This Week in Books 22.08.18 #TWIB

Welcome to This Week in Books, where we share what we’ve been up to in bookland this week and look ahead to next!

I hope you’re all having a good week. Mine has been…quick!

This week, I  finally discovered the joy of audiobooks. It’s been a long time coming, I know. The first time I tried to listen to an audiobook I went for The Knife of Never Letting Go, a book I already loved, and I didn’t like the narrator, which I realise now, makes all the difference. But this week (only around two years since trying TKONLG) I listened to Carrie Fisher narrating her memoir Wishful Drinking, and it was great. So there’s no stopping me now. I can read with my eyes closed…hurrah! If that’s not a superpower I don’t know what is!

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been reading (and listening to) this week…

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NOW: I haven’t technically started Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race yet, but I will have by the time this publishes. I’m also listening to Ginny Moon on my commute. I’m really enjoying it, but it’s getting a bit repetitive!

THEN: I’ve just finished Ink and Bone, which was great. Not I-need-to-read-the-next-book-right-now great, but still a fun, solid read. As previously mentioned, I also listened to Wishful Drinking. It’s a short read (or listen), and gives an incite into growing-up in Hollywood, addiction, and depression, and all told with the self-deprecating humour and wit of the legend that was Carrie Fisher. 

NEXT: Probably Cinderella Boy as my review is well overdue on Netgalley, soz! Also, it sounds great, so I doubt it’ll exactly be a chore!

This meme was originally started by Breaking the Spine. It’s where we choose one upcoming release that we just can’t wait for!

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy // Mackenzi Lee // The Montague Siblings #2 // October 2018 // Katherine Tegen Books //Goodreads

Can’t.Wait.Want.Now!

What have you been reading this week? Let me know in the comments below, or why not join in and publish a TWIB post of your own. Leave the link to your post and i’ll come take a look. 

Recent Reads #Minibookreviews

Here are some thoughts on my recently read books

 

Chiff Chaff // David Barnard //  February 2018 // Troubador Publishing // Goodreads

I really wanted to love this quirky book because I’m kind of obsessed with Orkney and Shetland. Not that I’ve been, but I’m pretty sure my dream home is around there somewhere.

Sadly, I just couldn’t get into Chiff Chaff and had to DNF.  I didn’t even make it to the Chaff!

The writing was interesting. I liked the use of dialect and the descriptions of the landscape, but the 16 year old narrator in the first part of the book was too repetitive and muddling for my liking. It was too much effort to figure out what was going on, so I admit it – I gave up. A great idea, but it didn’t work for me. 

 

Final Draft // Riley Redgate // June 2018 // Amulet Books // Goodreads

It’s always interesting reviewing books a long time after you’ve read them. It really shows whether the book has staying power or not, especially for someone like me with terrible memory!

I read Final Draft in May, and while I probably couldn’t give you a concise synopsis, parts of it have definitely stayed with me. Laila was a great protagonist full of complexities and heart. She is probably the most diverse character I’ve ever read being pansexual, biracial, Ecuadorian, suffering from anxiety, and plus size, but I never felt like it was a tick-box-of-diversity book – Redgate made Laila 100% real. It’s a wonderfully modern coming-of-age story for anyone who’s ever felt different. So basically, for everyone, right? 

 

Leah on the Offbeat // Becky Albertalli // Creekwood #2 // April 2018 //  Balzer + Bray // Goodreads

The highly anticipated companion novel to best-seller Simon Vs was everything I hoped. In fact, I think I preferred it to the first book. Leah is like my spirit animal, I need her to be my bff. Maybe I can join her band…

Anywayyyy, in this Creekwood instalment, Leah takes the centre stage as she tries to keep her band together and figure out who the hell she is. I thought one of the most interesting parts of this story was that Leah is out (as bi) to her mum, but is struggling to tell her best friends, especially recently out Simon. It’s usually the other way round in coming-out stories. I guess it shows how much she thinks of her friends. 

Leah…is one of those great books that takes you right back to how it feels to be a teenager  approaching the end of high school. On one hand relief, on the other, crippling fear of the unknown and the inevitable fracturing of friendship groups. Another perfectly-crafted book portraying the complexities of friendships and growing-up by new fave Becky Albertalli. 

Have you read any of these? Let me know what you thought!

Other reviews you may be interested in: Simon Vs the Homosapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli // The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee and others

 

 

This Week in Books 15.08.18 #TWIB

 

Welcome to This Week in Books, where we share what we’ve been up to in bookland this week and look ahead to next!

I’m backkkk! 🙂 Welcome to my new look blog. Hope you’re all having a good summer so far. Here’s what I’ve been reading this week…

THEN

THEN

THEN

NOW: I’ve just started Ink & Bone which is the first book in The Great Libraries series. I’ve been meaning to read it since it came out (in 2015!!). I used to love Caine’s Morganville Vampires series so I’m interested to see how her style has developed. 

THEN: The last book I finished was My Name is Leon. I met Kit de Waal at this year’s Quick Reads launch and she was amazing. She only properly started reading books when she was 19. How amazing is that! She does a lot of work for underprivileged kids, go check her out. My Name is Leon was a great read about a young boy trying to make sense of the world  when he’s taken away from his mentally ill mother,  put into foster care and is separated from his baby brother.

NEXT: Probably Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race. I’ve been told by two people now that I MUST read it. And so I shall…

This meme was originally started by Breaking the Spine. It’s where we choose one upcoming release that we just can’t wait for!

The Wicked King // Holly Black // The Cruel Prince #2 // Jan 8 2019 // Little Brown //Goodreads

What have you been reading this week? Let me know in the comments below, or why not join in and publish a TWIB post of your own. Leave the link to your post and i’ll come take a look.