In October I read 3 audiobooks and finally ditched Malazan!
My reading in October was hampered by my attempt to read Memories of Ice (Malazan #3) but I did get through some audiobooks. I’ve now abandoned that series, so hopefully more normal reading habits will resume!
3 audiobooks and a big fat DNF!
Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries #3) by Martha Wells – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 Stars
Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries #4) by Martha Wells – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 Stars
I’ll write a review of the whole Murderbot series when I’ve finished them. They’re so short that I’ll just end up repeating my praise if I try to do individual reviews (though I do have that on Goodreads if you care to check it out). I am still absolutely loving these audiobooks, especially as Murderbot is growing as a person and making new relationships with each instalment (whether they think they want to or not). I might even buy them because I really think I’ll want to reread them!
Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland – ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 Stars
While I waiting for my Spotify audiobook hours to reset for more Murderbot (the library waiting list for those is too long!) I picked this book from my library’s Libby offers because it was available and it sounded like a nice light easy read . I had a perfectly pleasant time with this book, and it was engaging enough that it motivated going out for a couple of runs.
Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen #3) by Steven Erikson – 💀 1/5 Stars
I got 40% in (500 pages), I was very bored, I was annoyed by the direction things were going in for characters I had enjoyed in Gardens of the Moon, and then I got to the part with the “children of the dead seed” and my goodwill for Steven Erikson was finally extinguished and I was just pissed off that I wasted so much of my time trying to read these!
The most vocal fans worship this series like it’s a literary masterpiece (the themes, the themes!) but, in my opinion as someone who studied literature at university and loves to unpack some themes, they’re just pretentious which gives the illusion of depth to the kind of reader that likes to feel superior about reading “difficult books.” These books are difficult to read for the sake of being difficult to read. Steven Erikson does not write an engaging, satisfying or complete novel – the fact that he apparently expects you to re-read – not just read them once, but twice – 10 entire books (something like 10,000 pages) before you have any hope of understanding the majority of what is happening is not something I think he should be praised for!
I will write a post/review soon! Maybe when I calm down a bit, I think I’m currently still too annoyed about the experience to write coherent thoughts! Update: review/rant here… It’s over 2,000 words. I’m sorry.
Comic books
I really haven’t read many comic books recently. Usually, I read them on the bus and my lunch break if I go into the office but I didn’t go in much this month between being unwell and then having a week off. So just the one volume read! I’m hoping to get back into it in November and give this new New Avengers series more of a shot, but if it doesn’t pick up soon (and give me more Jessica Jones action) I’ll try some different titles. After watching Agatha All Along I’m interested to check out some more magic-based characters.
This is what I’ve read as they are collected into the trade paperbacks.
New Avengers, Vol 2 (2010 series, issues #7-13)
The first two issues with Luke and Jessica going on a date and finding a babysitter were fantastic, lots of fun and made me laugh out loud. Very excited to have Squirrel Girl appearing as Danielle’s childminder! But then everything else gets dragged down with a Nick Fury WW2 original “Avengers initiative” mission that I found incredibly dull, that kept killing any momentum in the present-day story.
Currently reading
Now I’ve got Murderbot #5 on audio which is actually much longer and novel length. I am really loving it! And I’ve started reading Rouge by Mona Awad! Her writing is like taking a warm bath after ditching Malazan! She got more theme, character and atmosphere into 2 pages than Steven Erikson does in 200.
Adding to TBR
I mentioned this last time but technically it was 1st October so it should be on this list – I got Rouge by Mona Awad on a 99p Kindle, but I also have not bought it in paperback too for my library! I also got for 99p on Kindle The Book of Witching by C.J. Cooke. I have been frustrated by her previous books – The Lighthouse Witches and The Ghost Woods – because she writes beautifully, and draws me in with atmospheric gothic plots but then never provides the amount of magic I want or satisfying conclusions… but since this was 99p I thought why not give her another go!
Book Tag/TTT!
I’m really loving joining in with Top Ten Tuesday! I’ve now added a category to my blog for these posts to make them easier to find. It is a really fun way to find new blogs and potential book friends.
