Tag: wrap up

Monthly Wrap-Up – January 2024

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Happy Thursday February 1st, and welcome to my first monthly wrap-up of 2024! How are we one month into 2024 already? As they say, time flies when you’re having fun!

I set myself a chunky TBR back at the beginning of January. I’ve linked to that post if you want to see the full list of books I set myself. I didn’t get to all of them this month, which isn’t surprising given I set myself a list of 10! Saying that, I’ve read more than average this month, setting myself in good stead for the rest of the year (I can only hope!)

Shall we get to the recap of the books I read in January? Strap yourselves in – it’s going to be a longer post than usual!

 

Books Read

 

Gemina

Gemina was the physical read I carried over from 2023. I had only read about 40% of the book by the end of December. A solid start, but there was plenty of progress to make still!

As Gemina is a YA sci-fi written in a mixed media format, I gobbled up the rest of the book in just a couple of days. Like Illuminae, I found it difficult to put down! The way it’s written is easy to read and the different perspectives and data sources that make up this story keep the narrative interesting.

I also loved the characters within the book. There is some small overlap on characters, although broadly we enjoy two new perspectives in the overarching storyline. I can only hope all parties come together in the sequel and last in the trilogy, Obsidio.

It’s safe to say that I started off the year well; Gemina was a great first read of 2024, netting my first 5 star rating.

 

My Sister’s Keeper

In addition to Gemina, I carried over My Sister’s Keeper from 2023. At the beginning of the year, I was approximately a third of the way through this audiobook.

My Sister’s Keeper isn’t a type of book I would pick up very often, but I’m glad I did! I was drawn to it because of the synopsis and the question of morality over Anna and her lifelong role as a donor for her sister, Kate.

I loved how this book played out and the drama within. The end made me teary and I am so glad I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to pick it up. Not everybody loves the ending of this book and I can understand why. However, I think it depends on what expectations you go into the book with. If you go into it looking for an answer to the morality question, then you may not get what you’re looking for. However, I think the book is about asking the question of ourselves – and that I did throughout reading.

 

The Girl in Seat 2A

I downloaded a copy of The Girl in Seat 2A published by Boldwood books via NetGalley. I have reviewed multiple Boldwood books through Rachael’s Random Resources tours before, and this book caught my eye.

The Girl in Seat 2A has an interesting storyline and I enjoyed the wider plot. I confess that I didn’t love the main character Jade, but that is because we are very unlike each other. I struggled to relate to her as a person, and also her circumstances, meaning that I could only invest so much into her.

Hers is not the only perspective in this book though, and it’s that second perspective that made the book for me. I also enjoy how the plot really starts to come together from this alternate perspective and the action and drama was fun to read.

If you’re interested to read my full thoughts on this book, you can find my review here.

 

Betrothal and Betrayal

Another reading obligation to include in today’s monthly wrap-up post is my read of Betrothal and Betrayal as part of a blog tour I took part in mid-month.

Betrothal and Betrayal is a fun and relatively short historical fantasy novel. With a strong, fiery, female protagonist living in a man’s world, I got everything I wanted from this book. I loved the protagonist and her unwavering resolve, despite her circumstances. She is the kind of protagonist to make a great role model for all young women, so it’s great to see represented in fiction.

I’m not going to go too far into the book here as I have already shared my review as part of the blog tour. If you want to go and see that review, I’ll provide a link here.

 

Crime and Punishment

The slowest read on January’s TBR that I include in today’s monthly wrap-up is Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

And that’s not surprising. I am always slower with reading classics because I find the narrative styles differ from modern day. Until I’m used to it, there is an adjustment period. Although it took me a little longer to get into than the rest of the books on this monthly wrap-up, I still enjoyed picking it up.

In this narrative we follow the actions and fall-out of destitute student Raskolnikov murdering a moneylender. The booking itself explores mental health as that features heavily in the narrative, but also around morality of killing, and whether such actions can be washed out by any overall benefit to society as a consequence.

That is a very brief and probably not the best summary of the book, but it’s the best I can do with limited paragraph space!

 

Unmasked

The second audiobook I picked up in the month of January was Unmasked by Ellie Middleton. This is also the first non-fiction book I have picked up this year. If the rest are as good as this one, then I’m in for a good year!

The primary focus of Unmasked is about Ellie’s experience of late diagnoses of ADHD and autism. However, the book also takes an objective view of these neurodivergent conditions, as well as others, to educate readers about what it is like to interpret the world differently. Not only that, but the book explores how those who are neurodivergent are often discriminated against, and what steps we can take in society to be more accepting and accommodating.

I picked up this book to understand more about neurodivergence in general. I was surprised to find that I could relate to some of the traits of autism. That’s not to say I have autism, but it helped me appreciate overall how difficult it must be to grow up with these differences… especially if you grow up undiagnosed as most women do.

It was an eye-opening read, and if you’re interested in the subject, I would strongly recommend picking up Unmasked. I especially enjoyed listening to the audiobook as Ellie narrates this herself.

 

Sword of Vengeance

The last reading obligation I picked up in January that our feature on this monthly wrap-up post is Sword of Vengeance by Peter Gibbons. You won’t yet have seen the review for this book on my blog as it is going live tomorrow.

To date, I have enjoyed following along with the series and I’ve reviewed 2 out of the 3 prior books in the series as part of blog tours. I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts on this fourth book of the series tomorrow. In summary, the book was everything I expected it to be based on the high expectations from reading the earlier books in the series. Again, there is a lot of action in this book, as well as underlying political intrigue which I love to read about.

