Tag: reading list

2023 – Reading Goal Review!

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In today’s post, I look back at each reading goal I set myself back in January 2023. Did I meet them all? Make yourself comfortable, as well be diving into the details in this post.

Did you set yourself any reading goals in 2023? Did you manage to achieve them?

To quickly recap – what were the goals I set myself in 2023? If you want to check out the full post, it’s here. Otherwise, here is a summary: –

  • Goodreads Challenge – Read 50 books
  • Read >15 non-fiction books
  • Continue ongoing series
  • Read 30 mins daily

So, did I achieve any of these goals? Let’s take a look!

 

Goodreads Challenge – 50 books

For my Goodreads reading challenge, I set myself a goal of reading 50 books before the end of the year. I set myself this goal as I had read 47 books the previous year. Setting a goal of 50 was a small push on what I had already achieved, but equally, it was a manageable target.

In the end, it proved more than manageable! I met my target of 50 books in November 2023, leaving myself plenty of time before the end of the year. Thereafter, I set myself an unofficial goal to push the reading total up to 60 books, which I just managed before the end of the year.

I haven’t read this many books since 2019, so needless to say I’m very happy with what I’ve achieved! More importantly though, I am comfortable that I did it without stretching myself too far. Although I love reading, I obviously do the blogging aspect of the hobby as well, amongst many other things. I don’t ever want this to take over or prevent me from doing the other things I enjoy as well. That’s not been the case this year, so it’s a result all round.

 

Read >15 non-fiction book

When I set myself the reading goal of completing more than 15 non-fiction books, 15 felt like a nice number. It was a little more than one book a month over the course of the year. I didn’t really think about it in the context that it would mean non-fiction would constitute 25% of 2023 reading list. Even so, I’m happy I set myself this challenge.

I’m pleased to say that I completed my 16th non-fiction book on the 24th of December, meaning that I hit my goal with just over a week to spare. Here are the non-fiction books I read in 2023, in case you want to take a look:-

  • The Secret Library
  • Chimp Paradox
  • Becoming
  • Thanks for Sharing
  • Stolen Focus
  • Spike
  • A Brief History of Time
  • Leadership and Culture
  • Twelve Years a Slave
  • Killing for Company
  • Surrounded by Idiots
  • Vikings of the Irish Sea
  • Vikings in the Isle of Man
  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz
  • The Success Code
  • How to Win Friends and Influence People

Setting myself this non-fiction goal has meant that I have picked up more of the genre than I ever have before. Had I not set this goal, I wouldn’t have consciously picked up this many over the course of the year. I think doing so has been a great benefit, and it’s something I definitely want to continue with.

Not only has reading non-fiction benefited me in the short term, but I believe that that setting this goal has started paving the way for my reading more non-fiction in future. Comparing 2023 and the year prior, I added a further 16 non-fiction books to my reading list in 2023, compared to just 4 the previous year. I still have some way to go before reading non-fiction becomes a natural habit, but I’m definitely heading in the right direction.

 

Finish Ongoing Series

This goal was always a lofty one. At the start of 2023 I had a great number of ongoing series that I had started, but I was yet to finish. Without digging through my records, I think we’re talking about 40 ongoing at the start of 2023… yikes! 

With this goal, I ended up doing more in the way of progressing with ongoing series than completing them. I have a number of lengthy series on my reading list, including Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series (41 books), Robin Hobb’s the Realm of the Elderlings series (16 books split across five smaller series) and so on.

That said, I did manage to complete the following series in 2023:-

  • The Liveship Traders (Robin Hobb series 2/5 in Realm of the Elderlings universe)
  • The Miniaturist duology
  • Eagle of Mercia
  • The Saxon Warrior
  • The Hunger Games
  • Mistborn

Note that I am marking anything complete if the series is either fully finished, or if I am up-to-date with the series as published. In addition to the above full completions, I had one very close completion of the Skyward series. I was up-to-date with this series in July, but the sequel, Defiant, was published in November 2023.

Other series that I read in 2023, but didn’t necessarily complete, include:-

  • Terry Pratchett’s Discworld,
  • Robin Hobb’s the Realm of the Elderlings (as a whole),
  • Stephen King’s The Dark Tower,
  • Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You, and;
  • Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom.

If you compare this with my list of series I started in 2023, you’ll see the list of significantly shorter!

  • Lost Solace
  • Soul Identity
  • Illuminae

In addition to these, I did read some further ‘first’ books in a series, but they are books I read as standalone. I don’t intend to continue with the series and so I’m not including them in this statistic.

Overall, I made more progress with goal than expected. I had no easy way of tracking this goal throughout year. However, that is changing in 2024. I plan to do a lot more in the way of book stats and monitoring in the next year so I have a better idea of both what, and how much, I’m reading. Watch this space…

 

Read 30mins Daily

I didn’t set out to stick to this in the purest sense. Although I probably did read for 30 minutes a day for the vast majority of the year, it was the point of making reading a regular habit that I was looking to achieve.

I think it’s fair to say I did! I don’t think I could have met or indeed exceeded my reading goals in the way that I have without reading becoming a near daily habit.

In 2023 there were days when I read for several hours, and there were days where I didn’t read at all. Sometimes such as life, but also, sometimes that was down to choice. As I’ve mentioned earlier in the post, I want to be able to enjoy my reading in a sustainable way. I don’t want it to become a detriment to the other things I want to do. If there have been times where I’ve not been in the mood to read, I haven’t forced myself. I’ve done other things and taken a break and come back when I’ve been good and ready.

That’s the way I’ll continue to read into 2024 and beyond!

 

Summary

I think it’s fair to say that I should give myself a pat on the back for achieving my reading goals in 2023! If you are interested in seeing what reading goals, I set myself for 2024, check out my blog on Thursday! 

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – December 2023

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Happy New Year gang – welcome to my final monthly wrap-up post relating to 2023! In today’s post, I recap the reading progress I made over the month of December. Tomorrow, I will be publishing an overarching review of 2023 as a whole, so if you’re looking for that content keep your eyes peeled!

With festive plans and lots of catch ups, reading progress naturally slowed down a little in December. However, as I had already met my official reading goal of the year, I wasn’t too bothered about this. I did set myself an unofficial goal, however, to try and get to books before the end of the year. Did I achieve that? Find out more below!

 

Books Read

 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I started the month of December carrying forward The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. At the end of November’s monthly wrap-up, I was just over 25% into the book.

It was refreshing to pick up a mood read for a change. If you recall that post, I picked up The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes after DNFing another read on November’s TBR. I had just been to watch the film at the cinema, and I loved it.

