Tag: Peter Gibbons

Sunday Summary – 30th July 2023

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It’s the end of another week (and sadly, weekend) so you know what time it is! It’s time for this week’s Sunday Summary post! Let’s dive into my review of the week just gone.

My first published post of the week was a review of one of my favourite reads in 2022 (and ever, to be honest). Although I’m not a vampire girly, I really enjoyed Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. If you check out my review, you’ll see why you might just love it too!

On Friday, I shared my next Well, I Didn’t Know That! post. The topic of this week’s post was a little bit different; I discussed my feelings regarding Twitter and the upcoming changes to the social network site, and how I may be re-considering my use of the site in future.

 

Books Read

 

Cytonic

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post, I had just finished my previous read, Storm of War. So, I started this week with a brand-new book! I decided to pick up Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson as I was keen to continue with the Skyward series. I picked up the second book of the series, Starsight, earlier this year and really enjoyed it. As I’m looking to try and read up on more sequels this year, Cytonic fit the bill.

I enjoyed the plot of this latest instalment, more so than the earlier books. This is in part because we’ve already laid out the foundation of the world and events in prior books. They have all worked together really well, and I’ve enjoyed how they’ve taken a different slant each time. This latest book had plenty of action and a story arc and characters that I was invested in.

I finished this book on Friday this week, so I am officially up-to-date with the series… at least until November. In November, the sequel Defiant is due to be published. I can imagine I’ll be picking it up before too long!

 

Brothers of the Sword

The next book I picked up this week is Brothers of the Sword by Peter Gibbons. You may recall that I read another book by Peter Gibbons earlier this month, Storm of War. That’s because I am due to be reviewing Brothers of the Sword next week. In order to do so, I had to catch up with events in the second book of the series before I could read and review the third.

As of this Sunday Summary update, I am 54% into the book. I’ve made quite a lot of progress with this just over Friday night and through the weekend. I really enjoyed the events that have taken place so far in the book, and I’m invested to see what happens next. Obviously, I need to shake a leg and finish this book in time for my review on Friday. As things stand, I have every confidence that I will finish this book in the next day or two. My Kindle gives an estimated reading time of just two and a half hours to finish the book. I’m hoping to get half of that done tonight before turning in. 

 

Books Discovered

I’ve added no less than three books to my reading list this week. I don’t feel so bad about one of them, as it is a sequel to series I am already reading (and may have just alluded to above). The other two books I’ve added are both non-fiction books, but are very different in topic and were found by very different means.

 

Defiant

The first book I’ve mentioned is of course Defiant by Brandon Sanderson. On the one hand, it is good to be able to tick Cytonic off my TBR. However, it wouldn’t be an accurate reflection to leave Defiant off the list. I definitely want to read this book, so I this addition will net off Cytonic’s completion.

 

The Success Code

The next book added to my reading list is as a result of a cheeky browse through WHSmith’s book sale in my local store on Monday. There wasn’t over much that caught my eye, and my wallet is grateful for that.

However, I was intrigued by The Success Code. As well as trying to finish and/or read more sequels this year, I’m also trying to read more in the way of non-fiction. I’m not averse to a bit of personal development, and I’m hopeful I can find some advice in this book, that will prove useful to me.

 

Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia

The origin of this book recommendation is a little unusual. I follow a brand called Snag Tights on Instagram. Something I value about them is how body inclusive they are. It’s rare to see products modelled by larger women… and I mean genuinely larger women. Media is full of stick thin models, or at an absolute push, a size 16 or 18 women who in my not so humble opinion, shouldn’t even count as ‘plus size’. You never see bigger than that.

Snag are different. They aim to advertise their products using models in the same proportions as represented in society. For example, if 40% of women in society are obese, that percentage is used in their marketing. I think it’s a great idea. As a larger woman myself, it gives me the opportunity to look at different products on models that are actually my size. Not only that, but I like how their products are designed with size 24 as the baseline. Normally clothes are designed on skinny people and then scaled up, and that doesn’t always work.

This is kind of besides the point, because I’m here to talk about the book that they recommended earlier this week. In their Instagram feed, they shared a great write-up on Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. I can’t say that this idea has ever crossed my mind before, although I have no trouble believing it either. Given that I am clearly uneducated on the subject, I decided to add this book to my list to change that! It also happens to be another non-fiction – again, a focus for this year.

 

Coming Up…

Next week I’m in for a marathon run. The end of the month, and the beginning of a new month, is always busy for me. Not only do I have the usual wrap-up and new reading list to share, but this month I also have a blog tour book review to share!

