Monthly Roundup: March 2017

Every first Wednesday of the month, I’ll be posting a roundup of the month just gone, including discussing books read that month, challenge progress, and a summary of all posts for the month.

Last month I read a total of fifteen books: Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor #1) by Mark Lawrence, How To Be Bad by E. Lockhart, Lauren Myracle & Sarah Miynowski,
Life and Death by Stephanie Meyer, Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard, Drakenfeld (Drakenfeld #1) by Mark Charan Newton, The Named (Guardians of Time #1) by Marianne Curley, The Dark (Guardians of Time #2) by Marianne Curley, The Key (Guardians of Time #3) by Marianne Curley, The Strain (The Strain #1) by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor, Galactic Pot Healer by Philip K. Dick, A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar, Bastard Prince by Beverley A. Murphy,
Magus of Stonewylde (Stonewylde #1) by Kit Berry and The Still Point by Amy Sackville.

March was an odd month for reading. Before I moved, I wanted to read a load of books from my pile of ‘read then donate’ books – these are ones that I’ve probably bought second-hand and don’t reckon I’ll love enough to keep. I was definitely right, and found myself with quite a few disappointing reads. However, this did mean that I got quite a lot of reading done, and managed to squeeze fifteen books into the month!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve now moved and started a new job. This is one of my first posts in two weeks or so, and posts might be slow for a bit, just while I’m getting used to everything. However I’ve got some recently read review copies, so hopefully I’ll be sharing my thoughts on those soon. 🙂

Challenge progress:

• I have currently read 44 books towards my Goodreads goal of 52. Still unsure whether to raise this when I hit it, or not…

 

Currently reading:

How was March for you?

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Sci-Fi Month 2015: It’s The End of the World As We Know It

This post is part of Sci-Fi Month 2015, a month long event to celebrate science fiction hosted by myself and Over the Effing Rainbow. You can view the schedule here, follow the event on Twitter via the official @SciFiMonth Twitter account, or the hashtag #RRSciFiMonth.

A common trope of science fiction is to show the Earth greatly transformed, or even completely destroyed, in some way. Our poor planet has been used and abused throughout the history of the genre. Here’s a brief guide to the (post-)apocalypse, or dystopian future, covering books, TV, films and video games.

Aliens

In these titles, Earth is either destroyed or invaded by aliens. In the latter, it is altered to a state where it is unrecognisable: either through the collapse of society and government, or destruction of large portions of the planet. Sometimes the extra-terrestrials are aggressive, sometimes they are just inquisitive, and other times we’re not even aware of them until it is too late.

Mass Effect, The 5th Wave, Defiance, The War of the Worlds (plus the 2005 film version), Independence Day, The Day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos.

Illness/Disease

These titles show an Earth ravaged by illness, disease or plague, including technological viruses and biological warfare. In many of them, the illness transforms humankind into something else, often zombie or vampire-like creatures.

The Passage, Blindness, Oryx and Crake, Partials, Parasite, I Am Legend, The Stand, Children of Men, The Strain.

Humankind

Science fiction frequently shows how humankind causes its own downfall, often through war or revolt. This is a particularly popular theme in current Young Adult dystopian fiction, although it’s not exactly a new trend in the genre. This is one of the more frightening sides of sci-fi: how we become our very own worst enemies. Occasionally, it shows a glimpse into an alternate future or past.

The Hunger Games, Divergent, The 100, The Years of Rice and Salt, Unwind, The Man in the High Castle, How I Live Now, A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Natural Disaster

This could also technically come under ‘Humankind’, because most of the time the natural disasters are caused by people, namely through global warming and climate change. This category includes these as well as other things such as asteroids/meteors, tsunamis, earthquakes etc.

2012, The Day After Tomorrow, The Maze Runner, Deep Impact, Armageddon, The Drowned World.

Brainwashing/Government

Another terrifying thing about science fiction is how government is often portrayed. Often it is shown as being a totalitarian or ‘Big Brother’ society, a term coined from George Orwell’s 1984. Citizens often have very little freedom, or even free will, having been brainwashed into behaving in certain ways.

