Monthly Wrap-Up – October 2021
Hello everyone and welcome to today’s wrap up post for October!
I cannot believe it is November already, but here we are. We are fast approaching the end of the year and it will be here before we know it! But, we’re not quite there yet and today’s post is not to dwell on that. Instead, let’s take a look at what I’ve been reading over the last month and what blog posts I’ve shared with you.
Books Read
The first book I picked up this month was Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Having just attempted to read Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo and DNF’ing the book, I wanted to fall back on something I knew I’d love to keep motivation. When trying to decide what to read next I remembered featuring Red Rising in a recent blog post. Having really enjoyed what I read about the book as part of that post, I decided to pick this up. Science-fiction is one of my favourite genres and I’m reading a lot more of it now than I ever have before. I’m pleased to say it didn’t disappoint!
Red Rising was far more that I could have hoped for. I expected a science-fiction blend with dystopia, and that is what I got, but the narrative went in a completely different direction to what I expected; and I really enjoyed it! It definitely kept me interested in reading and it was the pick-up I needed after the disappointment of Girl, Woman, Other.
Next, I started to read Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. Again, I wanted to stick with a well-known and loved author and series. I read the first book of the series, The Way of Kings, approximately two years ago now. The wait in between these books has been deliberate as Brandon Sanderson is only part way through publishing the series. That said, I didn’t want to leave it too late to pick up this next book and I’m glad I didn’t leave it longer.
I will admit that it took me a little while to get into the narrative and recall the events of the previous book. These bad boys are dense and it has probably taken nearly all of the 11% of the book read so far for me to fully get back into it. I am pleased to say I am; but this is a long one and so as of the end of the month this is still a read in progress.
The reason Words of Radiance is still a read in progress and currently on the back burner is because I needed to pick up Million Eyes II – the Unraveller by C. R. Berry. I have an upcoming blog tour post next week and for that post I am reviewing this second instalment to the Million Eyes series. As of the end of the month I had only just started to read this, so not much progress to record on this one here. However, you’ll find more details firstly in my blog post next week, but also I’ll talk about this a little bit more in my monthly wrap-up for November.
In addition to these books I also started to listen to audiobooks again. I have a bit of a start/stop relationship with audiobooks and lately I’ve been back on the case. I’ve been listening to The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch and as of the end of the month I only have a couple of hours left to listen to. I’ve really enjoyed the story and considering it’s been a few months since I last picked up the series, it’s been incredibly easy to delve back into; certainly a lot easier than Words of Radiance… But they are a lot shorter and less dense so that’s not difficult!
Blog Posts
As always, I like to take the opportunity in these posts to recap the blog posts I’ve published over the course of the month. That way, if you have missed any of my content and see something you like the look of, you will find a handy link here!
- Shelf Control #36 – 01/10/2021
- Sunday Summary: 3rd October 2021
- Monthly Wrap-Up – September 2021
- First Lines Friday – 08/10/2021
- Sunday Summary – 10th October 2021
- Shelf Control #37 – 15/10/2021
- Sunday Summary – 17th October 2021
- Top Ten Tuesday – Online Resources for Book Lovers
- Sunday Summary – 24th October 2021
- Audiobook Review: Whispers Under Ground – Ben Aaronovitch
- Discussion Post – Structured or Mood Reader?
- Sunday Summary – 31st October 2021
That’s all for me in today’s monthly wrap-up post for October.
What good books you have picked up, or is there even something you’re currently reading that you would recommend? Let me know in the comments!