Tag: Soul Identity

Monthly Wrap-Up – March 2023

Hello my friends and welcome to my monthly wrap-up for March 2023! I hope you have had a good reading month as I have!

This month was a little bit of a bizarre experience, because it seemed to start off quite slowly. Then again, I did start with quite a large book. By the time I worked my way through that one, the pages seemed to fly! In my monthly TBR for March, I set myself my typical TBR, but also included a stretch goal. That goal was to start one further book before the end of the month. And, I achieved that goal!

Normally, I tend to read books on my fixed reading list first in the month, and then revert to my mood reads. However, it didn’t really happen this month. Instead, I’m going to share the books I read in March in chronological order.

 

Books Read

 

Africa Risen

As of my last monthly wrap-up post, I was at 68% through Africa Risen and hoping to finish this early in March. I definitely pushed my way through this one.

It was an interesting book as it is written in a format I don’t read very often – an anthology. It made a change to read a collection of shorter stories and feature new perspectives, as opposed to those traditionally seen in westernised fantasy.

However, I didn’t love this book. I definitely prefer longer and more established narratives rather than collections of short stories. I like to get stuck in with a plot and engage with it in detail rather than check in with it superficially. These types of books do have good sides though. The main advantage of this shorter format was that I got to explore multiple different characters and perspectives.

As with all books, there were some elements/stories I wasn’t fussed on at all. There was some I did like. I’ve taken away what I wanted from them, but I will probably stick to predominantly non-anthologies in future.

 

A Game of Thrones

As I’ve heard on the grapevine that we can expect the sixth book in the series out in the not too distant future, I decided to start a re-read of the series. It’s going to take me some time to get through. Even this first book is approaching 800 pages long. Some of the books are so long that they are split into two. With that in mind, I wanted to make an early start, so I wasn’t having to rush through the books in order to be able to read the sixth one when it comes out.

As expected, I really enjoyed this re-read. This is the fourth time I have picked up A Game of Thrones. It is one of those books that I can pick up again and again and I will love just as much with every re-read.

As I mentioned in my introduction above, it did seem a little bit slow going at the beginning of the month. A 780 odd page book isn’t something to be devoured in a matter of days. I spent approximately half the month getting through this book alone! That said, it was great to go back to the beginning of the series, and I’m looking forward to picking up more books throughout the year.

 

The Book Eaters

Disappointingly, The Book Eaters didn’t live up to the expectation that the title led me to anticipate. Obviously, there is an element of book eating in the storyline. However, it wasn’t unique or pivotal enough for me to think it mattered. Ultimately, the main characters could have been substituted for any other minority group, and it would be the same.

The Book Eaters was a strange read in that I didn’t really enjoy it overall, there was enough intrigue in the plot to make me want to finish it. This book is also relatively short read at under 300 pages. By the time I made my mind up, I was a third of the way in. I decided to just crack on with it and give it a chance to redeem itself.

Sadly, I did end up disappointed with this book, and it achieved a rare rating from me – just two stars.

 

Feet of Clay

Looking for a bit of a pick me up, I then decided to read a firm favourite author – Terry Pratchett.

I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit how long it has been since I last picked up a Discworld novel. I like these books because they have a wide, overarching setting but with different sets of characters.

If I’m entirely honest, Feet of Clay wasn’t quite the pick me up I was hoping. It was still a decent read. However, the humour didn’t quite work for me in this particular book. I enjoy the city watch series in general, so I’ll still read the future books. But, it wasn’t my favourite either. Feet of Clay has some interesting messages and themes in the story, which I did appreciate. 

 

Soul Identity

Next, I picked up Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder. This is a completely different genre and setting to the books I picked up so far in my March TBR. The best way I can describe Soul Identity is a scientific take on concepts like reincarnation.

Naturally, there is an element of religion and belief that comes into this narrative. I quite enjoyed how these concepts were explored both separately and together.

I didn’t overly love the main character, Scott, and I wasn’t a fan of the budding relationship between him and computer geek, Val. The author also has a terrible habit of describing female characters physically before going onto any other redeeming attributes. Although well noted for her intelligence, even Val falls victim to becoming most significant in the narrative because she’s pretty.

The relationship that forms between them didn’t really add much to the story, which I was hoping it would. It’s almost like it was added in there to give the narrative a bit more mainstream appeal and to make the subject matter a little bit more readable. I didn’t really do that for me, but that’s certainly the impression I get.