- 10 Things I’m Proud of as a Reader – I actually put trying to read Malazan on this list. I am proud of myself for attempting, even if I currently feel like I wasted 3 months of my time I could have spent on better books!
- 10 Assigned Reading from my School days – This was not easy to remember but it was quite fun once I’d greased the wheels on my memory stacks! It was interesting to read what other bloggers were reading in school. I have since continued to remember more – I think the first book we properly read in class in Primary school was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl!
- 10 Reading Eras: From bedtime stories to blogging! – This was a prompt I struggled with at first but then it got a bit away from me, and we really went for a trip along memory lane. It also unlocked the memory of a creepy clown light fixture I had as a child that I had forgotten about!
- Top 10 Teen Horror (I Remember Reading) – I got very nostalgic in October! This was very fun to research and write. I had to look up summaries of old Point Horrors to remember which ones I’d read, and they did have some wild plots!
TBR Pulls
Right now I have 45 books waiting on my Kindle in my “to read” collection! Each month I browse through and pick the 3 that are calling to me most.
Last time I picked out Rouge, Kala and Lapvona. I am reading Rogue now and I still really want to read those other two, but I might do something different this month since it is apparently Margaret Atwood Reading Month.
I had never heard of this before but Larissa Veloso mentioned it in her comment on my 10 Books On My Autumn To Read List because I had included Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. So, perhaps I will use this as a prompt to actually read the three Atwoods I’ve had in my TBR Collection all year!
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
It’s 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders.
An up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories?
The Robber Bridge by Margaret Atwood
Zenia is beautiful, smart and greedy, by turns manipulative and vulnerable, needy and ruthless; a man’s dream and a woman”s nightmare. She is also dead. Just to make sure Tony, Roz andd Charis are there for the funeral. But five years on, as the three women share an indulgent, sisterly lunch, the unthinkable happens; ‘with waves of ill will flowing out of her like cosmic radiation’, Zenia is back…
Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2021 by Margaret Atwood
This brilliant selection of essays—funny, erudite, endlessly curious, uncannily prescient—seeks answers to Burning Questions such as:
• Why do people everywhere, in all cultures, tell stories?
• How much of yourself can you give away without evaporating?
• How can we live on our planet?
• Is it true? And is it fair?
• What do zombies have to do with authoritarianism?
In over fifty pieces Atwood aims her prodigious intellect and impish humor at the world, and reports back to us on what she finds. The roller-coaster period covered in the collection brought an end to the end of history, a financial crash, the rise of Trump and a pandemic. From debt to tech, the climate crisis to freedom, from when to dispense advice to the young (answer: only when asked) and how to define granola, we have no better guide than Atwood to the many and varied mysteries of our universe.
What books are you excited to read at the moment?
I confess to never having been tempted to try Malazan. Well, there was an almost when I saw book one while in Brisbane the other month, but not enough to pay full price for it. The praise I hear about it, together with the main criticism fans give readers who complain that it is confusing, screams pretension to me. And sounds an awful lot like an author trying hard to be clever. A lot like Jemesin with the Broken Earth trilogy, but at least it is much smaller so not as big as a waste of time once you realise how bad/average it is.
Yeah steer clear! It really isn’t as clever as it wants you to think it is, and not clever enough to overlook its flaws when there are so many better books! I also need character first to get me invested in a story and Malazan seems to be theme first and at expense of both plot and character.
I also personally don’t think there are many books that are better for being more than 400 pages!
If you want to try a long series of larger books that is well done, I’d (surprise, surprise) recommend Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny Wurts. Characters, plot, themes, writing… it’s all there
I haven’t read Rouge yet but I have quite enjoyed all Mona Awad’s other books (well, enjoyed isn’t QUITE the right word, more admired,
You’re welcome to join with MARM, of course! Most of us have a few of the “biggies” left to read. For some, it’s been nice to steadily read through them in Novembers over the years, a small bookish ritual. But I can also see the appeal of plunging into all three you’ve mentioned, as they’re rather complimentary in tone and style. (And Alias Grace has the lovely Sarah Polley mini-series too: very well done.)
Thank you, I’ve had these books for ages so MARM will prompt me to read at least one, I hope!