My standout books for the month were definitely Revival by Stephen King, and Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. I have a review of Revival coming up so I won’t talk about it now, but Seraphina caught me totally by surprise. I also really loved Amy Poehler’s Yes Please – I have so much love and respect for her. It was also fantastic to finally start The Dark Tower series by Stephen King!
Try not to feel guilty when reading for pleasure. I had this during my Bachelors, and I have it again now that I’m studying once more. If I read a book purely for pleasure, I feel guilty that I’m using that reading time for something other than books relevant to my course. I can play video games or watch films without feeling guilty, but for some reason reading makes me feel bad!
Try to complete the DC vs. Marvel Challenge. In 2014, Michael, one of the moderators of my book group on Goodreads, hosted a really wonderful Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge, and for 2015 he is hosting another great reading challenge! I can’t wait to start that one and have already planned some books for it.
Stop requesting on Netgalley. For real this time. Yeah, I always say this. I thought being abroad and having most of my books on my Kindle, the large majority of which are from Netgalley, would do wonders for my review ratio. Nope. Instead, I’ve mostly read the books that I BOUGHT for my Kindle, whilst still requesting more from Netgalley. I’m still stuck at 55% or something…
Make a little more time for blogging and commenting. So this one might be more difficult, since right now I really have to be in the right mood for it, but I know I can do better.
Set my yearly goal at 50 books, but don’t be disappointed if I don’t achieve it. I’m studying for a Masters degree. I’m reading less than before – but we’ll see what happens.
And that’s it! I don’t want to set too many goals, especially since I have other things to concentrate on… like a thesis.
So it’s been a completely insane month and I can’t believe I only read three books… The Wise Man’s Fear was definitely the standout book for November, and I can’t wait to move on to The Slow Regard of Silent Things, which Gollancz kindly sent me. I just barely made any time for reading this month, I’ve been so exhausted!
Challenge progress:
I read one book towards the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge. The final villain of the year is Apocalypse. I’d love to finish recruiting the X-Men by the end of the year, but we’ll see…
I have currently read one hundred and twenty books towards my Goodreads goal. I’ve hit it again after raising it for the fourth time, and I’ll leave it there for now!
Better than last month, although two of those were for university and one was a very short story! My plan was to read loads of science fiction for Sci-Fi Month, but obviously that didn’t happen… My stand-out book of the month is definitely The Whispering Skull, I really love that series! It’s like Sherlock with a dash of Supernatural, if the protagonists were in their teens. What’s not to love?
Challenge progress:
I read three books towards the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge. November’s villain is Apocalypse, hopefully I can defeat him this time!
I have currently read one hundred and seventeen books towards my Goodreads goal.
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 five books: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, Doctor Sleep (The Shining #2) by Stephen King, Archaeological Theory by Matthew Johnson (ugh yes I read the whole thing voluntarily), Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas and The Queen of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #1) by Erika Johansen.
It was certainly a slow month for reading. I haven’t been making the time to read as much since I started uni – I’ve been spending my spare time socialising (*gasp*), reading for lectures or starting to think about my thesis. I kind of feel like I have to fill up my spare time with uni-orientated stuff, which is frustrating, and is exactly how I felt during the three years of my undergrad. However, I found that once I picked up an actual physical book rather than using my Kindle, I was more interested in reading again! Doctor Sleep definitely lived up to its reputation and was well worth the wait – if you enjoyed The Shining, I urge you to pick up the sequel! And Heir of Fire… well, my review will be up soon, but let’s just say AMAZING AND UGH WHY.
Challenge progress:
I read three books towards the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge. October’s villain is the Green Goblin, which is pretty perfect for Halloween!
I have currently read one hundred and nine books towards my Goodreads goal of one hundred and twenty. This is the fourth time I’ve raised it this year, so I’m not too bothered if I don’t hit the final goal but hopefully I will!
So I didn’t have as much time to read this month, what with starting university! I’ve finished one book, and completely read another since I got here almost three weeks ago. It hasn’t been a great month for ratings; my standout book this month was We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. Not quite as amazing as people said it was, but I did enjoy it – even if I guessed the ending.
Challenge progress:
I read zero books towards the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge. Oops. Next month’s villain is Magneto, but if we’re talking about 1970’s era Magneto then I’d rather recruit him, thank you very much.
I have currently read 104 books towards my Goodreads goal. I changed my goal from 100 to 125 this month.
I carried on reading more Marvel comics, although this will probably be the last month I’m able to for a while. Alias Hook was a great start to the month – a five star book as my first read of July! I also absolutely loved Marvel 1602, I mean you can’t really go wrong with Marvel and Neil Gaiman, right? Towards the end of the month I read Smiler’s Fair by Rebecca Levene, which was kindly sent to me by Hodderscape. It’s a new epic fantasy series and WOW. Not only is the writing fantastic, but it also has a truly gorgeous cover. I also managed to fit in a re-read of Mockingjay, which I desperately wanted to do after seeing the new trailer for the film.
Challenge progress:
I read six books towards the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge. I managed to recruit Cyclops and Nightcrawler, as well as successfully defeat Dr. Doom, securing extra points for my team. August’s villain is the hungriest creature in the world, Galactus!
I have currently read ninety-seven books towards my Goodreads goal. I may increase it to 125 for the whole year.
Currently reading:
Off the blog:
I went to London Film and Comic Con/Young Adult Literature Convention on 12th July, but more on that later! I also spent three days in London with my mum and sister, which was lovely. We visited the Natural History Museum, Borough Market, London Zoo, saw lots of the sights such as Westminster, Big Ben, the Globe Theatre – and we saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Savoy. IT WAS SO GOOD. SOOOO GOOD. My whole family absolutely love the film (can’t remember how many times I’ve watched it), and it worked so well as a musical. One word of advice – don’t buy drinks in the Savoy Theatre. £22 for three drinks? Nah.
