Tag: sunday summary

Sunday Summary – 26th November 2017

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This week has been a pleasant one, for the reason that I got to take a step back from the reading challenge and the blog for a few days. I absolutely love running it – but it was great not to have to think about writing the next post for a little while. I went on a mini holiday to visit some Christmas markets with some friends – the first time I have ever been to any! We all enjoyed it so much I hope it is a tradition we keep up!

Books Read

The Black Prism
So as I mentioned above, this has been a reasonably light week on reading. There were some days I didn’t even pick up a book or my kindle, which is most unlike me! I was busy though… we hardly stopped! I did manage to make a little progress on The Black Prism by Brent Weeks, but I am far from finishing it yet.

Books Discovered

The Templars
Goodreads
Although I was away for some of this week, I did manage to buy a book for my kindle. Of course I did. This one happens to come with a funny story.
So whilst we were away some of my friends really had to stop somewhere to visit the ladies room and we were close to a large Waterstones. As they have cafe’s we decided they usually have those facilities. So whilst I was waiting for my friends I was having a look around, as you do, and found a book I was interested in – The Templars by Dan Jones. Since we had flown to the area we were visiting and had limited space for shopping, I opted not to buy the book there and instead get it once I was home.
Fast forward to several hours later, approximately midnight. I was lying in bed awake and was catching up with emails, notifications etc from having intermittent connection all day. I get daily emails from Bookbub with discount deals – guess which book was featured as a deal.
Yes – the one I was looking at in Waterstones earlier that day!! I was amazed at such a coincidence, so I purchased it straight away! So not only did I manage to get it whilst I was away, I saved £9.00 on it too!  The Crusades is a period I first discovered through Assassins Creed, of all things, so I want to learn more about the history of the period.
I also noticed now that the author has also written books about the period of the Wars of the Roses, so if his writing is any good, I might just have to check those out too…
 

Coming Up…

For the first time in a little while, I will have a review for you on Tuesday, for Zero Debt by Neeraj Deginal. This is the last book I read last week and I was kindly provided with a free copy by the author via The Book Club.
Dare I say it… on Friday it’s the 1st December!!! Panic stations!! Christmas will officially begin in my house and I still have loads of presents to buy. I am far less organised this year than usual. More importantly for you guys, I will be sharing with you the last few books on the TBR for this year! I’m pleased to say I am on target to complete my reading challenge so I am super excited for that!
I’ll wrap up the week on Sunday as usual and hopefully I will have managed to finally read the Black Prism by then – it’s only a month overdue…
Rebecca mono

Sunday Summary – 19th November 2017

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Good morning everybody!!
The Sunday Summary is a post I like to put together every week to let you guys know what I have been doing behind the scenes. It’s also surprisingly effective at keeping myself organised when it comes to books I have added to the TBR in making sure they have been added to all the right lists etc.
So without further adieu, here is how my week has gone:-

Books Read


This week really feels like it has been a productive one when it comes to the books read. I finished reading “The Way of Kings” by Brandon Sanderson finally and OH MY GOD!! It’s a series I could very easily binge read but I am going to restrain myself… otherwise, this will be yet another series I am caught up with and waiting for the next release. Patience is a virtue, so they say?
The next book I picked up this week was The Weight of Shadows by Karl Holton. I managed to struggle on to about a third of the way through the book before I put it down again. It wasn’t for me. The book is about 300 pages long so why the author thinks it needs 50 chapters, I’ll never know. It quite literally does change perspective every five minutes and rather than integrating important information, it is just periodically dumped on you.
To my mind, there are some epic crime stories in books and TV at the moment so if it isn’t done exceptionally, I don’t think it compares to everything else out there. This wasn’t cutting it for me, so I decided I wasn’t going to force myself through it.
Lastly, I read Zero Debt by Neeraj Deginal. This is a short account of how one man fought his way back from the brink of financial collapse and how he now plans for the future. I figured this would be an interesting read as I am of the age where I am just setting myself up in life. Everyone makes mistakes, but if we can learn from others, that’s better.
 

