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What are you reading 2021
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Brittany
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Aug 07, 2021 03:32AM
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I've been busy again at work and with the life things. But manage to squeeze some interesting books in. Almost every book was a 5-star! So it's a success :D
- oh my! This one is gorgeous! It kinda reminded me of The Six of Crows.
- yet another interesting book with asian culture. I'm always in for everything asian in books :)
- a great collection of short stories gave me some great ideas on what to read when I want something paranormal, also reminded me of the best parts of the Anita Blake series.
- I can't believe I've put this book aside for so long! Captivating and the graceling idea is so good!
- a mystery in its best traditions.
- I enjoyed reading it but not as much as the other ones.
I'm going this a bit earlier than normal but I want to purge my thoughts and move on.
-5 StarsThe week started strong with this book. I think I can officially say that I am hooked on this series at this point. There is just so much to enjoy in this one. I love how the book started and the interesting take on Jack the Ripper. I love how it legit feels like the bad guys are a threat and probably a step or two ahead of our protagonists. The time travel aspects add a nice spice on top of everything and keeps you guessing. It's just a fun read.
-4 StarsI have talked about this series before and my praise for it still stands.
-3 StarsI decided to return to this series this week and I've requested the rest of the series from the library already. This series has some issues but I am curious about where things are going. I don't consider this Scooby Doo though. I know that this is an alternate world version of Scooby but it still doesn't feel right. It's hard to explain.
-3 StarsI've been seeing this book kicking around for some time now and have had it recommended to me a few a times as well. I decided to give it a shot and I see potential here. The characters are interesting, the setting is alright. I'll definitely be checking out more from this series.
-2 Stars*deep breathe* I just finished this book and I'm in a bit of a funk right now. I think that this is a classical clash of expectations versus reality. I'll be honest when I admit that I didn't really look that deep into this book. I saw that it was about a zombie apocalypse at a fat camp and requested my copy from the library. In my mind I had gleeful thoughts about fat kids running for their lives from zombies. Listen, it's no secret, I'm a weird dude with weird tastes. Sadly, this was not what I got from this book at all. To start with I had a bit of a hard time getting into this book. At the start of the week I didn't have a lot of time for reading and was getting 10-15 minutes drips here and there. The book is told from the POV's of different characters (6 in total) and for the first half of the book it's just character after character after character that is thrown at you. Establishing who they are, their backstory, etc. Here is thing, I don't really care about any of this. This is a zombie book, I know that by the end of the book there are going to be a bunch of you that are going to be zombie poop. All this time spent on establishing characters and what not feels like a giant waste of time
My next big issue is that the story telling just didn't feel natural. This is going to be a bit hard to explain so bear with me. There are story elements in this book that don't feel like they are result of a natural story. Instead they feel like they are deliberate plot elements placed their by the author purely for the purpose of moving the story forward. The biggest one in my opinion was Rachel being pregnant. One we got past the biopic part of the book and the action started kicking off I just couldn't get past this point. Her pregnancy only seemed to be there to move the story along. We need to do X because of Rachel, my motivation for staying alive is Rachel, etc. I think the more disconnected I became with the story the more nitpicky I became. Another one that bugged me was (view spoiler). There was nothing really set up for it to happen the way it did and it felt like it only happened as a motivational tool.
All this being said I was still willing to give the book a 3 star rating. It was sitting about 2.5 but I didn't fully hate the book. Then I got to the ending. To me, the ending of the book is supposed to be climatic part of the book. This is the part where you and the MC's get what we have been working towards the entire book. This could be the treasure at the end of the dungeon, capturing the dangerous criminal, kissing the pretty boy/girl, etc. This book didn't feel like it had anything like that. Instead of a big boom we just had a weak little fizzle that left me feeling very unsatisfied. I feel like nothing was resolved, plot lines were just left dangling, it was weak. I know that this book is popular right now and I'm not against the message that it's trying to spread I just think that the actual story telling didn't work, at least for me.