It’s fair to say that I enjoyed the book every bit as much as the film, even if there did turn out to be those usual minuscule differences between the two. I also think knowing the ending impacted the speed of which I read this book… combined with the festive period, of course. That’s not to take away from my experience of the book though! I really enjoyed this prequel, and following on from this, I will be looking to re-read The Hunger Games trilogy this year.

 

The Success Code

With my non-fiction reading goal in mind, I picked up two non-fiction books in December. The first of those was a physical read of The Success Code by John Lees.

This book is great as it is made up of multiple short chapters. It outlines small steps we can take in order to represent ourselves as best we can, put our best foot forward and promote positive image of ourselves to others.

It’s content should be worked through sequentially, as some of the latter chapters build upon framework outlined earlier. I think that’s useful though, as this framework gives you a model to work around, rather than giving you some generic advice and expecting you to be able to implement it without any guidance. The baby step nature of it as well, stop you from getting intimidated and falling over at the first hurdle.

I’ll definitely be looking to take away some of the points brought up in this book, so it was definitely a worthwhile read!

 

Order and Chaos

My next physical read, was picking up Order and Chaos, a short story anthology. I read another anthology, contributed to by the same author that approached me, earlier this year. Having enjoyed the experience of reading that first book, it was easy to say yes to the second.

I’m not going to go too much into the details of why I enjoyed the anthology, because I have a review live on my blog that you can check out instead. In summary, though, the anthology is a fun and diverse collection of stories that all revolve around the themes of order and chaos. But, from there, are vastly different from each other! It was a nice short read that fit in perfectly around the busy Christmas period.

 

Gemina

The last book I picked up physically in the month of December is Gemina. As of the end of 2023 and this monthly wrap-up post, I have read 266 pages of Gemina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman.

Yesterday, I was under no illusion that I wasn’t going to get through this book before the end of the year. I had read just over 200 pages at the start of the night. There was no way I was going to get through the final 450… even with the best of intentions! It doesn’t matter though. Through my reading to date, I did indeed meet my unofficial (larger) goal of reading 60 books by the end of the year. There wasn’t a massive push to get this finished. I’m also happy to take this through into January and set my reading year off right!

I read the first book of the trilogy, Illuminae, earlier this year and I fell in love with it. I love the way in which the books are written, the characters (different between both books, but that doesn’t matter one iota) and the overarching story. It’s a different format to what I usually pick up, but it’s working really well for me!

 

Audiobooks

 

November Insta Poll Pick – The Minders

I left off my November monthly wrap-up post having listened to half of The Minders by John Marrs.

I listened to the second half of this audio when making gifts for Christmas. Although not a festive read, I found it compelling to follow along with whilst doing something mindless. The narrative of this story is interesting. As it’s a conspiracy thriller, we’re always pondering what we don’t know or what is going to happen next.

I liked how this audio was cast. We had a couple of different narrators (one for each gender), and the characters were differentiated well enough that we could easily follow who was who.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Minders, and for sure, it won’t be my last John Marrs book!

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People

The second non-fiction book that made it onto December’s reading list was How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

I confess I went into this book with a preconception that it was going to be a little trickier compared to The Success Code. In comparison, the second book is more modern and considerably shorter. How to Win Friends and Influence People was first published in 1936 and the audio was around seven hours long.

In reality, How to Win Friends and Influence People was a very easy listen. Despite the age of the book, I still find a lot of the points raised in it to be relevant today. Well, some people may resent being told to smile more. But, there is definitely argument for why this can help you. Don’t worry ladies, this isn’t targeted at just us!

 

December Insta Poll Pick – My Sister’s Keeper

I ended the month of December having listened to just less than a third of My Sister’s Keeper. I wanted to pick up this book for the moral debate that makes up the vast majority of the story. Now and then I will read out of my comfort zone for a specific reason. For example, I read Me Before You in 2019 as it deals with the topic of euthanasia.

My Sister’s Keeper is about a 13-year-old girl, Anna, who was conceived as a donor match for her sister. Kate was diagnosed from a young age with an aggressive form of leukaemia. Throughout her childhood, Anna has undergone multiple procedures and surgeries in order to donate to her sister. However, the nature of her illness means more invasive treatment is required each time.

At the opening of My Sister’s Keeper, Kate is suffering from kidney failure and is in need of a transplant to save her life. Anna‘s parents expect her to undergo the surgery and give her a kidney, but she has ideas of her own.

I enjoy reading stories that take a look at some of the more difficult topics in life. It’s more than just a story to enjoy, but one to think about as well. Although I am only a third of the way through the book so far, the set up is giving me everything I was hoping this book would be, and more! It’s a nice easy listen and I hope the narrative going forward explores the issue in as much depth as it can.

 

Summary

I trust you can tell from this monthly wrap-up post that I enjoyed each and every read I picked up in December, whether I finished it or not. I’m taking forward some great books into 2024!

I have briefly mentioned that I met my unofficial goal of reading 60 books. If you want to see what other reading goals I set myself, and how I did with those, check out tomorrow’s blog post in which I take a look at my 2023 year in review.

I hope to see you in that post. But until then, thanks for checking out today’s monthly wrap-up… and happy reading!

 

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Top Ten Tuesday – 2023/2024 Winter TBR

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Over the course of 2023 I’ve been sharing Top Ten Tuesday seasonal TBR’s, (Spring, Summer and Autumn here) and today is no exception! In today’s post, I share the top 10 books I would like to prioritise reading in winter of 2023/2024.

I have a lot of books on my reading list and a rough idea of some of the goals I would like to set myself for reading in 2024. Some of them are a continuation of goals I set myself in 2023, and it’s with these in mind that I have put together this Top Ten Tuesday list.

Are you interested to see which books I intend to read in the next three months? Then, without further ado, let’s dive in:

 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

The first of the books on this list are ones that I am picking up throughout the month of December. It feels appropriate to feature them first, given that I will be physically getting to them first.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a book I have intended to read for a while, but chose to expedite and pick up as a mood read last month. I went and watched the film in the cinema and I loved the story. A combination of a busy festive period so far, and I suspect, knowing what happens in the book, has meant that reading progress is a little slower than usual. However, I am enjoying the content. Given that I’m getting into the meat of the book now, I’m hopeful to finish the book soon!

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People

The second book on this list is another I intend to pick up in December. Contributing towards my non-fiction reading goal, I’m looking to finish How to Win Friends and Influence People before the end of 2023.

