August was a slow and unsuccessful reading month!
August feels like a reading flop! I’ve gotten bogged down with two long books I’ve not enjoyed which has resulted in not finishing any novels this month! I did get some comics read though so it’s not a complete wash out.
I decided I had to call time on my boring audiobook so my one review is for a DNF read!
In the slump!
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin – 💀 DNF
I pushed to 75% before realising that if it feels to slow when listening at 2x speed, it is not the book for me! Consulted reviews on Goodreads also confirmed plenty of other readers had the same experience and it would not be worth trying to finish it.
The New Avengers to the rescue!
Thankfully I have my trusty Marvel Unlimited subscription to help me with my reading count and I’ve managed to get through plenty of comic book issues in my spare pockets of time this month! I am still reading The New Avengers but I am very close to the end of this run.
This is what I’ve read as they are collected into the trade paperbacks.
- New Avengers, Vol 5: Civil War – I didn’t love this, other than the Luke Cage story the rest of them were nothing special.
- New Avengers, Vol 6: Revolution – I enjoyed the team expanding but I’m not enthralled by the civil war storyline.
- New Avengers, Vol 7: The Trust – Still stuck in the Civil War realm but finally Secret Invasion is starting to creep in!
- New Avengers, Vol 8: Secret Invasion, Book 1 – This filled in a lot of the blanks in Secret Invasion and I really enjoyed it!
- New Avengers, Vol 9: Secret Invasion, Book 2 – Continuing from the previous volume ending with the Skrull queen being taken out, a big emotional cliff-hanger ended when Jessica and Luke realise Danielle is missing!
- New Avengers, Vol 10: Power – Getting Danielle back was a bit anti-climactic, Bucky is now Captain America and we’re now in the Dark Reign era with Norman Osborne in charge.
- New Avengers, Vol 11: Search for the Sorcerer Supreme – I really had no idea what was happening for a lot of this, I guess Doctor Strange lost his role as Sorcerer Supreme in another book (World War Hulk I think – which I have read before but my memory is bad!). There were some very fun moments with Luke and Spider-man after he removes his mask and Jessica reveals she had a huge crush on him in high school!
- New Avengers, Vol 12: Powerless – I am now tired of the Dark Regin storyline and I really am ready for things to go back to “normal” and just being doing more regular Avengers stuff without all the added sneaking around and suspicion!
Currently reading
Otherwise, I am still slogging through Deadhouse Gates by Stephen Erikson. It’s been a major struggle, it’s made me question if I even like reading at times… I’ve spent a lot of time searching “deadhouse gates duiker boring reddit” and reading posts from other readers who have struggled with this one… but I’m now at 77% and I am determined to finish it. I would under normal circumstances have called it a DNF a long time ago, but I am reading this for my partner and I do want to get to Memories of Ice (book 3) before I dip out of Malazan! I keep seeing people say that is the best book and that is the one to get to really decide if you like the series, so I’ll do it, but I will need a break first for sanity’s sake!
This morning, while stripping the peeling paint off our bathroom ceiling, I started listening to the audiobook for Funny Story by Emily Henry. I’ve been either love or hate with Emily Henry and this is the first time I’ve tried to audiobook one, but so far I am enjoying it!
Adding to TBR
I only bought the one but I have spent more time looking at new books than I have done for quite a while. Partly to remind myself there are more interesting things out there than the two I was stuck with, and partly because I’ve done a few WP Book Tags and had a poke around some other book blogs! I’ve added a few new things to my Amazon watch lists, and happily found Kala by Colin Walsh was only 99p after seeing an intriguing review at Novels and Teacups yesterday.
Book Tag/TTT!
I have finally, finally gotten around to write a few responses to book tag prompts this week and I have had a great time!
- Goodreads was wrong… Book Tag! where I had fun digging around in my Goodreads past and seeing how my reviews match up the the average ratings.
- 10 posts to get to know me (Top Ten Tuesday) is usually a book-focused prompt but this one wasn’t, still, it was rewarding to take a look back through what I have shared in the past on this blog and pick ten posts I think give the best glimpse of me.
- Books I DNF (Book Tag) was very apt given how August went! I finally got my feelings about the All Souls trilogy off my chest!
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 A Lady’s Guide to Scandal, This Time Tomorrow and She’s A Killer. Now when I finally do finished Deadhouse Gates I want a nice easy win as a palate cleanser before I go into the Memories of Ice. Most likely I think I’ll dive into Vaccum in the Dark because, after I read Shawnerly @ She’s Reading Now review Pretend I’m Dead, I’ve been thinking about Mona and wanted to check back in with her!
I’ve included Vacuum in the Dark in my June TBR Pull and last month’s included She’s A Killer, so the blubs for those are to be found trough the links. The first is a relatively short book at 240 pages, whereas She’s a Killer is 400 pages so I think a quick read is the more likely pick for my current mood!
The Rose Code is a new book for my TBR pull so here is a bit of info on it.
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of East-End London poverty, works the legendary code-breaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.
1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter—the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger—and their true enemy…
I picked on this one because I might be in the mood for a neat little mystery story instead of something weird, but I just realised it’s over 600 pages so I probably need to recover from all the big fat never-ending fantasy books before I pick this up!
What books are you excited to read at the moment?
Hopefully the new bunch for your kindle tbr work out. At the moment, I’m eager for Caliban’s War by James SA Corey.
Thank you! I loved Caliban’s War, definitely one of my favourites in the series – I always get excited when someone new stars The Expanse!