I'm not sure how much reading I'll be getting to next week as things are going to be pretty busy at work. My loose plans currently are
and
Brittany wrote: "How did you enjoy the Shadow of the Fox series Gwen?"I loved it! I've always been interested in Japan and its language so I liked how she implemented it in her story. Apart from that, these books really surprised me. Knowing Julie Kagawa I expected an ending where everything goes well so I didn't see this one coming at all.
Mod
Good you loved Serpent and Dove that is still on my short list of things to get to.
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Sorry Eat your heart out was so frustrating for you
Just a heads up, the Jack the Ripper part is only the first couple of chapters or so. It's still a great book though. I don't want to spoil the book but they also visit other important points in history.
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Appreciate the heads up!
Finished
today, what a lovely book, it manages to be both extremely comforting and warm, but also punch you in the gut emotionally several times. Will be starting my next audiobook
probably over the weekend.
Brittany wrote: "Elena awesome that you had so many good reads! I will warn you with Graceling that although I liked book 2 lots of people dont as much as there is not a lot of tie in between it and the first one. ..."Oh thank you for the warning, now I know what to expect and not be disappointed :)
I've finished the whole series :)
- all the books were so good! Three different cute romantic stories, easy to read and very addictive :)Started reading:
- yep! I've started it, just couldn't wait :D
- oh my! This one is amazing, I didn't realise how much I've missed the Shadowhunters series.
The Get A Life series has been on my radar for a bit, really need to get to them!
Mod
- all the books were so good!..."The Bane Chronicles was SO good! My favorite story was definitely the one where Magnus and Alec go on their first date 😍 It was so cute!
@Lili same here! I've just finished the book and my favorite story is when Magnus and Alec went on their first date and also the last one with all the calls, so much fun :)
Mod
Oh yeah! The one with the calls was really fun! I loved the part where Izzy supposedly called on behalf of Church 😂 That was so funny!
This has been a super busy week for me so I didn't get as much reading done as I would like but it was a great week of reading.
-5 StarsI'm so glad that I joined a buddy read that kept me reading in the series. It's not that I didn't want to read on, I just kind of lost track of it in the billion of other things I have to read. This second book was just a great read. The story was super engaging and kept you turning the page. The magic in the book spanned from the usual (ice, mind magic, etc) to some rather unique stuff like control over animals and what ever it is that Catalina has. The other thing that really appealed to me outside of the above was Mad Rogan. One of my biggest problems in a lot of UF and PNR is that the author thinks that for the main male love interest to be sexy they have to be an absolute douche canoe under the guise of being an alpha male. These characters are usually straight up jerks and deserve to be punched in the throat more than anything else. Now Mad Rogan can easily be lumped in with one of these generic jerk face douche canoes but the author takes the time to explain his actions. They don't try to forgive his actions but explains why he acts the way that he does and for me it just works. The explanation was also more than just a throw away line about him being an alpha werewolf or some jazz like that. The ending of the books also left me with enough questions that I want to read more. I do have one little criticism of the book though and it really only involves one scene. There is a scene towards the end of the book where (view spoiler) and it felt like a massive dip in quality. It just felt like a bog standard scene ripped out of any other romance novel with all the expected tropes and I just didn't like it. It didn't even feel like a worthy payoff and I was just waiting to get back to the rest of the story that I was enjoying. Considering it's only one scene though I'm really not going to complain to much.
-5 StarsThis one had a bit of a weaker mystery as it was a plot that was already visited. That doesn't mean that it wasn't good it just wasn't great. All of the stuff outside of the mystery though was exactly why I keep reading In Death. All the great characters and their interactions were exactly what I expected and, as usual, were a blast to read. I'm really looking forward to the next two books in this series as well. I read the synopsis for the next book and it sounds really intriguing and then the book after is one that I've heard hyped up by fans of the series.
700 pages of some of the most beautiful art in manga combined with amazing storytelling. This volume covers the backstory of Guts and is setup for so many things to come later on. I love this series and the history I have with it.
