also had a second book on the go for practical reasons; The Rise of the Dragon is a large and heavy illustrated history of the Targaryen’s. It’s not a practical book to take to work and read in your lunch hour!

So, in order to keep up momentum with reading, I also started Africa Risen. This particular book is Ezeekat’s current book club read, but more importantly, it’s on my kindle. Infinitely more transportable!

I was just over 150 pages through The Rise of the Dragon as of my last Sunday Summary post. Even though I wasn’t taking it to work to make progress with, I still flew through it. As I knew I would. I am a huge fan of the Game of Thrones and the universe the series is set in. I have already read some of the history before in Fire and Blood. However, The Rise of the Dragon is far more approachable. Fire and Blood is written as if it is a detailed chronicle of events that have happened in history. The Rise of the Dragon is more like a reference book. It still tells the story, but with a lot less detail, analysis and opinion.

If you want to take a look at the Targaryen history and you’re intimidated by the size of Fire and Blood, then I would strongly recommend The Rise of the Dragon. The illustrations in this book are fantastic and complement the story nicely!

 

Africa Risen

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update, I had only made a token start on my second read, Africa Risen. After finishing The Rise of the Dragon, I moved on to reading this book in earnest, (rather than on the side). As of today’s Sunday Summary post, I am now nearly 40% through this anthology collection.

I am enjoying the narrative being broken up into lots of more stories. It makes it an approachable read as it is very easy to pick up and put down as and when required. As with all of these things, there are varied storylines and narrative voices; some are easier to read than others. What all stories have in common is that they spotlight minority voices in speculative fiction. That’s a combination I haven’t really read before and I am enjoying. Sometimes it is good to change pace and reach out to read something new. Africa Risen certainly takes that box.

 

Books Discovered

Having recently received a deluge of books for my birthday, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I have been laying off adding anything to my reading list right now. I have more than enough to be getting on with!

 

Coming Up…

As we are coming up to the end of the month, next week I will be updating you on my reading progress in February via my usual monthly wrap-up post.

You may recall that last month I squeezed my wrap-up post out in the late evening of the last day of the month. This is because I have a regular feature post that I share on a Wednesday. As there are 28 days in February, we are back in the same boat this month. As that post turned out okay in terms of timing, I am going to do the same thing this month. I will prepare the majority of my post tomorrow, and I’ll get the last updates together on my current reads on Tuesday, so the post can go live!

On Wednesday, I will be back with my regular feature, Well, I Didn’t Know That. This week, I will read through a magazine called Understanding Habits. As somebody who enjoyed studying psychology at school, I’m looking forward to going through this. I also still think I have plenty to learn; anything interesting I read will be shared in that post!

On Friday, I will share my reading list for March 2023. I have a provisional list in mind and I’m excited for the books that are on it. One slight deviation is that I’m not going to be taking part in the book club read this month. If I’m entirely honest, I’m just not fussed about the subject! Yes, I am trying to broaden my horizons with my reading a bit, but I’m not going to force myself to read something that I have no interest in whatsoever either.

So, the world is my oyster when it comes to my reading list this month. I hope you can check out my post on Friday to find out what I plan to read throughout March.

Lastly, I will be back with my next Sunday Summary update post at the same time as usual. Until then, I hope you have a fabulous week and I look forward to seeing you around soon!

 

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Sunday Summary – 19th February 2023

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Happy Sunday and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update! Before we jump into my reading progress, let’s do a quick catch up on the blog posts I shared this week.

The first blog post I shared this week was my next instalment of Well, I Didn’t Know That! In this week’s post, I shared some interesting but devastating facts about historic discrimination experienced by women of colour when it comes to abortion rights. I personally had no idea this was a thing, and it shocked me so much that I had to share to make other people aware as well.

On Friday’s Shelf Control post, I shared a classic novel on my to be read list that doesn’t fit into a conventional genre I would pick up. However, as it is a well known classic, I want to give it a try anyway. There are elements to this book that deviate from what I consider stereotypical to the genre. With that in mind, I’m prepared to give it a try and assess it for its own merits.

