Books #28

[ToxicPony]

Only 2 off my wishlist went down in price today, probably for the best!

March was an extraordinarily average month for reading.

Books read: 17

Favourite of the month: only 4 books this month got over 3 stars. Favourite was probably A Court of Silver Flames, which was 4 stars, and I'd probably rank it 3rd of 5 in the ACOTAR series.

Least favourite: The Myth of Sisiphus by Albert Camus. Now I don't consider myself to be a dumb person, but perhaps I am, as all I could think while reading these classic essays on absurdism was good lord, what a lot of rabbiting on about nothing.

Honorary mention to What Lies Beyond the Veil, an unfortunate victim of the tiktokification of writing. I felt like the author outlined the tropes and spice ratings and then just auto filled the words.

This month we had two bookers nominees both get 3 stars (Seven Moons of Maali Almeida and A Spell of Good things) a book by a previous 5 star author dropping to 3 stars (Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon) and the strangest Poirot novel ever that barely scraped 3 stars (The Big Four).

Currently almost at the end of The Voyage of the Damned by Frances White and tbh, she had me at 'magical gay murder cruise'.

 

[LaBlonde]

Currently almost at the end of The Voyage of the Damned by Frances White and tbh, she had me at 'magical gay murder cruise'.

have never added a book to my to-buy list so hard in my life

 

[StephenTJackson]

have never added a book to my to-buy list so hard in my life

You and me both @LaBlonde
That's my kind of book.

 

[mindlessness]

I 'accidentally' ended up in Waterstones this morning and bought 4 books.

The Familliar - Leigh Bardugo (bought after mentions in the thread, I've not read any Bardugo before as I don't normally read fantasy but I do love historical fiction)
Stone Yard Devotional - Charlotte Wood (Lit Fic novel about a woman who returns to the religious community in the Australian outback she grew up in)
The Book of Days - Francesca Kay (Historical fiction set in Reformation England. Which is probably not everyone's cup of tea but is mine )
This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things - Naomi Wood (A short story collection which per the blurb 'illuminates the lives of malicious, subversive and untamed women.')

 

[StrawberryBanana90]

Yay my library books are ready for collection! Just in time because I'm off on holiday next week and wanted a good read.
I got Are you there God it's me Margaret and Nuclear War: A Scenario - not sure if either of them are really holiday reads

 

[GoofyPrincess]

I keep losing this thread and getting so far behind

Anyway, here are my April reads! This has been my favorite reading month overall so far this year. I can’t really pick one stand out though but they were all solid 4 star reads for me!

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Well done everyone on the reading in April

Weyward was the stand out for me. I loved it.

 

[StatusWoe]

Is anyone else just dying waiting on the book of dust 3? This wait is just slow torture, I Google it every few days hoping for good news, its a crushing disappointment each time

Haha YES! I keep googling too.

I've been putting off Paris Daillencourt because I don't enjoy reading about characters with high levels of anxiety, does it dominate a lot of the book?

---

(Most of) my April - I managed 12 books. My favourite was Parable of Talents, and my least was probably The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley (I didn't hate it, but found it lacking in parts)

View attachment 2907389

How was The Sea, The Sea? It's been on my TBR for ages but I never choose it. Seems a bit marmite.

The cover of Sunbringer is so pretty.

 

[123lee]

My April reads - standouts for me were ACOMAF, Wayward and F1 confidential.

 

[catlady29]

The first two books are on my TBR, are they good? I loved His Dark Materials so I'm hoping the Book of Dust books are good.

They are so good, I recommend reading the book of dust 1, then his dark materials again, then the book of dust 2. Amazing and so good that its tortured me for years waiting on the 3rd one

 

[LydiaDeetzHat]

Once again I am winning at the Kindle monthly deals.. absolutely nothing of interest ,PLus its reminded me of a few i bought yrs ago and havent read yet

 

[daisynoon]

Haha YES! I keep googling too.



How was The Sea, The Sea? It's been on my TBR for ages but I never choose it. Seems a bit marmite.

The cover of Sunbringer is so pretty.

I really enjoyed it, but the protagonist is both unlikeable and unreliable. Some of it felt like a bit of a slog, and some of it is farcical (presumably a nod to the protagonist's theatre background), overall I thought it was worth it! Part of the reason I finished it was because I borrowed it from the library and I do well with deadlines.