It was still a decent read, and I wouldn’t let it put me off picking up other books in the series.

 

Death of Kings

Death of Kings is where I really started to see some improvement in my reading experience! Death of Kings is the sixth book in the Saxon stories series, better known as The Last Kingdom.

I really enjoy the perspective we get in the use of books. Our protagonist Uhtred was born as a Saxon, but his settlement was raided and he was raised by Danes from a very young age. As a result, he has this ongoing conflict between these two factions and ways of life. He is a fierce warrior and ally to the king of Wessex, King Alfred. However, he also has ties to the Danes and in particular, their values in life and take on religion.

In this book, Uhtred stirs up a fair bit of trouble. I enjoy reading this mischievous side of him, and how he interject himself between these two rival sides. It undoubtedly gives him an edge, but also we experience the ups and downs of the conflict and his internal conflict throughout.

It is also been a little while since I last picked up a book from the series. I’m glad to say that I’m now back into it, and in line with my goal of reading more sequels this year, I’m hoping to continue with this one.

 

The Mad Ship

My stretch goal for March, after reading the books above, was to make a start on The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb.

I knew that I wasn’t going to get through this book in the slightest. On its own, this book is just over 900 pages long! My aim was to just get myself introduced to the characters and pick up from where we left off in the previous book. If I would put a figure on it, I was hoping to maybe get through the first 50-100 pages.

By the end of the month, I just exceed that goal in reading 120 pages. Even though I’ve already read that much, there are still characters we are getting reacquainted with. There are a lot of contributors in this narrative, and as each chapter is a reasonable length, I daresay I’ll be spending the first 200 odd pages picking back up where we left off!

Given that I read the first book fairly recently, there’s been less of an adjustment period compared to picking up the first book. That narrative was quite different from the first trilogy I read, so took some getting into. However, I’ve already read that book and invested in the storyline and characters. Starting this book was a breeze!

 

In all, I read close to 3000 pages in March… which is the most this year so far! If you’re till with me, thanks for taking the time to read this monthly wrap-up post. 

Have you read any of the books I’ve featured today? Are they on your reading list?

 

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Sunday Summary – 2nd April 2023

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

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

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

 

Books Read

 

Soul Identity

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

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

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

 

Death of Kings

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

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

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

 

The Mad Ship

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

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

 

Thanks for Sharing

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

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

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

 

Books Discovered

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

So, no news is good news!

 

Coming Up…

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are you reading?

 

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Sunday Summary – 26th March 2023

Evening all and welcome to another weekly catch up in today’s Sunday Summary post! I hope you’ve had a good week?

This week, I decided to stick with posting just three blog posts instead of four. I have to say, it’s really agreeing with me! Keeping up with a four post per week schedule is quite tricky. I have been doing it for a little while now, but I have appreciated cutting that back down to three in the last couple of weeks. If I’m honest, I think that change is here to stay.

So, what have I been sharing this week? My first blog post of the week was a discussion post on how I decide what books to unhaul when clearing down my shelves. In that post, I also talk about the types of books that I tend to buy in physical copy, as well as the decision-making process behind making space for more. As always, you can find a link to that post above.

My second blog post of the week was shared on Friday. I recently took the decision to move my Well, I Didn’t Know That! series to a Friday and rotate it with my other regular Friday features. This was the way I figured would be easiest to go back down into a three posts a week schedule. It also makes it a little bit easier for me to read up on content for each of these posts. The point of the series is to feature media other than books. I’m obviously reading a lot already, so this is extra work!

For this week’s post, I found an interesting article in the BBC History magazine about the role of debtor’s prisons in 18th and 19th century Britain. If you think we have money worries now, check out that post and things may seem a little easier!

 

Books Read

I didn’t get off to the best of starts this week. However, that wasn’t really unexpected.

 

The Book Eaters

I left off from last week’s Sunday Summary update with just 70 pages left of The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean. If I’m being frank, I wasn’t overly enjoying the book, but there was enough intrigue in the plot to keep me going to the conclusion. It was also a relatively short book, which made it easier for me to just suck it up and get on with it.

