Tag: 5 Star Predictions Round 2ish

I know I have done this before – and then promptly never read the books I listed, so we’re all just going to pretend I am doing this for the first time. I was tagged by Rachel and I think it might be a good opportunity to get excited about some of these million unread books on my shelves because so far this year, my reading has been overwhelmingly digital (ebooks and audiobooks) and I want to get my physical TBR down to a manageable size (she says, while buying new books all the time).

The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley

I recently read and LOVED The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker and wanted another myth retelling. I needed a new audiobook for my walk to work and this one has intrigued me since it came out. I haven’t read Beowolf and in fact I know next to nothing about the plot but I am super excited about this one. It sounds absolutely brilliant and like something I could really adore.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I adore Moreno-Garcia’s writing, without ever having read one of her novels. Her short stories are consistently the best thing in the anthologies I read and I really need to get to her stuff. I was lucky enough to receive a NetGalley-ARC for this and I could not be more thrilled. There is something about her imagination and her imagery that just speaks to me and I hope to adore her novels as much as her shorter works.

Walk Through Walls by Marina Abramovic

I adore Abramovic’s art and I hope that will translate into loving her memoir. I haven’t been reading enough non-fiction these last few months and it shows – I do miss it and need to get back into the groove. This one seems like an obvious choice.

 

 

When I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy

Everything I hear about this book makes me more excited and simultaneously more scared to read it. I am sure I will love it but I am also sure it will be harrowing. So part of me including this is to finally push myself to read this. I read the first page a while ago and really meshed with the writing style.

 

Monstress Vol. 3 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

I don’t know why I haven’t read this already. I gave the other two volumes already published five stars – I adore everything from the seriously stunning art, to the female centric narration, to the darkness underneath the beauty. I cannot see myself not loving this.

 

I downloaded a bunch of romance novels and I have thoughts

I have been enjoying romance a lot more lately than I have in years and a while ago I downloaded a bunch of very different romance novels off NetGalley to figure out what might work for me. While I did choose the books partly because of their titles (some of that will become clear once you see the actual titles), I did also try to download a variety of typical subgenres to get a better feel for what I might like – and in that sense this was a success. I also read some truly, truly awful books, but I did really enjoy the process. I am at a point in my life where I just want to read whatever strikes my fancy and as it turns out, right now that is very often romance books – there is just something soothing about the genre that works as an antidote to my ridiculous worklife. It is so wonderfully predictive!

I will only be writing the miniest of mini reviews for these books because I don’t have all that much to say about these books individually.

The Bastard by Lisa Renee Jones

This book is absolutely compulsively readable in a way that I found stressful but also entertaining. I bought the second book in the series the second I finished this one but then DNFed this at the half-way point, once I woke from the fugue state the book caused. I do very much not like books that play with consent apparently. The main couple were angsty and horrible to each other and I don’t want to read about this type of relationships when I am supposed to root for them. The book does what it sets out to do but just is not for me whatsoever.

The Sheikh’s Pregnant Lover by Leslie North

I admit it, I only requested this because of the title – and because apparently this is a big subgenre, this “pregnant by a super rich man after a one-night-stand”. This one was hilarious but not on purpose and super did not work for me. I have many thoughts on the fetishization of cultures the author isn’t part of but would like to leave that to other people more qualified to write about this. But god, what a perfect title.

The Playmaker by Cathryn Fox

If somebody had told me I would enjoy a Hockey romance I would not believed it. But I really really enjoyed this. It’s hilarious, the main character has a wonderful best friend, the consent is always explicit, and the writing style is readable. I thought the ending was way over the top but in general I had a lot of fun with this one.

 

Lady No Says Yes by Jess Michaels

I used to read a lot of historical romance when I was a bit younger but haven’t in years. I enjoyed this for what it was but I don’t think I will be making a proper return to the genre. Again, I appreciate the explicitness of the consent and the way in which these two characters communicated. The book is a tad short and as such I didn’t really build any deeper connections to the characters. It is however well-written enough that I am sure my lukewarm reaction has more to do with who I am as a reader than with anything else.

