The Iron Tome-A-Thon TBR

Hi booklovers

Tomorrow announces the start of the MedievalAThon and I'm very excited to start my first read :-)

Today, however, I came across another readathon that will be perfect to combine with the MedievalAThon: the IronTomeAThon. You can find the announcement post here.

This readathon is hosted by Aimal from bookshelvesandpaperbacks and wil run from July 1st 'till July 31st. As I've said before, I'm all for month-long readathons :-)

For this readathon you solely read adult fantasy books. Since a lot of the books on my MedievalAThon TBR are adult fantasy books, I might as well use them for some of the prompts of the IronTomeAThon as well :-)

These are the prompts I'll be reading books for:

(As usual, I've given myself options!)

King's Landing:

A book about or involving royalty, politics or government.

*Half a King by Joe Abercrombie.

*King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.

*Malice by John Gwynne.

Oldtown:

A book about or involving an institution 

of knowledge or training.

*Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

*Red Sister by Mark Lawrence.

Valyria:

A book about or involving dragons.

*The Red Knight by Miles Cameron.

Asshai:

A dark/grimdark or urban fantasy.

*Half a King by Joe Abercrombie.

*King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.

*Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson.

I'm very excited to combine these two readathons :-)

Will you be participating in either or both readathons? Let me know in the comments.

Apparently, my summer break reading will consist mostly of readathon books because in August I'll be taking my NEWTs :-)

Bye for now

Annelies

Medieval-A-Thon TBR

Hi booklovers

I have only one more week of the schoolyear left and then I have a two month break in which I'm going to spend a whole lot of my time reading :-)

That's why I was over the moon when Holly over at HollyHeartsBooks on BookTube announced her Medieval-A-Thon readathon.

This is a month-long readathon which will take place from the 1st of July 'till the 31st of July.

There are different prompts with which you can build your own armour. You can also choose your weapons and raise your nobility the more you read.

I made these pages for my book bujo and every time I finish a book, I'll colour in the corresponding clothing item or weapon.

As usual I'm going to give myself some choices for most of the prompts, just to make sure I feel like reading at least one of the books.

Since taking the photos this week, I've already made some changes.

Hopefully I'll be able to read 10 books, but I might end up using one book for two prompts. We'll see.

Now on to the TBR.

Build your armour:

Crown:

A book where a character fights for the throne.

*Half a King by Joe Abercrombie.

*King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.

*Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake.

Helmet:

A book with a dragon on the cover.

*The Red Knight by Miles Cameron.

Breastplate:

A shiny book.

*Legendary by Stephanie Garber (this would be a reread).

Leggings:

A thick paperback.

*Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson.

*The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks.

*The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks. (I still need to get this one.)

*Malice by John Gwynne.

*The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett.

(*King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence)

(*The Red Knight by Miles Cameron)

Boots:

A book that has yellowed over time.

At first I didn't know which book would fit this prompt, but when I took the photo for the previous prompt I noticed that the edges of Malice have yellowed.

Cloak:

A book with red on the dust jacket.

*Finale by Stephanie Garber.

*Red Sister by Mark Lawrence.

Choose your weapon(s):

Sword:

A book with something pointy on the cover.

*Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell (there is a slight possibility that I (re)read this before the readathon starts).

(*Malice by John Gwynne)

(*King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence)

(*Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson)

(*The Red Knight by Miles Cameron)

Daggers:

A book with assassins.

*Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (this would also be a reread in preparation of the release of Darkdawn).

(*Red Sister by Mark Lawrence)

*Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence (if I've read Red Sister for another prompt).

Bow and arrow:

A book with elves.

This will probably be the prompt I won't get to.

*De Elfen by Bernhard Hennen (this one is in Dutch).

Axe:

A book with mercenaries.

*Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames (I still need to get this one as well).

(*Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell (if I haven't read it before the readathon).

*Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell.

As for the nobility, I'm aiming for Queen which means I need to read 6 or more books. We'll see how it goes, because a lot of the books I can choose from fit the 'Leggings' prompt because they are over 500 pages.

Are you interested in taking part in this readathon? Any recommendation on which of these I should definitely read or pick up first?

Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now.

Annelies

Beat the Backlist - reading challenge.

Hi booklovers

I've been trying for a couple of years now to lower my TBR and I may have found the perfect challenge to help me with that: the Beat the Backlist Challenge. This challenge is created and hosted by Novelknight.

The aim of this challenge is to read books that were published before 2019. You can find the blogpost about this challenge here. 