A further motive I have for picking the book up sooner rather than later is because I feel the content will complement a workshop I attended at work recently. Like I did with a similar communication course, I decided to follow that up with a relevant book (Surrounded by Idiots) and that worked really well the first time. I found exploring the content again in more detail in audio, helped cement what I learned and practised in that workshop.

 

Gemina

The last book I feature in this Top Ten Tuesday post that is relevant towards my 2023 reading is Gemina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman. Technically this book does contribute towards a reading goal of picking up and carrying on with series. However, the main reason I want to pick the book up is because I enjoyed the first one earlier this year and I don’t want to leave it too long before picking up the sequel.

This series is also a fun one to read as the story is told in mixed media format. That is something I have discovered this year and I have really enjoyed it! I’ve tried the format in multiple genres (sci-fi and mystery) and it works really well in both cases. I have quite a few books that I intend to read in December, and although Gemina is one of the longer ones, it will also be one of the easiest to read. I’m looking forward to it for the enjoyment factor alone!

 

The Hunger Games

As I briefly mentioned above, I have intended to pick up The Hunger Games trilogy again since watching and enjoying the films on TV not long ago. At the time, I didn’t realise that the film for the prequel was about to be released and that’s why they were showing. Once I found out, I decided that I was going to read the prequel and the series again in full, together!

I am currently reading the prequel, so I don’t intend to leave it too long before I go back in to the main series. By my reckoning, it’s been about 10 years since I picked up this original series and I’m curious to see how the experience will differ from last time!

 

The Good Samaritan

The Good Samaritan by John Marrs has been on my reading list for a little while. I always intended it to be my first John Marrs book, but my TBR jar put paid to that plan when I pulled out The Minders.

Incidentally, this is my current audiobook listen as of drafting this post and my experience of both the book and the author is a great one. I’m always slower on audio, but that’s no reflection on the book. It’s just not my preferred format. I’ve been listening to the book for a few weeks now and I’m getting to the point in the story where events are really picking up. I anticipate listening to the audio more intently as I’m intrigued by the narrative, and also mindful that I have at least one other audio that I want to get through before the end of the year!

Based on my experience of The Minders, I’m looking forward to picking up The Good Samaritan. The plot itself is what caught my attention, but the writing style of The Minders makes me think that The Good Samaritan could be even better than I expect!

 

Unmasked

I’m undecided as to whether I’m going to set myself non-fiction goal next year, but I want to keep up with reading them all the same.

Unmasked is a book I discovered and added to my reading list in the last few months. I’m intrigued to pick up Unmasked as it explores what it is like to live with neurodivergence such as ADHD and autism. I have a friend who was recently diagnosed with autism as an adult and honestly, I’m intrigued to read this perspective! We are all different people, have different values and think differently. However, I’m curious to read and experience a neurodivergent perspective and understand better what that means and the impact it has. 

 

Undoctored

Along the lines of continuing with non-fiction reads, I want to pick up the third non-fiction book by Adam Kay on my Top Ten Tuesday Winter reading list, Undoctored.

I have already read This Is Going to Hurt and T’was the Nightshift Before Christmas and I loved both books. Incidentally, this author came up recently in a chat amongst my friends, and that reminded me that I still had this book on my reading list to pick up. Whereas the other books on this winter TBR are either more serious or detailed fantasy/sci-fi worlds, Undoctored will add a degree of comedy to my reading that I don’t include much otherwise.

 

The Auschwitz Photographer

The last non-fiction book on this Top Ten Tuesday list is one that caught my eye in The Works ages ago. Whilst I don’t yet own a copy, I will happily read or listen to this book in any format.

Don’t ask me what it is, because I can’t rightly tell you, but I love books set around or about World War II. In particular, I have read quite a few that centre around experiences of the concentration camps. Previously I’ve enjoyed fiction (inspired by real experiences) such as The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris. More recently, I’ve read more non-fiction on the topic, including The Diary of Anne Frank and just last month, The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz by Jeremy Dronfield.

It’s a topic that I can (and clearly do) read over and over again!

 

The Measure

These last two books on today’s Top Ten Tuesday post are books that don’t necessarily contribute to any reading goal, but I want to pick up because I like the sound of them!

I added The Measure to my reading list just over a year ago. The synopsis grabbed my attention, and it immediately popped into my mind when thinking about what mood reads I might want to read in the next few months.

Imagine waking up one day and receiving a parcel that would tell you just how long you had left to live. Imagine the whole neighbourhood gets one, and the consequences that would cause. That’s the concept of this book, and it has some great ratings on Goodreads. I can’t wait to see if The Measure meets expectations!

The Kingdom

The Kingdom is a standalone fantasy novel, which makes it unique on my TBR. I am typically a series reader, but I am excited to pick up this standalone. What also makes it a little different is that it has an element of romance, and then different again, between a robot and a human.

Combine fantasy and science fiction with murder mystery, and you’ve got the components of The Kingdom. Told through courtroom testimony, we explore the truth of what happens to Owen through his accused murderer’s case.

Truthfully, I added this to my reading list because it is an interesting concept and very unlike anything on my reading list to date. I picking this up for the variety it offers to my reading!

 

Summary

Those are the books I’m featuring in today’s Top Ten Tuesday – Winter TBR.

Have you read any of the books I featured in today’s Top Ten Tuesday list? Do you have any books you would like to recommend me to pick up in 2024?

As always, I’m really excited to hear from you, so please get in touch!

 

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Monthly TBR – December 2023

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Hello reading friends and welcome to my final monthly TBR post of 2023! Where has the time gone?

If you’re panicking about meeting your reading goal before the end of the year, please try not to stress. I hope that doesn’t sound patronising from me considering I have reached my goal already. I don’t want that to the point. Instead, the point is that we should all be enjoying the reading we are doing. It doesn’t matter how much you read, what you choose to read or how you go about it. The point is to have fun! Maybe to try and push the boundaries a little bit and try something new. But ultimately, it needs to be enjoyable!

That’s what I’ve been aiming for in my monthly TBR for December, and I have quite a range of books here on this list to see me in the new year. Am I likely to read them all before then? Not likely. However, I’m going to have a great time doing it.

Shall we check out the books on this monthly TBR?

 

Fixed Reads

 

November Carryover – The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I picked up The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes on a whim after DNF’ing another read last month. As of this post, it’s my current read.

So far, I’m loving the fidelity between the book, the characters and the film. Sure, there are some subtle differences. However, in contrast, some of the dialogue is very close to the film. That they wanted to make the two as close as possible makes me very happy!

As of this monthly TBR, I’m 36% into the book and loving every moment!

