books – Page 2 – The Terror of Knowing

Wrap Up | September 2019

04/10/201916/10/2019Emma3 Comments

Welcome one, welcome all, to my September Wrap Up! As you may be able to tell from the dismal amount of blog posts on here and the books I read below, September was not the greatest of months. I can’t really pinpoint why this might be, it just was a bit… flat for me. I was on holiday for the first week or so of the month (which is actually when I read the books I did read in September) with my parents and that was chill and mostly fun but then when I got back to Liverpool, I just didn’t really want to blog or read. It coincided with me rediscovering the joy that is forum roleplaying, so any words I was consuming or writing was mostly in that arena.

Then, at the very end of September, Liz and I met up with our good friends from university in London as we went to see a couple of shows I had really been looking forward to – Waitress and the Les Miserables Staged Concert. Both were INCREDIBLE, for very different reasons, and I now have both of their soundtracks stuck in my head pretty much constantly. Let me tell you, having both I Dreamed a Dream and Bad Idea rolling around in your head makes for the weirdest of mashups ever. (I also now have a huge crush on the Dr Pomatter we saw, David Hunter, who reminded me of John Krasinski a little. No one is surprised by this crush, least of all me.) Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend but now that I’m back, the fact that it’s October (WTF?!) is sinking in, slowly but surely. Expect all the panicky ‘it’s almost the end of the year!’ posts to follow in due course… But, for now, let’s see what I read in September, shall we? (It won’t take long to recap!)

In September, I read a total of 2 books – 2 fiction and 0 non-fiction – and 0 were re-reads (marked by *). This amounted to 736 pages in total.

In terms of format: 2 were eARCs. As for genre, 2 were historical fantasy. (This might be the simplest set of stats I have ever had to put together. Maybe I should have reading slumps more often? I jest, please do not repeat.)

Onto the books themselves…

Book cover of The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

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Gilmore Girls Readathon | Sign Up & TBR

01/10/201910/10/2019Emma1 Comment

Welcome one, welcome all, to my TBR for the upcoming Gilmore Girls Readathon. It takes place from the 1st until the 15th October – the perfect time for the start of Autumn and cosying up with a cup of coffee and a book. Rory Gilmore would be proud! It’s hosted by @livs_library, @pastel_pages, and @mackenzielane_ but you can find out more about the readathon on the readathon Twitter too!

It wouldn’t be a readathon without some themed reading prompts/challenges to based your TBR on and this readathon is no exception to that fun. So, let’s take a look at my TBR, shall we?

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A book with a school setting
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

~~✓ A mother/daughter relationship book~~
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

~~✓ Any cosy book set during fall/winter~~
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks

~~A book with complicated love interests~~
Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater SWAP: The Gap of Time: A Novel by Jeanette Winterson

A book by an Asian author or has Asian representation
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

The next book in a series you haven’t finished (rereading) yet
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

A book with food on the cover or is a crucial part to the storyline
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu

After what has been a pretty dismal reading month in September I’m really hoping this themed readathon will help me feel inspired to finish some more books in October. That’s the hope anyway! I’ll likely update my reading over on Twitter so be sure to follow me there for all the progress updates.

Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

Review | Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

21/09/2019Emma2 Comments

Title: Gods of Jade and Shadow (2019)
Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Publisher: Quercus
Imprint: Jo Fletcher Books
Read: 5th August – 1st September 2019
Genre: historical fiction; fantasy; mythology
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

“The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy scrubbing floors in her wealthy grandfather’s house to do more than dream of a life far from her small town in southern Mexico. Until the day she accidentally frees an ancient Mayan god of death, who offers her a deal: in return for Casiopea’s help in recovering his throne, he will grant her whatever she desires. From the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City and deep into the darkness of Xibalba, the Mayan underworld, Casiopea’s adventure will take her on a perilous cross-country odyssey beyond anything she’s ever known. Success will make her every dream come true, but failure will see her lost, for ever…” (Synopsis from publisher)

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Currently, I’m… | September 2019

16/09/2019Emma1 Comment

Hola all! You may have noticed a slight lack of posts in the last fortnight or so. Truth be told, I’ve been feeling a little unmotivated to blog. The combination of going away on holiday (and needing to organise things before then), hitting something of a (dare I say it) reading slump, and trying to feel more organised generally at work after returning from holiday has meant that I’ve not hugely been feeling the desire to blog. And, as anyone who has experienced something of a rough patch will know, once you start sliding down that slippery slope, the climb back up (and the perfunctory posts you have to write to catch up to present) seems all the more difficult.

Still, I’m finally feeling like I have maybe a modicum of motivation to write something of what I’ve been up to whilst I’ve been mostly incommunicado on here, so I’ve decided to do a Currently, I’m… post, which might well be something of a rarity for this blog.

Currently, I’m reading…

Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

This isn’t going to be an easy confession but here goes: guys, I’m not loving this book. I started this when I was on holiday in Spain last week because I was lucky enough to be granted an eARC by the publisher. However, I don’t know whether I’ve just not been paying enough attention, or I’ve been too distracted by general holiday things, or I’ve just read it too sporadically, but I don’t really feel like I’m into the story… and I’m 50% of the way through so… that’s not exactly the most glowing review, is it? I’m SO torn on what to do about this – do I persevere, do I give up, do I restart reading it? Every review I’ve seen has been gushing and glowing so I’m quite sure I’m in the minority here which makes me think its my problem, not the book’s, but I still find myself in quite the dilemma.