Books Discovered

Words of Radience
This is the only book I have added this week as it follows on from The Way of Kings and so far it is AMAZING!!! Ahem. I really need to calm down, haha!
 

Coming Up…

I have some fun posts lined up for you this week!! I have another Top Ten Tuesday (no prizes for guessing when that will be posted) and I am also taking part in my first Blog Tour!! Look out for that on Wednesday!
On Friday, I’m going to rant at you just how much I loved the first book of the Stormlight Archives series and why I am glad I persevered even though I didn’t finish it when I intended to!
On Sunday, well, I think you know the drill by now…
Rebecca mono
 

Sunday Summary – 12 November 2017

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Today is Remembrance Sunday here; a day to remember those that have lost their lives defending our country and protecting our interests. I just wanted to take a moment here to reflect on this, because those people have far more courage then I could ever have.
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Now, on to cheerier topics!

Books Read


Following my last Sunday Summary, I finished My Life as Steve Keller by Zach Baynes. If you want to check out my review, you can find it here. There is also an open giveaway on a copy of that book which ends 11:59pm local time tonight, so get yourself into the draw. If you aren’t on Twitter and want a chance to enter, drop a comment below!
I also started and finished my next ARC for this month, being Aaru by David Meredith. It’s a book that challenges the concept of death by, in essence, scanning a person’s brain and then uploading it to a server so they live “virtually” instead. I was interested in the concept and it didn’t disappoint. One thing I was shocked about was how dark it gets towards the end! I wasn’t expecting anything like that! No spoilers though… Review to follow!
 

Books Discovered


 
I can tell I am making a conscious effort to save money for my upcoming trip, as I haven’t purchased any books this week! My sister is attempting to get a copy of I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson for me, as it is the O2 Priority deal this week, but I don’t know if she has been able to yet.
A Suitable Lie is a book I have seen a couple of reviews for and added to the TBR, as not only do I think I will really enjoy the book, it about a topic that really needs more exposure. All too often we hear about domestic violence in which men are the perpetrators and women the victims, but the statistics show that for every two female victims, there is one male victim. I think this is massively ignored so I would like to educate myself on the subject!
 

Coming Up…

On Tuesday I have decided to bring you another Down the TBR Hole post, in an effort to clear out my reading list of unwanted books! I want to try and make a real push on this so basically, I can add more books. Sounds productive, right?
On Friday I will be posting my review of Aaru by David Meredith, and there is also an anticipated interview I will be doing with David about his inspirations for the book. The date is still TBC, but please look out for that!
Finally, the week will close with a wrap-up, as ever!
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I hope you’ve enjoyed my Sunday Summary!! If you want to enter the competition mentioned above, you can enter via Twitter or drop a comment here!! So tell me, what have you been reading this week?
Rebecca mono

Sunday Summary – 5th November 2017

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“Remember, remember, the 5th of November, gunpowder treason and plot”
In other words, tonight is bonfire night – so stay safe everybody! The public display we had locally actually took place on Friday night. I watched a little of it from the window because I’m lucky and don’t have to stand out in the cold for the privilege!
 

Books Read

As I didn’t get to finish last month’s TBR, I am actually having to do something I haven’t done for a long time… read more than one book at a time.
I can get easily confused if I read too much at once, especially if the books are of the same genre. I’m also not too fussed about having the diversity of reading more than one at once. I know some people like to change what they read to keep things fresh, but as I tend to read books within a few days anyway, I’d rather just stick to the one and get it read quicker.

I am having to compromise on this occasion as I don’t want to forget what is happening in The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson. I am prioritising the ARC requests I have, as I have promised to read these at the beginning of the month. After that though, I’ll be doing my level best to get TWOK read and reviewed!
So as well as catching up, I am also reading the first book of this month, being an ARC from Zach Baynes, called My Life As Steve Keller. I’ll be perfectly honest and say I went into this book not knowing what to expect, but it’s a refreshing read and actually has some very good points about our lifestyle. I’ll bring you more on that at the review stage!
 