The #OfWonderland bookclub on Goodreads is partnering with this challenge and the aim is to read 100 backlist books in total. 

I still have 160+ books on my TBR, so technically, all of these could count for this challenge. Alas, I'm not able to read 160 books in one year, so I'm going to make a selection of books that are 'highest' on my TBR. Fingers crossed that putting these books on this list doesn't have its usual effect on me: loosing interest in the books.

Without further ado, here's my very tentative list I want to choose from (I know from experience that if I pledge to read 15 backlist books and only put 15 on the list, I'm going to fail. So 'giving myself options' is the way to go for me!):

*The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie

*The Hazelwood - Melissa Albert

*The Cruel Prince - Holly Black

*Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake

*The Painted Man - Peter V. Brett

*The Furies of Calderon - Jim Butcher

*The Red Knight - Miles Cameron

*Priestess of the White - Trudi Canavan

*Spellwright - Blake Charlton

*The Last Namsara - Kristen Ciccarelli

*Spellslinger - Sebastien de Castell

*Knight's Shadow - Sebastien de Castell

*Even the Darkest Star - Heather Fawcett

*Malice - John Gwynne

*The Mad Ship - Robin Hobb

*King of Thorns - Mark Lawrence

*Clariel - Garth Nix

*The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett

*The Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson

*Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson

*The Way of Kings (pt 1) - Brandon Sanderson

*The Crown Tower - Michael J. Sullivan

*The Way of Shadows - Brent Weeks

Putting together this list has made me realise that some of these books have been on my TBR for several years now. I think it's high time I read them!

Any suggestions about which of these I should read sooner rather than later?

Will you be taking part in the challenge? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

ABC Book Challenge - A.

Hi booklovers

It's safe to say it's been a while since I posted anything on my blog.

I saw this challenge on Thrice Read blog, you can take a look at it here. 

For this challenge you take a look at the most memorable books you've read that start with a certain letter of the alphabet and the books with that letter that are still on your TBR.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

My most memorable reads - A:

- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Caroll

- A Thousand Pieces of You & A Million Worlds With You - Claudia Gray

- Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb 

- ACOMAF and ACOWAR - Sarah J. Maas 

- Amy & Roger's Epic Detour - Morgan Matson

- Abhorsen - Garth Nix

- The Amber Spyglass - by Philip Pulman

Books still on my TBR - A:

- Antrax - Terry Brooks 

- Angelfall - Susan Ee 

- Abraham Licoln, Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame Smith

- A Crown of Swords - Robert Jordan 

- The Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson

Do you see any of your favourites? Let me know in the comments.

Next time - the letter B.

Bye for now

Annelies

TBR readathon - Announcement + TBR

Hi booklovers

I know I said in the past that readathons and I don't get along at all, but then I came across this two month long TBR readathon, created by Irina from Beautiful Pages. You should definitely check out her channel! 

You can find her announcement video here. 

The readothon starts on Sunday the 13th of May, and finishes on Sunday the 8th of July.

Challenges

There are 9 challenges:

1. Read a book from a series you're in the middle of.

2. Read a book you own for a while.

3. Read a book you got recently. 

4. Read a short book.

5. Read a long book (over 500 pages or around that).

6. Read a book you're excited about. 

7. Read a book out of your comfort zone (or a book from a genre you don't normally read).

8. Read a book with a beautiful cover. 

9. Read 12 books It is preferable if you choose 9 different books for the challenges and then have other 3 books of your choice :)

TBR's are dangerous for me because as soon as I put a book on a (readathon) TBR I tend to lose interest in it. Plus, I'm a mood reader.

So, to counteract that I decided to write down a number of books for each challenge, that way I have ample choice and don't put myself in a slump.

TBR

1. Read a book from a series you're in the middle of.

*Royal Assassin - The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb (I've just reread the first book 'Assassin's Apprentice' so I can continue with the trilogy).

*The Alloy of Law -  The Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson.

*The Invasion of the Tearling - The Tearling trilogy by Erika Johanssen (I'm rereading The Queen of the Tearling at the moment).

2. Read a book you own for a while. 

For this I could actually choose almost every book on my TBR, but I've narrowed it down... All of these books have been on my TBR for more than a year.

*Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.
*The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken.

*Stars Above by Marissa Meyer.
*The Lies of Locke Lamore by Scott Lynch (I might pick this one up in May because the theme for the #OfWonderland bookclub is 'Books everyone has read but me').
*Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (I actually started this a few years ago, but I couldn't get into the story. I do want to give it another try, though.)

*The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (although it's more likely that I will choose this book for challenge number 5).