1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Atlas Shrugged, V for Vendetta.

Machines/Artificial Intelligence

Okay, maybe there’s a lot of scary things about science fiction – another one being the very thought of the Earth being overrun or overtaken by machines or artificial intelligence. Many a sci-fi tale tells of the invention of some fantastic new technology, only for it to become sentient and rise up against mankind.

I, Robot, Robopocalypse, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, Love In the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Prey, Neuromancer.

Can you think of any other titles that would fit in these categories, or any categories that I have missed?

Horror October: Top Ten Horror Books On My TBR List

Today’s Horror October post features the top ten books on my ‘to be read’ list that I want to read most urgently. I’d love to know if any of you have read them, and what you thought! I’ve linked to each book on Goodreads underneath the picture. These are a mix of books from Netgalley and Edelweiss that I still haven’t gotten round to, as well as my own purchases.

This House Is Haunted by John Boyne, Amity by Micol Ostow and The Haunting Season by Michelle Muto

The Furies by Mark Alpert

The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

The Troop by Nick Cutter

A Very British Murder by Lucy Worsley

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes and The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman

Of Monsters and Madness by Jessica Verday

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?

Weekly Roundup #34

My ‘Weekly Roundup’ is where I share the books I have received in the past week, whether bought, gifted, borrowed etc. This is a couple of weeks worth of this feature – apparently I haven’t posted one since October, what with Sci-Fi Month in November and then the blog migration to WordPress in December.

Gifted

• Lonely Planet: The Netherlands – I received this for Christmas from my parents, as I’m off to the Netherlands for my Masters this year. Even though I’ll be studying, I’ve got to make the most of my year abroad (although I’m hoping I’ll stay there a bit longer if possible) and I want to visit as many places as possible!
• The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon – I’m sure you’ve seen this one all over the blogosphere. Samantha Shannon has been pipped as ‘the new J.K. Rowling’, and has signed a seven book deal, as well as the film rights to the series – and she’s a year younger than me. Urk.

 

Bought

• Hodd by Adam Thorpe – this is a sort of alternate version of the traditional Robin Hood story. I kept seeing it in my local charity shop, and eventually picked it up – it’s practically brand new. This is one of my planned books for the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge.
• The Dinner by Herman Koch – I first heard about this book when I read Kelly’s review of it. It’s the sort of contemporary/adult fiction novel I like – with something just hidden below the surface. Plus it’s set in Amsterdam, and I want to read more books set in the Netherlands!
• The Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons – um, how was I ever going to spot this in a charity shop and NOT buy it?
• The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan – I’m interested to see how this one plays out, as it’s co-written by a film director – although it’s definitely within his genre. This is another one I’m planning to read for the Avengers vs. X-Men Challenge.

 

For Kindle

Ever since I got my own Kindle, I’ve gone kind of crazy. All these 99p deals on brand new books! And the classics, which I’ll mention but not bother with covers: Popular Tales from the Norse, The Babylonian Legends of Creation, Lysistrata, The Birds, The Frogs, The Eleven Comedies, Travels in West Africa, The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Vanity Fair and soooo many more… (I started listing them then realised exactly how many I had downloaded…)

• Raising Steam (Discworld #40) by Terry Pratchett – new Discworld novel? For 99p? Yes, yes I will buy it.
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – short adult fiction by Neil Gaiman. I’ve only read his books for younger readers, so I’d like to see how different his adult writing is.
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – Donna Tartt’s The Secret History is one of my favourite books, and when I spotted this new release of hers for 99p I thought I’d give it a try.
• The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith – written by J.K. Rowling under a pseudonym, I’d love to see how this differs from her usual writing style.

 

Netgalley

So one of my Bookish New Years Resolutions was to get my Netgalley ratio up to at LEAST 50%. So naturally, at the beginning of the year I requested a whole load of new books from Netgalley. The cover links to the Goodreads page.

And that’s it! I think I have enough for a while now… not that that will stop me getting more books! What new reads do you have this week?