I finished it. As expected, I didn’t really enjoy it. Don’t get me wrong, the book has interesting elements in it, like the oppression of women and the lengths they will go to to protect their children. However, the way the book is sold doesn’t necessarily reflect the story you get. If I’m honest, I don’t think the character development has much bearing on the story. It is sold as a book about Book Eaters, devourers of stories. But, that didn’t really have any major significance to the story line. It could have been substituted with ‘any other minority group isolated from society’ and a ‘different child’ within that community, and it would’ve been the same book.

It is a little disappointing, but these things happen. In the end, the book did achieve a rare, two star rating from me. Looking back at my history, there are very few books that I actually gave a two star rating to. The only reason it got higher than a one star rating is because there was enough in the plotline to compel me to continue with it and figure out what the heck was going on. In any other circumstance, I’d have DNF’d it. 

 

Feet of Clay

After my experience of The Book Eaters, I wanted to try and go for a book that would completely turn around my experience. With that in mind, I decided to fall back on an old favourite of mine – Terry Pratchett and his next instalment of the Discworld series, Feet of Clay.

Whilst perfectly readable, I don’t think this is one of the better works of the series I’ve read. I quite like the city watch series in general, but this book was pretty average. It was interesting enough to read, and I did quite quickly. But, this book only got a marginally better rating of three stars.

It was nice to go back to an already familiar world and setting. It has been a bit too long since I last picked up the series. I enjoyed going back to it and getting myself back into the humour and writing style that I’ve come to enjoy over the series so far. Now that I’m back into it, I definitely need to make sure I continue with it!

 

Soul Identity

Next, I started another relatively short read – Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder. My experience of this book is proving better than the last two.

I like the concept and premise behind the book. In essence, Soul Identity combines science and, to a degree, spirituality, to explore the concept of the soul and reincarnation. It’s not quite the way I expected the story was going to go, but in my opinion, it’s better. I like the scientific angle of the book, and that it has a little less emphasis on religion than I was expecting.

The way the narrative is written, we get to explore this wider concept in the midst of a mystery that our protagonist, as a skeptic, is trying to solve.

As with the previously discussed books, there are little things that I don’t necessarily feel are required in the storyline. Unless it becomes relevant later, I am not really a fan of the Scott/Val relationship dynamic. I’m also not really keen on the authors introduction of female characters to be based on their description, with other attributes and personality coming later. But, it’s not enough to put me off reading further.

As of this Sunday Summary update, I am 71% through the book. My kindle suggests that I have just over an hour of reading time left. My plan is to try and squeeze a much is that in tonight before I go to bed.

 

Books Discovered

I’ve finally broken the record run I’ve had of reporting no new books to the reading list in my Sunday Summary posts, all thanks to my decision to finally spend birthday book vouchers. And of course, you know I’m going to do it in style. I treated myself to four new books on Friday. They are written in mixed media just like Illuminae, so definitely best experienced in print. 

The first two are additional books in a series I started fairly recently (Gemina and Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – the second and third book in The Illuminae Files).

I also treated myself to two stand-alone books that I wanted to pick up (The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and Elektra by Jennifer Saint). The former was on my radar and the latter already on my TBR. They also happened to be buy one get one half price. Shame, right?

 

Coming Up…

Once again, I’m continuing with a three post schedule. It’s definitely a lot easier for me to fit my reading in and enjoy free time for other hobbies. As much as I enjoy my reading and blog, if I overcommit myself, it can become like a second job!

It has been a few weeks since I last shared a book review with you guys. Given that I have reviewed almost all of the Harry Potter series now, I think it makes sense to conclude that set of reviews. So, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows next week. If you want to find out what my thoughts are on re-reading this book as an adult, check out that post.

On Friday, I’m back with a Shelf Control post. In this Friday feature, I review books on my TBR and talk about why I’m excited to pick them up. This week’s feature is another classic novel written by a Russian novelist, of which I have a copy ready to pick up!

As always, my last post of the week will be my Sunday Summary update.

That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary. I made a lot of reading progress this week, and I’m off to make more before turning in!

What are you reading?

 

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Monthly TBR – March 2023

Happy Friday everybody and welcome to my Monthly TBR post for March 2023!

February was an ambitious month for me. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t get through the multitude of books I set out to. However, I read a really diverse range of books, and I’m really happy with the reading progress I made.