A Son for the Texas Cowboy by Sinclair Jayne

This is one where I can see that it is objectively ok-written but just a subgenre I do not appreciate at all. Apparently cowboys don’t do it for me (I cannot say that I am surprised) and I also did not enjoy that the main character kept her son with her ex a secret from said ex.

 

Distracted by Belinda Wright

I do not like books about people pretending to be something they are not (as a general rule, not only in romance) and given that the main female character lied about her job the moment she met the main male character, this book was never going to impress me much. I did not find it very well-written either and I skimmed a lot of it in the end. The endless descriptions of the main characters’ work days did not help my boredom much.

So, what did I learn about my reading? I need consent to be explicit and cannot deal with characters that are properly awful to each other. I enjoy reading romance more when the main storyline is a SFF one, something I assumed before but now know for certain. I do not want to read about cowboys, but apparently can deal with hockey players as long as the book is well-written enough. I like the men cocky but nice and have no patience when they try to tell the women what to do with their lives. I like romance novels that are funny a lot more than those that are angsty. Apparently I should stay away from books with grumpy looking dudes in suits on the cover but half-naked men are fine. Nobody uses their words and it drives me insane. I am glad I don’t live in a romance novel.

 

Recommendations: fantasy books featuring gods

I love books that ruminate on humanity by way of talking about gods. Love, love, love it. So I figured, I should write about my favourite books that deal with this. I am writing this post as part of Wyrd & Wonder – a month-long celebration of the fantastic hosted by imyril @ There’s Always Room for One More, Lisa @ Dear Geek Place and Jorie @ Jorie Loves a Story. You can sign up here!

The Inheritance trilogy by N. K. Jemisin

It is no secret that I adore N. K. Jemisin’s writing – and her lesser known trilogy is no exception to this. Set in a world where after a war between the gods some of those gods are enslaved by humans and one is revered, her world building is as impeccable as ever and her characters are brilliant. Some of the main characters gods, some aren’t, all are compelling. She does not shy away from how otherworldly and often awful beings with near endless power could be and the books are better for it.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

This is my favourite of Neil Gaiman’s books (although the Sandman graphic novels are a close second); I love everything about its sprawling plot and its integration of countless belief-systems. Shadow Moon is a brilliant main character to anchor the story and his acceptance of the strangeness around him worked exceedingly well for me.

 

The Divine Cities trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett

This series is set in a world formerly ruled by Divinities and their whims – where even the laws of nature have been bent. Bulikov is far from its former glory as the centre of the world and the seat of the Gods – most of it was destroyed together with its Gods. It is now ruled by the very people it used to enslave.

I adored the mythology Bennet sets up here: what happens to all the things created by gods if they die? Especially when they ignored all natural laws to create those things? I find his world very well thought out and mesmerizing in its implications. Just thinking about these books make me giddy. I didn’t quite love the first book in his current trilogy but the ending made me VERY excited to see where the story goes next.

The Library of Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

This stand-alone is a lot darker than most books I usually read, but with impeccable world-building and enough of a sense of the bizarre to be just my type of book. I adored how cleverly Hawkins sets up his readers and at least for me caught me totally unawares by the ending. I didn’t whole-heartedly love it – but I will still read anything he published next, if he ever does so, that is.

 

The Sixth World by Rebecca Roanhorse

I think I have been sufficently gushing about this series as of late – but I cannot help it, it is just perfect for the type of reader I am. I am very excited to see where it goes next and I love the glimpses of what I am assuming will be major themes going forward: the idea of agency in a world ruled by the whims of gods. That is just catnip for me.

I need to read more books like these; do you have any recommendations for me?

 

Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019: Shortlist reaction

Yesterday at midnight UK time, the shortlist for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction was announced – and I am glad I did not stay up until then because then I would be disappointed and tired today as opposed to just disappointed. I am obviously still making my way through the longlist but I do have thoughts. Even if I haven’t loved many of the books that were longlisted (as of writing this I have finished 10 books on the list and am in the middle of two others), I did think the overall list was exciting and varied. The shortlist? Not so much.