 

Books Read

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update post, I left off having made about 80 pages of progress into Becoming by Michelle Obama.

Even if you are not particularly interested in politics, Becoming is a great book on what it is like to grow up as an African-American in the late 20th century. Michelle comes from a very humble background. It’s not necessarily something you think about when you think about the former First Lady of the United States. Other than what I had seen of her on TV and in the news, I knew very little about her.

I have rectified that. Becoming has shown that Michelle is a fantastic woman in her own right. She has developed from a young child growing up in an increasingly disadvantaged background to somebody who is willing and motivated enough to change her circumstances. I particularly enjoyed the book because Michelle isn’t very political at all. Obviously, being wife of the former President means you do get roped in somewhat. However, I enjoyed her refreshing stance in not being politically motivated and sharing a more objective view of politics.

Next, I moved on to one of my current reads – The Rise of the Dragon by George R.R. Martin. I was a very lucky girl and received a copy of this as an early birthday present from my parents. It was a natural choice to read it in my birthday month. I love A Game of Thrones and anything associated with it. If I’m entirely honest, I have been looking for an excuse to pick something up like this for some time. Now that I know The Winds of Winter is due out later this year, I may have already talked myself into a re-read of the series…

As of this post, I am just on the halfway through Rise of the Dragon at 153 pages.

I have also started a second book as a current read. Sometimes I will do this, but not very often. My main motivation on this occasion is that Rise of the Dragon is too big and heavy to take to work and read. For a 350-odd page book, it is remarkably heavy. Then again, it is an A4 size hardback, so is it really a surprise? Instead, I am reading Africa Risen at work, as it’s on my kindle and far more transportable! Admittedly, I have only just started this book, having read just the first of 32 short stories within.

It’s only a handful of pages in the grand scheme of things, but a start is a start!

 

Books Discovered

 

I hope you’re sitting comfortably, because I have a lot of books to update you on this week.

If you follow me on Instagram, you will see that I shared a post earlier in the week about the number of books I received for my birthday. I had asked for seven of the books, and I received 13 in total!

One of these books I have already mentioned – The Rise of the Dragon. Whilst I did technically receive it as an early birthday present, it’s still a birthday present. The seven books I asked for are the next two sets in Robin Hobb’s the Realm of the Elderlings series. I was fortunate enough to have received one from my sister and the other from my auntie.

In addition, I received a fantasy series that I have been eyeing up – R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War. I received this series from my sister’s boyfriend Chris. He has not long started this series and is enjoying it so far. We have quite similar reading taste, so I have every confidence that I’m going to enjoy these books! In addition, he also gifted me a copy of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett. You may recall that I read and enjoyed The Appeal by the same author last year. I really enjoyed how the book is written in multimedia rather than prose (a format I have also recently enjoyed in Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff).

That nicely segways into the last book on my list. My sister was very kind to gift me a special edition of Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. I loved this book last year and I can definitely see a re-read of this nicer edition happening in future!

That’s more than enough books to feature in a Sunday Summary post, wouldn’t you agree?

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post of the week is going to be a Top Ten Tuesday post. This week’s theme is all about our favourite bookish heroines. I already have a few in mind that I want to feature. I can’t wait to share my full list with you, and the books they come from, in my Top Ten Tuesday post.

Next is Wednesday’s feature, Well, I Didn’t Know That! I’m going to be perfectly honest here and say that as a writing this post, the topic has not yet been christened. But, as always, I hope to share with you some interesting information in that post.

On Friday, I will be back with a First Lines Friday feature post. The topic of this post is also yet to be decided. In the past, I have set myself challenges that have an influence on the book I choose to feature. I am going to set myself such a challenge this week; it has been a little while since I last did this. It also makes my selection a little bit more interesting. This week’s challenge is to feature a book that I read last year. That way, I can potentially introduce you to something new and I can give you a quick summary of my thoughts on the book.

