Wow, I have fallen so behind on my book blogging and reviews here, but it’s not too late to look back at what I read in the past few months (is it?). I was excited to get to a classic science fiction book that has been on my shelves for several years. I had one book (novella) to read for a book club, and if I had to pick an inadvertent theme for May, it would have been detectives in science fiction and fantasy.
My problems began in June and I’m not sure what happened, other than travel plans and escalating summer chaos at work. I still made progress for June with another book club read and then a new book courtesy of Net Galley.
If you’d like to pick up any of these books and support my blog at the same time you can click on any of the book links in this post.
Books I read in May (1,450 pages):
- Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight by Don Bassingthwaite was received as a gift and is a short story collection of detective-esque fiction all involving fantasy and horror tropes – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury is that classic science fiction book I mentioned above – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older was the book club pick and was a science fiction detective story – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Seveneves by Neal Stephenson is an exceedingly long science fiction novel that took me too long to finish – ⭐⭐⭐
Books I read in June (759 pages):
- The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst is a follow-up to The Spellshop (review here), but does not require one to have read the previous book – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon by Annie Mare is an odd mashup of dating and quantum physics ⭐⭐⭐
Normally I’d follow this section with a list of the books I’m currently reading. However, since I’m writing this in August, I have already finished those books and will have those in my next post.
Other books I had hoped to get to recently:
- Quicksilver by Callie Hart keeps popping up on my list of books-to-read. I carried it around on a trip (in case my Kindle died), but didn’t start it.
- Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue sounds like something I should love, but I didn’t have enough time to get to it.
- Alchemised by SenLinYu will keep recurring on my list until I have time one month. This one is really long, but some friends have loved it.
- The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty is the latest in The Adventures of Anima El-Sirafi series. This author is one who qualifies for my buy immediately short list, so I had to pick up a special edition of it.
New books acquired in May (4 allowed):
- Infinite Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver is the much-needed sequel to Artifical Wisdom which I reviewed here. This one was also given to me by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
- The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older was a novella I had to pick up for a book club discussion.
- Deathbringer by Sonia Tagliareni (Fairy Loot) – I’ve heard mixed reviews about this one.
- The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty – As noted already, I had to order a special edition from Waterstones to get the cover I preferred.
New books acquired in June (3 allowed):
- The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden (Fairy Loot) looks like a fascinating book and I’ve wanted to read something by this author for a while. I added it to an upcoming book club discussion.
- The Strength of the Few by James Islington is the sequel to The Will of the Many which I read earlier this year and loved. Spoiler – this second book was also amazing! The final book is due out in about six months.
- A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett is the sequel to The Tainted Cup which I read in April and enjoyed a lot.
- The Incandescent by Emily Tesh is a stand-alone fantasy academia novel told from the perspective of the teachers and I loved the other book I read by this author (Some Desperate Glory).
Ooops, I went out of my allowance! I blame this on my travel to Portland, Oregon where I had to visit Powell’s Books. How could I not buy more books at this amazing place? This is where I picked up A Drop of Corruption and The Incandescent.
That wraps up this update and I hope to be more consistent with posts here as the summer wraps up.
What are you currently reading? Have you had more or less time to read over the summer than you would have liked? Let me know in the comments.