-4 StarsI'll be honest here, I avoided the yuri genre for the longest time because it seemed to have these creepy male fan service vibes to it. I usually saw it as some sort of tease to male viewers. Are these two girls dating? Isn't that so erotic? Series like this and How Do We Relationship have shown me that there is stuff in this side of manga that is interesting to read. They are super chill slice of life romance books. The girls that are dating are treated just like any other couple and are allowed to have this super sweet relationship. I definitely plan to check out more of these kind of manga in the future.
About the only thing I have planned for reading in the next week is
. I have lots of other things to read after that, I'm just not to sure what I want to tackle next.
Mod
with the same buddy read as Gord and it really is an incredible bookand
which while not my favourite of the series, it was still a solid book!Now listening to
Brittany wrote: "Finished listening to with the same buddy read as Gord and it really is an incredible bookand
which while not my favourite of the ser..."Ooh I hope you enjoy The Rose Code Brittany, I definitely did! Kate Quinn is one of my favourite new author discoveries of this year.
Mod
I'm glad to hear it! Yes, she does do a good job with the dual timelines. We've been the exact opposite this year, I like historical fiction but don't usually read much of it, and this year I've been on a real kick!
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I will! If you have any recommendations for good adult historical fiction books then let me know, much as I love YA, I've really been enjoying the adult ones I've read this year and would like to find more.
Mod
First one that comes to mind is
beyond that I will get back to you shortly
Mod
WWII historicals kind of in order of my favourites
- based off real characters for the most part. Looks more at the everyday of surviving the atrocities. Was super well written and good audio. Highly recommend.
This one was recommended to me and I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. Set just after the war and primarily told in letters it is such a different book. Multiple narrators and great audio. I knew nothing of the occupation of Guernsey going into this.
Another different view of the war. This one of midwifery during the war and the experiences pregnant women suffered through. Plus there are some interesting what ifs. Again good audio too.
great narration and the story of the Nazi occupation of Paris and the using the Ritz as a headquarters. Other historicals
set in a time period where women have few rights and to be a part of the theatre is to also be a whore. Theodora rises from nothing to become an extremely powerful woman in the Byzantine empire. Only thing I didnt love was where it ended but then I found out there is a book 2 (which I still need to read). I read this one in physical copy and appreciated having access to the map since names and places have moved since the time period.
This is another author whose work I really enjoy. It is an interesting take on the time period right after Cleopatra's death
Have added all the WWII books to my TBR as they all sound super interesting and are available on audio. I liked the sound of the others especially the Moloka'i one, but that wasn't on Audible. I'm particularly excited for the Resistance Women one because I listened to a podcast episode about Mildred Fish Harnack last week and she sounded like a fascinating woman! Also Saskia Maarleveld narrates it and I love her narration. I did like the film of Guernsey but wasn't sure about reading it because epistolary format doesn't work too well for me in print, but maybe audio will be better. Thanks for the suggestions :)
Mod
I loved Resistance Women it was fascinating. Oh! that sounds like a great podcast.
I agree I like my WWII fiction in particular in audio format for some reason so most of my recs will be listens. Too bad the others aren't available.
Hope you enjoy whichever ones you get to!
I definitely will, it sounds really interesting. It is a great podcast, it's called Stuff You Missed In History Class and it basically focuses a lot on women, POC, gay, disabled history, all the stuff that doesn't make it onto the mainstream curriculum. I highly recommend it, I've learned a lot about some really interesting people, especially women through listening to it, I did History as part of my degree, and there's still so much you don't get taught! I don't have a particular preference for WWII fiction in audio over physical, I'm just trying to limit my physical book buying to favourite authors or series continuations only at the moment, because I have so little space for new books! But I also have really enjoyed the WWII books I've listened to this year anyway, so it's really a win/win!
Mod
Completely fair Jo! There's never enough shelf space for all the books
Brittany wrote: "That sounds fabulous thanks for sharing! One of these days I'll start listening to all these awesome sounding podcasts.Completely fair Jo! There's never enough shelf space for all the books"
No problem!
Mod
and loved it. I want to go visit Bletchley Park now. Hopefully whenever I make it to England again I can make a visit. Have you been Jo?
No, I haven't! I'd really like to though, and it's actually not that far from me in Cambridge to get there (Bletchley Park is near Milton Keynes which is only about an hour from me), I've just never had a chance to go.