Books Acquired

I purchased one book this week having seen it on one of my daily deals e-mails I get. If anyone else is interested, these are from Bookbub. It’s great for you if you love books, especially cheap ones! I can’t speak for your bank balance though, although mine might have something to say about it…
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I first saw this book on Bookbub and bought a copy straight away! It sounds really freaky and you would hope that this sort of thing never happens!

After I bought it, I saw a post that there was a blog tour for it!! I am so gutted I didn’t see it beforehand and get involved!! I am starting to look at taking part in blog tours now. In fact, I am taking part in one later on this month, so watch this space.
My sister also purchased a book for me this week, which was part of a deal by O2 Priority I believe. They feature at least one book every week. This weeks book was Sleepyhead, by Mark Billingham.
 
I have added some books to the TBR this month as well, most being the books that I decided to keep from my Down the TBR Hole post on Friday.
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In addition to these, I added An Almond for A Parrot by Sally Gardener as Wray Delaney (I know, the title sounds a bit nutty) but check the synopsis on Goodreads; it isn’t half as barmy as the title implies.
 

Coming Up…

 
I was pleasantly surprised how well my first, (and last) Top Ten Tuesday post was received, so thanks guys! I’m considering making it a more regular feature, depending on how my next few posts go. This week, I am going to be posting my Top Ten TV/Film adaptations of books.
On Friday, I am pleased to be bringing you a review of My Life as Steve Keller by Zach Baynes. Whilst I don’t have dates confirmed, I am also working with the author to bring you some addiditonal material, including an author interview, a guest post and A GIVEAWAY! Stay tuned for details.
Sunday brings to us another wrap up of the week. I get to either jump in delight or cringe at the number of books I have bought and generally just get my crap together. Honestly, these posts really are the best for keeping me organised!!
So, what have you been reading?
Rebecca mono

Sunday Summary – 29 October 2017

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Good morning everybody!!
I cannot believe it is nearly November already!! Hasn’t that just flown by?! It always amazes me how days or weeks can feel like they are dragging on, yet from a different perspective, time seems to be running away from us!
 

Books Read

So, after my last Sunday Summary last week, I did manage to finish IT by Stephen King at about 11pm! I have never felt so happy to finish a book and be content with the way it ended. I also published my review on Friday, so if you would like to check that out, here’s a cheeky little link!
Following on from IT, I was hoping to enjoy a couple of smaller reads from authors I haven’t picked up in a while, as a nice way to round off the month. Sounds like a plan, right?
Time to confess that I’m an idiot. I decided I wanted to read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson and The Black Prism by Brent Weeks, not realising that the former of those books is just over a thousand pages long in itself.
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So I’m currently working my way through this second epic in a row. I am currently about 40% through and I am enjoying it, but I can’t seem to read it at the kind of pace I would like. Perhaps I have burned out a little?
Needless to say, given that I am going to struggle to read The Way of Kings before the end of the month, I am going to postpone The Black Prism to next month. It’s a shame, but what can I do?
 

Books Discovered

I didn’t spend a single penny on books this week!! I dread to think the last time that happened…
That isn’t to say I didn’t acquire a couple of books though!!

 
I downloaded Ekata: Fall of Darkness by Dominique Law via Netgalley.
I also received a copy of Zero Debt: Break the Debt Cycle and Reclaim Your Life by Neeraj Deginal via The Book Club, so thank you very much for getting me in touch with the author.
I’ll admit this isn’t a typical read for me, but I figured it could have some worthwhile information or advice. Let’s face it, at some point in our lives 99% of us have some kind of debt, arranged or not. I would imagine we would only think about taking on any debt management advice when it’s too late and the vicious cycle already has its grip on you. I figured this to be a great opportunity to get one step ahead!
 

Coming Up…

Next week brings us both Halloween and the beginning of a new month, so on Tuesday, I’ll be publishing my reading list for November. I’m also looking forward to working with a couple of authors who have provided me with copies of their books in exchange for reviews! No spoilers now – you’ll have to check out my post on Tuesday!
I also need to give myself some breathing space from reviews and catch up reading, so I am going to be publishing another “Down the TBR Hole” post on Friday. I think I’ll be adventurous again and sort through the next ten books on the list! I hope you can join me for that.
As ever, I’ll also be rounding up the week as usual.
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So that has been my week… how about yours? What are you reading? I’d love to hear from you!!
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Sunday Summary – 15 October 2017

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I hope everyone has been enjoying a lovely weekend! It’s been a busy week but equally exciting for me.