I’ll be kicking off the week on Tuesday with my reading wrap-up for July. As always in these posts, I’ll be talking about the books I read throughout the month and telling you some of my thoughts on those!

On Thursday, a day earlier than I would usually, I am going to share my reading list for August. I can’t believe we’re nearly in August already … but there we are! As always, I’m going to share an ambitious reading list in the hopes that I can make a dent in it. I have some great books coming up, and also some time off the 9-5 in which to enjoy them. I hope you can join me for that post!

On Friday, it is my scheduled slot for the blog tour of Brothers of the Sword by Peter Gibbons. As I’ve already mentioned in this post, I will be reviewing that book for the tour. If you’re interested in historical fiction novels around 10th century Britain, full of clashes between Saxons and Vikings, then you’ll definitely want to read my review on Friday.

Last, but certainly not least, I will be back at the same time next week with another Sunday Summary update.

For now though, that’s all for me in today’s Sunday Summary post. What have you been reading this weekend?  Do you have any reading recommendations for me?

 

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Sunday Summary – 23rd July 2023

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Good evening – I hope you’re looking forward to this week’s Sunday Summary post!

As always, I’ll quickly re-cap the blog posts I have shared this week so far before going into the books I’ve picked up this week. The first post I shared this week was a discussion post. In that post, I featured my favourite tropes in the fantasy genre.

On Friday, I shared a First Lines Friday post. The book I chose to feature in this post is the beginning of a series that I have been itching to try, but I’ve been holding off. As I want to try and continue with and/or finish more series this year, I’ve deliberately not started this one yet. I can’t say I’ll hold out for too much longer, but I’ve tried!

 

Books Read

 

Storm of War

The only book I have made progress with this week is Storm of War by Peter Gibbons. As of last week’s post, I had made just 10% of progress into the book. I was already intrigued having enjoyed the first book of the series last year. I’m reading the second book as I need to read and review the third book of the series, Brothers of the Sword, on the 4th of August.

I finished reading Storm of War tonight, just before I started drafting this post. I enjoyed this follow up to the series and I’m looking forward to starting the third book very soon. I am going to give myself a quick break in between by picking up a completely different genre. Then, I’ll be back into the series once again!

 

Books Discovered

On Monday this week, I finally added a fantasy book that I have been reading a lot about on Twitter – Illborn. The book has about 1,500 ratings several hundred reviews on Goodreads. With an average star rating of 4.2 stars, it’s full of promise! I’m really intrigued by the synopsis and I would love to give it a go! At just over 700 pages, it is every aspect an epic fantasy book… which I love!

 

Coming Up…

For the first blog post of next week, I plan to review one of my favourite reads of 2022 – Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. The next book in the series is due to come out in February 2024. I will definitely be getting myself a copy of that as soon as I can to read it!

On Friday, it is the turn of my Friday feature, Well, I Didn’t Know That! In this feature post, I try to share some alternative media other than books, and to share things I’ve learned between each post. As of yet, I haven’t christened the topic of this week’s post. I’ll be crunching ideas over the course of the week, and all will be revealed on Friday!

As always, I’ll return for another Sunday Summary post at the end of the week. I’m hoping for more in the way of reading progress next week, as July is fast ticking away and I still have a few books I want to pick up before the end the month.

That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary update post.

Do you have any suggested content you’d like to see from me? Are there any books you would like me to read and review, or any feature posts you’d like to see?

 

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Sunday Summary – 16th July 2023

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Good evening friends and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary post!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, or even just this series, you’ll know what’s coming up first. I like to recap of the blog posts I’ve shared this week! The first post I published this week was my midyear review of my 2023 resolutions. Broadly, I think I’m doing well against those resolutions. I have some actions to take in order to make sure I complete one resolution by the end of the year. If you want to find out what that is, you can check out that post using the link above.

On Friday, I shared a Shelf Control post. In that post, I featured a standalone historical fiction novel by an author I have already come to love through a well-known series of his. I’ve also featured this book before in the First Lines Friday post, where the introduction caught my eye. Personally, I can’t wait to get around to this one. As always, there is a link here if you want to check out what this week’s book was.

I shared an extra post this week as I had signed up to take part in the blog tour for Death at the Caravan Park by Susan Willis. You’ll read a little bit more about this book below as I finished it earlier in the week. However, if you’re interested in reading my full thoughts on the book, you can find a link to yesterday’s review above.