I hope you can stay tuned for my review tomorrow!

 

The Black Coats

As of this monthly wrap-up post, I’m currently reading The Black Coats by Colleen Oakes and I’m 40% into the book.

It’s an enjoyable read so far and I’m loving the feminist take. I can see the action only picking up from where I’m up to, so I think I’ll have the book finished within another day or two! If you want to find out more about this book, I’ll be talking about it in more detail in the coming days. 

 

The Atlas Six

My next ongoing read at month-end is The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake. As of writing this post, I’m just over 2 hours into this nearly 17 hour long book. For the stats nerds, that’s about 13%. Unlucky for some, but not me!

I’ve only really gotten introduced to the characters and basic premise so far, but I’m intrigued. There’s definitely a lot to be explored in the narrative. I’m also glad I went for audio; each character is separately cast, making it easier to follow who is who. I love the different voices and styles as well – it adds a layer of interest.

Given that I’m not too far into the book, there isn’t really much I can say right now. This is one to stay tuned to my blog for!

 

Summary

I needed to read 5 books to stay on target of 60 books by the end of the year. I let the new year excitement get away with me in setting 10 books. However, I think having a longer reading list has encouraged me to read a little more this month. It doesn’t always work this way, but it’s working at the moment!

Next month’s TBR is going to look much the same – there’s always more to read! If you’re interested to see that list, I’ll share my February TBR on Saturday! Stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, what are you reading?

 

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Sunday Summary – 28th January 2024

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Good evening gang – it’s time for another Sunday Summary update. Why do the weeks just fly by? Next week is the start of February already; I honestly don’t know where January has gone! Before getting to the books I’ve read over the course of the week, let’s do a cheeky recap of the posts I’ve shared so far.

My first post of the week was a Top Ten Tuesday post. In that, I shared ten books I didn’t get to in 2023. This wasn’t so much a *top* ten as a list of ten that I just about scraped together!

On Friday I shared my first First Lines Friday post of the year. I didn’t set myself a challenge for that, so when it came to drafting it I decided to feature an opening from a favourite read of 2023. If you missed that post there’s a link above. Can you guess from the clues in the introduction what the book is?


Books Read


Crime and Punishment

As of last week’s Sunday Summary, I had read 484 pages, or just under 75%, of Crime and Punishment.

With the end in sight, I ploughed on and completed the book on Tuesday. Although it took me a little longer to read than other books I’ve picked up so far this month, I did enjoy Crime and Punishment. It was the book I expected it to be based on the synopsis and it was an interesting read. If you are unaware, the narrative explores the actions of a destitute young student who commits murder, and then struggles with his mental health and dealing with the consequences of his actions.

I am usually slower with reading classics, because of the difference in writing style and language. However, I’m glad that I’m finally able to take this one off my list as read!

 

Unmasked

I was just under half way through Unmasked as of last week’s Sunday Summary. Once again, I’ve made a good deal of progress and listened to the remaining three hours and change this week, taking me to 100% completion.

I really enjoyed Unmasked. I initially wanted to listen to the audio to understand how neurodivergence is such as autism and ADHD may affect people. Did I think I would relate to some of the symptoms or experiences as I did? No, but there we go!

If you are interested in the subject, Unmasked is written in such an approachable way that you can read as much or as little of this book as you want. It’s also a book you can go back to and read certain chapters of again. It’s well structured, comprehensive, and written very well. I also like that the audiobook is narrated by the author herself; Ellie talks a lot of her own experiences as a neurodivergent in this book, and it wouldn’t feel right to hear these narrated by someone else. It felt much more authentic coming from Ellie herself.


Sword of Vengeance

After reading the first chapter of Sword of Vengeance a couple of weeks ago at a hairdressers appointment, I picked up the book in earnest this week.

Sword of Vengeance is the fourth book in Peter Gibbons’ Saxon Warrior series. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I have been following reading and reviewing the series as part of organised blog tours. See my reviews of Warrior and Protector and Brothers of the Sword here. This fourth book is no exception. If you are interested in the series, I will be reviewing this book next week – you can find out more about when below.

Sword of Vengeance picks up where we left off after the events of Maldon and the tragic battle that took place at the end of book three. I won’t want to go into too much detail on that so I don’t spoil that third book. What I can say is that events unfold from there and once again we are thrown into a narrative of action and intrigue.

Sword of Vengeance was everything I have come to expect having read the earlier books in the series. I enjoyed the plotline and the introduction of new characters, as well as the return of favourites. If you enjoy historical fiction, and in particular, reading battle scenes, Sword of Vengeance will not disappoint you.


What next?

It’s unusual that I have to feature a section with this title, as I am rarely writing a Sunday Summary being in between books.

I generally have a couple of reads on the go, one physical or e-book, and one audiobook. I am finally getting to The Black Coats by Colleen Oakes in e-book format, which was my December TBR Jar pick. For my audiobook choice, I will be listening to The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake. Stay tuned to find out more about my reading progress and thoughts on these books over the next week!


Books Discovered

No news is good news once again this week! I’m down to 196 books on my Goodreads to-read shelf… which sadly is the lowest it’s been for a while!


Coming Up…

Next week we are in the realms of month-end. That means that it’s time to share my monthly wrap-up post for January, as well as my monthly TBR for February.

In order to accommodate those, my blogging schedule is going to be out of sync. Normally I try to post consistently throughout the week. However, with the timing of month-end and other obligations, I will be sharing four posts all in the second half of the week.

