Tag: Pierce Brown

Sunday Summary – 4th September 2022

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Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary update post! I hope you have had a great week!

I have had a good one myself. It has been an exciting week, as I’ve had the opportunity to talk about my reading progress in August in my Monthly Wrap-Up post. Not only that, but I have also shared my humongous TBR for September. Having taken part in the ‘spring semester’ of Magical Readathon recently, I decided I really enjoyed taking part in it.

I saw that Becca is hosting her Bookoplathon readathon for September, and so I decided to take part. The board did not treat me kindly, and I have to read no less than eight books this month! If you haven’t checked out either my August wrap-up or my September TBR yet, you can find the links above to do so.

 

Books Read

In my last Sunday Summary update post, I was most of the way through Golden Son, I was part-way through The Silence of the Girls as a break from Golden Son, and in terms of audiobook progress, I had stalled a little with The Viscount Who Loved Me.

 

The Silence of the Girls

I decided my first priority of the week was to continue reading The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. I was really enjoying this particular book, and it was just the break I needed from Golden Son. Needless to say, I made very quick progress with this book and finished it very early on in the week! I really enjoyed the contrasting perspective it offers to books around war.

It is not often we think of the lives of those living in the war camp, especially those who are not there by choice. I really enjoyed this one, and if you like Greek mythology I would strongly recommend you pick this book up to!

 

Golden Son

Having had a sufficient break, I went back to finish Golden Son by Pierce Brown. I’m glad I stuck with it in the end, as the ending picked up. It’s not that the book was boring or that there was nothing going on; in fact, the problem was quite the opposite. There was a lot going on. Maybe too much! It barely felt like we had gotten over one event before the next occurred, and the pace was a bit much for me. While this didn’t really change towards the end, I think a break allowed me time to process what has happened before and I like how the book has been left in terms of a cliffhanger.

 

Silverthorn

From there I have moved on to my first read on my September TBR – Silverthorn by Raymond E Feist.

I read the first book of the series, Magician, initially as a teenager, but then again back in 2017. My intention then was to read the book to bring me back up-to-date with events so I could continue with the series. This didn’t quite pan out as I thought. However, the addition of the book I have on kindle has an excellent summary of what has gone before in the beginning. I don’t feel like I have suffered for having not picked up the second book in a while.

I am currently around halfway through Silverthorn, and I’m really enjoying the narrative so far. In all, it is quite different from what I remember of Magician. Events have moved on significantly since that first book, although we are seeing some malign forces returning to the narrative. I hope to be able to make further progress with this read quite quickly. It is easy to pick up and follow what is going on. Since I haven’t picked up this series for a long time, this is no mean feat!

 

The Viscount Who Loved Me

I have made some further progress with The Viscount Who Loved Me, albeit marginal. I have managed to get around the cringey bee sting scene by skipping what was left all together. I’ve obviously missed one of the most significant events in the book, but it wasn’t exactly surprising given that I watched the Netflix series. It’s been easy to work around and I have listened to this a little bit more, although not much.

 

Books Discovered

I have deliberately not been looking at books out there at the moment, because I can’t really afford to add anything to my TBR. I have added a number of books of late, and I’m trying to keep the number down. My efforts don’t seem to be working!

 

Coming Up…

Early next week I am sharing a discussion post with you, talking about why it is important to pick up books from diverse authors. It’s not lost on me that I’m going to be sharing this at a time when I am reading a book by a cis white male. I cannot help the bias shown in the publishing industry historically.

As much as it is important to read books by diverse authors, it is also not fair to exclude authors from your reading list based on their background. That is the point of my post, but that also includes not ruling out majority authors either.

On Friday, I will be sharing a Shelf Control post with you. The book I am featuring in that post is one I purchased a physical copy of a number of years ago. It is sat on my bookshelf waiting to be picked up, and having reminded myself of the synopsis, I can’t wait to get around to it!

As always, I’ll be back with you this time next week for my Sunday Summary update. I’m hoping to share a lot of reading progress with you, as I have a lot to read this month.

That concludes today’s Sunday Summary update. What have you been reading?

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – August 2022

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I can’t believe I’m drafting my end of August wrap-up already. This year seems to be absolutely flying by, as they always seem to do!

