Every first Wednesday of the month, I’ll be posting a roundup of the month just gone, and writing about what’s to come in the next few weeks.
Last month I read a total of eight books – less than January, but no novellas or graphic novels this time. Cash: The Autobiography of Johnny Cash (with Patrick Carr), Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgewick, Lockstep by Karl Schroeder, Paper Towns by John Green, The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson and The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris.
Standout books include The Final Empire, The Gospel of Loki and Cash: The Autobiography of Johnny Cash – one of my favourite musicians ever, his life was absolutely fascinating to read about. I’ve now read twenty-three books towards my goal of fifty this year, but I’m unsure about raising it just yet.
Challenge progress:
- I read four more books towards the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge, and managed to beat this month’s boss – Crimson Dynamo! Gooooo X-Men! *waves mutant flag*
- Another one ticked off of the Dragons & Jetpacks Ultimate Booklist Challenge, which handily also happened to be February’s Fantasy Book of the Month!
- I’m slowly finishing off my TBR Pile 2013 Challenge – I achieved my goal for the year last year, but I had a list of thirty books, and aimed to read at least fifteen in 2013. Now I want to read the rest throughout 2014.
- And finally, the Review Copy Clean-up Challenge! I read three review copies this month, which isn’t quite as many as I’d hoped to – but my Netgalley ratio is now 55.5%, which is a bonus. I still have to review one of the books, although that one was from Goodreads.
Currently reading:
Reviews on the blog this month:
- The Book of Apex, Volume Four
- The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris
- Doctor Who: Into the Nowhere by Jenny Colgan
- Doctor Who: The Death Pit by A.L. Kennedy
Other posts:
- The end of February didn’t see too much action, as I’ve been ill for the past week with a throat infection, and now a cold. I missed two and a half days of work (which I hate doing), but I should be fine to go back on Monday, which is good!
- I took part in Insta-Love 101 hosted by Novel Idea Reviews. I discussed why insta-love just doesn’t work.
- I recommended some books for Doctor Who fans.
- In my last Fantasy Friday of the month, I discussed some fantasy holiday destinations.
- I took part in the blog tour for the Book of Apex Volume Four, and the posts for that included a guest post by Adam-Troy Castro, an interview with Rahul Kanakia and an interview with Adam-Troy Castro. Thanks to Andrea for hosting it!
- The Museum of Literary Wonders opened up for a second tour of the artefacts.
- I discussed just why I love video games.
- And finally, I joined the Review Copy Cleanup hosted by Vicky & Celine.
Upcoming:
- A couple of reviews, including She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgewick and The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson.
- A post about my time at the Harry Potter Studio Tour, which I visited on 19th February!
- The usual discussions and features will return, minus Weekly Roundup which has become rather infrequent as I’m trying to not buy books. CRAZY, I know.
Off the blog:
Well as I mentioned, I was ill at the end of February… I had really bad tonsillitis in November (during Sci-Fi Month!) so I was really worried it would be another case of that – but luckily it was just a throat infection and cold. Earlier in the month I visited the Harry Potter Studio Tour with one of my best friends which was amazing, but more on that in another post! I then had another best friend to stay for a few days, and it was so lovely to see her – we met up with another friend from uni and had a lovely day out at a National Trust place nearby, then went out for tapas in the evening. I’m really quite scared at how fast the year is going, see as I’ll be moving to the Netherlands in mid-August and I have a LOT to sort out before then. Better get on it!
Rinn Reads 
That was an impressive February. I’ve managed to read 12 books thus far this year. Fewer than I usually get through during the first couple of months, but if I had just stuck to a few more books, rather than having SEVERAL partially read, those numbers would be up. My goals is 65, I believe. Need to go double check on Goodreads.
Hehe, thanks =) Sometimes it’s tempting to read several at once – are you enjoying them all?
I have set a couple aside that weren’t grabbing me. Could be me or could be the book. I’m also having trouble still getting motivated to get back into Ancillary Justice, though I will read it before I vote for the Hugos. Maybe not before nominations, but I figure its a shoe in for the short list so my vote for or against isn’t going to make a difference anyway.
I really didn’t enjoy that book, sadly. I just wasn’t following along with it as I read, which resulted in some confusion. Plus the gender thing didn’t feel different to me, just felt annoying =/
It sucks to be ill, I hope you are feeling a lot better now!
Very impressive results in February. I also read (and quite loved) The Final Empire, and can’t wait to get to the rest of the trilogy. There is so much buzz over Brandon’s new book that just came out now that I kinda want to read his other stuff too. Have you read anything else by him?
I STILL have a bit of a cold, but I’m so glad the throat infection has gone and that it didn’t turn into anything worse! But thank you =)
Yessss, it was so good! I’m going to have to buy the others on Kindle so I can read them when I go off to uni, but that kind of makes me sad because those covers are just gorgeous. I’ve only read Elantris, which is a standalone and also pretty amazing – I’d quite like to give Steelheart a try, which is apparently more of a sci-fi/superhero novel.
I suppose this means I have to read Mistborn! I have the first book, so I may well start it next week. The Gospel of Loki sounds great as well, I’m adding it to my wishlist. How is Bitterblue going? I’ve only read Graceling, and I haven’t had a chance to continue with the series yet.
Yes, you do ;D Just posted my review of it.
Bitterblue was excellent – a great conclusion to the trilogy and it tied Graceling and Fire together nicely, although the tying together did happen quite late into the story.