(This reminds me that I read a review of it on goodreads and gave it a thumbs up. I woke up the next day to find the reviewer had gone through my ratings and liked some of them, which I found vaguely mortifying because his review was well-thought through, and my goodreads tracks what I've read without comment. Sorry, fellow reviewer, no sign of intelligent life to be found on my goodreads profile)

 

[wishiniwasskinny]

Hello! I’m new to the book threads but am avid book work and have a TBR list as long as my arm (400 books on Goodreads ) and a pile of
Books so high to read but keep getting others out from the library.
I’ve read 10 books so far this year and on #11.
Currently reading The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis.

 

[Brightlycolouredbowels]

Ohh I really enjoyed this trilogy, much prefer this one to HB's more recent stuff. Do let us know what you think of the third.

Spoiler: End of Folk of the Air/Cruel/Prince/Wicked King/Queen of Nothing discussion

I finished it last night, enjoyed the ending and how it all came out alright in the end! I was trying to figure out what would happen to the serpent, how the prophecy could work and how she was going to get one over on Madoc. I gave them a solid 4 stars as they were easy, interesting reads but I didn’t have a huge amount of empathy for the characters. They still didn’t quite get me like the ACOTAR books.

 

[tp1986]

Spoiler: End of Folk of the Air/Cruel/Prince/Wicked King/Queen of Nothing discussion

I finished it last night, enjoyed the ending and how it all came out alright in the end! I was trying to figure out what would happen to the serpent, how the prophecy could work and how she was going to get one over on Madoc. I gave them a solid 4 stars as they were easy, interesting reads but I didn’t have a huge amount of empathy for the characters. They still didn’t quite get me like the ACOTAR books.

I completely agree with your summary I found the characters hard to warm to, and although I liked her world building, it was definitely no ACOTAR- but easy enough to read/enjoy.

 

[BWGossip]

30 pages into Middlemarch and loving it! Dorothea is oddly relatable as a young woman having the hots for an old, weird academic

 

[LaBlonde]

30 pages into Middlemarch and loving it! Dorothea is oddly relatable as a young woman having the hots for an old, weird academic

I ADORE THIS BOOK you’re in for such a treat, savour it

 

[Marylou]

April reads round up. They're all through Kindle Unlimited, and I'm glad it's free until the middle of the month because I'm struggling to find some good reads this time.

 

[emmer_moans]

April was a slow month for me, I couldn't focus!

I listened to A Pocket Full of Rye, 3 It was ok but not one of Agatha's best, in my opinion.

I read The Time Machine, 4 and it was a novella, so not too long. I read it to try kick start my reading with a quick win. It's a science fiction classic and was interesting.

Weyward, 4 though it only got going in the second half. Glad I read it but it took me too long to get into it.

 

[wishiniwasskinny]

My April reads:
The New Girl - 3* it was OK but I felt the ending was rushed and it was a bit far fetched. TW - infant death.

Until August (Garcia Marquez’s new ‘lost’ novella) - 2.5 * I hadn’t read any Garcia Marquez before but have read reviews that this novella doesn’t live up to the mastery of Love in the Time of Cholera or One Hundred Years of Solitude. It was an interesting story

Good Material (the new Dolly Alderton) - 5 * again I haven’t read any Dolly before but plan to read Ghosts. This was one of those books you can’t put down for me. I loved it. Laugh out loud funny in parts and emotive too. I really enjoyed the ending and thought it was perfect.

Pretending - 3.5 * TW reference to sexual assault throughout. This was OK. I bought into the story and did enjoy it but again the end was rushed and it was all a bit far fetched.
---

Only 2 off my wishlist went down in price today, probably for the best!

March was an extraordinarily average month for reading.

Books read: 17

Favourite of the month: only 4 books this month got over 3 stars. Favourite was probably A Court of Silver Flames, which was 4 stars, and I'd probably rank it 3rd of 5 in the ACOTAR series.

Least favourite: The Myth of Sisiphus by Albert Camus. Now I don't consider myself to be a dumb person, but perhaps I am, as all I could think while reading these classic essays on absurdism was good lord, what a lot of rabbiting on about nothing.

Honorary mention to What Lies Beyond the Veil, an unfortunate victim of the tiktokification of writing. I felt like the author outlined the tropes and spice ratings and then just auto filled the words.

This month we had two bookers nominees both get 3 stars (Seven Moons of Maali Almeida and A Spell of Good things) a book by a previous 5 star author dropping to 3 stars (Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon) and the strangest Poirot novel ever that barely scraped 3 stars (The Big Four).

Currently almost at the end of The Voyage of the Damned by Frances White and tbh, she had me at 'magical gay murder cruise'.

Enjoyed your reviews. Camus!!
I read 7 Moons last year and gave it 4 stars. In hindsight it was probably a 3 star book!