This month I took part in a readathon for the very first time. It has been a great way of setting myself a challenge. For the last year or so I have been gradually stepping up my reading again, after stepping back from a ridiculous personal best. I have enjoyed having the challenge – although it has been a challenge! Not only did I have an ample reading list for the readathon, but I also wanted to pick up an additional book for a personal goal I have set myself – reading more non-fiction.

Let’s dive into what I have been reading this month!

 

The First Binding

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Pages: 832

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Gollancz

Publication Date: 16 Aug 2022

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – The First Binding

The first book I picked up this month was The First Binding by R.R.Virdi. This book came with its own challenge of itself, as I had to read the book and publish my review in just over two weeks. It meant I had a lot of reading to do as it’s a chunky book – at least 70 pages a day – to be able to complete this goal. I’m pleased to say I was able to keep relatively on track, and just pipped my goal at the end. It was a pleasure to read, although it might have been just a little bit nicer if I hadn’t had the time pressure. Still, I’m really glad to have taken part in the publication blog tour.

If you haven’t checked out that post already, here is a link for you to do so!

 

Invisible Women

Genre: Non-fiction

Pages: 411

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Abram’s Press

Publication Date: 12 Mar 2019

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – Invisible Women

Next, I decided to read Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. This is the non-fiction read that I decided to pick up in addition to magical readathon.

It didn’t fit any of the prompts in any way, shape, or form. But, I was meant to read this last month and I ended up swapping it out last minute on a whim. I’m really glad I picked this book up anyway. It was a fantastic and enlightening read, even if some of the subjects really made my blood boil.

And that they did! What this book is really good at doing is highlighting the ways in which we think gender is treated equally, when in fact, that is far from the case! If that sounds like something you’re interested in then I would strongly recommend picking up this book.

 

Golden Son

Genre: Science fiction

Pages: 442

Audience: YA / Adult

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Publication Date: 08 Jan 2015

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads – Golden Son

My next read was Golden Son by Pierce Brown.

This book fit the prompt of a book set in the future, although how far in the future isn’t really quantified. We know it is set in the future as it is set in a time when the human race has colonised space. The first book is set on Mars, and is a very interesting dystopian science fiction. Having read and enjoyed that book last year, I couldn’t wait to pick up sequel. That it fit this reading prompt was the perfect opportunity to pick it up.

I started off quite well with this book, although I will admit I hit a bit of a wall at around 70%. I did manage to finish this book on the very last day of the month, and it did improve at the end. My problem with it was there was an awful lot going on. By the time we got to 70%, the thrill of the action had worn off.

We’d been on the throttle for the majority of the book and I lost a bit of steam with it. To combat that, I ended up taking a short break from it to read another book, and going back to it was absolutely fine.

 

The Silence of the Girls

Genre: Historical fiction / Greek Mythology

Pages: 325

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Penguin

Publication Date: 02 May 2019

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Goodreads – The Silence of the Girls

To break up Golden Son, I decided to pick up The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. This was already on my TBR, however, I needed a change of setting and pace.

The book is also a quick read at 325 pages. I first picked this up on the last Saturday of the month, and I read it within about four days.

I really enjoyed the change of perspective. If you are not familiar with The Silence of the Girls, it is a Greek mythology book set during the Trojan war. What sets it apart from other narratives, however, is that it focuses on the lives of women in the war camp as opposed to the men. Instead of brave, fearless warriors, the men are talked about as husbands, brothers and sons. In a way, it de-glamorises war and hits home the devastation that it causes.

The lives of women in war are often overlooked, but The Silence of the Girls does its bit to change that. The lives the women have are harrowing. Briseis and the other women’s experiences are not made out to be tragic, exceptional circumstances – it’s commonplace. Rather, all women in the camp experience the same thing, if not worse.

Despite the subject matter and the treatment of the characters, I really enjoyed this book. It was a great palate cleanser and it was just what I needed. I’m glad I finally got to it!

 

The Viscount Who Loved Me

Genre: Historical Romance

Pages: 354

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Avon

Publication Date: 05 Dec 2000

Rating: TBC

 

Goodreads – The Viscount Who Loved Me

This month I decided to listen to The Viscount Who Loved Me. I read the first Bridgerton book, the Duke and I, back in May this year. It ended up being a fairly average read. However, I am really interested in the character stories for Eloise and Penelope.

