Last week the unthinkable happened – I actually successfully read every book on my Friday Reads over the course of the weekend. I’m as surprised as anyone. However, none of them were particularly taxing reads, so that’s quite possibly how I managed to actually stick to a TBR for once. This weekend I’m hoping to repeat the success, with only two books on the go…
The first one I categorically will not finish. This is because it’s a 20-hour long audiobook of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. I tried to read Gaiman’s Hugo and Nebula award winning fantasy/Americana/mythology novel once before, when I was probably much too young to even attempt, let alone finish, it. However since then I’ve read more of Gaiman’s work – An Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Graveyard Book, and Good Omens which remains one of my favourite books, along with a valiant attempt at Neverwhere. I thought now would be a good time to give American Gods another try. After reading Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer last week (stay with me on this), the idea of gods and mythology amongst everyday life is something I’m keen to explore further in fiction. I recalled that American Gods was of this sort from the few chapters I did read years ago, and so it seemed a natural choice when I had an Audible credit left. I’m enjoying it so far and listening to it every morning whilst I take a bath, get dressed, make breakfast etc. We’ll see how much of this I get through today/this weekend, hopefully at least two hours.
The second one, I do have a hope in hell of finishing if I make it a priority as it’s Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling’s The Silkworm, the second book in the Cormoran Strike crime series. Despite everyone ever’s assurance that Rowling’s foray into crime fiction was a successful one and that her books were a good jumping off point for those of us who aren’t seasoned crime fiction readers, I was still a little hesitant. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying the first book, The Cuckoo’s Calling, and its cast of colourful characters (Robin in particular) so I’m eager to hear more of their adventures. Plus the mystery in this one focuses on the alleged disappearance of a writer of a rather controversial manuscript so this surely should be even more up my street than the previous narrative! What can I say, give me a book about books in some way, and I’m a happy customer. I’m about 100 pages into the novel at the moment so there is a slight chance that I will be able to get through the rest of The Silkworm this weekend, especially considering the fast pace of crime fiction and how engaging I find Galbraith/Rowling’s writing style.
So that’s how my Friday/weekend reading is looking – how about yours? What books are you all perusing this weekend? Anyone read the books I’m working on at the moment? Would love to hear any thoughts/comments/recommendations!
The Terror of Knowing 