Tag: VOX

Sunday Summary 24th May 2020

Hey guys – it’s time for another bookish update from me! Welcome to today’s Sunday Summary post. I hope you are all having a lovely weekend?

After my house move, I definitely feel like I am getting back to a sense of normal – both in terms of living and blogging schedule/reading. I know things here have been a little on the light side of content, but unfortunately, that’s the way it has had to be! Over the next few months, I’ll be juggling my free time between studying for a work-related qualification, making home improvements and my hobbies. I’m obviously going to do the best I can and I’ll be keeping up with blogging. It’s just not going to have 100% of my focus for a little while. I’m not going to be bored, to say the least!

I did actually make an effort with Wednesday’s post by writing a review. It’s been a good few weeks since one of those went live! This week’s review was for a horror/thriller novel called Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky. In Friday’s Shelf Control post I shared a classic novel on my TBR that I’m looking forward to reading in future.

 

Books Read

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post I was 40% through Vox by Christina Dalcher. I picked up where I left off and I read it in a couple of nights before bed this week. I absolutely loved it! It’s a really easy read and the plotline drew me right in. Given that I was looking for something lighter and easier to read to ease myself back in, I made the right choice with this book. It’s just what I wanted and needed!

Before picking up Vox I had debated using this month to complete my re-read of A Game of Thrones. I started this over a year ago and now I have just the second part of A Dance with Dragons to read. I wasn’t feeling up to such a mammoth task, but after reading Vox and getting my reading mojo back, I felt ready to make a start on it. I’m already on page 95 and even though I’m still only a few chapters in, I feel at home with it already.

 

Books Discovered

 

I haven’t added any books to the TBR for a good few weeks now, but I’m definitely making up for it this week!
The first addition to the TBR this week actually arrived for me on Monday. Just before moving house, I requested a review copy of The City of a Thousand Faces from Orion. There was a bit of a mix-up and this accidentally went to my old address, but my former neighbour was really kind and let me know it had turned up there so I could pick it up! A huge thanks to Becky for that – you’re a star!

That actually becomes relevant for the second book I have added to the TBR as well. When having a catch up with her after picking up the book she described a book someone had told her about that she liked the sound of. They couldn’t remember the name or author and so she asked my help in identifying it. I had no joy, but Becky messaged me a few days later with the name of the book – Dear Rosie Hughes. I had a look myself and it sounded really good, and it’s free on Kindle… so I downloaded a copy!

The third and final addition to the TBR is a crime novel with a bit of a science-fiction twist that caught my eye. Access Point focuses on the murder of a student, and her roommate who takes matters into her own hands when the investigation draws a blank.

It’s fair to say I’ve made up for my recent dry spell of adding books to the TBR, wouldn’t you agree?

 

Coming Up…

I really like the Top Ten Tuesday topic coming up this week – opening lines. I’ve shared quite a few in my First Lines Friday posts by now, but I’m going to go through my list of books read and find my favourite, concise book openings and share why they captured my attention or why I like them so much!

Typically I’d be sharing a First Lines Friday post with you this week, but since the Top Ten Tuesday post is going to be the same topic, I’m going to do something different this week. I enjoyed taking the time to commit my thoughts to a review this week, so on Friday, I will share a review of a historical fiction audiobook I listened to earlier this year. Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris is another harrowing account of the atrocities committed during the Second World War. If you read or listened to her other book, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, then I absolutely recommend this one too! More on that on Friday.

That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post. Enjoy your long weekend and I’ll catch up with you again same time next week!

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 17th May 2020

Hey guys – it’s Sunday evening again and time for another weekly update from me! I’ve had a busy week finishing up unpacking from my house move and buying supplies to start doing it up! I’m not rushing into that just yet though! I managed to get finished in enough time to have a couple of days off before I’m back at work tomorrow! Things are really getting back to normal for me now. Well, in present circumstances at least…

I hope you are all keeping well?

In between unpacking and everything I made some time to draft a couple of blog posts. The first of those two was a Top Ten Tuesday post, in which I talk about the Last Ten Books I Abandoned. My second post of the week was a First Lines Friday post, in which I featured the intro to a new publication I received this week – I am excited to read it!

 

Books Read

In the last few days, I’ve had more time than I have recently to start picking up books again. I have been reading a little in the evenings here and there, but nothing like my usual pace. I almost took a bit of a step back from it as I knew I wouldn’t have the time or concentration for a lot of reading.

That said, I have managed to finish a book I started a few weeks ago and made decent headway on another. I have been reading C. S. Quinn’s The Thief Taker casually both before and throughout the move. I had hoped to finish this on Friday evening, but it did actually just run over into Saturday before I got to the end of the book.

After I finished that I deliberated on what to pick up next. I looked at a few books on my bookshelves before deciding on Vox by Christina Dalcher, and I definitely made the right decision! I didn’t want anything too heavy whilst I am ‘getting back into reading’ because I was worried about losing interest if I dived in too deep. I picked this up yesterday evening and I’ve already read 40% of it. I had to tell myself to put it down and go to bed gone 1am last night. I love this book so far and I’ll be reading more before bed again tonight! Can’t be a late one though…

 

Books Discovered

This is a bit of an odd book to feature, but this is more of a re-discovery than anything.

Since quarantine, I picked up an old hobby of mine – crochet – and I am currently making a blanket out of a patchwork of squares of different colours and patterns. I unpacked all my books the other day and found a crochet patterns book I had forgotten I owned! I’ve been using patterns online but after finding this, I’ve had a go at some of these to add into the mix!

 

Coming Up…

My first post next week is going to be a book review. It feels like it’s been a little while since I have written one, and that is what my blog is about after all! The book I have chosen to review is Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky. I actually received a digital copy of this in exchange for review from the publisher. I started to read this epic thriller novel at the end of my holiday last year… so it’s been a while!

On Friday I’ll be taking another look at the next book on my TBR in another Shelf Control post. This week’s featured novel is a classic novel that I didn’t get to read in school but I think I’ll really enjoy now I’m a little older. I won’t have to micro-analyse every sentence of the damn thing… always a bonus!

That’s all from me in today’s update! Fingers crossed my blog and reading activity will start to pick up again soon! What have you been reading?

 

 

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