 

November Insta Poll Carryover – The Minders

Another carryover from last month is my current audiobook, The Minders.

I’m halfway through this conspiracy thriller and I’m intrigued by the plot. It’s an interesting premise and I have no idea how the plot will look to resolve. It’s a compelling listen and the audio casting of the book is working well for me.

As my first John Marrs book, it’s made a great impression so far! If it carries on this good, or gets better, then I’ll definitely be reading more of his books in future.

 

Chaos and Order

I received a review request to pick up another short story anthology, and I am excited to oblige. You may recall that I read a short story anthology called Taking Liberties earlier this year. As someone who doesn’t read short stories very often, I enjoyed diving into this anthology with a theme between the different stories as a break from typical longer narratives.

Much is the case with Chaos and Order, and the themes are pretty self-explanatory. Chaos and Order is a relatively short book, and being made up of plenty of short stories, this should be an easy read to pick up and put down if I want to… although I might want to binge it after all!

I’m looking forward to picking this up and sharing my thoughts with you very soon.

 

Insta Poll Runner Up – My Sister’s Keeper

In the last few months I have made a habit of posting a couple of books on my TBR in an Instagram poll and letting my followers decide my next read. To make sure the ‘losing’ book doesn’t fall off the radar, I’ve taken to reading this the following month after the poll.

This month is no exception! After reading The Minders, which won the poll in November, I will be picking up My Sister‘s Keeper this month.

I think the premise is an interesting one. Whilst I had heard of the title, I wasn’t really familiar with the storyline behind it. I think this book will do well to explore humanitarian issues, as well as personal identity. This would be profound enough in a book with a teenage protagonist. However, considering her perceived (and conceived) role as a donor for her sister, this could get even more interesting!

 

December TBR Jar – The Black Coats

The last TBR Jar pick of the year is The Black Coats.

It feels like ages ago that I added this book to my reading list. As I have other reads in this monthly TBR that explore morality to an extent, there’s something that feels right about this book and the premise of revenge getting out of hand.

I don’t know too much about the book and I’m excited to go in knowing that little. It will be a pleasant surprise and an opportunity to try a brand-new author to me. That’s something I always look for, and I hope that has already come across in my reading.

 

Mood Reads

 

The Success Code

Another short read on this monthly TBR, and hopefully one of the last non-fiction reads of the year, is The Success Code.

Not only does reading this book work towards my non-fiction goal, but it also feels appropriate given that we’re going to be jumping into year end performance reviews and 2024 goal setting at work very soon.

I appreciate this isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, and to a certain extent, some of the formality around it isn’t my favourite either. However, I am the type of person who likes to push themselves and try new things. I’m not content unless I’m learning, and so these New Year opportunities have some appeal.

I might as well go into the conversation prepared, right?

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People

The very last non-fiction I intend to pick up this year is How to Win Friends and Influence People. I actually have a copy of this book on audio, so this is going to be my priority listen after finishing The Minders.

Again, this works of my reading goal for non-fiction. However, like I did after a communication training course at work, I have decided to pick up this topical book to add to what I learned in another workshop I attended through work. I did the same thing in picking up Surrounded by Idiots in October. Incidentally, those two mediums of learning went together really well, in terms of content. Having completed an ‘influence’ workshop a couple of weeks ago, I now hope How to Win Friends and Influence People can build upon and cement what I learned there into something I can put into practice.

 

Firefight

Firefight is a book I have intended to pick up in the last couple of months, but not gotten to. There’s a few of those that have made it onto the reading list recently, and Firefight is no exception. Regular readers will know I am a big fan of Brandon Sanderson. I have read a variety of his books, some series in full, whilst others I have dipped into.

I read the first book in his Reckoners series a few years ago now. I enjoyed the action-packed narrative and I’ve been looking to get back into the series. Sequels are something I am trying to read more of as well, so I can tick another box with this pick!

 

Gemina

Another sequel, and the last book on my December monthly TBR is Gemina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman.

I read the first book of this YA mixed media series, Illuminae, in February. Although the books are chunkier in length, they are nice and easy to get through considering the medium they are written in.

I’m looking forward to picking up Gemina, partly as a change from traditional prosaic writing, but also as it’s a series I have loved so far.

I wouldn’t describe myself as a particular reader of the young adult genre, but I don’t feel ostracised or out of place by picking up these books. They are written very well and the mixed media aspects of the book make them interesting. I enjoy reading between the lines, and that is something we get to do in this format more than traditional writing styles.

 

Summary

In my monthly wrap-up post for November, I shared my hopes to unofficially up my reading goal to 60 books by the end of the year.

Although I don’t expect to get through everything on this reading list, there is plenty of material here to get me to that goal… and maybe beyond!?

Have you read any of the books or authors I have featured in today’s monthly TBR? What do you think of my final choices for the year? As always, I would love to hear your feedback.

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – November 2023

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Happy first of December folks and welcome to my monthly wrap-up post for November! Before that, are your Christmas decorations up yet? I confess I put up my tree and some outside lights today. The rest is to follow tomorrow.

I usually put mine up the first weekend of December. However, as I have been on leave from work this week, I decided to make my life a little bit easier tomorrow and do some of the bigger jobs. Although I say that, the outside lights only took me 10 minutes as I packed them in the same way I strung them up last year – I just had to clip it all back in place!

Anyway, let’s stop talking about the c-word and start talking about the books I read in November. I had a great month of reading! I’ve also varied how I split my reading this month, making the list more manageable. Shall we get into my monthly wrap-up post and take a look at what I picked up?

 

Books Read

 

The Shining

At the start of November, I left off from my last monthly wrap-up having only read 30 pages of The Shining. I’d wanted to read the book around Halloween, but it transpired that I only started the book that night.

So, I read the vast majority of this nearly 500 page book in November. Whilst the timing didn’t quite pan out as expected, it didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the book at all. On the contrary, this book was everything I have come to expect from Stephen King. Although I am not a big reader of horror in general, I will always make an effort to pick up his books.

The Shining is a classic novel, and I’m glad I finally got around to it! It was every bit as good as I expected it to be, and I can’t wait to read more of his classics in future.

 

The Vikings in the Isle of Man

It feels like many moons ago, although in reality it is not, that I featured my Norsevember post. As part of my research for that post, I read a couple of books around Vikings and their presents in the Irish Sea, including and surrounding the Isle of Man. I read the majority of The Vikings in the Isle of Man in November. I had to prioritise reading this at the beginning of the month, so I technically completed this book before The Shining.