Mod
How are you guys? Hope good and great! I've been busy again :)Here what I've managed to read:
- a very cute romantic story (in old traditions of Princess' Diary)
- it was just wow! I missed the Shadowhunters soooo much!
- even more wow! Magnus is amazing and all the chapters with Alec are so cute and yum!
- a very good sequel to the first book
- it was strange in a good way but nothing specialCurrently reading:
- it's a re-read and a very cozy one :)
- finally got my hands on this one! I expect more emotions and tears to come.
- cozy mystery is always a go for me when I feel like procrastinating :) somehow it gives me energy and motivation to do more, to read more, etc.
Elana! Some really good reads in that list!Been a slow reading week for me but about half through
and almost done with
re-read on audio. Also, still haven't finished
yet... >.<
Mod
Kingdom of Ash was so good. Love the Hobbit, I am long overdue for a reread. Enjoy!!
How is Vow so Bold going for you Heather?
Vow is alright so far. It's enjoyable enough and easy to fall back into but not loving it as much as the prior books.
Time for that weekly update again
-5 StarThe last book in my reread/catch up of this series and it's time to continue on after. Still love this series and still love the characters.
-3 StarsI love the premise of this book with the classical fairy tale characters being set in modern time but this book has some issues. I have no problems with a book throwing you right into the action but the way this book did things wasn't so good. It's been a few months since I read the last book and my memory of the ending was a bit fuzzy at best. This book was essentially a continuation of the ending of the last book and required you to remember exactly what happened. If you didn't you were more than a little lost at the beginning of this book. I feel that there should have been some sort of narration device to remind the readers how we got where we were. It could be a prologue, it could be some sort of narration device (think something like the Dukes of Hazard), something. Once you got settled into the story itself it was a good story but I see the same thing being set up with this ending and I suspect that it will be a running theme in this series.
-3 starsMy patience with this series is wearing thin. The story up to this point felt like it was meandering a bit. It had a loose ultimate end goal but no real plan to get there. That changed at the end of the last book when they decided to track down Velma's four brothers and get some answers. They had found the first brother and things were starting to feel like it had a direction. Then this book essentially tossed it all the window again and we are back to meandering around with no real direction again. Then this comic did something that really irked me. This comic decided to throw in a side story to go along with the main one. Now this isn't so bad if it has something to with the main story. Say, a story about another group of survivors or a hilarious sketch from the POV of one of the monsters. What this comic does is decide to waste page space with a second story about a secret agent squirrel that has no connection to the story we are actually reading. I'll be honest and this rather irks me, a lot. The main story already feels slow and without direction and then to have this pointless padding tossed in is just... annoying as hell. Why waste time on this stuff when you should be working on the main story? If you wanted to write this other story put it into it's book and work on that.
-3 StarsThis was another interesting entry into this series. This one is set in Spain and focuses on bull fighting and the illegal trade of antiquities. This book had less of an action adventure kind of feel and more of a action mystery kind of vibe. It was an entertaining read but the ending was a bit open ended and didn't feel super satisfying. Not complaining to much though.
-3 StarsThis is going to be the book I spend the most time on as I have a lot of opinions to unpack. This rating is more of a 2.5 then 3 but I decided to round it up. Keep in mind that my opinions about things like writing and art are not coming from an educated position. I'm just a guy that reads a lot and has an opinion.
(view spoiler)
Currently I'm reading
and I also started
. After Shiver I'll be getting into
Gord, how are you liking Shiver? I loved it when I read it but that was so long ago!
I'm not really liking it honestly. I'm about 36% of the way into the book and I'm just bored. I'm coming to the realization the YA PNR is probably not for me.
Brittany wrote: "I want all the pictures if you make it there before me! Or if I get there and I'm going you should just come too"Agreed!
Gord wrote: "I'm not really liking it honestly. I'm about 36% of the way into the book and I'm just bored. I'm coming to the realization the YA PNR is probably not for me."Oh no! Sorry you're not enjoying it.. definitely isnt for every one!
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