But first things first, here is the shortlist:

• The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
• Milkman by Anna Burns (review)
• Ordinary People by Diana Evans
• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (review)
• Circe by Madeline Miller

Of these six, I have only read two so far (Milkman and An American Marriage), but I am more than halfway through My Sister, the Serial Killer. Even if I didn’t always love Milkman, I can absolutely see its brilliance and the inclusion on the shortlist makes sense. I struggled more with An American Marriage and would not have been sad to not see it advance further. My Sister, the Serial Killer I am really enjoying but not as much as some other books on the longlist. The three other books on the shortlist are all books I am really looking forward to reading, so there is that. I did not think both feminist myth retellings (Circe and The Silence of the Girls) would make it but I am intrigued enough by both of them to be ok with the fact. I am also a bit baffled that both Ordinary People and An American Marriage made the list; these books seem to be similar in theme and I would have wished a totally different book had made it.

I find the shortlist strangely underwhelming; maybe because there are two obvious pairs and another book that is enjoyable but not blowing me away. I cannot believe my three five star reads did not make the list at all. The book I am missing most on the shortlist is Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (review), which I found brilliant and original and just in a whole different league than most other books. My heart obviously beats for The Pisces (review), but I never genuinely thought it would make the shortlist. It is still the winner of my heart. But even so, I do wish it had made the list because at least this one was polarizing and it does something very interesting with its subject matter. While I adored Normal People (review), I think it is Conversations With Friends (review) that should have seen Sally Rooney nominated as it is the stronger book. But if I cannot have this, I would have at least liked to see her get shortlisted.

As of the moment, I am weirdly enough most excited to see Milkman on the list. It is such an obvious masterpiece that I cannot begrudge it all the praise it gets. It has also grown on me a lot since finishing it, enough that I might still change my rating.

I will now spend the next few weeks finishing up the longlist, I am so close I can almost imagine myself getting to the end. The only good thing about this list might be that three  and a half of the six books I haven’t read are on it, which makes picking them up a lot easier. Plus, I think I might finally give myself permission to DNF Lost Children Archive – a book that I just very much dread having to pick up again.

What are your thoughts? Are you as baffled as I am? Did your favourite make the list?

 

Thoughts: 2019 Hugo Award nominees

I know I have been all about the Women’s Prize for Fiction lately, but my first love is SFF – so I am always ridiculously excited when the Hugo Award nominations are announced and this year was no exception. While I have not been reading all that much hard SFF in these last few months (I am loving my romance spec-fic too much), I have heard of the vast majority of the fiction nominees (and many of the other nominees as well) and I am very excited for this year’s list!

You can find the complete list of nominees here. I do have some thoughts on some of the categories and felt the need to share them, if only to give a counterweight to the heavy lit-fic slant my blog had in March (and because I love talking about book prizes).

Best Novel

The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)
Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Macmillan)
Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)

Of these six books, I have read two (I loved both Spinning Silver (review) and Trail of Lightning (review)). I already own Record of a Spaceborn Few (I am a big fan of Becky Chamber’s brand of optimistic scifi and had this book preordered since forever but had to wait until the edition matched the other two books in the series). I have been itching to buy Space Opera because how can I not? A literal space opera? Inspired by my favourite event of the year – the Eurovision Song Contest? Literally everything about this sounds amazing. While I adore Mary Robinette Kowal’s online presence and have heard great things about the book, The Calculating Stars does not speak to me. And Yoon Ha Lee’s writing just scares me. Hard SciFi just is not my idea of a great time.

Best Novella

Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)
Beneath the Sugar Sky, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
Binti: The Night Masquerade, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com Publishing)
The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, by Kelly Robson (Tor.com Publishing)
The Tea Master and the Detective, by Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean Press / JABberwocky Literary Agency)

All I wanted to say is that tor.com really is crushing this category. I learned last year that novellas don’t really work for me – but this list seems stellar.

Best Graphic Story

Abbott, written by Saladin Ahmed, art by Sami Kivelä, colours by Jason Wordie, letters by Jim Campbell (BOOM! Studios)
Black Panther: Long Live the King, written by Nnedi Okorafor and Aaron Covington, art by André Lima Araújo, Mario Del Pennino and Tana Ford (Marvel)
Monstress, Volume 3: Haven, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
On a Sunbeam, by Tillie Walden (First Second)
Paper Girls, Volume 4, written by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Cliff Chiang, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Jared K. Fletcher (Image Comics)
Saga, Volume 9, written by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)

Monstress!! I haven’t read this volume yet but adored the first two and I am very excited to see it on this list. Everything about this series excites me. I haven’t really been reading any graphic novels lately but Monstress is a literal masterpiece.