As we are some time away in the Netflix series (at least Eloise), I wanted to try to continue with the books. A way of compromising between my enjoyment of the Netflix series, but my reservation about the books was to try it in audiobook format. This turns out to have worked pretty well overall.

If I’m honest, I’m not a huge fan of the ‘hate-to-love’ trope present in this book. I don’t understand it. For me, it is a very extreme thing to hate somebody. If you get so far as to hate somebody, then nothing they can do will redeem themselves. Maybe that says more about me. In my opinion, this isn’t a ‘hate-to-love’ relationship – it is at best ‘dislike-to-love’.

I also had to skip a very cringey scene because I just couldn’t listen to it. However, I have been able to continue with it and I am still listening to it now. I have just a few hours left.

Whilst I still have my gripes about the series in general (for example the inequality in behaviour between men and women, the romanticising of men behaving badly to name just a couple of examples), it is a lot more palatable in audio format. I was finding with reading the books that I sometimes struggled to get past sections of the narrative that I had serious gripes with. However, instead of re-reading and rolling my eyes into the back of my head, I had to let that frustration go and keep my attention on the narrative, otherwise I would get lost. As a result of fewer interruptions, I’ve been able to get on with this a lot better.

It still isn’t going to be my favourite series in the whole wide world. It never was. But, I think I can continue with the series to at least get out of it what I want.

 

Assassin’s Quest

Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get to Assassin’s Quest in August.

I had an ambitious TBR, even though it was only five books; two of the books are over 800 pages (Assassin‘s Quest being one of them). I also suffered a little bit with hitting a brick wall with Golden Son. Even so, I wouldn’t have finished Assassin‘s Quest in any case.

Given that I have a manic TBR for September (check out tomorrow’s post to see why!), I’ve decided to postpone picking up Assassin‘s Quest. I won’t be doing myself any favours picking this up now, even though I want to.

Instead, I think I will leave it until October to try and read.

That’s it for my monthly wrap-up. Have you read any of the books in today’s monthly wrap-up post? What have you been reading? I’d love to know in the comments!

 

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Sunday Summary – 28th August 2022

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Good evening everyone and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary post! I have lots of updates for you; I can’t wait to share with you what I have been reading this week.

Before we jump into that, let’s recap the posts I’ve shared on my blog this week. On Tuesday, I shared a book review for a non-fiction book I read earlier this year. It was not the easiest of books to read because of the subject matter. But, I think it’s very important that everybody gives it a go at least once. That book is The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

On Friday I shared the opening lines of a newly released book I received a copy of very recently. I already cannot wait to pick this particular book up. The synopsis sounds really interesting, and the opening lines had me hooked! If you haven’t checked out that post already, you can find a link to my First Lines Friday post here!

 

Books Read

In last week’s Sunday Summary post, I was around a third of the way through Golden Son by Pierce Brown. I really enjoyed the first book of the series, Red Rising, last year. I’ve made a solid amount of progress with this book this week; I am now around 80% of my way through it.

However, I will admit that I have lost steam with this one. In my last Sunday Summary post, I mentioned that it was fast-paced, and that hasn’t changed. In fact, I think there’s too much action and too much going on if I’m completely honest. We’ve been on the throttle for most of the book, and now it is coming to the conclusion, I’m a bit bored. It’s lost the thrill of excitement.

This puts me in a bit of a dilemma because I’ve obviously invested a lot of time into getting to this stage of the book. A part of me wants to put this down, but another part of me doesn’t. For the sake of pushing through for an hour or so to get to the end, it may be worth it to persevere. It may even redeem itself. However, I’ve been lacking the drive to do so in the past couple of days. My plan is to try and push on to complete the read, but I’ll let you know what happens in next week’s Sunday Summary update.

Yesterday, in a bid to give myself a break from Golden Son, I picked up The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. This is a nice concise read, and in a very short space of time, I’ve nearly read 100 pages of the book. Coming in at just over 300 pages, that’s a good amount of progress! It is also a lot easier to read, so I think I will fly through this one.