Books Read

IT
There’s just been one book I have been reading this week, but boy is it an epic. I am really enjoying IT so far; despite its length, it doesn’t seem to be going slowly or dragging. I’ll admit, I was worried it would. At the point of writing this, I am currently on page 601 of 1,376, which I am pleased with. I haven’t picked up the book today yet so I am hoping I can get to about 50% done later. I am setting myself a little target to see if I can get this book read by next Sunday, 22nd October. I have a further two books to read after IT so I want to give myself a chance to read those too!
One thing I can’t say I have particularly enjoyed, however, is lugging this bad boy around with me. It counts as exercise…. right?!
 

Books Discovered

So the list of books for this section gets a bit more interesting this week, as I’ll also be including some books I have requested on Netgalley!! I am committing this statement to the internet so that I may be shamed if I don’t step up to it.
I am going to be using Netgalley more.
Whilst we are here, I am as well introducing you to the books I have downloaded and will be incorporating into my reading:-

Both Former.ly and ReWired have an element of technology in, one being about hacking and the other about social networking, so I thought I’d give these a try.
I’ll admit with Beowulf, I picked it because I think it is going to be completely out of my comfort zone, but I want to challenge myself.
I also inevitably had a few request rejections too. Sad face. I am new to Netgalley… do I need to get some books under my belt in order to be more likely to have requests accepted? Please let me know!! Please and thank you!
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I also added The Birth of Death, the first of the Evorath series to the TBR this week. I love the fantasy genre, and I cannot wait to read it!!
The Birth of Death
My last confessions of this section are two purchases, being Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (a classic – which I am trying to read more of) and The Traveler by Fredric Shernoff. I recently enjoyed Making History, by Stephen Fry, and this book has the same concept of going back in time to change events. This is pure fiction though… nothing historical in this one.

Coming Up…

I think I had a really good week on the blog this week, posting two reviews and an author interview. If anybody else has enjoyed reading these this week, then you won’t be disappointed with what is coming up this week!
I have another author interview with J. M Robison, which I am really looking forward to.  This is in relation to her first published book, The War Queen. I have found I like to get to know a little bit about authors and their inspirations. The wait isn’t very long for this either, as the interview is being posted tomorrow! I read The War Queen at the beginning of the month and I am looking forward to sharing my review with you on Tuesday.
Given the number of books I keep adding to the reading list, I have decided I need to really sort through the ones I already have, so on Friday I am bringing to you another Down the TBR Hole post.
As usual, I will follow up the week with a summary much like this one.

 
I hope you have enjoyed my Sunday summary, and hopefully I’ll see you around during the week. If somebody could get back to me about my question on Netgalley, I’d be grateful. I’m still a novice! Haha!
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Sunday Summary – 17th September 2017

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Good afternoon everybody! I hope you are all having a pleasant day!!
Today has been a reasonably busy one for me and that’s why this post is coming to you a little later than usual today. Sorry about that!!
 

Books Read


This week has been pretty good, which surprises me in a way. A few nights this week I came home and after doing all the necessary stuff, I just couldn’t get into reading all that much. I did manage to read a little every day, but not as much as I could have done! Thankfully I made up for it yesterday. Monday night was a good one as I was determined to finish American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and I did. The next book on my TBR list was Bad City by Matt Mayr. It was this book I spent most of the week reading (or not reading very much as the case was), but thankfully I managed to read the second half of this book yesterday and finished it with enough time to start reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I haven’t read much of this – I’m in chapter 3 at the moment, but it is a solid start.
 