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Katherine Arden (2nd year of eligibility)
S.A. Chakraborty (2nd year of eligibility)
R.F. Kuang (1st year of eligibility)
Jeannette Ng (2nd year of eligibility)
Vina Jie-Min Prasad (2nd year of eligibility)
Rivers Solomon (2nd year of eligibility) 

I am super excited for this list. Katherine Arden obviously has my heart and R. F. Kuang is such an exciting author. I am also really happy to see Jeannette Ng on here, while I didn’t absolutely adore her book The Pendulum Sun her online presence is so very brilliant. And I have not been able to stop thinking about The Pendulum Sun either, so I cannot wait for her next book, whenever that might come out.

So overall I am mostly pleased. I don’t see myself attempting to read a large chunk of the many many nominated books or authors but I cannot wait to see who will win.

Are you pleased with the nominations? Are you planning on reading any of the categories in full? Is there any one book in particular that I should get to?

Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist: Reaction

The longlist is finally here! I am beyond excited and a bit baffled because of the depth excitement. I stayed up yesterday to hear the announcement the moment it went live, something I have never done for a longlist announcement.

My longlist predictions were so wrong, it’s not even funny; I only correctly predicted two books. Of the 16 books on the longlist I have read three, am currently reading one, and three I had never heard of before yesterday. This means that I have an awful lot of reading to do (according to the Goodreads page counts it’s 4023 pages). I will really try to read the longlist but I will definitely DNF the books that don’t work for me.

Without much further ado, here is the longlist in all its glory:

The Silence of the Girls Pat Barker
Remembered Yvonne Battle-Felton
My Sister, the Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite
The Pisces Melissa Broder
Milkman Anna Burns
Freshwater Akwaeke Emezi
Ordinary People Diana Evans
Swan Song Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott
An American Marriage Tayari Jones
Number One Chinese Restaurant Lillian Li
Bottled Goods Sophie van Llewyn
Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli
Praise Song for the Butterflies Bernice L. McFadden
Circe Madeline Miller
Ghost Wall Sarah Moss
Normal People by Sally Rooney

My thoughts:

Read: I am beyond thrilled The Pisces by Melissa Broder made the list; it was by far my favourite book of last year and I want more people to read it. In case you need convincing, here is my gushing review for it. I am also happy to see Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi on the list, which I also adored (my review). I was a bit worried that Emezi wouldn’t want to be included as they are non-binary but they are pleased so I am pleased. I am keeping my fingers crossed that people will try to make an effort to use the correct pronouns though (the first glimpse on twitter makes that seem unlikely). The only other book I have read is Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss, where I seem to be the only person online to not have enjoyed it all that much (my review) – but others really do, so I am glad for its inclusion.

Currently reading: I have started Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli a while ago and really enjoyed the first few pages but found the prose very wordy – I am excited to see it on the list though because that means there is at least one book I don’t need to hunt down.

Well pleased: I am super excited to get to Normal People by Sally Rooney; I finished Conversations With Friends yesterday and I am so very much in love with it that I will read everything Rooney ever publishes (I spent yesterday periodically exclaiming “What a book!”) – and Normal People sounds brilliant. I am also happy to see both Circe by Madeline Miller and The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker on the list; I adore feminist myth retellings and I have heard great things about both books. I did not think both would make it but I am glad for it. I am also really excited to have an excuse to finally take the plunge and read Milkman by Anna Burns, a book that scares me but also sounds really great. I opted for the audiobook version of this as I have heard listening to the prose makes the book more accessible. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is another one of the books I did want to read at some point anyways and this is a welcome excuse to prioritize it.

Cautiously optimistic: I requested a review copy of Ordinary People by Diana Evans last year and didn’t get approved but it does sound like a book I could really enjoy. Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott isn’t quite a book I would have picked up on my own but I have heard great things about it. I am not good with books that deal with injustice, but again I have heard brilliant things about An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, so hopefully I will enjoyed it. I hadn’t heard of Bottled Goods by Sophie van Llewyn but it is a short book that actually sounds like it could be my cup of tea.