I’m also really enjoying the perspective. Instead of featuring the usual tales of men and the glory of war in Greek mythology, it speaks about war and conquest from the perspective of the women it affects. It discusses the men who die in battle not as glorious warriors, but as brothers, husbands, and sons. Women are taken captive and enslaved in every way you can imagine. Despite the horror, this is done relatively stoically, as if it is expected by the women. It is a shocking perspective. 

Switching up my current read to this book has definitely been the right move, and I think I will finish this one before going back to Golden Son.

I have made a tad more progress with The Viscount Who Loved Me on audiobook this week, but not as much as in previous weeks. I’ve only listened to it a couple of days whilst commuting, so consequently, I’ve only made about 10% progress through the audiobook.

If I’m entirely honest, I’ve gotten to the bee sting scene and just… yeah. It made me cringe so hard I couldn’t listen to it! I’m sure most people would think it an interesting and ‘spicy’ scene, but that just doesn’t work for me! I think I’ll just skip the scene and continue around it because I cannot listen to it otherwise.

 

Books Discovered

I wasn’t planning on adding any books to my reading list this week. However, I discovered that an author I have started to read has released further books in a series that I’ve started – that being Christopher Ruocchio and his Sun Eater series. I have read the first book and started the second, however, there are a further two out already, and the fifth book is out in December this year.

I’ve added them to my reading list so they aren’t forgotten!

 

Coming Up…

Next week I have both my monthly wrap-up post, and my September Monthly TBR to share with you! It’s always an exciting week when it comes to re-capping what I’ve been reading in one month, and discussing what I’m reading in the next.

With the end of the month not falling until Wednesday, I’ll be sharing my first post of the week on Thursday the 1st September. That way, you have the very latest updates from me in my monthly wrap-up post. I already have a good chunk of this post drafted, so I’ll just be adding the last bits to it on Wednesday before it goes live on Thursday.

Next month’s TBR is extremely ambitious to the point that I don’t think I’ll complete it. However, I’m going to have a very, very good go. You’ll find out why it’s ended up that way in my post on Friday.

And, as always, I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary update this time next week. Hopefully, I will be able to continue and finish both The Silence of the Girls and Golden Son. I also want to have made decent progress with my next breed, assassins quest. I’m not going to finish this in August, but I’m hoping I can at least make a start at this point.

That’s all from me for today’s Sunday Summary update though. What have you been reading?

 

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Sunday Summary – 21st August 2022

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Good evening everyone! It is the end of yet another week, and so it’s time to share all my updates in today’s Sunday Summary post. As always, I hope you’ve had a good week, whatever you have been up to!

It has been a fairly run-of-the-mill week here. My first blog post of the week was shared on Monday, and that was my blog tour review of The First Binding by R.R. Virdi. It was a pleasure to take part in the publication blog tour and I hope I have convinced somebody to pick up the book for themselves! If you haven’t heard about this epic fantasy yet, or you’re interested in my thoughts, you can check out my review with the link above.

Later in the week, it was the turn of my regular Shelf Control feature. This post went live on Friday (as usual), and this week’s feature is co-authored by father and son. Having read and enjoyed several books by Stephen King in the past, I can’t wait to see how his collaboration with his son compares. Maybe that’s enough for you to work out what book I have featured; if not and you’re curious, again, the link is above!

 

Books Read

In last week’s Sunday Summary post, I left off reading Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. I was just about halfway through this particular book.

As expected, it didn’t take me long to finish. I ended up finishing this on Tuesday and I’m really glad I read it. I would be lying if I said it didn’t inspire a lot of feminist rage. The whole point of the book is to highlight the ways in which women are inadvertently discriminated against/disadvantaged. It’s done more out of ignorance than malice, although I would say in some circumstances it is done knowingly; in some cases, the consequences of excluding women are unknown or not considered. Some of the points this book raised shocked me.

For example, car manufacturers don’t test female test dummies in the driver’s seat. Consequently, 47% of women are more likely to be seriously injured or die in a car accident. That’s just ridiculous, and something that could be very easily remedied.

This book covers a lot of topics, from medicine to the workplace, product design, and home life. It was really interesting to read, and I’m glad I picked it up!