Starting on Thursday, I will be publishing my monthly wrap-up for January. I didn’t want to leave this post too long to share with you, so I am jumping in there at the first opportunity. Literally, the 1st haha!

My second post of the week goes live on Friday, and this is my blog tour review of Sword of Vengeance by Peter Gibbons. I’m glad I got this book finished earlier today as that gives me several days to draft my review and make sure I’m happy with it before going live with the tour on Friday.

On Saturday I’m sharing my TBR for February. Whilst I could technically share this on Monday the fifth, I feel like that would be quite late. Thankfully, I’ve already decided what my reading list will be and drawn my TBR Jar pick. It’s going to be another busy month… put it that way!

Then, last but not least, I’m back again to round off the week with another Sunday Summary update! In that post, I’ll recap the books I’ve read in the last seven days and update you with any books I’ve added to my reading list. Finally, I’ll share what’s coming up on the blog.

 

Summary

I hope you check out my upcoming posts as they are published. In the meantime, that is all from me in today’s post. Have a fantastic week however you spend it!

If you are reading right now, what book have you picked up? Are you enjoying it? Will you recommend it?

 

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Sunday Summary – 21st January 2024

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Happy Sunday everyone and welcome to this week’s instalment of Sunday Summary. If you are unfamiliar, I take the time every week to update you on the books I’ve been reading, the blog posts I’ve shared with you, and finally what to expect in the coming week.

This week reading progress has been slower, but this isn’t unexpected. I’ll share more on that below. First, let’s recap the blog posts I shared earlier this week.

So far I have shared not one, but two book reviews with you. The first of these book reviews was for The Girl in Seat 2A by Diana Wilkinson. Technically, this review was due second, but based on timing I decided to publish this earlier than the book’s publication date.

On Thursday, I shared my review of Betrothal and Betrayal by Janet McGiffin. This was part of a blog tour and so I had to publish on this on this set date. I already established in last week’s Sunday Summary that I had a great time with this book. If you want to check out my full thoughts, here is a link to that review so you can check it out for yourself.

 

Books Read

 

Crime and Punishment

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post, I left off having made 132 pages of progress into Crime and Punishment. As this is a classic and is one of the oldest books on my list in terms of publication date, I knew the narrative style was going to be clunkier. I fully anticipated reading progress to slow down with this book, so I’m not surprised that it has.

That said, I have made more progress in the last 24 hours than anticipated. I’ve been able to pick up the speed, either because the narrative is getting good or because I’m getting used to the style. I’m not sure which. Either way, I’m now 484 pages into the narrative which equates just under 75%. Now I’m coming towards the end of the book, I imagine the quicker reading pace will continue. I’ll share more about how I get on in next week’s post.

 

Unmasked

I listened to a further hour and 10 minutes of Unmasked by Ellie Middleton yesterday. This takes my reading progress of this book to just under half as of this Sunday Summary.

I really like how this book is structured and covers each of the topics within. It’s also proved easy to pick up again even though I probably haven’t made any progress in it for about a week.

It’s a really interesting audio and I would recommend anybody with interest in autism, ADHD or other forms of neurodivergence to give it a look. In the more recent chapters I’ve listened to, the narrative explores how different conditions may show up in real life. Particularly, I liked how it covered ways that symptoms differ from society expectations. I’m looking forward to seeing how the topics are explored further in the second half of the book.

 

Books Discovered

I’ve added nothing new to my reading list this week, which is as well given it constantly seems to hover at the same level and never go down!

 

Coming Up…

On Tuesday I plan to share my first Top Ten Tuesday of the year. This week’s topic is Books I meant to Read in 2023 but didn’t get to. I have a variety of books to share that fall into this bracket! Stay tuned for more on those next week.

On Friday I’m back with a First Lines Friday post. Sometimes I set myself a challenge for these posts, but I’m going to keep an open field and decide what to feature later in the week!

Lastly, I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary update this time next week. Until then I hope you have a fantastic week!

What are you reading?

 

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Sunday Summary – 14th January 2024

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In today’s Sunday Summary post I have plenty of updates to share with you. It has been a fantastic week of reading, and I can’t lie when I say I’ve enjoyed going back to a more relaxed blogging schedule. Yes, this week I was back to my regular three post schedule, and it’s been far more manageable.

The first of those posts was a book review of Leadership and Culture by John and Katie McCann. I read this book last year as a way of picking up another non-fiction, but also to work on some of my soft skills. This book would be great for either first-time managers, aspiring leaders, or even as a refresher for those more experienced. As always, I’ll provide a link in case you want to go back and check out that post.

On Friday, I returned with a Shelf Control post. If you are unfamiliar with this series, I use it to look at upcoming books on my reading list and share why I’m excited to read them. This week’s particular feature was another non-fiction book that is on my reading list, but about a completely different topic. It’s one that I am really interested in reading about even though it is not the most pleasant! If you want to find out what that was, there is a link above.

 

Books Read

My Sister’s Keeper

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post, I was 75% into this audio and hopeful that I was going to finish it soon.

I did indeed finish this audio on Thursday night, and oh my goodness, what an ending! I fully appreciate that some people don’t like the ending of this book. However, I really enjoyed it and I didn’t see it coming! It also made me cry my eyes out. It ended up being quiet in the office than usual on Friday, so no one noticed the puffy face. Then again, I do work with mostly men…

 

Betrothal and Betrayal

The second read I carried over from last week’s Sunday Summary was Betrothal and Betrayal. In that post, I shared that I’d read the first 20%, and it’s from there I picked up from.

