I know it hasn’t been long since I did a book update but I really enjoyed my last couple of reads so I thought I’d share now anyway.
We are into week 6 of 2024 now, and I have finished 7 books towards my goal of 52 (including listening to 20.03 hours towards my 120 hours of audiobook goal). This is all good, I like staying on target for the first month or so of the year because I almost always fall behind mid-year so it’s good to have a buffer or at least be on target before the annual slump hits!
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I finished Pet Sematary. It was excellent and has haunted me somewhat since I finished it.
It has also haunted Tori, because excellent parent that I am, I gave it to her to read after me.
It didn’t really help that I read it during all the scary stormy weather, either. Peak ‘creepy noises in the dark’ time is both the best and worst time to be lost in a Stephen King novel, it makes it all extra atmospheric and all-consuming, but also does nothing for your quality of sleep…
To get over the lingering unease of Pet Sematary, I dived straight into an audiobook I knew would be the total opposite:
Bookshops & Bonedust is the standalone prequel to Legends & Lattes which I read last year, and it was everything I hoped it would be.
Set in a D&D style fantasy world, it is an adorable, fluffy, heart-warming story about friendship and love and self-discovery, starring orcs, ratkins, dwarfs, and all other manner of creatures.
Despite there being a Big Bad Necromancer and lots of sword swinging, all the peril is very mild and it is not the main focus of the story. There’s also some scenes about baking and pastry that made me very hungry indeed.
Travis Balder has perfected writing a hug-in-a-book, and it makes me happy.
With my brain nicely cleansed, I picked up The Isles of The Gods by Amie Kaufman because I have been meaning to read it since I went to the launch tour with Liberty and I felt like it was the right time for some sea-faring adventure.
This was excellent. My only complaint is that I finished it and the next book didn’t magically appear and fall into my lap.
There were boats and storms, explosions, princes, magic, and quite a lot of fire. All things I love in a book, especially together.
It reminded me of the Six of Crows books by Leigh Bardugo, and also of Revenger by Alastair Reynolds, whilst also being very definitely a very different book. Revenger is about space pirates, and Six of Crows is an epic heist, but this story had elements similar to both.
I loved the cast of characters and how their relationships developed and changed through the story, I laughed out loud, and also cried, during the course of the adventure and would very much like to read more.
Whenever the next one comes out.
*big sigh*
(Just kidding, I know these things can’t be rushed and I don’t want them to be… but also MORE NOW THANK YOU PLEASE!)
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As for what’s next, the moment I said I’d finished Isles Tori thrust a book into my hands that she has borrowed from her school library for me to read.
It is actually one I had independently on my TBR from when it was launched and all the promo looked epic. I also used to follow the author on Twitter (back when it was Twitter and not owned by Teflon Musk. I quit once he took over.)
As well as After The Fire by Will Hill, I am going to pick up another book I started last year and just sort of deserted part way through (it’s quite a physically large book and I left it behind when we went somewhere and took something else smaller to travel with and then never went back to it). Mary Berry’s Recipe For Life is the total opposite of everything else I have read recently, but variety is the spice of life and all that!
Audio-wise I have decided to finally dive into Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke which I have had for aaaaaaaaaages but have put off again and again because it is not a small undertaking at 32 and a half hours long. But it has been recommended again and again to me, so it is about time I got on with it!
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What are you reading at the moment?
Carole Finds Her Wings 