Books Discovered

I always dread logging on to my Amazon account to find out how many books I’ve bought. It’s one of those situations where you want to both look and shut the laptop screen down in a panic simultaneously. I think the trouble is that it is so easy to spend money nowadays – that however is another topic and I’ll go wildly off tangent if I carry on that thought.
In the Blood
Thankfully I was able to sigh in relief when I checked Amazon this week. Admittedly, this week I bought three. I don’t feel guilty though. Two were books on my TBR for this month that I hadn’t bought in advance, being the Maze Runner (my current read) and Making History by Stephen Fry, which is the last book on the list for this month. The other book I bought is In the Blood by Steve Robinson. I actually saw an advert for book three in this series and I thought it sounded really interesting. It said you could read that as a standalone story, but I know what I’m like. I went back and bought this one, which is the first of the series.
 

Coming Up…

So this next week coming up I am actually having a short break away, so I might be a little less active on reading other people’s blog etc. I have a special blog post I am preparing for you to fill the void I am away.
On Tuesday I will be reviewing my recent read of American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I like to try and give everyone a vibe as to what my review is going to be like at this point, but I genuinely couldn’t say. Admittedly I need to sit and have a think on it – I don’t think I’ve entirely made my mind up yet.
Now my special post on Friday is going to cover two books:-

  • My favourite book so far this year
  • My favourite book of all time

Now for this post I am going to tease you by keeping my cards close to my chest. You’ll have to check out my post on Friday.
Last but certainly not least I’ll be giving you a round up of the week, and I might even tell you a little bit about the spoils I bring back from my shopping trip!
The last little thing I want to tell you all about refers to my post on Friday, The Diary. If anyone looked closely enough, you’ll see I had an entry in on Friday to have a draft ready for a fairytale short story I am submitting for a competition. The good news is that I was actually ahead of schedule and I have now made my submission into the competition!! It’s the first real competition I have entered, so it’s exciting for me. For that reason I am also not expecting much from it, but I plan on writing more and entering more competitions in the future so if nothing else, it is all good practice.
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Sunday Summary – 10 September 2017

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Good afternoon!! Here’s wishing you a great weekend here from our not-so-sunny little Island today.
Without any further preamble, here is how I have been getting on so far this week:-

Books I Have Read


I haven’t gotten as far as I would have liked on the reading front this week. I finished Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett on Tuesday night, which I thoroughly enjoyed. This was the first book on my TBR for September. I then started American Gods by Neil Gaiman on Wednesday. In order for me to keep on track with my reading goal I need to finish a book, on average, every six days. Today is day five of reading American Gods and so far I’m only at 57%.
When I started this book I was advised that it is the kind of book you probably need to read again to be able to understand/appreciate it a bit more. If anyone ever tries to tell you this book isn’t peculiar and easy to follow.. they are lying to you. It’s perfectly readable, don’t get me wrong. I personally find it’s one of those books where you read a bit, then make yourself a cup of tea. Read a bit, sort out some washing. Read a bit more. You get the picture. I need to take breaks to digest what is going on in order to continue, and that’s taking time. I’m actually a couple of books ahead of schedule at the moment so no need to panic about taking a bit more time, but it’s a little frustrating.
Up until the beginning of this month I was under the impression I was about four books ahead of schedule – it was only when I was going through the books I have read this year I found GoodReads had chucked in a couple of duplicates for good measure. Oops. Better to find out now than on the 31st December I suppose!!
 

Discovered Books


I was reasonably well behaved again this week and only bought one book, on offer for £1.99! I subscribe to daily emails to notify me of discounted books and I came across Killing Floor by Lee Child, the first of the Jack Reacher novels. Lee Child is one of those authors for whom I have seen loads of books around but never really known much about him or his work. My mum, being one of the fonts of all knowledge in my life mentioned that her dad, my grandad used to read the Jack Reacher novels. At the time I thought about adding this first one to the list but I’ll admit I forgot. When I read the email telling me it was discounted, I figured even if I didn’t like it I may as well find out and get to know what my grandad used to like reading.
I also added a couple of books to the TBR without actually buying them yet, being After the Fire, by Will Hill, The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver, Carrie by Stephen King and Sleeping Beauties, a collaboration between Stephen King and his son Owen.
Also, following on from my post on Friday, Down the TBR Hole #4, I have added the books I decided to keep to my list. The five books I featured this time were mostly books I was interested in keeping – in fact I only discarded one.