Slightly pessimistic: While Number One Chinese Restaurant Lillian Li sounds interesting, I have read rather negative reviews of it – however, sometimes my taste is different to Goodreads’ average and I might enjoy this more (after all, The Pisces has a dreadfully low rating as well and that book is perfection). Remembered by Yvonne Battle-Felton could be great but it is also really outside my wheelhouse.

Really dreading: Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernice L. McFadden does not sound like my type of book at all – and the blurb includes this: “educational, eye-opening account of the practice of ritual servitude in West Africa.” and I do not really appreciate books that are meant to be educational. I am hoping to be proved wrong.

Overall I am mostly pleased (The Pisces!!!) but also sad for a few notable exclusions. I was really hoping for both My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh and Motherhood by Sheila Heti because I really, really want to read these books. I was also hoping for Women Talking by Miriam Toews because it sounds intriguing but I don’t know whether I’ll get to it without the added push. I also thought there would be more overlap with the Man Booker longlist and would have really liked The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh and Everything Under by Daisy Johnson to get a shout out because I really liked both books and think the authors are awesome.

What are your thoughts? Are you still planning on reading the longlist?

Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019: Predictions

I am attempting to read the longlist of this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction which is actually the only prize I can see myself even trying to do this for. I am no good at following TBRs and my reading has been heavily slanted towards Fantasy and Non-Fiction these last few months but I do hope to at least give it a good whirl. It is basically going to be a big buddy read with Rachel (whose prediction post you should definitely check out) and I am so looking forward to this.

I have spent altogether too much time on this list already (I started a draft post basically the minute the eligibility period started last year) and then spent the last three weeks narrowing down the list to 16 books. I have no idea if my predictions have any basis in reality or even if all these books are indeed eligible but still, the process has been fun. These are not all books that I hope will make the longlist but those are some that I think have a good chance of making it (some of these books do not sound like my type of book at all, so maybe I am hoping to be wrong).

The first batch are the big names, those that have been nominated for other prizes and/ or have received a fair amount of hype:

The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh (I read and loved this and do think its ambiguity would make a lovely addition to the list)

Everything Under by Daisy Johnson (this was my favourite of the books longlisted for the Man Booker and I adored what Johnson did with perspective here).

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (while it does not quite sound like my type of book, it intrigues me enough that I would not be disappointed if it made the list – and it has been mostly positively reviewed)

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (another of the many feminist myth retellings, I opted for this instead of the more popular Circe – it seems to be closer to the mythological heart of its story)

Motherhood by Sheila Heti (I just really want to read this.)

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh (Moshfegh is an author I am super intrigued by and this novels seems to be her best book yet – and I love books with unapologetically difficult main characters)

Normal People by Sally Rooney (if this doesn’t make the list, then I don’t even know. I am currently reading her debut novel and adoring it without measure and I would love to have an excuse to read this next)

Women Talking by Miriam Toews (everything I hear about this book sounds like it would make the perfect candidate for the long list – plus, I have been so on the fence about it that it would be nice to be convinced one way or the other)

And the second batch are the rest of the books I can see making this list for no reason at all except for a vague feeling of them doing so.

The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell (a multigenerational family drama set in Zambia would make a good counterweight to my more conventionally Western first predictions)

The Binding by Bridget Collins (I do think that at least one of the longer historical fiction books will make the list and this one sounds like something I might actually enjoy)

Orchid and the Wasp by Caoilinn Hughes (this is on here purely based on gut instinct)

Permission by Saskia Vogel (I am beyond intrigued by the blurb and it is short enough to pack a proper punch in the way I adore)

The Pact We Made by Layla AlAmmar (another book based in myth, this sounds timely and important and might be absolutely stunning – it isn’t completely in my wheelhouse but I am intrigued)

The Fourth Shore by Virginia Baily (this is historical fiction set in fascist Italy – and this is the only reason it made my list but it’s also the one I would dread reading the most – I am not too keen on either historical fiction or WWII)

So Lucky by Nicola Griffith (semi-autobiographical novel dealing with disability and grief? This sounds like it could be a punch to the gut in the best possible way)

Where Reasons End by Yiyun Li (everything about this sounds brilliant)

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am for the longlist – and for this wonderful time in the online book community when suddenly many people are reading the same books.