The Vikings in the Isle of Man was an informative read and touched upon topics and themes I had also read in Vikings of the Irish Sea. It’s quite a niche topic if we’re being honest. It is only because it relates closely to home that I wanted to pick it up and share a little bit of knowledge. I appreciate it’s not going to be everybody’s cup of tea, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

 

Lost Solace

Lost Solace has been on my reading list for quite some time. I’ve attempted to get round to the book for the last two or three months as well, and failed. That is, I’m pleased to say in this monthly wrap-up, until this month. At the beginning of November, I told myself that this month was the month I was going to pick it up. I’m glad I did!

If you enjoy science-fiction, and want a relatively short but action-packed novel, this would be perfect for you. Having read some related books by Karl Drinkwater before (Tales of Lost Solace), some of the characters were already familiar to me. I don’t think that specifically contributed to my enjoying the book anymore, but it was nice to go in with a degree of familiarity.

I won’t be leaving it so long to continue with this series!

 

November TBR Jar – The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz

Historical, whether fiction or non-fiction, is a genre I will enjoy going back to time and again. When I pulled The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz out of my TBR jar at the end of October, I was excited! Although a morbid subject, I have enjoyed multiple books that centre around characters and experiences around the concentration camps in World War II. Heather Morris’ books, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey, are great examples.

Every bit is harrowing,The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is a true story of a son who could not bear to be separated from his father, and opted to go to Auschwitz with him. They had already spent a good deal of time in captivity before they were transferred to the infamous camp. Shockingly, the treatment there is not the worst they received. Towards the end of the book, I was just begging that the both of them survived. They had already been through so much.

Well researched and written, this is one of the easiest non-fiction books I have picked up in terms of readability this year.

 

Ashes of Guilt

One of the last books I picked up to physically read in November was Ashes of Guilt by Isabella Steele. I had downloaded a copy of this book through Reidy discovery in order to provide a review by the end of the month. If you haven’t yet checked out that post, you can see my thoughts from Wednesday’s review here.

Ashes of Guilt is another relatively short, but equally compulsive, read. The synopsis was a great hook into the narrative, but quickly we worked through that and found ourselves in uncharted territory.

This is the kind of book that would be a great palette cleanser, or if someone wants to dip that to a genre for a reasonably short time before moving onto something else. I read Ashes of Guilt in just a handful of days. At 222 pages, it has to be one of the shortest books I’ve read this year.

 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

For the first time in months, I have a mood read to share with you in this November monthly wrap-up. You’ll see why below.

Picking up The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is absolutely because I went to watch the film on Tuesday. It’s been a long time since I went to the cinema and I had a great time watching this film. After spending over 2 and a half hours in a cinema seat, I can remember why it’s not a regular occurrence… But I had a good time nonetheless.

I’ve been threatening to pick up this book since I started re-watching the hunger games films. After watching and loving the film, I literally couldn’t wait. Often, films deviate from content in the books, and I was curious to see what extent this does. As of this post, I am just over a quarter of the way through The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and there isn’t too much variation, which is good!

 

Audiobooks

 

October TBR Jar – The Flood

Carried over from October’s monthly wrap-up post, I still had half of the audiobook of the flood to listen to this month.

I was a little late starting this considering I had already made progress with the book. I only really made progress in the last week of November. That’s because I’m not very good at listening to audiobooks in and around my normal routine. I started listening to The Flood when I was on leave from work last month. This week I have been on leave again (using the last of my holiday, can you tell?). Because I’ve been out of routine again, I’ve been able to make time to listen to the audio.

Overall, I had a good experience with The Flood. I strongly recommend listening to this book as the audio went along way towards my enjoyment of it. I didn’t anticipate the ending and I enjoyed seeing the mystery on full to reveal the truth right at the end.

 

Insta Poll Pick – The Minders

Given I had quite the number of books on this reading list, I decided to pick up the audiobook copy of The Minders. This book won my Instagram poll that I posted at the end of October. I was lucky in that I didn’t already have a copy of the book, so I had my pick of the format I went with.

This book would be great in any format, although I am again enjoying the audio. The book is told through multiple perspectives and these are told through two narrators.

As of this monthly wrap-up post, I am about halfway through The Minders. I still have just over 5 1/2 hours left of listening time, and I hope that time that I start to get some explanations as to what is going on. If you are unfamiliar with the book, it is kind of a conspiracy thriller. I’m deliberately not meant to know too much about what is going on, and I am hooked to find out how the plot evolves and ultimately resolves itself.

As experiences go, this is the first time I have picked up a John Marrs book and I doubt it will be the last!

 

Books DNF’d

 

The Witches – Salem, 1692: A History

We have a rare feature in today’s monthly wrap-up post – a DNF. It was quite a decisive one at that too. I ultimately made it through 30 pages of The Witches before I threw in the towel.

The writing style at the beginning was fine. The opening chapter is an introduction to events as they happened, including the numbers of people who died as a result of the witch trials, and a summary of the evidence available to the author, when putting together the book. In short, not much. It was the next chapter that threw me off completely.

I cannot help but feel that in the absence of tangible information, the author, then decided to fill in the gaps with pure fantasy and presented as. For example, the scene describes how two women flew on broomsticks to a given meeting location. This may be what they have been accused of, but presenting it as fact really didn’t sit well with me. It felt like filler and already had me questioning the information I’d been told.

The book is a reasonably lengthy one for a non-fiction, and I’ve already made my mind up at the 30 page mark that I wasn’t a fan. Had I struggled on, I wouldn’t of enjoyed the experience and could well have put myself in a readings lump because I didn’t want to pick it up. Frankly, life is too short… and my reading list is too long. So, onwards we go. Now you know why I picked up The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes instead – the timing of this DNF coincided with me watching the film!

 

Summary

In all, I had a great month. I picked up some varied and interesting reads. That was one miss two, but I didn’t let myself dwell on that one for too long!

In addition to reading some great books, I also met my Goodreads reading challenge of completing 50 books this year very early this month, which is cause for a pat on the back. Last year I read 47 books, so to be going into December having read 55 already is a great achievement. Am I unofficially pushing for 60 by the end of the year? Absolutely!

Here’s hoping for some great reads to get me there. If you’re keen to find out which books I will be picking up in December, I will be sharing my reading list early next week. Stay tuned!

Until then, happy reading!

 

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Shelf Control #71 – 11/10/2023

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Happy Friday lovely readers and welcome to today’s Shelf Control post. Honestly, I’m glad I’m featuring a Shelf Control instead of a Well, I Didn’t Know That! post. Wednesday’s Vikings of Mann post, in terms of content, is very similar to this feature. I wouldn’t have been able to commit to undertaking a Well, I Didn’t Know That! as well.