I also saw Guardians of the Galaxy, which I’ve been wanting to watch since January or so – and IT WAS SO WORTH THE WAIT. Funniest Marvel film yet, so crazy and fun but still full of wonderfully built characters and emotions! Go watch it now.
They were also giving out postcards for Beaumont-sur-Mer with this view on it!
I’m still reading Marvel comics! There are suddenly a lot more available on the county library system, so I’m making use of it while I still can. My standout book of the month was definitely Blood and Beauty by Sarah Dunant, about the Borgia family. I find them fascinating, and this account of their lives (albeit partly fictionalised) was just brilliant. Brave New World was my book group’s Sci-Fi Book of the Month – unfortunately I didn’t get round to our fantasy choice, but I’m hoping to read it this month.
Challenge progress:
I read four books towards the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge and fully recruited Storm, contributing three bonus points to my team. I also managed to defeat Loki for an extra three bonus points! July’s villain is no other than the notorious Dr. Doom, and I already have my books planned to defeat him. They’re all ARCs waiting for review – even better!
I raised my Goodreads goal to one hundred books, and have currently read eighty-four towards that goal.
Currently reading:
Off the blog:
June has been STRESSFUL – hence a lack of posts towards the end, as well as lack of commenting on other blogs. If you saw my post on accommodation last week – well I think it’s sorted. I’ve finally been able to reserve a room. But the email says they’ll let you know at the latest five days before the move in date whether it’s approved. FIVE DAYS?? What if you get rejected? I expect they rarely reject anyone unless they’re not a student and have somehow got through the system – but WHAT? What if you’re rejected, how do they think you’ll find somewhere else in five days, because all other student accommodation will have gone by then. Ugh. Well… if all goes to plan, I have myself my own little apartment in Leiden. A little further than I thought from the faculty, about a 10-15 min bike ride/25 minute walk to the centre, but it’s somewhere to live! And an actual apartment to myself. And of course I’ve nosed around the area on Google Maps, and it looks lovely 🙂 Now that it’s sorted, I feel like I can get on with making other arrangements for Leiden.
Oh, and I also discovered a new love for Jane Eyre, which I re-read for the first time in seven years after reading it at school. I watched the newer film version with Michael Fassbender and Mia Wakowski, and the soundtrack is just GORGEOUS.
I read a lot of graphic novels this month, but I think I’ve read every one I can get my hands on in the county library system… so looks like I’ll have to find them elsewhere from now on. My favourite of the graphic novels was Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Avengers – some great art in there, and I am SO excited for the film! Standout novels included Lexicon, Retribution Falls and Insignia. The latter two are the first books in series, so that’s two more series to continue now…
Challenge progress:
I read four books towards the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge – two books towards defeating Bullseye, May’s villain, so I didn’t quite manage to beat him. Next month’s villain has been revealed as Loki, so hopefully I’ll be able to take down the trickster god!
Last month I raised my Goodreads goal to seventy-five books. I’m now at seventy-one books, so it looks like I’ll be raising it again soon!
I read one book for my USA Challenge, which admittedly I’ve mostly forgotten about…
Currently reading:
Off the blog:
May has been uneventful… in fact most of the ‘Off the blog’ stuff I shared last month happened in May. Oops! I did go and see X-Men: Days of Future Past on Thursday, and LOVED it. It also reignited my *ahem* ‘interest’ in Michael Fassbender… But apart from that, pretty uneventful! Here’s some stuff from my Instagram:
Left to right: My awesome new Game of Thrones t-shirt from Teefury; scaring myself silly by playing Bioshock in the dark & with headphones; my town has a festival every day and the May bank holiday weekend was just PERFECT for it 🙂
I was so happy to finally finish the Leviathan series, and it’s now one of my favourite Young Adult series out there. I read some other great books this month: Days of Blood and Starlight was just as gripping as Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and Falling Kingdoms was a wonderful fantasy read. I also went crazy on the graphic novel front, ordering as many Marvel comics as I could through my county library service. And there are still plenty more to read! I also read most of Dragon Age Library Edition: Volume One, but unfortunately my ARC stopped about three quarters of the way through. I did email Netgalley, who contacted the publisher but sadly I haven’t heard anything and the title has now been archived. I will just rate and review it based on what I did managed to read.
Challenge progress:
I read five books towards the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge, so unfortunately I didn’t do as well as last month, and I also didn’t quite manage to defeat April’s villain, Kingpin. Better luck next month! May’s villain is Bullseye, and he looks to be quite a challenge.
I’ve already beaten my goal of fifty books for this year on Goodreads. I’ve raised the goal to seventy-five, which I think will still be manageable – I may even reach that before August, and I can raise it again!
The majority of April was fairly quiet, but this past week has been pretty busy. I’ve been off work since last Tuesday, although I’m back today. On Wednesday night I went to the Glamour Book Club to see Laini Taylor and Lauren Owen, and I also met up with some fellow book bloggers! I will cover the event in detail in a future post. My friend joined me in London, and she stayed until Tuesday. On Thursday night, we went to see Jace Everett in Bristol. It was a TINY event, with about one hundred people – but the venue put out chairs, so no-one was dancing and I felt like we gave off a bad impression. But despite that, I loved the music and got to meet the man himself afterwards, and get a CD signed. Then on Friday we went to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2 which I really enjoyed, Saturday was Free Comic Book Day which meant a trip to Forbidden Planet in Bristol, as well as Bristol Zoo because it was a lovely, sunny day. Oh, and a few weeks ago my Dragon Age: The World of Thedas book arrived, which my fellow Queen of Ferelden, Paola, convinced me to buy. I was just a *little* bit excited by its arrival, as you can see…
Rinn Reads 