Next, I decided to pick up Golden Son by Pierce Brown. I read his first book of the series, Red Rising, last year. I really enjoyed the blend of science-fiction and dystopian fiction, which carries through into the second book. The story has moved on quite significantly since its humble beginning. However, there are plenty of reminders throughout the narrative to refresh your memory.

It is also proving quite fast-paced. I only started this book on Thursday; in three days (excluding today as I haven’t read anything yet), I’m already over a third of the way in. There is lots of action to keep us engaged, and in this book, there is more emphasis on some political aspects in the book, which I’m enjoying. Also seeing a lot of the familiar characters slot into place, and I can’t wait to see how this narrative progresses.

I have also been good with keeping up with listening to The Viscount Who Loved Me this week. I can be a little bit hit and miss with audiobooks, but I’ve been making the habit of listening to them when commuting to and from work. In my last Sunday Summary update, I was around a quarter of the way through this audiobook. I have been consistent with pacing as I’m now about halfway through.

Personally, I slightly prefer listening to these books rather than reading them. They are not my favourite genre, but I wanted to read them to give myself the opportunity to branch out a little, and because I want to read Penelope’s and Eloise’s stories. These come later in the series, so I have to read the earlier books first.

If all continues as well as things are going so far, then I am of a mind to continue with the series. Maybe even beyond the character’s I’m interested in, but, we’ll see.

 

Books Discovered

This week, no news is good news. I’ve been adding more than enough books to my reading list of late. Thankfully, I haven’t found anything new that really catches my eye. Maybe this week I will be able to tick off more books from my reading list than I put on!

 

Coming Up…

Next week I have some very good posts lined up for you! On Tuesday, I’m going to be sharing yet another book review with you.

I have quite a lot of books that I have not yet reviewed, and with that in mind, I’ve put my thoughts together on The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I read this book earlier this year – in fact, I finished it the day Russia invaded Ukraine. The book is already about a difficult topic, but this made it all the more real. I can’t wait for that post to go live and tell you exactly what I thought about it!

Later in the week, my Friday feature is a First Lines Friday post. I am really happy with the book I will feature this week. It’s a book I have just received a copy of, and it’s a beautiful edition! Not only that, but I am excited about the topic and setting of this particular book. A BookTuber I follow really loved this book herself. I trust her opinion, so I am optimistic that I will love it just as much as she did!

That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary update! What are you reading this week? Do you have any recommendations for me? As always, I will be grateful to hear them!

 

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Sunday Summary – 24th October 2021

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It’s time for another Sunday Summary update once again! These posts seem to roll around very quickly. No sooner have I written one than I’m preparing the next! It’s no surprise it’s nearly the end of October already!

I started this week with a top ten Tuesday post. I liked the idea of this week’s theme, which was sharing my top ten online resources for book lovers. Not only was it fun to write, but I hope it proved useful and gave you some insight into the tools I use for my hobby!

I have an apology to make. I decided last week to switch up my blog posting schedule, and I didn’t fulfil my end of the bargain. I was supposed to share my already late review of Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch yesterday. But, I’m a bit of a dozy cow. Changing up my routine is dangerous; I’ll be the first person to hold my hands up and say that I’m forgetful! I remembered that I was supposed to be sharing this post yesterday at 10:10 pm. Needless to say, I postponed this once again, and I’m sorry about that! It will be coming to you next week – I promise!

 

Books Read

Last week I started reading Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson and had made progress by reading a few chapters. There was a lot to take in and getting started was a little bit slow. I have persevered this week and I feel like I’m coming out the other side now. I’m eight chapters through and I have picked up what I need to know in order to carry on. It’s getting a lot easier to read, which is great news! Eight chapters is about 10% of the way through the book, in case you’re interested. Yeah, it’s a long one…

I’ve also listened to roughly a couple of hours of The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch. In terms of progress that’s about half again from last week, putting me at about 75% of the way through! I’m really enjoying this and since I have next week off work I expect to finish this in the next few days.

 

Books Discovered

Once again no updates to add here this week! However, as I have an errand to run next week that involves going into a certain bookstore, I make no promises for a similar update in next week’s post!

 

Coming Up…

I will publish my review of Whispers Under Ground next week. I WILL publish my review of Whispers Under Ground next week. As I said above, I’m off work for a break next week and so I have absolutely no excuse.

None.