Shelf Control posts are nice and easy… and give me a chance to get excited about the books I’m going to read! As always, let’s recap the purpose of these posts.

Shelf Control is a regular feature on my blog – a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies. It’s a celebration of the unread books on our shelves! The idea is to pick a book you own but haven’t read and write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up!

If you want to read more about the Shelf Control feature, check out Lisa’s introductory post.

Today’s book is actually an omnibus, and currently the first chronologically in a developing, epic scale series. How epic you ask? Well, it has the same number of primary works as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. Intrigued as to what this is? Let’s take a look!

 

The Mage Wars – Mercedes Lackey

The Mage WarsGenre: Fantasy

Pages: 784

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Titan Books

Publication Date: 06 Sept 2016

 


Goodreads – The Mage Wars

 

Set around three thousand years before the rest of the Valdemar series, this is the ancient history of Velgarth and the story of Skandranon Rashkae, a gryphon with gleaming ebony feathers, keen magesight and acute intelligence. He is the fulfillment of all that the Mage of Silence, the human sorcerer called Urtho, intended to achieve when he created these magical beings to be his champions, the defenders of his realm – a verdant plain long coveted by the evil mage Ma’ar.

Together with Amberdrake, a Healer of body, mind and spirit, Skandranon will defend his nation from his evil counterparts created by Ma’ar, the makaar. The glorious city of White Gryphon will rise from the ashes, but it will take careful negotiation, spying and terrible war against the mysterious Black Kings to secure the stronghold. Even then, the elite guard force, the Silver Gryphons, will discover a greater terror lurking in the forests beyond the city walls…

The Mage Wars omnibus follows Skandranon and his lifelong friend, Amberdrake, and their children, as they seek to establish and defend a Kingdom of peace and tranquillity.


My Thoughts

I’m not committing to starting such a large series when I already have several ongoing. Maybe, because of the size, I should try to finish Discworld before I take this on.

Confession time – I picked up The Mage Wars, together with two other omnibus collections at Waterstones, on a whim. I did check out the books and the author enough to know that these books are very highly rated. I have never read any books by Mercedes Lackey before, but I can recognise potential in the general consensus of the reviews! Flicking through the other books she has written, and looking the average Goodreads rating – she has a good run! 

I love fantasy that involves complex magic systems and plot lines. This omnibus feels like it has all the components of a grand epic fantasy that I enjoy. Personally, I can’t wait to dive in and find out!

The other two omnibus books, I bought at the same time are The Mage Winds and The Mage Storms. I didn’t realise it at the time, but these books chronologically fall later in the series. It’s one of those scenarios where you could read the books in the order they are published, or in chronological order.

I haven’t decided which I’m going to do yet, so if you have any opinions and or experience with these books, I’d love to see what you think I should do? Which should I pick up first?

 

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Monthly TBR – November 2023

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Good evening readers – I hope you are having a lovely weekend? I’m looking forward to sharing all my upcoming reads for the month, and today is the day I share my monthly TBR!

The list looks larger than usual, as it is inflated by a couple of carryover reads from October, together with the fact that the average book length for this month is slightly lower.

I have around 2400 pages to read over the course of the month, which is about average. This doesn’t include my audiobooks for this month, of which I have about 16.5 hours listening time. That averages to just over half an hour a day, which is more than achievable!

Shall we get into my monthly TBR and discuss specifics of the books I’m reading in November?

 

Fixed Reads

 

October Carryover – The Shining

I picked up The Shining, the last book on my October TBR, on Halloween. I was hoping to be a little bit further into the book by that point, but still reading it for the spooky season. As it happens, I only read about 40 pages… But it is a start and I’ll take it.

As of this monthly TBR I am a more modest 180 pages, or roughly 40%, through the book. There was never really any doubt, but I am enjoying this story and the setting so far. Although I’ve been making my way through The Dark Tower series, it’s been a little while since I picked up a pure horror by Stephen King.

I’m looking forward to making further progress in the book and seeing how events unfold. There has been a lot of set up for what may happen later in the book; I’m keen to see if they play out as I hope they do!

 

October TBR Jar Carryover – The Flood

Throughout the latter half of October I started listening to The Flood by Rachel Bennett. Rachel is, I believe, resident on the island, and so I picked up this book to support a local author.

As I mentioned in my monthly wrap-up post for October, I am getting on well with this audiobook. I’m curious as to the history of some of the characters and how future events will unravel. There is definitely far more going on from the ‘historic’ timeline than we readers are aware of yet. I’m interested to see what bearing this has on the modern day aspect of the narrative.

 

Norsevember – Vikings in the Isle of Man

Norsevember is a reading event hosted by Blogs and Spells. Over the course of November, he and other creators feature all things Norse, from books to mythology. I have the pleasure of taking part this year and sharing a feature post on how the Norse touched the little island I live on.

I have already read one book that will contribute to my feature post next week, but I am going to be reading Vikings in the Isle of Man to supplement my knowledge ahead of this post. It’s also another great way to be able to support the event.

It’s only a short non-fiction at 140 pages, but I’m looking forward to picking it up!

 

Ashes of Guilt

I found Ashes of Guilt on Discovery as available to read and to provide a review for. I really like the sound of the premise for this book, so I’ve decided to give it a go! It’s a small-town mystery/thriller novel in which the main character has a shady childhood past; only, it may be that not all is as it seemed back then…

Ashes of Guilt is my only review obligation for November, which makes a nice change from the three I had to do last month! I shouldn’t complain, I sign myself up for these things. So, if there’s anyone to blame, I should just go look in the mirror…

 

November TBR Jar – The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz

Every month, I randomly pick a book out of my TBR Jar. November is no exception. Yesterday, I shared my pick on Instagram. If you’ve seen that already, then you know I drew out The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz.

I’m actually glad this book made it to November’s monthly TBR. I really love books around World War II and in particular Auschwitz. You can call me morbid if you want. I just find it a really interesting subject. What makes the pick even better is that it is a non-fiction novel. With the end of the year fast approaching, I am trying my best to meet my target of picking up more than 15 non-fiction books by the end of the year.

As of this post, I have read 12. Incidentally, I have three non-fiction books on this reading list (last one below), meaning that I have every chance of hitting that goal! Considering I was behind in my mid-year review post, that’s quite a turnaround. 

The fact that this book came out makes it even easier for me. I should, in theory, only have to read one in December to exceed my >15 goal. 