I read Betrothal and Betrayal on my phone, which is something I don’t do very often. However, this is a review copy of the book and the deadline for reviewing it is coming up. Had I not been able to view the book on my phone I would have gone back to the organiser to see if I could get the matter fixed. As things stood, I could, and the book is only 250 pages long. I decided to work with what I had, and to be fair, it worked reasonably well.

As I’ve already mentioned, the review for this is coming up – as imminently as next week. I’m not going to go too much in detail as to my thoughts at this time. Overall it was a fun, short historical fantasy book in which we get to explore the life of a fiery female protagonist set an interesting setting – Constantinople and the Byzantine empire.

 

Crime and Punishment

I picked up Crime and Punishment for the first time after finishing Betrothal and Betrayal. I suspected this would be the book my reading pace slowed down with, and that is the case.

In order to read all of the 10 books I have on my January TBR, I need to read about 100 pages a day over the course of the month. Since Thursday, I’ve only read the first 132 pages of this classic. In fairness, I haven’t picked up read at all today, and I will be making some progress with the book tonight once this post goes live.

I already expected that the writing style of Crime and Punishment would make 100 pages a day a stretch. When you take into account the book was published in the late 1800s, by a Russian author and then translated, it doesn’t quite flow the same as modern language. This isn’t to say I’m not getting on with it, because I am. However, to get my hundred pages a day, I’m definitely going to have to read a couple of books in tandem. More on that later. As of this post,Crime and Punishment is my main read and my focus going into next week. If I can read 50 pages of this book a day, in tandem with 50 pages of another, I’ll be on track.

 

Sword of Vengeance

To help with keep up my reading pace and give me a change, I’m going to read Sword of Vengeance in tandem with Crime and Punishment. It so happens that I started the book yesterday whilst at my hairdressers anyway. I am reading Crime and Punishment in paperback form, but it wasn’t worth taking with me to the appointment. I was able to read the first chapter of Sword of Vengeance on my phone.

Sword of Vengeance is the fourth book of the Saxon Warrior series. I’ve kept up to date with it and so there isn’t too much in the way of investment to pick up and follow the action. I’ve already done the legwork and know what’s going on. It’s a completely different writing style, but it’s one that I find very easy to read. I’ll be using this book to switch to when I need a break and/or to try and make up page count in my daily reading.

I confess that, as of this Sunday Summary, I have only read the first chapter, or 5%. I’m looking forward to picking up more of the book next week. 

 

Unmasked

The last book I need to update you on this week is Unmasked.

I started this audiobook after finishing My Sister’s Keeper. It’s not an overly long one, so I’ve already made good progress. As of this Sunday Summary, I’ve listened to about 30%.

The book is about the author, Ellie Middleton, and her late diagnoses of ADHD and autism. Whilst the book’s aim is to go some way to educate readers about the conditions generally, it is particularly about her experience and how women and ethnic minorities are less likely to be diagnosed at an early age.

I’m enjoying the audio even more as it is narrated by the author herself. I don’t think it would’ve felt right being narrated by a third-party given that this is about her individual experience. I’m looking forward to listening to more in the coming days!

 

Books Discovered

It had been a little while since I’ve had a look on my library’s digital offerings. I confess I was originally looking to see if I can borrow one of my upcoming reads later in the month. No such luck. However, I did find an e-book written by author I enjoyed in 2020 with an interesting premise.

The Sentence sounds like an intriguing legal thriller. I’ve tried multiple drafts to sum up the story without really doing it justice (no pun intended). So, here is the synopsis instead:

A law intended to end capital punishment.

Prosecutors who seek the death penalty put their lives on the line if the guilty are later found innocent.

A lawyer convinced beyond reasonable doubt.

Justine Boucher is presented with overwhelming evidence in a brutal murder case. Her request for execution is granted.

But what if she’s wrong?

Coming Up…

I have two reviews due next week. With this in mind, these will be my priority posts in the week.

In order to space out these reviews, I will be reviewing the second book first. I appreciate that sounds contrary, but allow me to explain. This second book is due to publish on the 19th of January, but I haven’t necessarily committed to provide my review on that date. Instead, I look to have it prepared a few days in advance, so it is out in the world (and on Netgalley) by publication day. With this in mind, I look to share that review on Tuesday.

The other book I will be reviewing this week is one where I have agreed to do it on a set date, and that is Thursday. I’m taking part in a blog tour for Betrothal and Betrayal, organised by TheWriteReads. I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts on this book as I really enjoyed the action and setting. Stay tuned and you will find my thoughts, both on my blog and across my social media accounts on Thursday 18th.

Lastly, I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary update next week. Given the nature of the posts I am sharing this week, I’m not doing a Friday feature as well. Reviews take a lot of time to get right and I want to make sure I do both justice. As well, I’ve not long ago had a busy week of blogging during a busy period at work. I’m sticking to the three day schedule and I’m unapologetic about it!

For now, that’s all from me in today’s post. Have you read any of the books I talk about in this post? What are you reading right now?

 

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Sunday Summary – 7th January 2024

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Good evening friends and welcome to this Sunday Summary update. This post is the fifth I have drafted and published this week. It’s not very often I have such a busy schedule. However, with the end of the year, I’ve had a lot of content to push out in a short window. I’ve shared about 7,100 words with you in the last week, when you include this post as well! 

The first blog post I shared was my monthly wrap-up for December 2023. In summary, reading progress slowed down a little bit in December, given I’d already met my reading goal and because of the festive period. If you’re interested to see what I read in the final month of the year, you can check out that post here.