 

Books Read

 

Death at the Caravan Park

In last week’s Sunday Summary, I left off having made reading progress amounting to about a third of the book. As I had to read the book ready to review as part of the blog tour post due yesterday, Death at the Caravan Park was my priority read at the beginning of the week.

This particular book ended up being quite an easy read. It’s approachable for a lot of reasons, and I enjoyed branching out into the cozy crime genre for the first time in a long time! It was great to pick up something a little bit different, and I really liked some of the characterisation in the book. The setting reminded me of a family holiday taken many years ago now, which was nice to think back on around this book.

I finished the book on Wednesday, leaving me plenty of time to collate my thoughts ready for Saturday’s review.

 

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

In my last Sunday Summary, I also confided that I had started reading Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine in tandem with Death at the Caravan Park. As of that update, I was 145 pages in (just over a third of the way through as well).

I didn’t really pick up this book again until I had finished Death at the Caravan Park. I didn’t want to put myself at risk of finishing that book quite late, or not at all, before my review was due. Once I had read it however, I dived back into Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine enthusiastically!

This is the type of book that succeeds at dealing with trauma in a way that is laced with a lot of humour, character depth, and readability. I really enjoyed Eleanor’s unique perspective and personal narrative. The pacing of the book really works as well. It is made clear early on that there is more to Eleanor than meets the eye. It gradually come to the fore throughout the book, but it’s teased out in a way that keeps you reading on for that extra tidbit.

Given the subject matter of the book, I think it does a brilliant job of handling very different emotions and trauma. Although (thankfully) I have never had to live in Eleanor’s shoes, I lived through her story through the book. If it gives you any context as to how much I enjoyed this book, I read approximately half of it over the course of a single day – and that was after I’d been at work! I physically couldn’t put it down near the end.

 

Storm of War

The final book I started this week, and as of this Sunday Summary post is my current read, is Storm of War by Peter Gibbons.

You may or may not recall that I reviewed the first book in his Saxon Warrior series as part of a blog tour last year. Somehow, I managed to miss the blog tour for this second book. However, I am signed up to be reviewing the third book early next month. With this in mind, I am catching up with Storm of War now so that I can pick up Brothers of the Sword, fully informed as to what is going on, and review it in the next few weeks.

I confess with the additional blog post I drafted this week, and some time spent on catching up with TV series I’m watching right now, I’ve only really progressed with Storm of War to the tune of 10%. I’ve pretty much done that in one sitting though, so I feel like this book is going to be very readable.

 

Books Discovered

Earlier this week, I discovered that Patrick Rothfuss is going to be releasing an expanded standalone story from his Kingkiller Chronicle universe. I started the series a very long time ago now, and like everybody else, I’m waiting for it to be wrapped up. In the meantime, I definitely want to check out this short side story!

 

Coming Up…

For my first post of next week, I want to share a discussion post. I’ve thought long and hard about the topic of this post, and I’ve come up with one that I’m looking forward to drafting for you. For this particular post, I am going to be sharing what my favourite tropes are within the fantasy genre and why!

On Friday, I will be sharing this week’s Friday feature post, otherwise known as a First Lines Friday post. The last couple of times I have done this type of post, I have set myself a specific challenge. For this post, I am going in with no guidance or preconceptions about the type of book I would like to feature. It’s an open book, shall we say?

As always, I will be back at the end of the week with another Sunday summary post to catch you up on all the latest updates.

That concludes today’s Sunday Summary update post! Do you have any book recommendations for me?

 

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Monthly TBR – July 2023

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Happy Friday and welcome to my monthly TBR post for July!

We’re now over half way through the year and I’ve already made some great reading progress towards my goal of 50 books (15 of which non-fiction, as well as completing series). I’m going to share a mid-year review post soon, but for now, let’s share how I plan to kick off the beginning of the second half of the year!

 

Fixed Reads

I’m starting off this month’s fixed reading list with a few books I need to read for blog tour obligations. Whilst I’m not strictly touring for all of the books, I do need to catch up with one as it’s a second instalment of the series in order to be able to read the third book – which is for a blog tour!

In addition, I am also reading the book club pick over at Ezeekat’s book club this month.

 

Death at the Caravan Park – Susan Willis

The first book I am touring for this month is Death at the Caravan Park by Susan Willis. That blog tour post will be coming to you in just over a week. Naturally, I’ve already made a start with this book and as of drafting this post, I am a third of the way through it.

So far, Death at the Caravan Park is proving a relatively easy read. We have a good set up of characters and we now understand the baseline for the story. I’m interested to see how it progresses.