Lastly, I will be back at the same time next week with another Sunday Summary to update you on all my reading progress throughout the week.

For now though, that’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post. I hope to see you again soon.

 

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Sunday Summary – 12th February 2023

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Happy Sunday and welcome to my weekly catch up post – aka my Sunday Summary! I hope you’ve had a fantastic week, wherever you are and whatever you have been up to.

The first blog post I shared this week was my book review post for Harry Potter and the Oder of the Phoenix. I completed a re-read of the Harry Potter series between 2021 and 2022. In this review series, I discussed my overall thoughts on the book, but also how the reading experience compares between reading them as a teenager, and again as an adult.

On Wednesday, I shared another post in my new series, Well, I Didn’t Know That! In this week’s post, I shared a short, 16 minute podcast I listened to recently, which introduced me to genre of books I wouldn’t necessarily have picked up myself. I may have even added a couple to my reading list…

On Friday, I shared a First Lines Friday post. For this week’s feature, I decided to share a book that I attempted to read in 2018, but ultimately DNF’d. It wasn’t through any fault of the book. I was trying to read a large epic fantasy at a time when it wasn’t suiting me. I initially put it down with a view to it being a temporary arrangement. However, to date, I haven’t gone back to the book. If you want to find out what that feature is, you can find a link to the post above.

 

Books Read

Picking up from where we left off in last week’s Sunday Summary post, I continued with my read of Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. As of that update post, I was 123 pages into this nearly 600-pager.

I went on to finish reading this book this week. Although it is quite a long one, it is written in a form of mixed media. Not only does that make it more interesting and break up the narrative, but it also means that there are pages within the book that are very easy to read as there isn’t so much content on them as a standard prosaic narrative.

I really enjoyed Illuminae. The story line is compelling, the way in which the story is told is unusual, if not unique, and I enjoyed the characters in the book. I can’t wait to continue reading the series.

Next, I moved on to my current read, Becoming by Michelle Obama. I have had this book on my shelf to pick up for some time. With it being black history month, I decided to read it this month with that theme in mind. It also contributes towards my reading goal for the year to pick up more non-fiction.

I am currently just over 80 pages in and also enjoying this one. I am not a big lover of politics. However, Becoming is not proving to be political – at least so far. In the 80 pages I’ve read, I’ve already learned a lot about Michelle’s younger years, and also the adversity she experienced growing up. It is one thing to know that the colour of your skin has historically made a big impact on what opportunities you get in life. It is another to live and breathe it through this kind of narrative. In lots of little ways, the lives of people like Michelle Obama could have been a lot worse. However, she has already proven to have grit and determination. That definitely comes through in her book, and I can’t wait to read more of her experiences.

 

Books Discovered

As a result of listening to the podcast I featured in my post, Well, I Didn’t Know That!, I added two books to my reading list this week.

These fall under the genre of business books. It’s not something I would have expected myself to pick up. However, the business book featured in that podcast are as a result of being shortlisted entries in the Financial Times Best Business Book of the Year award. If there are any business books that are going to be worth picking up, it will be these ones!

Both of these books sound interesting and I’m willing to give them a try.

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post of the week is going to be Wednesday’s feature, Well, I Didn’t Know That! I would normally share a post on Tuesday. However, with being a little bit behind in reading progress for the month, I’m going to give myself a night off to try and get back on track. I’m not hugely behind, but I don’t want to fall behind even further. Plus, I am going to be sharing three blog posts throughout the week next week. That’s more than enough to keep you going.

On Friday, I will be back with a Shelf Control feature post. This week, I feature a classic novel which I would like to try, even though it’s not my usual cup of tea.

My final post of the week will be a Sunday Summary update. As usual, I’ll share with you what reading progress I’ve made throughout the week, any books I’ve added to my reading list, and what I will be sharing on my blog in the next week.

For now though, that is all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post. Have a wonderful week and I will see you around soon!

 

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