The next post was my wrap-up for the whole of 2023. In this post, I took a look at the goals I set myself at the beginning of the year to see if I managed to complete them.

After a day’s break, I shared my 2024 Reading Resolutions on Thursday. Some of the resolutions I have set myself this year are very similar to ones I set last year. But, there is one brand-new goal for 2024. If you want to find out what I’m setting out to do this year, you know what to do.

Lastly, I shared my January TBR on Friday. I may have set myself a reading goal that equates to 5 books a month, but I am very excited for the New Year and new reading opportunities. As a result, I maybe have been ambitious with my reading goal for the first month. I feature no less than 10 books on this reading list… yeah, that’s where we’re at!

No pressure…

 

Books Read

 

My Sister’s Keeper

Leaving off from last week’s Sunday Summary update, I picked up My Sister’s Keeper having already made progress with about a third of the audiobook.

I’ve raced ahead this week and I am now just over 3/4 of the way through. This book is everything I hoped it would be in terms of dealing with the morality and ethical aspects of the underlying story. Even better for me, I am just getting to the point where Anna gets her hearing in court. We get to dive into the detail of the family dynamics as well as the ethics of the story. How is it likely to end? I have no idea at this point. That makes me all the more keen to keep listening!

I’m looking forward to making further progress in this audiobook next week. If I’m any judge, I think I could get it done next week. We’re at the interesting bit and there’s only a few hours left to listen!

 

Gemina

Gemina is the second book I carried over from last week’s Sunday Summary post. In my last update, I had read just over 200 pages with a further 450-odd to go.

I raced through those 450 pages within the first few days of January! I’m not surprised, as I knew what to expect from my enjoyment of the first book in the series, Illuminae. The character perspectives are fun to read and the format of the book (mixed media) makes it very easy to pick up. Now and then it’s nice to break away from books written in traditional prose.

Gemina was a great book to pick up both to end 2023 on, but also to start 2024 with. It was my first read of the year, and also my first five star read at that!

 

The Girl in Seat 2A

The next day, I started the book I picked up and read in full this week, The Girl in Seat 2A.

The book is a thriller written by Diana Wilkinson and is due to be published on the 19th January. As a reviewer and follower of Boldwood books, I was very lucky to be accepted for an advanced reader copy to share my thoughts with you ahead of publication.

You can expect those thoughts in full coming up on the blog very soon. However, to give you a flavour of the book now, it is a thriller about a young woman living the lifestyle of a millionairess. But, not all is as it seems. When she meets and starts to date a wealthy man whilst on holiday in Marbella, things take a turn for the worse.

Overall, the book was a four-star read. I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character, just because we are opposing personality types. But, that didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. It is also told from another perspective which I liked far more. I’m looking forward to more detail in the near future!

 

Betrothal and Betrayal

I picked up one final book this week, and as of this Sunday Summary post, Betrothal and Betrayal is my current read.

Betrothal and Betrayal is another book that I am reviewing for a tour coming up very soon. I’m having to read this particular book on the Kindle app on my phone, which isn’t my favourite, but I’m making do. It’s a relatively short read at about 250 pages, so I’m not anticipating it will take too long to read anyway.

As of this post, I’m already 20% through the book, having picked it up just yesterday. The storyline is still in the introductory stages, so I can’t tell you too much about it right now. Set in the Byzantine empire, we follow a young woman called Thekla in this historical fantasy. She has fled from her family who are trying to marry her off to someone she is unwilling to commit to after her betrothed has stood her up for a third time. Shes young and fiesty, making her much more my cup of tea compared to Jade in The Girl in Seat 2A!

I can’t really tell you much more than that at this stage, as I’m just getting introduced into the story myself. I trust I’ll be able to share more with you in next week’s update.

 

Books Discovered

I went to town with family today, and of course I made us stop in Waterstones on our travels.

I’ve added a couple of books to my bookshelves as a result of that trip. One of the books I purchased was already on my TBR, but now I officially own my copy. So far, I’ve read and loved two books by C.J. Tudor, The Chalk Man and The Taking of Annie Thorne. With this in mind, I added The Burning Girls to my reading list just over a year ago. I didn’t yet own a copy of that book… until today!

The second book I discovered from Waterstones IOM Instagram page. It is their non-fiction book of the month, The Wager. I like the sound of the premise, and as I’ve just set myself another goal of picking up non-fiction again this year, it was a no brainer!

In addition, I added one further book to the reading list after Bibliobeth featured it on her Instagram. Again, another non-fiction, the Icepick Surgeon appealed to me because the title hints at some of the topics I explored and loved in when doing my psychology A-Level.

If you’re a bit squeamish, then perhaps this content is not for you. I suppose there is a theme in my reading, because this book explores the ethics and morality of science and where boundaries have been blurred in the past. Sound familiar to another book I’m currently reading?

 

Coming Up…

I’m not lying when I say I’m looking forward to going back to my regular blog schedule next week!

Still, there is no rest for the wicked, as my first post of the week is going to be a book review. I have a pending review on NetGalley for a book I read last year, Leadership and Culture. As leaving this outstanding can affect my feedback ratio and potential to be accepted for further downloads in future, I’m going to prioritise reviewing this. It’s also been outstanding since August last year; whilst not the longest a book has had to wait from me for a review, I don’t want to leave it too long either!

I’m keeping up with my Shelf Control and First Lines Friday features this year. So, this Friday, I will be back with a Shelf Control. If you are unfamiliar with this series, I take the opportunity to feature upcoming books on my reading list. I’ll tell you all about them in detail, and most importantly, share why I’m excited to pick it up!