One of the simple facts of life is that a reader is always going to have a stack of books they want to read. There is no such thing as the “end of the pile” unless you are physically picking it up to put another book on the bottom. There is no end of the tunnel – that light you can really see is just for maintenance purposes. As much as this is the case, that is exactly how we want things. Much like that tub of ice cream hidden from everybody else in the freezer, you continue to eat it but really you don’t want to have to be scraping out the sides at the end of the tub.
One of my favourite things about blogging is getting to see what everybody else is reading. At least fifty percent of the books I add to my list are as a result of looking at other people’s reading lists or reviews, so thank you to everybody for sharing. I am proud to be a part of this community and I hope I can inspire other people to read the books I am too.
 

Coming Up…

As I mentioned above I finished reading Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett on Tuesday and I will be publishing my review of the book on Tuesday next week. My next post will be on Friday and I am doing something a little different. You may have noticed that I am beginning to post on a regular basis now. Equally, you probably haven’t. That’s fine – you’ll just have to take my assurance that I am. My post on Friday will be explaining how I am managing my reading and my blog, as well as any other reading/writing projects I am doing. On Sunday (it will creep around again far too quickly) I will be giving you another summary of my week.
Just one final note from me before I sign off – whilst I haven’t had an overly productive reading week, yesterday I managed to finish my first draft of a short story I am looking to enter into a competition! That’s one little victory for me. I’m exploring a re-write with a different (and I think better ending), so that’s my next little project. I have until the 15th October to submit the story, but I’m not sure if the re-write will be ready in time. I have some time off work this month, so I can only try.
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Sunday Summary

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This week has been a productive week. Not only did I finish my reading list for August, I also had a few days spare to work on an additional project – a short story I am looking to enter into a competition.
That is currently in the editing stage. I had some trouble drafting it initially – once I had gotten the first 500 words or so on paper I lost the spark a bit. I am a linear thinking person so naturally I was trying to write it all chronologically. I knew how the story would end but I couldn’t get there because I didn’t know what was going to happen in the middle.
Having been given the great advice in these circumstances to drop my way of thinking and to write the end, working backwards, I managed to get the first draft completed. I have until mid October to submit the entry so until then I’ll be working to improve it as best I can.
 

Books I have Read

Pet Sematary
On Tuesday I finished Stephen King’s Pet Sematary and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Up until now I have never read any horror books because I really dislike horror films. I like thriller and suspense, but I have no respect for films that take cheap shots at scaring people by having something jump at the camera. Anyone can do that. Give me a thriller with an exciting plot and themes that play on your mind and I’m all up for that.
I’ll admit I wrongly tarnished horror books with the same attitude that I have towards the films. My full review of this book will be published on Tuesday, but I can happily say that my expectations were more than surpassed.
 

Discovered Books

I’ve been well behaved this week when it comes to buying books compared to the five I acquired last week.
I only bought one – that’s very restrained for me. I also tend to read a lot of pure fiction as opposed to non-fiction, so this will be an interesting read:

Acclaimed master of psychological suspense, Emmanuel Carrère, whose fiction John Updike described as “stunning” (The New Yorker) explores the double life of a respectable doctor, eighteen years of lies, five murders, and the extremes to which ordinary people can go.
GoodReads – The Adversary

The Adversary
 
As well as actually buying this book I added a number of other books to my TBR to buy at a later date:-

  • Executed – R R Haywood
  • Soul Identity – Dennis Batchelder
  • The Shining – Stephen King
  • 12 Years a Slave – Solomon Northup
  • The Miniaturist – Jessie Burton
  • Go Set a Watchman – Harper Lee
  • Bad Girls from History – Dee Gordon


 

Coming Up…

As mentioned above I will be publishing my review of Pet Sematary on Tuesday next week, so I hope you look forward to that. I know I do!
On Friday I will also be having a look at my TBR list to weed out some of the books I added that I no longer want to read. It’s actually quite interesting to see how my book interests have changed over the past few years. If anything, I am reading a far wider scope of books than I ever have before… which is in part what I wanted to achieve with this challenge.
Last but not least on Sunday I’ll be rounding up the week with a summary.
I hope to see you then!