What are your predictions for the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist? And which books do you hope to see on there? Are you planning on following the prize at all? Let’s chat!

Thoughts: On romance

For a long time I have been telling myself and everybody else that I am not that interested in romance in books. Turns out, that is not quite true. I am not a fan of romance in books where it is the obligatory B-plot; I very much love books where a well-done romance is the A-plot (and preferably the B-plot is kickass-women kicking ass) or where the B-plot romance is done exceedingly well (looking at you, Ilona Andrews). I am apparently a hopeless romantic at heart and I have been loving reading romantic genre fiction so very much these last few months.

There is something comforting about a well-done romance – and I need comforting at the moment. I love the feeling of trusting an author to both write an exciting story and to not break my heart while doing it. Thus I find predictability (when it comes to the eventual outcome and not the way there) a definite plus right now. When romance is done well the authors show an incredible insight into the human condition – and I find it highly frustrating that this is not more well-respected. A well-done romance is such a difficult thing to achieve! Other people have talked about how this dismissal of romance is a gendered thing and I don’t feel like getting angry at the world today, so I won’t write about this. I have just realized how much I am enjoying the genre at the moment – and I am liking this a lot.

But there are some tropes that set my teeth on edge and while I am a lot more forgiving of possessive behaviour in books than I am in real life (as is everybody I guess), I am still unsure how to choose books to read because so very often the male love interest is godawful and I would want to spend zero time with them. I am not a fan of books with huge power imbalance (on the emotional level especially) and I am thus hugely not a fan of big age differences, especially in realistic fiction or when the main female character is under 25. For me, YA romance really does not work at all for a number of reasons – especially when the romance feels like it is only included because that seems like the thing to do. I also get a bit grumpy when a book is too angsty and teenagers tend to be rather angsty and I’d rather not read about that. I want to read about adults falling in love and saving the world.

Here are two series I have loved and swooned about recently to give an indication what works for me:

The Kate Daniels’ series by Ilona Andrews: These books are definitely Urban Fantasy and as such the romantic subplot is not the main focus. The world-building and the overarching story is ridiculously well-done, but what kept me reading way past my bed time were the relationships Kate develops, not only romantic ones but also platonic ones. Kate is a wonderfully realized main character, with flaws but also seriously kickass and who is before every thing else a good person – and her relationship with Curran really, really worked for me. It was slow-burn enough to nearly kill me and then after a bit of angst, solid enough to keep me engaged. God, I love this series.

The Psy-Changeling series by Nalini Singh: I am still reading this, but after racing through the first 11 (!) books in a bit over a month, I needed to take a breather. Unlike the Kate Daniels’ series, these books each follow different main characters, which has the advantage of instant satisfaction but also lessened the squeal. The relationships here are all different and follow different tropes (some of which I like less than others), but what works for me exceedingly well is that any possessiveness the male characters might feel is always tempered by them being ridiculously in love with the women and not wanting to change them – this fundamental acceptance of who the women are at their core is a lovely thing to read.

Please do recommend books to me! The genre is a minefield and I want to only read books that make me happy! I recently bought Darkfever by Karen Marie Mooning because it was only a Euro but that book set my teeth on edge within a couple of pages and I called it quits after 30 pages or so. Which is why I need help.

Bookish Resolutions for 2019

I procrastinated writing this blog post for literal months – because unlike last year where I had a plethora of reading resolutions, this year I pretty much only have one (which I have already kind of failed, more on that later) and I am a bit apprehensive about sharing it with the world. These last few years I always picked a genre to read more of during a year but I think now I read widely enough to just stick with what I like.

But, first things first, here are some of my standard reading resolutions before we come to the big one:

Read 100 books.

This number is the amount of books I have aimed for the last few years and it is a number that works for me. I do read pretty consistently two books a week and it feels like a goal I can reach no problem without shying away from longer books.