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Wrap Up | August 2019

11/09/2019Emma2 Comments

Welcome one, welcome all, to my August Wrap Up! You may have noticed that this wrap up comes to you a little late. We’ll just ignore that fact, ok? Ok! At the start of September I went for a much-needed holiday to Mojacar in Spain with my parents – it was just a week of nice weather, walking along the beach, and eating food which is basically all I wanted out of a holiday, to be honest! It did mean, however, that I’m now woefully behind on blogging. I had already hit something of a slump in terms of inspiration in the latter half of August – it was only really NEWTs check-in posts that kept me going at all – but now I’m back I feel refreshed and hopefully ready to be excited about blogging again. But before we can move on we need to look back at August and see what I read!

In August, I read a total of 7 books – 6 fiction and 1 non-fiction – and 0 were re-reads (marked by *). This amounted to 2366 pages in total.

In terms of format: 2 were hardback, 3 were paperback, 1 was an audiobook, and 1 was an ebook.

As for genre, 1 was a graphic novel, 1 was YA fantasy, 1 was YA romance; 1 was a thriller, 1 was fantasy, 1 was contemporary/romance, and 1 was non-fiction/memoir.

Onto the books themselves…

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NEWTs Readathon 2019 | Progress Report #4

27/08/2019EmmaLeave a comment

Hello witches and wizards and welcome to my fourth progress check-in for the NEWTs Readathon! If you’re curious, you can check out my first, my second or my third progress updates here.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about – and so likely think I’ve finally given into the delusion that my Hogwarts letter is just lost in the post – you should probably check out my NEWTs Sign Up & TBR post to see what’s what.

In short: throughout August, I’ll be taking part in the Magical Readathon, a Harry Potter themed readathon based around the examinations students sit at Hogwarts. This is the second round of the readathon this year (the first one, for the OWL exams, were sat in April) and is themed around the NEWTs, the final exams sat by seventh year students.

The Magical Readathon is always super fun, if a little challenging when it comes to the NEWTs, but I was a huge swot at school so it’s no surprise that I love the idea of this and enthusiastically take part. This year I’ve tried to be realistic with my TBR (as, let’s face it, I’m not likely to read the 36 books needed to complete every challenge) and so I figured doing progress updates for the week previous every Monday might be a nice thing to do. So, without further ado, here’s the fourth (and likely final) progress update:

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Review | Under a Dancing Star by Laura Wood

21/08/201920/10/2019Emma3 Comments

Title: Under a Dancing Star (2019)
Author: Laura Wood
Publisher: Scholastic
Read: 1st – 3rd July 2019
Genre: young-adult; historical fiction; romance; retelling
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

“In grey 1930s England, Bea has grown up kicking against conventions. There are so many rules. She must marry. She can’t choose. She must keep the family estate safe. But when Bea goes to spend summer in Italy, a dazzling new world opens up. There are moonlit nights, and beautiful vistas – and Ben. A cocky young artist who just happens to be infuriatingly handsome too. One night, under the stars, their friends set them a challenge. It’s a duel of kisses. The rules: sparks must fly. Dreams must come true. Neither party may fall in love. A long hot summer of kisses and mischief unfolds. But storm clouds are gathering across Europe. Is their perfect summer ending? Or is this just the start?” (Synopsis from publisher)

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NEWTs Readathon 2019 | Progress Report #3

19/08/2019Emma3 Comments

Hello witches and wizards and welcome to my third progress check-in for the NEWTs Readathon! If you’re curious, you can check out my first or my second progress updates here.

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Summer Cosy Reading Night | TBR

17/08/201917/08/2019Emma2 Comments

Hello, folks! I come to you today with a TBR for the upcoming Cosy Reading Night. This is the Summer round of the Cosy Reading Night and will take place tonight, during the hours of 7:00-10:00pm GMT on Saturday 17th August. But I’m getting ahead of myself so let me explain for those unaware: Cosy Reading Nights are an evening dedicated to snacks and reading, hosted by the lovely Lauren from Laurenandthebooks from YouTube. You can check out her announcement video here.

This Cosy Reading Night handily coincides with the NEWTs Readathon which is running throughout August. I’m doing reasonably ok with this month-long readathon but there’s no harm in having a night solely dedicated to reading as encouraging to keep going with the readathon.

TBR

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (paperback)
The Furies by Katie Lowe (audiobook/ebook)
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (eARC)

Even though there are three books on my TBR, I’m not under any illusion that I will finish any of them; rather, I’m just hoping to make some kind of progress with them. In fact, I’ve probably put more thought into the snacks I’ll buy from M&S this afternoon for our smorgasbord of breads, meats, and cheeses. But the main point of the Cosy Reading Night is just to bring people together for an evening of reading and snacking and hanging out! The twitter hashtag is sure to be active, as is hostess with the mostest Lauren on her Twitter and Instagram so be sure to check out all her links because she is fab! I’ll probably be doing updates (if I remember) over on Twitter so follow me on there if you want to know how the reading goes. Otherwise, happy reading!

Are you joining in with the Cosy Reading Night tonight? Have you participated in a Cosy Reading Night before? Let me know in the comments!

Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

Review | The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

14/08/201914/08/2019Emma1 Comment

Title: The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006)
Author: Scott Lynch
Publisher: Orion Books
Imprint: Gollancz
Read: 21st – 28th July 2019
Genre: fantasy
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

“They say that the Thorn of Camorr can beat anyone in a fight. They say he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. They say he’s part man, part myth, and mostly street-corner rumor. And they are wrong on every count. Only averagely tall, slender, and god-awful with a sword, Locke Lamora is the fabled Thorn, and the greatest weapons at his disposal are his wit and cunning. He steals from the rich – they’re the only ones worth stealing from – but the poor can go steal for themselves. What Locke cons, wheedles and tricks into his possession is strictly for him and his band of fellow con-artists and thieves: the Gentleman Bastards.” (Synopsis from publisher)

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