 

November Instagram Poll Pick – The Minders

In addition to the TBR Jar, I’ve taken to posting a poll on Instagram and getting my followers to vote between two books, the winner being the one I read next.

For the poll just gone, the books my followers had to choose from were My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, or The Minders by John Marrs. The Minders won by quite the majority, and I’m glad it did! I have a few books by John Marrs on the reading list at this point, so I’m excited to be getting around to one of his at least! It’s also more fitting for the season. The Minders is a mystery/thriller novel with hints at government conspiracy in the synopsis. I hope you are as intrigued as I am, because I’m looking forward to telling you about it.

I have obtained a copy of The Minders via audiobook. I quite enjoyed the sample and honestly, I already had quite a lot of books on this reading list in either physical or e-book format. I needed another audio!

 

Mood Reads

The Witches – Salem, 1692: A History

The first of my mood reads in today’s monthly TBR is also the third non-fiction I mentioned above. I have had my copy of The Witches for about a year now. I have gone to pick it up before, but I was a little bit intimidated by the page count and the text size – it’s tiny!

This normally doesn’t bother me, but I looked at it before experimentally when I was looking for a change in read, and ideally something quite quick. That wouldn’t have been the case, so I didn’t pick up.

I am interested in the subject matter though, so I’m looking forward to getting around to it at last!

 

Lost Solace

A relatively quick read, and a change up in genre, is Lost Solace by Karl Drinkwater. I have had a copy of this book for the longest time to read. It’s also supposed to have been on the last three or four months TBR’s, but I just couldn’t fit it in.

Karl’s Lost Solace series in itself will be new to me, but I have read several short stories set in the same universe. I have really enjoyed those stories, so I’m looking forward to giving this mean series for dry.

It’s also been a little while since I read a science fiction novel. What do you believe, the last time I picked up the genre was when I read Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson back at the end of July! I certainly never intended to leave it that long. Then again, picking up Lost Solace has moved to or three times.

 

Incendium

The last book I would like to pick up in November is Incendium. It feels like the perfect month to pick this book up, as the plot sounds like it is very reminiscent of the gunpowder plot… which was foiled in November 1605.

I would’ve liked to pick up the book a little earlier in the month to coincide with bonfire night. However, it’s more important that I focus on my obligations, and so I will have to settle for reading it in the same month!

 

Summary

That’s a lot of books that I’m hoping to pick up in November, but honestly, I think it’s doable. Given that I am prone to reading 600-900 page books, and all of these on my list fall under that, there is absolutely no reason this is unachievable!

Thanks for reading today’s Monthly TBR post!

Have you read any of the books on my November reading list? Do you like the sound of them?

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – October 2023

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Good evening readers and welcome to this monthly wrap-up post for October! I had a pretty good month with reading progress, and I have plenty to share with you in today’s post.

In October, I had a few reading commitments towards the end of the month. That gave me plenty of time to read those books first and then make it to my chosen mood reads later on.

Shall we dive into my recap for October in earnest?

 

Books Read

 

Priest of Bones

My first read I feature in today’s monthly wrap-up post is actually a carryover from September. I started Priest of Bones at the very end of September, and ended up reading all but the first three chapters in October!

I had high hopes for Priest of Bones. I feel like it is one of those books that got a lot of hype. Do I feel it lived up to expectation though? Not particularly. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the book. It was a decent read and I ultimately rated it three stars. I may continue on with the series, but I’m undecided as of right now.

 

The Puppet Maker

After reading Priest of Bones, I started making headway into my ‘fixed reads’ on October’s TBR. The Puppet Maker is the first of the blog tours I was taking part in during October, with my review due on the 20th.

The Puppet Maker was an opportunity to read a genre I haven’t picked up in a while. I have read mysteries, but not so much with a police procedural element. I enjoyed this change of scenery, so to speak. The book is also uniquely enjoyable for its representation of life as a new wheelchair user. Alana is the protagonist to this story, and she has to navigate multiple complex cases whilst personally coming to terms with her own personal tragedies.

If you want to check out my full review of the book you can find that here.

 

Warrior Prince

My next read, also for a blog tour, had me reading something new again. I’ve enjoyed multiple historical fiction novels featuring Vikings, but not outside modern-day England.

In Warrior Prince, we adventure along with exiled Harald Sigurdsson and his men throughout modern Eastern Europe. This new setting and political landscape made for a complete change to what I’m used to, and I loved that. There is a lot of conflict (not to be unexpected really) and complex character arcs/relations that drive the plot well.

Again, if you like the sound of this book and want to read my full thoughts, I’ll pop a link to my review here.

 

Cinderella’s Crimes

The last of my obligations for the month was to provide a review for Cinderella’s Crimes by the 31st October. Cinderella’s Crimes is a fairytale retelling with a lot darker nature than the traditional and well known version of the story.

Instead of sitting at home and hoping to attend the ball, Cinna takes matters into her own hands. In competition with her best friend Johann, she conducts a heist and aims to come out the better off of the two. She’s ruthless and cunning in pursuit of her revenge.

Cinderella’s Crimes is a fast paced tale and I liked how the events unfolded. As I’ve reviewed the book, you can check out my thoughts using this link.

 

TBR Jar – The Flood

My final ‘fixed read’ of October was my TBR Jar pick for the month. I have picked up The Flood by listening to the audiobook version. The narrator’s style is really lending itself to the book and genre. The story is compelling and the characters are clearly hiding things from us at the moment. I’m enjoying the dual timeline and I’m curious to see how this will come together at the end.

I’m carrying The Flood over into November to complete it. As of this monthly wrap-up post, I am coming up halfway through the book.

 

Surrounded by Idiots

Whilst reading the physical/ebook fixed reading list above, I also listened to Surrounded by Idiots.

I wanted to pick up the book as the content closely correlated to a work course I took recently. The two ended up complementing each other well, and now I feel I have some practical tips to take away. Taking the time to progress with the audiobook has also meant that it’s a subject I’ve gotten used to paying attention to and actively thinking about… which you have to if you want to make the most of the content!

Surrounded by Idiots was really informative and I’m glad I took the initiative to follow up on the content of the course through that audiobook when I did.

 

September’s Instagram poll runner up – Killing for Company

The last book I completed pretty much in full in October is Killing for Company: The Case of Dennis Nilsen by Brian Masters.

I added the book to my reading list three years ago, and it came up as the contender against Priest of Bones in my Instagram poll pick in September. It was always my plan to read the winner in September and the runner up in October; it’s ironic that I ended up reading both in October, but there we go!