Keep writing reviews.

I have recently fallen off the waggon a bit but I wrote reviews for most of the books I have read last year and I want to keep doing this. I also want to be more ok with just writing super short reviews for the books I don’t have all that much to say about – and I hope allowing myself that will help me with this goal.

Post around two to three times a week.

For a short period this last year I managed to post every other way – I had posts scheduled and everything. But to be completely honest, this is not quite feasible for me. For one thing, life gets in the way and sometimes I cannot schedule in advance, and sometimes I don’t finish enough books to keep posting at a rate this high. But I do want to post reasonably often and I think I can do two to three times a week, with some weeks being busier and other weeks not so much.

Read by whim. (AKA request fewer ARCs)

I cannot for the life of me stick to a TBR and trying to do so just sucks the joy out of reading for me. And I don’t want that. So, for next year I want to just read what I like and for that reason I will try to request fewer ARCs as to not become overwhelmed.

And now that those rather easy resolutions are out of the way, here comes my big reading challenge for the upcoming year:

Only read books by women and non-binary authors

I read more books by women to begin with and these books are more likely to be my favourites. As such, my resolution is really not that much of a stretch. But still, this year I want to challenge myself to not read any books written by men. Mostly it’s a fun way for me to change up my reading and be more thoughtful about the books I approach, partly it has something to do with those articles that crop up every now and then where famous men admit to only ever reading books written by men. Only really partly though. Today I rearranged my physical TBR shelves and freeing up that room (by shoving the books I own that were written by men to one end) felt oddly cathartic. My reading is really only for me and the fun I have with it, which is the angle I am approaching this particular resolution from. Which is the reason why I am not too stressed about the fact that I did not manage to finish reading Black Leopard, Red Wolf before the year ended – which means I have basically already failed this test of mine.

What are your reading resolutions, if you have any that is?

 

Final Update: How did I do with my Bookish Resolutions?

I set myself 10 reading resolutions this year; something I did absolutely enjoy but which did not always work as well as I thought it would. As the year is rapidly drawing to a close, I think it is time to give a final update on my progress.

Read 100 books.

As of writing this post I have read 108 books – so I absolutely achieved that goal. I did read a lot of short books and a ridiculous amount of UF (a genre that I read particularly fast) but with an average of 308 pages per book I don’t think that number is too shabby at all.

Read at least one author’s complete work.

Well… I did not do this in the slightest. I am so bad at this resolution! Hopefully, next year will be the year when I finally tackle the unread books on my shelves by authors whose work I have adored.

Keep writing reviews for every book you read.

I fell of the waggon a bit during the second half of the year. Part of this has to do with the speed with which I raced through some of the series I read, never pausing in between the installments, part of it has to do with the ridiculous amount of stuff going on in my life. I did write reviews of the majority of books I have read though and still have not lost hope that I might go back and write the 10 or so reviews that are still pending.

Read more women; especially WOC.

I did not do much better at this than I did last year (when I read around 60% women): 68% of the books I read were written by women. But to be fair, only 19% were written by men. Around a third of the books I read were written by authors of colour – a percentage I absolutely want to improve on next year.

Read some of the books that have been on the TBR forever.

I did not do that. Only four of the books I read had been on my shelves for more than a year. I am really not great at prioritizing books that I bought ages ago.

Only request books if a) you really really really want them and have been looking forward to them or b) you have reviewed all other ARCs you had.

I got a lot better at this. Still not perfect but as I am sitting comfortably at around 90% feedback ratio on NetGalley I am fine with the way I am doing this.

Finish at least one unfinished series.

I did not do this in a proper sense. All the series I had unfinished before the year started are still unfinished. Maybe next year.

Read only YA that comes highly recommended.

I did it! I only read three YA books this year and enjoyed them all.

Read more Science Fiction.

I read nine proper sci-fi books and four dystopian novels. I still gravitate towards fantasy a lot more but I did enjoy my foray into the genre. I will keep reading sci-fi from now on out.

Read more novellas.

I tried, I really did. I read a few novellas and even enjoyed some but mostly the length left me unsatisfied. I don’t think I will pursuing this any further from here on out.

How did you do on your reading resolutions?