If you are interested and want to check out my thoughts on this book, I’ll be publishing my review on the 15th of July.

 

Storm of War – Peter Gibbons

This next book I’m picking up isn’t strictly for a blog tour. Rather, I need to read it in order to get up-to-date with the series before starting the third book. I will be providing a review as part of the upcoming blog tour for that book early next month.

I must have inadvertently missed reading this second book in the series when it went on tour itself. Fortunately, I’ve been able to download a copy via Kindle Unlimited, so I can read it before picking up the third book in the series.

I read and enjoyed the first book, Warrior and Protector, towards the end of last year; if you want to find out about that book, here is a link to my review.

 

Brothers of the Sword – Peter Gibbons

As I mentioned above, I will be taking part in the blog tour for Brothers of the Sword, but not until early next month.

That gives me a bit of leeway to read this instalment. And, it’s so happens, I also need the time to read the second book first!

There’s not really much more to say in this monthly TBR post, other than letting you know that my review date for Brothers of the Sword is 4th August.

 

To Shape A Dragon’s Breath – Moniquill Blackgoose

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is the book club selection over at Ezeekat’s book club on Fable. I didn’t read last month’s pick, so I definitely want to try and make the effort to read this one.

I am intrigued by the synopsis of this book. And, who doesn’t love a fantasy that contains dragons?! I also like the idea of having minority representation in this book. I am under no illusion that the English have, shall we say, put their stamp on the world in the past. The events of this book heavily imply conflict between culture of indigenous people and the “Anglish”. I’m interested to see how this fantasy take on modern events plays out.

 

Mood Reads

 

I already have a number of fixed read on this monthly TBR, but I’m still hoping to pick up some mood reads this month as well.

 

A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking

Something I am looking forward to, and equally expect to challenge me this month, is reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. It is a book that I have wanted to get to for quite some time. As a non-fiction, it also goes towards my goal of reading more non-fiction throughout 2023.

Having read around about this book, I suspect it could get quite mathematical and/or scientific. If it is, I’ll hold my hands up and admit that’s not an element I’m going to get too invested in. I get no desire out of understanding the maths behind this sort of stuff. But, that’s not to say I’m not interested in the science or the history of our world as we know it.

At just over 250 pages, I’m not sure how this book is going to play out. It could be quite a quick read if I don’t get too invested or bogged down in the science. Equally, as it’s out of my comfort zone, it could take me longer to read. Only time will tell.

 

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman

Last month, I picked another book out of my TBR jar. For those of you uninitiated, I have a jar I have on my bookshelf that’s full of titles I have not yet read. In order to add some randomisation to my reading, I try and pull one out to read every month. Last month, I’ve pulled out Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

After borrowing a copy from the library just this afternoon, I started this book at lunch. I’m only a couple of chapters in so far, but it’s made a decent impression already. I’m not really sure where the narrative is going to go, but I’m along for the ride to find out.

 

Cytonic – Brandon Sanderson

When going to the library, I also wanted to have a browse for a second book to borrow. I deliberately didn’t set myself a particular book to take out as my second loan. I wanted to see what caught my eye when I got there.

Whilst looking for a book to pick up, I found that my library had a copy of Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson. This is the last instalment of a YA sci-fi series I want to finish, so I thought this would be perfect to take out and read. Not only do I get to pick up a fantastic book again, but once I’ve read it, I get to tick that series off my list as complete. That’s another goal I’ve set myself for this year!

 

Stretch Goal

 

Ship of Destiny – Robin Hobb

On the off-chance that I manage to get through all of the reading list I’ve set myself for July, I would like to start Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb. You may recall that Ship of Destiny was on my June TBR. However, I didn’t get around to reading it, given my experience and some difficulty with one of my books last month.

At 903 pages, there is absolutely no way on this earth that I’m going to finish it in July. However, if I could even make a start on it, I’ll consider that a win!

 

So, those the books on my monthly TBR that I’m going to be picking up very, very soon! Have you read any of the books on this monthly TBR post?

 

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Sunday Summary – 6th November 2022

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Good evening readers and welcome to another regular Sunday Summary update!

Last week’s Sunday Summary post was a bit of a boring one – I had very little to report. I’m pleased to say that I have plenty more reading progress to share with you this week. Before we get into that though, let’s recap the blog posts I shared with you earlier this week.