Killing for Company is a grisly non-fiction about the life of Dennis Nilsen, who in adult life went on to murder 15 men and attempt taking the lives of several others. It’s not a book for those sensitive to grisly detail. It’s an intimate account of what happened for each of the men, as well as exploring the life and psychology of the man who fully admitted to and provided full accounts to the police about perpetrating the crimes upon capture.

 

The Shining

It was my intention to pick up and read The Shining late on in the month for Halloween (or Hop Tu Naa here). As it happens, I picked up the book to read the first 30 pages or so after visiting family that night.

Naturally, I’m currently continuing with my read of the book and I’ll be in a position to tell you more in my next monthly wrap-up!

 

Summary

Whilst I have carried a couple of reads over to November, I have managed to pick up everything on my October TBR, and a little more besides. I haven’t included that in this post, but you’ll see the fruit of that labour on my blog soon!

I’m looking forward to an equally productive November! Stay tuned for November’s Monthly TBR going live on Saturday.

Thanks for checking out today’s monthly wrap-up and until then, happy reading!

 

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Top Ten Tuesday – Atmospheric Reads

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In today’s Top Ten Tuesday post, I’ll feature a variety of atmospheric books that I’ve read and would recommend to readers. The books vary in genre and the type of atmosphere they foster; a good number are spooky reads that would be ideal to pick up this month. However, I wanted to broaden the scope from that so there is something here for all readerships… so fantasy, historical and cozy readers… there are books here for you too!

Let’s check out the books that made it to today’s Top Ten Tuesday list!

 

Spooky Reads

 

The Trail

The Trail is a book I read recently and it has been released at the perfect time to catch on to readers who like to pick up something spooky in October!

If you would like to read my review of this book, then I’ll provide a link to it here. In summary, it’s a small-town and sinister read involving an old disappearance case. When Jess goes back to where her mother disappeared she finds resistance at every turn. Long buried secrets try to stay buried…

 

Pet Sematary

When a family move to an idyllic house on the edge of a wood, they get far more than they bargained for.

Pet Sematary is a great read for fans of horror. I read this book when I was relatively new to the genre and fell in love with it very quickly! It fits the ‘spooky read’ aesthetic perfectly with its dabblings in topics like life and death… or… something else.

 

Imaginary Friend

Most parents dismiss the ramblings of children and their imaginary friends… but sometimes you shouldn’t. Imaginary Friend is a chunky read, yet over its page count it slowly weaves a darker tale into what begins a seemly innocuous child’s life.

I’d especially recommend this to fans of Stephen King as well. I found the method and pace of storytelling quite similar.

 

The Taking of Annie Thorne

The Taking of Annie Thorne gave me chills at the end, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. The Taking of Annie Thorne is my second C.J. Tudor read. I thought The Chalk Man would be a tough act to follow, but apparently not! Both were candidates for this Top Ten Tuesday post and I would honestly recommend either.

This horror/thriller also involves children, and features the titular Annie Thorne, who goes missing for 48 hours. However, when she returns, her brother swears she isn’t the same girl who disappeared that short time ago…

This book is very cleverly written to keep readers guessing at every revelation. It’s a dark, sinister narrative… and I loved it!

 

Fantasy/Dystopian Reads

 

The Hunger Games

All my fantasy reads in this section of my Top Ten Tuesday post have dystopian themes. I confess that The Hunger Games came to mind quite quickly as I’ve watched the first two films on Sky in the last week or so. They happened to be on and I enjoy them. I now want to revisit the books though!

The oppression and stark discrimination, paired with brief glimmers of hope are integral to the setting, characters and plot of this series. That’s why I’m featuring them in this post. They are so well done that the reader cannot help but route for those oppressed to thrive!

 

Red Rising

Red Rising is actually quite similar to The Hunger Games… so if you’d like to read the premise of that book in a sci-fi setting, then Red Rising is perfect for you.

Darrow and his kin risk their lives every day to mine a precious resource that will one day help colonise the planet. However, he learns that he and his people are being lied to and kept in effective slavery to those of higher caste.

In order to exact revenge, he infiltrates his oppressors and plots to take them apart from the inside.

 

Crowfall

This final book in The Raven’s Mark series is fraught with desperation, and the setting, plot and characters all come together in a last ditch attempt to save humanity. Even the Gods are losing power to a mightier force than they. What hope does Ryhalt have of stopping the incoming tide of minions of the Deep Kings?

That’s the premise of this dystopian and war torn setting… and the atmosphere of danger and desperation is palpable throughout.

 

Historical fiction

 

As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow

In As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow, there is stark contrast between the love a woman has for her home country as it was growing up versus the war ravaged landscape she struggles to live in every day.

It’s easy to fall into a trap of indifference with foreign news, but it is books like As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow that make us open our eyes to the devastation. Salama works in a hospital, stitching up the countless innocent victims caught up in the war. She is far from safe. Hospitals are targets.

In this harrowing tale of a fight for survival, the stress of the war and the choices Salama has had to make in her duties literally haunt her.

 

Historical – Non-Fiction

 

The Diary of a Young Girl

Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in World War II to escape the anti-Semitic treatment her people are exposed to. They are ultimately discovered in their annex and their fate is sealed. However, until such time, we relive the frustrations of living in a restricted lifestyle and confined space with multiple people. The underlying fear punctuates each entry, highlighting how it became a part of Anne’s (and her family’s) everyday life.

What makes the atmosphere most stark is that the words in Anne Frank’s diary spell out this young woman’s experience of real life events.

 

Cozy Reads

 

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Finally, I’ve chosen a completely different tone to round off this Top Ten Tuesday post.

The House in the Cerulean Sea, in summary, is about a man who doesn’t really belong in his world. As a special social worker, it is his duty to ensure the safekeeping of magical children. In his line of duty, he is sent to assess the most top secret orphanage. He expects to find chaos and danger – not the meaning of family and belonging.

Those are my atmospheric reads in today’s Top Ten Tuesday post. Have you read any of the books I featured today?

 

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Monthly TBR – October 2023

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

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

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

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

 

Fixed Reads

 

Priest of Bones

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

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

 

The Puppet Maker

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

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

 

Warrior Prince

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

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

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

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

 

Cinderella’s Crimes

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

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

 

TBR Jar – The Flood

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

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

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

Alright, I’ll see myself out…

 

Mood Reads

 

Killing for Company

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

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

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

 

The Shining

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

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

 

Surrounded by Idiots

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

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

 

Summary

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

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

 

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