I am still going to take a brief break from my regular Friday features next week. It’s nice to have a little bit of variety on the blog, and so I’m going to share a discussion post with you instead.

If you read my blog you may recall that I have changed my stance on how I read this year. Previously, I’d share a reading list at the beginning of the month. This year I’ve adapted to be more of a mood reader. I didn’t want to set myself goals that I couldn’t achieve and as I burned out a bit after last year, I needed the break and a more relaxed pace. In my discussion post I’m going to be talking about the pros and cons of each approach and sharing which is my favourite.

Until next time, happy reading!

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Sunday Summary – 17th October 2021

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Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s update in today’s Sunday Summary post. As always, I hope you’ve had a great week! Mine has ended up being quite busy as I’ve been out a couple of nights this week socialising. I had a really good time, but consequently, this impacted my blogging schedule a little.

I was supposed to share a review of Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch this week, however, this post didn’t go live. I’ve got it prepared to a certain extent, but it was this time that the socialising events I went to ate into. I hope to be able to share this with you next week instead and I am very sorry that this didn’t go ahead as planned!

Later in the week, I was able to publish the planned Shelf Control post. In this week’s post, I featured a book that I remember talking about with my dad after I added it to my TBR. Turns out he has read this book so I’m interested to see how my thoughts compare to his!

 

Books Read

My reading has also been impacted a little by the social events I ended up going to. However, I will admit that I have lacked a little motivation as well this week. I’m starting to think that perhaps I’ve taken on a lot by jumping into a Brandon Sanderson novel. At over 1000 pages Words of Radiance isn’t a small read. As it’s been a while since I read the first book, it’s been a bit of a learning curve picking the series back up. I have, however, read a few chapters and I am starting to pick it back up.

I’ve also been listening to an audiobook this week for the first time in quite a while.

I wasn’t particularly enamoured by A Suitable Lie by Michael J. Malone so I decided to stop listening to this one. It’s okay, but I really don’t like one of the characters and as a result I’ve lost motivation with it. Perhaps inspired by my intended review, I decided to pick up The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch. It’s a series I know and love by now and consequently I’ve listened to around half of this audiobook (about 5 hours worth) this week alone. Audiobooks are a great knitting companion too, in case anyone is interested!

 

Books Discovered

I have absolutely no news on this front this week, which is always good news when your list to read is as long as mine!


Coming Up…

I like the idea of next week’s Top Ten Tuesday post. It’s a little bit different as the feature topic is sharing my top ten online resources for book lovers. I think it’s a great one because it can be useful for absolutely anyone to read. As someone who reads more than most, I probably have more experience with using some of these things, or even just knowing that they exist, and it may help you out!

I’m in the mood to change my post order a little. I’ve been following the same structure for a few weeks now and I’m thinking it’s getting a little bit stale. So, with that in mind, I’m giving my usual Friday features a brief break and instead I’m going to share a post on Saturday. Seeing as how I wasn’t able to get my review of Whispers Under Ground ready in time this week, I’ll be sharing this with you then. I hope it’s worth the wait.

However, that is all for me in today’s post. As always I hope you enjoyed today’s Sunday Summary update, and I look forward to seeing you in my next post!

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Sunday Summary – 10th October 2021

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Sunday evening can only mean the end of another week… and that it’s time for my Sunday Summary post! It also means I have to get up early for work in the morning, but let’s not dwell on that bit! Instead, let’s look at what I’ve done this week! 

Earlier this week I shared my Monthly Wrap-Up post for September 2021. This type of post has replaced my previous reading list; instead of sharing my planned reads for the month ahead of time, I’m recapping what I have read instead. I currently prefer this format as it puts less pressure on me to get through a certain number of books a month. In that post, I also take the opportunity to share links to the posts I’ve shared on my blog over the period. So, if you want a reminder of what I’ve read this month, and want to make sure you haven’t missed any blog posts, go and check out that post now!

On Friday I shared a First Lines Friday post. For this post, I hadn’t set myself a challenge to feature a certain type of book. Instead, I had a full rain did use whatever I like, and I ultimately chose a book based on a recommendation on my Goodreads discover tab. Whilst the book isn’t on my TBR, I have considered it. I like the sound of the premise and it’s recently been made into a popular film. Can you guess what it is based on the shared introduction?

