Every first Wednesday of the month (Tuesday this month, due to the Book of Apex tour!) , I’ll be posting a roundup of the month just gone, and writing about what’s to come in the next few weeks.
This month I read fifteen books, which as far as I’m aware is a personal record! Admittedly there were a couple of novellas and graphic novels, but I’m happy with my progress. The Death Pit by A.L. Kennedy, Into the Nowhere by Jenny Colgan, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, Archaeology: the Basics by Clive Gamble (refreshing my memory!), Supernatural: Origins by Peter Johnson, The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1) by Samantha Shannon, The Creature in the Case (The Old Kingdom #3.5) by Garth Nix, Watchmen by Alan Moore, Red Sonja: Queen of Plagues by Gail Simone & Walter Geovanni, Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1) by Laini Taylor, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, Mass Effect: Foundation by Mac Walters, The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co #1) by Jonathan Stroud, The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and The QI Book of the Dead by John Lloyd.
Standout books include Brideshead Revisited, Daughter of Smoke and Bone and The Screaming Staircase. I’ve now read fifteen books towards my goal of fifty for this year – so I may have to raise it, but I also have to remember that my reading will greatly decrease from mid-August.
Challenge progress:
- I read four books towards the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge
- Just the one towards the Dragons & Jetpacks Ultimate Booklist challenge, but there is no real time limit on this one – it’s lifelong!
- And one more ticked off of my TBR Pile 2013 – I’m hoping to finish it off before I go to uni. I read about half last year and am aiming to finish it this year!
Currently reading:
Reviews on the blog on this month:
- Red Sonja: Queen of Plagues (Red Sonja #1) by Gail Simone & Walter Geovanni
- Mass Effect: Foundation by Mac Walters
- The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co #1) by Jonathan Stroud
- Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield
- The Joy of Sexus: Love, Lust and Longing in the Ancient World by Vicki Leon
- The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler
Other posts:
- I discussed my favourite fantasy video games as part of the most recent Fantasy Friday
- I recommended books for fans of BBC’s Robin Hood, The Borgias, Firefly and Supernatural as part of Turning Off The TV
- I discussed my crazy insane amount of ARCs and other books to review, and asked for some advice – and got some great responses!
- My fantasy and science fiction book group, Dragons & Jetpacks, chose the Books of the Month for February 2014
- I shared my progress for Re-Read January, and it hasn’t changed since then. Oops, I’ve been a rubbish host…
- I absolutely LOVE soundtracks from films, TV and video games, so I decided to share my favourites with my readers
- I opened up the Museum of Literary Wonders to visitors… I will be posting another one soon!
- Towards the beginning of the month, I discussed how web design has changed since I started about ten years ago. This was my most popular post of the month!
- Fan of The Hobbit movies? I discussed them in the first Fantasy Friday of the month
- And my first post of 2014: My Bookish Resolutions for 2014!
Upcoming:
- I’m taking part in the Book of Apex tour, organised by Andrea @ Little Red Reviewer. Yay, speculative fiction!
- I’m also taking part in Insta-love 101, hosted by the lovely ladies at A Novel Idea. Boo, insta-love!
- And finally: the Review Copy Cleanup hosted by Books, Biscuits & Tea! and Nyx Book Reviews – time to tame that Netgalley ratio!
Rinn Reads 
Did you review Watchmen and I missed it?
Nope, didn’t review it! I don’t review every book I read, mostly just the actual review copies, and that one was a library book. Of those I reviewed three, and two more are still to come =)
Ah. Well then, did you like it? Between Watchmen and Sandman I thought I was going to be a person who got into comics, but thus far those two have really been the only ones that ‘caught’ me.
I did, my final rating was 4 stars – it wasn’t quite the read I was expecting, but I certainly enjoyed it. I do really like to read graphic novels, though I’m quite fussy about artwork. The Supernatural one I read this month had some hideous art =/
Barry Strauss’ books are meant to be excellent. I have his The Spartacus War, and haven’t read it yet, but I’ve had a flick through and it seems to be very indepth and informative! I’ll have to get to it soon.
It is a very informative read indeed, and quite enjoyable – it’s semi-narrative, which adds a nice spin to it. I need to just finish it though, it shouldn’t take me too long. I’ve been reading it in small bits since December.
I was really disappointed with ‘The Bone Season’. It was okay, but I felt it didn’t come anywhere close to the hype. How did you find it?
A bit disappointed too – it wasn’t quite as good as I’d heard, plus the romance (which was immediately obvious was going to happen) annoyed me =/ My final rating was four stars, I think that without that ‘bad guy’ romance I would have enjoyed it more. It just felt too predictable!
Wow, 15 books! I gotta say that is very impressive.
It’s not my normal number! And there’s quite a few graphic novels/short stories in there. I guess it’s actually eight novels and one textbook, then the rest either graphic novels or novellas!