This month I am going to be a little less ambitious. Last month I proved that I can read a decent amount, but a target of just over 107 pages a day isn’t quite achievable for me. This month I’ll need to read an average of 70 pages a day. A much more manageable target. 

This month I am setting myself a mixture of ‘fixed’ and ‘mood reads’ as normal. I’m also setting myself a ‘stretch’ goal. This is and isn’t different from my usual reading list. Let me explain.

When I set myself a monthly reading list, I generally have an expectation that I might only start the last book on the list before the end of the month. This hasn’t changed for me, however, I’m being more transparent about that. Rather than having everybody think that I’m looking to complete this list by the end of the month, in reality, I’m hoping to get to and be on the last book. I’m especially declaring that intention this month as the last book on my list is over 900 pages long! There is no way I’m going to finish it this month. 

 

Fixed Reads

 

A Game of Thrones

The first book am I reading this month is a re-read of A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. You may ask why I am reading this book yet again. If you haven’t heard already, the next book in the series, The Winds of Winter, is due out later this year.

You know that I want to be in a position to be able to pick that up as soon as it comes out. So, I am starting a re-read of the series! Whilst I don’t strictly have to start it right now, I really enjoyed reading The Rise of the Dragon last month. I’ve got the itch and if I’m entirely honest, I’ve been looking for a reason to re-read this series anyway. Now I’ve got it!

 

Soul Identity

The next book I am picking up this month is the book I pulled out of my TBR Jar – Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder.

I’m looking forward to picking up this book as something a little bit different. The premise caught my eye and I’m willing to give it a shot based on that. I also discussed this book with my dad and he seemed to think it would be something I would enjoy as well! I can’t wait to give it a try and let you know.

 

Mood Reads

 

The Book Eaters

I didn’t quite get around to reading The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean last month. As I shared in my monthly wrap-up for February earlier this week, I was a bit disappointed I didn’t get to it.

However, I really do want to read it sometime soon. With that in mind, it is the first book on my mood read list of the month. At just under 300 pages, this is a nice short book and is a complete change from the other books and genres I have on this monthly TBR.

 

Feet of Clay

I cannot remember the last time I picked up a Terry Pratchett Discworld novel. I’m going to go back and have a look, but I would say it’s probably been about a year since I read Maskerade.

(editing Rebecca here – in fact, I’ve not picked up a Discworld novel since 2019! Whoops!)

With this year’s aim being to work on ongoing series I have started, this definitely fits the bill. By no means am I going to finish the Discworld books this year. Even after reading Feet of Clay, which is the 19th book in the series, I won’t quite be half way through.

I really enjoyed the Discworld novels for their light and satirical nature. It has been far too long since I picked one up, and I hope that going back to the series now will kickstart me to pick it up more regularly in future.

 

Death of Kings

Another series I haven’t picked up for a while is Bernard Cornwell’s the Saxon Stories series. In March, I will be picking up the sixth book in this series – Death of Kings. I am already familiar with the story in this book from watching the TV series. However, I’m still excited to read it. Whilst both the book and the show are very good in their own right, they don’t spoil each other for me. They are both enjoyable for their own reasons.

I love Uhtred’s character and the perspective we get in these books. He is arrogant and not somebody I would ever choose to befriend. However, he makes for an interesting protagonist and I can’t wait to see how the events of history are portrayed in Uhtred’s perspective.

 

Stretch Goal

 

The Mad Ship

If I managed to make it through the five books already listed in this monthly TBR post, then I’m hoping to start The Mad Ship. I’m not even going to try and finish it. This book is the longest in the Liveship Trader series at just over 900 pages. Going for completion of this book as well would change my reading count from around 70 pages a day to 100. That’s obviously quite a big jump, and not all that realistic based on my performance last month. 

I love Robin Hobb and the Realm of the Elderlings books. However, I would be lying to you if I told you that they weren’t books you had to invest your time in. There is a lot of detail; they are not the quickest of reads. Even if I’m trying my hardest, I can’t binge read these books very well. Instead, I am going to take the slow and steady approach and aim to start this book before the end of the month and include/complete it as part of my next monthly TBR. We’ll see though. It’s still a beast, however I choose to tackle it. Wish me luck!

 

So, those are the books I am going to be reading as part of my Monthly TBR for March.

Have you read any of the books on this list? Is there anything on here that caught your eye as something you would like to try?

 

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