The Terror of Knowing

As you might remember from my Taking Stock/December TBR post, I took a look at the remaining challenges I had left to complete for the Around the Year in 52 Books reading challenge and I devised a (loose) TBR for the remainder of the year to fulfil all of the remaining prompts. I’m happy to report I’ve stuck to the TBR, but I’m making less progress than I probably should have, which is a shame. So I thought I’d do a quick Friday Reads post today in order to track where I’m at/shame myself for not having read more of my December TBR yet.

Recently Finished

Yesterday I finished reading Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers and I really enjoyed it! It also fits for week 9’s AtY challenge ‘book in the middle of your TBR’ so that’s a nice bonus, after the initial appealing premise that this is about a convent of assassin nuns who serve the god of death, known as St Mortain. I mean come on who wouldn’t want to read about nuns murdering people? I must admit that, at first, I wasn’t wholly enamoured with it because it’s told in first person present tense which can be quite jarring when you first start to read it and notice that it’s all happening in present tense. However, I quickly got used to the narrative style and started to feel properly immersed in the storyline and the politics of the court of Brittany.

I’m a little sad to discover that the next two books in the series actually aren’t a traditional ‘series’ but are companion novels focusing on different characters which were mentioned in this first book – I wanted to hear more about Ismae and Duval! The jury is still out on whether I’ll bother with the other two books or if I’ll just leave it at this one.

Up Next

I’m in a bit of a dilemma, guys. Tomorrow, me and Liz go on a trip to London which will be 4 days filled with many musicals and much merriment. However, because I’m me, I can’t not take a book, even though I know the likelihood of me reading said book is pretty damn slim between all the things we want to do whilst we’re there. (I also may have let slip to Liz just how little of London I’ve actually seen and she looked horrified so I think I’m about to do a whistle-stop tour of every tourist-y spot in the city!)

Obviously, with my remaining AtY reading challenge goals in mind, I plan to take something that I have on ebook or eARC so that I can just grab my Kindle or even read it on the Kindle app on my phone. So, I think my Friday/weekend reads are likely to be one of the following:

• for Week 19: A New York Times best-seller – The Nightingale or Big Little Lies
• for Week 44: Recommendation from “What Should I Read Next” – A Thousand Pieces of You

Or, if I’m feeling industrious (read: stupid), I could pack a paperback which would fulfil one of these challenges:

• for Week 15: Book written/set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland) – The Bat
• for Week 44: Recommendation from “What Should I Read Next” – The Winner’s Curse or Three Dark Crowns

I think whether I’ll stick to ebook or paperback depends on how much (read: little) room I have in my backpack or our shared suitcase after everything else is packed. Fingers crossed I stop being indecisive and decide on what I want to read soon!

What are you reading today and going into this weekend? Or have you recently finished a book that you really enjoyed? Let me know in the comments below and let’s chat books!

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