The last post I will be sharing next week will be another Sunday Summary. With all the luck in the world, I will have as good reading week as I’ve had this week and I’ll have plenty of updates to share with you. Maybe my 10 book TBR isn’t so ambitious after all…

Who am I kidding?! 😂

 

That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary though! It’s 11pm and I’m off to prep lunches for the week ahead, and then get stuck in with a few pages of Betrothal and Betrayal before bed.

What are your Sunday plans?

 

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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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Sunday Summary – 31st December 2023

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Happy New Year’s Eve, and welcome to the last post I will be sharing in 2023! It’s been a fantastic year, and whilst I’m not going to go into too much detail in this post, know that I’m very happy with what I’ve achieved this year.

I’ve taken the smallest of steps back this week to celebrate Christmas and wind down a little bit before going full throttle next week. With this in mind, I’ve only shared one post so far, and that was my review of the book I started reading last week and finished this week – Order and Chaos.

Shall we dive into my last bookish update of the year?

 

Books Read

 

Order and Chaos

I started off the week having made an initial 20% progress into Order and Chaos, which I shared in last week’s Sunday Summary. I knew I wanted to review this book this week, so it was my priority to finish.

As a short story anthology, the book in itself isn’t very long. It lends itself very well to flexibility in picking up and putting down at will, which I definitely made use of around this otherwise busy period!

Of course, if you want to get into the detail of my thoughts on this book, that review is now live. You can find it here if you want to read more.

 

My Sister’s Keeper

I’ve made another couple of hours of progress with My Sister’s Keeper this week, bringing me to about 33% so far.

For a multitude of reasons, including the festive period, it’s been quiet at work at times this week. Whilst it’s not something I make a habit of, I have taken advantage of some of those quiet times. Thanks to the need to complete a necessary but monotonous job, I’ve been able to listen to this whilst working. In any other circumstance, I couldn’t really do it anyway.

Now the story is starting to develop and I cannot help but wonder how far this will go. It seems like battlelines are being drawn up by different characters and it’s anybody’s guess how nasty things will get!

 

Gemina

After completing Order and Chaos earlier this week, I picked up my next (and last) physical read of 2023 – Gemina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman.

As of this Sunday Summary post, I have made my way through the first couple of hundred pages, and have 450 to go. It’s fair to say that hoping to get through this before the end of the year is a tad optimistic! Nevertheless, I can’t think of a better book to be taking through into 2024. If you believe that kind of thing sets a precedent for what is to come, then I have everything good to look forward to!

I am curious to see how much of the book I can read before the end of the year though… stay tuned on the blog to find out in the coming week!

 

Books Discovered

Christmas definitely delivered on the promise for books added to my reading list, so strap yourselves in!

I received a total of six books from multiple family members on the big day. Some of these were specifically requested, and there were some surprises too, which I was very happy about!

The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt and Yellowface were books I put on my Christmas list. In addition, I received a physical copy of Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, which I had already earmarked as a book I wanted to read, as well as A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett, and even a biography about owls. If you know me, then you know that I love owls and have them throughout my house. I’m even wearing owl earrings I got for Christmas right now!

 

Coming Up…

I have no less than five blog posts lined up for you next week. So, I hope you are looking forward to a little more activity from me next week. Can you see now why I took a wee break this week?

The first of the posts I will be sharing with you next week will be going live tomorrow. I might as well make the use of the bank holiday to prepare and share my monthly wrap-up for December 2023!

Following that, I’ll be back on Tuesday with a wrap-up for 2023. In this post, I’ll be looking back at the resolutions I set myself back in January and seeing how many I completed and what I have progressed with.

I’ll then kickoff my 2024 posts by sharing my goals and resolutions for the new year on Thursday. There aren’t necessarily going to be any wild changes in comparison to what I set myself this year. However, there are going to be a couple of new ones that don’t necessarily revolve around my reading. I plan to prioritise and set some social media goals. I hope you can check out that post later next week to find out more!

My January reading list will be going live on Friday. I have a number of great books lined up to kick off the year and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you all!

Last, but by no means least, I will be back with another Sunday Summary regular update at the same time next week. Let’s hope for lots to update you with that post!

But, for now, that is all from me. I am spending my New Year’s Eve tucked under a heated blanket with a cuppa and my copy of Gemina. How are you spending your New Year’s Eve?

 

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Sunday Summary – 24th December 2023

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Good evening readers and welcome back to my weekly Sunday Summary update. It’s a special one as it’s Christmas Eve, and I’m excited for the big day tomorrow! I may be an adult, but I love the big day as much as any child would. For different reasons, perhaps, but all the same! I’m looking forward to spending the day with my family, giving gifts and making memories!

However, it’s still Sunday evening and I owe you an update, so shall we dive in?

My first and only blog post I shared so far this week was an End of Year Book Tag. I was tagged by my follower Misty in her version of the post and invited to take part that way. I’ve taken part quite late in the day, so there’s only so much I could do towards some of the bullet points. If you’re interested in checking out what that post is all about, you can find a link to mine here!

I was supposed to share a Well, I Didn’t Know That! post on Friday, but I didn’t come to pass for a couple of reasons. The first of those is that I had a last-minute and late-night meet up with friends before Christmas. We had tried to meet up earlier in the month, but this had to be postponed due to illness. Secondly, I didn’t take up the post and share it on Saturday instead as my research into the topic of Christmas reading traditions was rather dry. Other than the Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflod, I hadn’t uncovered anything else.

 

Books Read

 

The Success Code

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update, I was 20% into The Success Code by John Lees. I had not long started the book before I shared that update, and it was the physical read I carried over into this week.

I found myself picking up The Success Code at chapter or two at a time, chipping away at it over the course of the week and finishing it on Thursday. If I’m honest, I expected the book to be easier to read than it was. Don’t get me wrong, the language and messages within what easy enough to understand and take in. However, I found I couldn’t read more than a handful of chapters at a time. Out of the two non-fiction books I was reading at the same time, I expected this one to be easier than the other. In practice, it was the other way round.

I’ve still given The Success Code for stars as it has plenty of helpful advice that I have been thinking about, and will look to implement myself at work in the near future.

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People

The second non-fiction I carried through from last week’s Sunday Summary is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

I enjoyed this audiobook every bit as much as I expected, and more besides! Although the book was written and first published in 1936, I found the advice within the book still relevant today. You can perhaps understand why I expected this to be the drier of the two non-fiction books this month; this was partly because of the publication date of this book, but also because it is narrated by Andrew Macmillan. He was a 70-something year-old at the time of recording in 2004.

How to Win Friends and Influence People is easier to listen to than you would expect, taking into consideration the above facts. Again, I’ll be looking to take some of these points on board and see if they can help me in my working life.

 

Order and Chaos

Moving on from the reads I carried over into this week, I picked up my e-book copy of Order and Chaos on completion of The Success Code. Order and Chaos is a short story anthology. Although I’ve only picked it up for one sitting so far, I already made it to 20% with very little effort. I’m looking to make considerably more progress tonight once this blog post goes live!

I don’t have too much to say on the book so far given that I’m still reasonably early into it. However, like Taking Liberties, which I reviewed earlier this year, it includes a range of stories that centre around the titular themes. Each story so far has taken a unique twist on the topics. I’m looking forward to seeing what other stories feature in the book and what they take on the theme is.

 

My Sister’s Keeper

Finally, I started another audiobook today, and it’s the last one on my list for December. Thank you to my friend Rachael for giving me a kick up the bum and getting me to start my cross-stitch project again. Around cleaning, I have been working on that project and listening to audio at the same time!

Just today, I have made approximately 15% progress with the audio. I’m not a big contemporary reader or listener. However, the narrative explores morality and human rights in the battle of Anna for her body autonomy.

Even from birth, Anna was designed with her sister in mind. Kate has leukaemia that keeps re-emerging, and Anna has grown up in her shadow, continually donating blood cells, then bone marrow, to help her fight the disease. The donations and surgeries become increasingly invasive until at 13, Anna puts her foot down when her sister needs a kidney.

So far, I’m really enjoying the story and the set up. I don’t know much more about the book beyond what I’ve described here, so I’m looking forward to exploring that further in the coming week.

 

Books Discovered

I’m still saving myself for Christmas, so once again, there’s nothing to see here!

Not long to wait now though…

 

Coming Up…

I’ll be taking a few days off to celebrate Christmas, and breaking the routine a bit. I’ve also decided to do this because the first couple of weeks of January are going to be busier than normal. I’ll rest up and get ready for some of that content ready now whilst I can!

I’ll share my first post of the week on Thursday and publish my review of my current read, Order and Chaos. A little while since I published a review and I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts on this short story anthology before the end of the year.

My next post, and my last post of 2023, will be next week’s Sunday Summary update!

That’s all for me in today’s Sunday Summary though! I hope you have a wonderful day, a fabulous Christmas, and I will see you later next week. And if you are from a Nordic family and taking part in Jolabokaflod tonight, just know that I’m very jealous!

Have a great one!

 

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Sunday Summary – 17th December 2023

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Good evening all! It’s time for my Sunday Summary catch-up, and I have a great week to share with you! Before we get into the books I’ve been reading this week, let’s recap what I’ve shared on the blog.

The first post I published this week was a Top Ten Tuesday. The subject of this week’s post was my 2023/2024 Winter TBR. I’ve done iterations of this post throughout the seasons this year. Once again, I’ve enjoyed setting out my intentions for what to read in the next few months.

Later in the week, I shared my First Lines Friday post. For this week’s post, I set myself a challenge of featuring a book I do not yet own a copy of. If you like stories with a fairytale or theme park twist, how AI fits in such a setting and a murder to unravel, then I strongly suggest you check out this post!

 

Books Read

 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I had to look back to my Sunday Summary post published on the 3rd December in order to work out where I left off with this book. I hadn’t touched it all last week. There are reasons for that, and I talked about that in last week’s Sunday Summary update. Reading progress was generally abysmal that week.

I’ve made up for that this week though! I picked up The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes from chapter 13 onwards, which is a fraction over a third of the book. I read over the course of several days this week and reached the epic conclusion! Reading progress was slower than I expected, partly because of last week’s plans, but also because I knew what happened. A few weeks ago I went to watch the film in the cinema. It was interesting to see how each differed from the other. In some ways, they are very close… but there are differences. 

Had I not watched the film and known the ending, I might’ve been more compelled to read quicker. Despite watching/reading in the opposite way round to usual, I still really enjoyed both. I’m glad I’ve finally got into the prequel of The Hunger Games series, and I’m all the more excited to get back into the main one next year.

 

The Minders

Picking up from last week’s Sunday Summary, I listened to the remaining 40% of The Minders whilst cleaning and wrapping presents. I’m actively trying to utilise time where I can’t sit down and read more traditionally to pick up audio instead.

I enjoyed listening to The Minders and trying to work out what was going on in this conspiracy thriller. It may be my first John Marrs book, but it won’t be my last. The audio experience of this book was a good one. Whilst it wasn’t expansively cast, having a couple of different narrators made the narrative interesting and varied perspectives sufficiently to be able to work out who is who.

I listened to the majority of the audio yesterday morning; it was that compelling that I listened for approximately three hours!

 

The Success Code

The next physical read I picked up this week is The Success Code by John Lees. The Success Code is the first of two non-fiction books on December’s reading list. I’m aiming to read more than 15 non-fiction books before the end of the year. It’s also a very short book at just over 200 pages, which helps me stand a chance of completing this goal. 

In the last couple of days of the week after finishing The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I have read just over 40 pages. In the 20% I have picked up so far, there are some interesting ideas in the book about how to get noticed, and debunking very common (and sometimes unhelpful advice) out there. It offers instead an alternative that will have more impact. I’ll be looking to take on some of this advice and I’m interested to see what else we explore in the book.

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People

The second and final non-fiction on my reading list for December is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It’s also the second audiobook of the week.

In actual fact, I started this book today. I’ve already made my way through the first three chapters, or 25% of the book.

Much like The Success Code, How to Win Friends and Influence People has some solid advice on how to persuade by appealing to others. So far, each concept has been explained fully and backed up by examples and experts in the field. Although some may believe it a relatively dry subject, the audio is narrated in a way that it prompts the reader to take an active listening role. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve listened to so far today, and I plan to make further progress with the audio over the next week.

 

Books Discovered

There are no new additions to the reading list this week! Got to save myself for Christmas you see 😉

 

Coming Up…

The first post I am going to be sharing this week is a book tag. I was tagged in Misty’s rendition of the End of Year Book Tag and invited to take part. It may be a bit late in the day to answer some of the questions, but it’s a bit of fun nonetheless!

On Friday I’m due to share a Well, I Didn’t Know That! post. I know some countries have Christmas traditions revolving around books. I think I’d like to explore that topic a little bit more and share the results with you!

Finally, next week’s Sunday Summary will be landing on this page at the same time… and it will be Christmas Eve!

Where has the time gone? Are you prepared for Christmas yet? Are you reading anything festive to get in the mood?

 

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Sunday Summary – 10th December 2023

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Hey fellow readers – welcome back to another Sunday Summary weekly update post! As always, I hope you’ve had a great week?

What have I been up to? Well that’s a very good question! As well as blogging, there have been a lot of Christmassy things going on in my life this week, and that reflects in my reading. More on that later.

In terms of blog posts I shared earlier in the week, I featured my December TBR on Tuesday. If you’re interested in seeing what’s on my final reading list of the year, then that is the post to check out. That post is also a special one as in publishing it, I hit a milestone this week. That TBR was actually my thousandth post on the blog! Can you believe it?!

On Friday, I returned with a Shelf Control post. In that series, I take a look at upcoming books on my reading list and why I’m excited to pick them up. This week’s featured book is one of the older fantasy books on my reading list. I’m excited to pick it up as it had influence on one of my favourite authors of all time. If you’re intrigued, there’s a link to that post to check it out.

 

Books Read


The Minders

It’s rare that my audiobook progress is more significant than my physical reading, but that is the case this week! Even then, I probably only listened to about 10% of the audio of The Minders. 

I had a lot of Christmas related errands or events this week. From meeting our Christmas party DJ for a planning meeting on Monday to a team Christmas lunch and then the actual party night itself, I’ve had a lot less reading time than I would normally. Some of the time I had was dedicated to keeping the blog in content to post, so my reading ultimately suffered more.

It’s not the end of the world, and it won’t be the last time either. I still have some Christmassy meet-ups planned, and Christmas presents to wrap. It’s just a busy time of year, am I right?

 

Books Discovered

In this Sunday Summary, I have a book I added to my reading list this week to feature, and I can’t wait to share with you!

I listened to an episode of the Currently Reading podcast for the first time in quite a while, and so picked up a reading recommendation this week.

A similar book to one I read and loved, The Appeal, was featured on the podcast. Murder in the Family is a mixed media book in which the reader is tasked with solving a murder case. I really enjoyed the mixed media element to The Appeal, and the way we had to read into subtext in order to work out character relationships. Whilst I understand from the podcast that this book does have some curveballs to make solving the murder difficult to impossible, I’ll enjoy the experience of unpicking the narrative and events all the same. I’m here for the journey, not the conclusion!

 

Coming Up…

The first post I intend to share next week is a Top Ten Tuesday. If you are unfamiliar with the series, it is a weekly series where bloggers can share a top 10 listicle on a given topic. Next week’s topic is a variation of one I have been doing throughout the year; I’ll be sharing my top ten books to read throughout the winter of 2023-2024. I published similar posts for spring, summer, and autumn earlier this year, and I’m excited to share the books I would like to read in the next few months!

The next Friday feature coming up on my list is a First Lines Friday post. The last time I shared this feature, I kept my options open. However, for this week’s regular feature, I am going to set myself a challenge! When I draft these posts, I have a tendency to veer towards the books I physically own. So, for this week’s post, I am going to feature the opening lines of a book on my reading list that I don’t yet own a copy of.

Last, but certainly not least, I’ll be back at the same time next week with another Sunday Summary. With any luck, with more to say than I’ve had this week!

What have you been reading recently? Maybe you can recommend me a book you loved lately?

 

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