*The Crown Tower by Michael J. Sullivan.

*Spellwright by Blake Charlton.

*Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan (this trilogy is one of the trilogies I've had on my TBR the longest ) 

3. Read a book you got recently.

*Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi (that is if I can reread the original trilogy).

*A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas (I preordered this, but it still hasn't arrived. Fingers crossed it arrives this week).

The next ones are books I still need to order, so I'm not sure if I'll get them in time:

*Legendary by Stephanie Garber.

*Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody.

*Lifelik3 by Jay Kristoff.

The next one I've won in a giveaway by Lisa from lisaswestcoatreads and I chose this one. Hopefully it will arrive in time.

*Thunderhead by Neil Shusterman.

4. Read a short book.

*The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchet.
*The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling.
*Lock & Key Volume 2 by Joe Hill(if I can reread volume 1).

*Transmetropolitan Volume 3 by Warren Ellis.

*Quiditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp (J.K. Rowling). I recently got the audiobook for this one.
 

5. Read a long book (over 500 pages or around that).  

*Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan (if I don't choose this for the 2nd challenge).

*Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb (book 3 in the Farseer trilogy).

*The Way of Kings part 1 by Brandon Sanderson.
*Malice by John Gwynne (another one I picked up quite a while ago but I put it down again and I didn't feel like continuing at that time)

*The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks.

6. Read a book you're excited about.

*Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.
*Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi (again, if I don't chose them for a different challenge)
*Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (although I'm more likely to pick this for the beautiful cover challenge).

7. Read a book out of your comfort zone (or a book from a genre you don't normally read).

Classics

*Emma by Jane Austen.

*Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

Historical Fiction
*The Lady Risks All by Stephanie Laurens.

*The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee.

8. Read a book with a beautiful cover.

*Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (I might pick this one up for the #OfWonderland bookclub this month too).

9. Read 12 books: it is preferable if you choose 9 different books for the challenges and then have 3 other books of your choice :)

I'm going to try and choose different books for each challenge and then read three more and I will probably choose them from the ones listed above. That will depend on how well my reading is going and if I'm enjoying the books I'm reading.

How do you feel about readathons? Let me know in the comments.

Feel free to join us :-)

Bye for now

Annelies

Series I want to continue/finish in the upcoming months - Update.

Hi booklovers

A couple of months ago I did a post about the trilogies/series I wanted to continue/finish in the upcoming months.

Let's take a look at that list:

1) Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Since doing the post I reread the first two books in this trilogy so that I could read the third book.

*Snow Like Ashes - 4 stars (I actually lowered my original rating from 4.5 stars)

*Ice Like Fire - 3 stars (Again, I lowered my original rating from 4.5 stars) I had such a hard time to finish this book, but I wanted to push through because I wanted to read the third book.

*Frost Like Night - 4 stars. I found this to be a good conclusion to the trilogy.

I'm glad I finished this trilogy and overall I did really enjoy it - despite not liking the second book all that much.

2) Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

When writing the original post I was going to reread the first three books in the series and then continue with the other books. I would have finished this series, because I had pre-ordered the final book from bookdepository and it was set to be released at the beginning of December. However, the release date was pushed back (or it was listed incorrectly on bookdepository, I don't really know). I got the book last week and I plan on reading it very soon.

*Falling Kingdoms - 4 stars

*Rebel Spring - 4 stars

*Gathering Darkness - 4.5 stars

*Frozen Tides - 4.5 stars

*Crystal Storm - 4.5 stars

I'm enjoying the series very much (even though Cleo and Magnus annoyed the hell out of me sometimes) and I can't wait to read Immortal Reign.

3) The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johanssen

I haven't reread the first book but I would like to do that this year and hopefully finish the trilogy.

4) Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

I reread the first book in February of 2017, but I haven't continued on with the series. Maybe I will this year, since the final book is coming out later this year.

 

 

 

5) The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson

I've read two books of the original trilogy and hopefully I will read the third one next month or in April.

*The Final Empire - 5 stars (reread)

*The Well of Ascension - 5 stars. 

I absolutely love these books they are so detailed and the magic system is very unique.

At the beginning of the year I started a new series because of the buddyread for the Of Wonderland bookclub on Goodreads and that is:

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

I've only read The Raven Boys and I wasn't overwhelmed by it (3.5 stars), but I am going to continue the series because I was intrigued by the premise. I don't own the other books yet, though.

There is one trilogy I apparently didn't include in my original post and I have no idea why because I really enjoyed the first book and I definitely want to continue with the trilogy.

The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies