Update: May
I can’t believe this is the last day of May already… For me, that has brought so many things closer than I thought they were. I’m leaving for Australia in 4 months. 4 months. It feels like I only arrived in the UK just yesterday. The Quidditch World Cup, where I’ll be a referee, will happen in less than 2 months. I will finish my first PhD year in 4 months. Can you slow down a bit now, time? It’s getting a bit scary.
Book-wise things are going pretty great though. I’ve read quite a fair amount of books this month, for me at least. I’ve bought a lot of books too. The local bookshop closed down last Saturday and had to sell all its books at reduced prices. I spent about 45min in there just browsing all the books, wishing I could take them all home. I asked what would happen with all the books that didn’t get sold, but that was still a big mystery it seems. I just hope they can find a nice home in charity or a library somewhere.
Read and Currently Reading
Read:
The Tiger and The Wolf – Adrian Tchaikovsky
What a treat this book was. It’s the second book by Adrian Tchaikovsky that I’ve read, Empire in Black and Gold being the first one. I enjoy his writing very much and I love how he can make his novels so imaginative and unique, without giving up any other aspect of good storytelling. The premise is original, the characters well-developed and the whole book is an amazing page-turner.
Planetfall – Emma Newman
I reviewed this book earlier this month, so go ahead and have a look at the links at the end of this post if you want to know what I thought about this one.
The Gunslinger – Stephen King
Finally! This one has been on my TBR for a very long time. I was really curious to find out if I’d like this book or not. I’ve had some trouble with reading King’s material before. I encountered the same problems in the beginning of The Gunslinger. I couldn’t really get in to it, the writing threw me off a bit. Slowly though I got sucked into the story more and more and ultimately I began to quite like it. It is a short book, so I’ll leave my final judgement for after I’ve read the second book in the series.
The Bones of You – Debbie Howells
My psychological thriller for this month. It was advertised as a thrilling debut and it looked really interesting. I enjoyed reading it, but again quite quickly I suspected what had happened to the victim. The rest of the build-up around it and the glimpses we got into the life of the victim added an extra dimension of drama to the story which still made it interesting.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Becky Chambers
I’m going to be controversial here and say that this book didn’t convince me at all. I bought it because everyone (and I mean, literally everyone) was raving about it. I really had to struggle to get through this book, it took me a couple of months to finish it. It didn’t really appeal to me. Even though it is quite progressive and that is what a lot of people loved so much about this book, it all seemed a bit forced to me. The last bit of the book was alright, I actually cared a bit then, but it was not enough to redeem this book for me.
Currently Reading:
Black City Saint – Richard A. Knaak
Still on this one. I kinda lost track of it, getting caught up in other books or trying to finish some I had been reading for a while. Will definitely get back to this one asap.
Nunslinger – Stark Holborn
After The Gunslinger it seemed fun to start Nunslinger. So far it’s been really good, I like Stark Holborn’s way of writing. The chapters are very short and the book itself is actually a collection of a series of 12 short stories. This makes it pretty fast-paced, which I really like.
Dancer’s Lament – Ian C. Esslemont
My first steps into the Malazan world! I’ve only just started this one, but I’m super excited!
Purchased/Received
- Nebula Awards Showcase 2016 edited by Mercedes Lackey
- Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
- The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor
- The Air War by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Manhattan in Reverse by Peter F. Hamilton
Thank you Pyr for the Nebula Awards Showcase 2016!
Posts in May
- Top Ten Tuesday: Four Website I Love That Aren’t About Books
- Spotlight: The Sudden Appearance of Hope – Claire North
- Cover Artist: Tommy Arnold
- Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I Picked Up On A Whim
- Review: Planetfall – Emma Newman
How has your month in books been?