 

Books Read

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update post, I was a third of the way through Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It’s fair to say from the pace in which I read the book that I really enjoyed this, because I finished this on Thursday! The next book in the series is already on my list to pick up. I really enjoyed the narrative and the combination of science fiction, action and it’s dystopian vibe.

After Red Rising I was at a bit of a loss as to what to read next. After reading such a great book it’s intimidating to find something else that will live up to it. After some deliberation I decided to turn to a firm favourite. I had to read a little reminder as to what happened in the previous book first, but I have decided to pick up Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson.

I deliberately didn’t read this too quickly after the first book. The Stormlight Archives series is planned to be ten books and currently only four (or so) are published. I didn’t want to read this too quickly and end up waiting a long time for the subsequent books. However, I think it’s been a couple of years since picking up The Way of Kings. That’s a decent amount of time to wait to be able to enjoy the next book. And it’s an epic. I’ve just over 1000 pages I have plenty to dive into!

 

Books Discovered

Aside from adding Golden Sun (the sequel to Red Rising), there’s nothing to add here. And since I ticked Red Rising off the list when I finished it, does this count as it nets off?

 

Coming Up…

It has been a few weeks since I shared an audiobook review with you, and so my plan is to share my thoughts on Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch this week. I remember listening to this last year whilst I was doing some redecorating round the house. Sometimes this doesn’t feel like it was over a year ago and yet it certainly was! So it’s definitely time for me to share my review with you.

Later in the week I’ll be back with a Shelf Control post. This week’s featured book has a sci-fi theme with an interesting premise. I can’t wait to share with you!

However, that is all from me in today’s post. As always, I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Sunday Summary update, and I look forward to seeing you in my next post!

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Sunday Summary: 3rd October 2021

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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary post!

I started this week by sharing a Top Ten Tuesday post. This week‘s topic was a freebie, so I went back through some of the post topics I’ve missed previously to decide what I wanted to share. Ultimately, I chose the topic that jumped out at me almost straight away, being “books that everyone has read but me”. It’s apparent that I read a lot; more than most in fact. However, there is plenty that I haven’t read (in some cases not yet). Those books were featured on Tuesday.

Later in the week, I shared a Shelf Control post. This week’s featured book was Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. It isn’t exactly going to be light reading in any sense of the word, but I’m still interested anyway.

 

Books Read

 

I’ve officially given up on Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo.

I did pick this up again this week, despite the fact I wasn’t particularly feeling inclined to. I gave this my best shot but decided to DNF after around 80 pages. The writing style didn’t work for me. The idea of the book is a good one, but it just wasn’t working for me. If I’m entirely honest, I also didn’t like how shallow the characters I’ve read so far were explored. I just wasn’t able to invest with them very much. Given that the plot doesn’t have much in the way of action (at least as far as I read), you would think this aspect would be all the more important. Also, does anyone else think all the characters are obsessed with sex or is that just me?

I’ve gotten to the stage now where I’m not going to force myself to read a book if I don’t particularly enjoy it. Frankly, I have better things to do with my time.

So, I swiftly moved on to Red Rising by Pierce Brown. I first picked this book up yesterday afternoon and I’m currently a third of the way through. If you needed proof of what the sapping my reading energy, well, I think you’ve got it.

I’m really loving the book so far! When I was trying to decide what to pick up next I got to thinking about this book based on what I remembered from my Shelf Control post back in April. You know me – I am a dystopian fan and combining this with science-fiction is a fun concept! Maybe the fact that I’m playing Horizon: Zero Dawn at the moment (a game of similar genre) planted the idea in my head. Whatever the reason it’s proving to be a great decision!

 

Books Discovered

Still nothing to add here this week, which can only mean the number of books on my list to read is going in the right direction!

 

Coming Up…

I cannot believe it is October already, but here we are! So, naturally I will be sharing my wrapup for September at the beginning of next week. Reading progress in the month has been reasonably average, but I still have plenty to share.

Then, I will be back to sharing a First Lines Friday post with you. Last time I set myself a challenge to feature a non-fiction book, which was fun. However, this time I’m going to keep my options open this time.

I hope you enjoyed today’s Sunday Summary update is and I look forward to seeing you in the next one!

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