On Tuesday, I shared my Monthly Wrap-Up post for October. Overall, I made a decent amount of reading progress. My first read of the month was the particularly chunky Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb. From there, I went on to pick up another couple of books in the month. If you want to find out what I read throughout October, you can do so with a link to my wrap-up post above.

On Thursday, I shared my Monthly TBR for November. In addition to that list, I’ve carried over my current read of Babel by R. F. Kuang. It is not the smallest of reading lists, but when are they ever? I’ve already made a solid start, and you’ll see why in just a moment! Again, if you want to check out that post, there’s a link above.

The reason I had to get a wriggle on with my first read of November because I shared my review of that book in yesterday’s blog tour post. Having had a bit of a slow month last month, I think it helped to have a deadline to get my first book read and done. I can only hope it has set the pace for the month! If you are a fan of historical fiction, and in particular, authors like Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden, my blog tour review for Warrior and Protector is something you should check out!

 

Books Read

Babel

In last week’s Sunday Summary post, I shared measly reading progress of Babel by R. F. Kuang. I didn’t really define that progress in my post because I was a bit disappointed with it if I’m entirely honest. I decided to pick up the book again on Sunday night for one last push before I put the book aside to read Warrior and Protector. By the end of Sunday night, I was up to page 154. Over the course of the week, that was just 120 pages read. 

 

Warrior and Protector

From there, I moved on to Warrior and Protector by Peter Gibbons. As you now know, this was because I was sharing my review of the book for the blog tour yesterday. I really enjoyed this relatively short, palate-cleansing read. Historical fiction is a genre I go back to time and again. I have a love of the particular setting of this book from reading/watching The Last Kingdom and other books by other authors I have toured with. I signed up for the tour relatively last minute, to replace another blogger.

I’m really glad I stepped up for this one. I started this book at the beginning of the week and finished it early Friday night. At just over 300 pages, it is quite a short and fast-paced read – at least for me! The book was full of action and a lot more in the way of character development than you might expect from our main character, Beornoth. I enjoyed some of the overlaps and references to well-known characters of the period. It helped ground the story in a setting. I was already familiar with but offers a new and unique perspective.

Going forward, my intention is to pick up a Babel again for a couple more days before I set aside again for a second blog tour commitment. That tour is for a similar genre and book, so I want to pick up Babel again to give myself some separation between the two books. As at drafting this post, I am yet to do that, but my intention is to make some progress with it again tonight.

 

Queen of Our Times

I also have an audiobook update for you this week. It has been a little while since I put my headphones in, but today I started listening to Queen of Our Times by Robert Hardman. This book was originally on my October TBR. However, having had some issues with ordering a physical copy of the book, I canceled that order and instead downloaded the audiobook. Because I made this decision quite late on in the month, I didn’t get a chance to start listening to Queen of our times in October.

That is why I have added it to this month’s TBR. It also contributes to my goal of trying to read more non-fiction books. It is not very often that I read or listen to biographies. However, Queen Elizabeth II is such a poignant figure and I wanted to fill in the gaps in my knowledge about her and the Royal family.

This audiobook is 25 and a half hours long. It is not a small one by any means, but I have already chipped away at an hour and a half of listening time this morning. Now that I’ve started it, I’ll try and listen to a little bit of it every day, as much as I can. Even if it is just whilst commuting to and from work – it all adds up! Fingers crossed I’ll have another update on this in next week’s Sunday Summary! 

 

Books Discovered

I confess that I have added a book to my TBR this week, and it is all my sister’s boyfriend’s fault. I can totally blame him, right? It’s not my lack of control or anything…

On a serious note, he is currently reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. When I spoke to them both on FaceTime this week, he recommended the book to me as he was really enjoying it. Having looked into it for myself, I can see this is something that I would enjoy as well.

It is a chunk of a book though. At just over 1000 pages, it is not a light addition to my reading list!

 

Coming Up…

Next week, I am back to my usual three-post schedule.

The first of those posts will be a Top Ten Tuesday post. This week’s theme is about book series. As somebody who has a lot of ongoing series at the moment, I have decided to share my list of series I would like to finish. I don’t need to talk myself into starting any more; I do a good enough job of that already! If you want to check out just a handful of the series I would like to finish, check out my post on Tuesday. And, as an additional note, if you would like me to share a separate post confessing all the ongoing series I have so you can laugh at my expense, let me know! 

Later in the week, I am back with a Shelf Control post. The feature of next week’s Shelf Control post is ironically also a series – although I didn’t realise this at the time I purchased a copy. I decided that I will pick up this historical fiction book anyway, then decide if I want to go back to the beginning based on my experience of that book. This is a new-to-me author, but the setting is one that I have read before.

As always, I will be back at the same time next week with another Sunday Summary post to share my reading progress with you. As has been the case this week, I will have a deadline that I’m working towards next week. So, I should have plenty to share with you in that post.

Tonight, my plans are to pick up Babel again briefly, before watching the first episode of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here before bed.

What are your plans?

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – October 2022

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I cannot believe I am writing my monthly wrap-up post for October. We are now most of the way through the year, and I have no idea where it’s gone!

The one good bit of news is that in October, I completed my Goodreads goal of reading 40 books this year. It was also quite a special one, as it was from an author and series I have both discovered this year and come to love fiercely!

Before I go ahead and spoil anything for you, let’s just dive into the books I read in October, and share with you my reading progress!

 

Assassin’s Quest

Usually, I start the month with any ‘fixed reads’ on my reading list. This month I decided to change things up and pick up Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb first.

I had originally wanted to pick this up in September, but there was absolutely no way I was going to fit it into my Bookoplathon TBR. I’m glad I didn’t even try, as this month I spent the majority of my time reading Assassin’s Quest. Whilst extremely good, Robin Hobb’s fantasy is not something you can pick up and devour quickly. There is a lot of detail, world-building and character development that intertwine and make for a world that requires investment. Equally, you want to savour every moment.

I started Assassin’s Quest very early in the month, but even so, I didn’t finish this until around about the 20th of the month. Even then, I only managed to achieve this feat by reading over 400 pages during a week off work. Without that, I would probably have taken the whole month to read the book, and that is no exaggeration!

I’m really happy with the way the storyline panned out, and how poor Fitz is struggling to find his place. The ending was absolutely fantastic and everything I hoped for. It makes me look forward to revisiting these characters and places later on in the Realm of the Elderlings series.

 

Blink of the Sun

If I’m entirely honest, I’m glad I didn’t start this month with my ‘fixed read’, as it ended up being a bit of a flop. It is not a promising start to reading list, so thankfully I avoided that by not picking it up first!

I was hoping Blink of the Sun would be a captivating urban fantasy that was right up my street (excuse the pun). It has a lot of good elements, but it just wasn’t quite doing it for me. I gave it a good chance, as I was intending to read this book and review it for the author and to give the book some publicity. As it stands, I have given some private feedback to the author via the site I downloaded it from (BookSirens), and I will not be sharing a public review.

 

Babel

Moving onwards and upwards, I next picked up Babel by R. F. Kuang.

I was hoping I was going to make faster reading progress that I did at the start. I can’t say whether it is because I needed to take the time to properly set up the book and characters in my head, or whether it is because I also happened to catch the winter lurgy at the same time and it affected my attention span. Probably a combination of both, in all honesty.

As of the end of the month, I made it to just over 100 pages through this novel. It is a decent amount of progress, but nothing groundbreaking. I am really enjoying the book and the more academic content. As somebody who considered pursuing a career in languages (albeit the English language), I am enjoying the arguments and commentary about how English interacts with other languages.

 

Warrior and Protector

The last book I picked up this month wasn’t on my TBR at the beginning of October. This is because I have stepped in to assist Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources a bit last minute with providing a review for an upcoming blog tour.

Unfortunately, it came to light that somebody who was due to take part in this tour originally was plagiarising other people’s reviews. Big no-no, obviously, so Rachel was looking for an alternative reviewer. As somebody who really enjoys this genre and setting, I was keen to help out in a time of need.

I started this book on the very last day of the month and read a third of it in two sittings over the course of the day. Compared to Babel, this is a much lighter read, and so progress is a lot swifter. What I like about this book, and the setting of the novel, is that I am familiar with it to an extent already. Some of the characters referred to in this book are key figures from that period of history. As a result, I’ve already come across them through other the books. The particular character we are living this narrative through, however, is a new one. That keeps the narrative fresh, even if the setting and theme are known to me.

I am enjoying this particular book and I can’t wait to share my full thoughts with you in my blog tour post on Saturday.

 

I’m resisting the urge to close this monthly wrap-up post saying I haven’t made as much progress as I would like. The truth is, I have read a solid number of pages this month. The books I have picked up are just, in their nature, more dense. They take more time to read. Page count is not the point. I read for the enjoyment of it, and I cannot say that I haven’t achieved that this month!

That’s all for me in today’s monthly wrap-up post. Have you read any of the books on my October TBR? What have you been reading this month?

 

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