Beat the Backlist - reading challenge (April) check-in.

Hi booklovers

At the beginning of the year I committed myself to reading 24 books that were published before 2019.

Since it's already April, I thought it was time for a check-in.

It was actually going pretty well so I decided to up the amount of books I want to read from 24 to 30 (and I'm still 10 books ahead of schedule). Funny thing is my total GR goal for this year is 30. I'm not going to up that amount.

Out of the books I put on my Beat the Backlist TBR, let's see how many I've actually read:

*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 (I'm currently reading this one)

*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

Which backlist books have I read instead? These are in reading order.

*Alphas Like Us - Krista & Becca Ritchie
*Unravel Me - Tahereh Mafi
*Days of Blood and Starlight - Laini Taylor
*Saga volume 9 - Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
*The Mad Ship - Robin Hobb
*Fracture Me - Tahereh Mafi
*Sleeping Giants - Sylvain Neuvel
*Waking Gods - Sylvain Neuvel
*The Redemption of Callie and Kayden - Jessica Sorensen
*Dreams of Gods and Monsters - Laini Taylor
*Girls: conception - The Luna Brothers
*Gils: emergence - The Luna Brothers
*Ignite Me - Tahereh Mafi
*Only Human - Sylvain Neuvel
*Restore Me - Tahereh Mafi
*The Destiny of Violet & Luke - Jessica Sorensen
*Paper Girls - Brian K. Vaughan
*The Great Hunt - Wendy Higgins

Have I lowered my physical TBR? Nope, simply because I've been buying books, reading e-books, rereading books and listening to audiobooks :-s

I'm going to continue focusing on reading backlist books from my physical TBR. At the same time there are some series I want to continue, but I still need to get the next book(s).

I'll be checking in with this challenge again in July.

Have you been able to reduce your (physical) TBR yet this year?

Are there any books on my TBR you think I should get to first? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Book hauls revisited Jan - March '18

Hi booklovers

Last year I started taking a look at my book hauls from the previous years to see how many of those books I've read since then.

For some reason I stopped doing them in July last year, so I'm picking it back up for my 2018 hauls.

January

*The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

February

*Immortal Reign by Morgan Rhodes

*The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

*Angelfall by Susan Ee

March

*Unravel Me

*Unite Me

*Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

*Etched in Bone by Anne Bishop

*The Way of Kings pt 1 by Brandon Sanderson

*The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

*Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

*State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury

Out of the 11 books I bought and the 1 book I was gifted (Angelfall) I managed to read 6:

*Immortal Reign

*Unravel Me

*Unite Me

*Ignite Me

*Etched in Bone

*Ready Player One

Which of the unread books should I get to first? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Book Haul Dec. '18 - Jan. - March '19.

Hi booklovers

Let's take a look at the books I bought during the last couple of months.

At the very end of December I went bookshopping with a friend and we went to Waterstones Brussels and Sterling Books.

Here are the books that I got there:

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft

In January I bought only one book: Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody. I bought this secondhand from someone I follow on IG.

I didn't buy any books in February, but I did buy some in March:

Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor (which I've already read.)

The His Dark Materials box set by Philip Pullman. (Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) I've read these about 15 years ago for my dissertation, but the copies I had didn't match. Plus, I also found out that the first one was the American edition, which is apparently censored. So I wanted to get the matching UK editions and I have to say, they look stunning.

Which books did you get over the last couple of months? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

WWW Wednesday - April 17th

Hi booklovers

Today I thought I'd try something new :-)

"Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!"

I found this on Nadine's blog.

The Three Ws are: 

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently reading:

I'm actually reading three books at the moment.

Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell

I just started this one today and I'm reading it for my Transfiguration O.W.L.: book with a red cover or sprayed edges. This one actually has both.

I'm only 28 pages in so I can't really say all that much about it. I've read the first book in de Castells Greytcoats series and I loved that, so I'm curious about this one. I've heard some mixed things about it.

The Probability of Violet & Luke by Jessica Sorensen

This is the fourth book in the Coincidence series. Even though I mostly read fantasy books I'm sometimes in the mood for some (contemporary) NA (especially when I'm on a school holiday, because I tend to read past my bedtime when reading NA :-D ).

I usually like my NA to be of the angsty kind. However, I found the first two books in this series (about Callie and Kayden) to have just the right amount of angst, but book three (the first one about Violet & Luke) to be a bit too angsty. I'm curious to see where this one will go.

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

I'm listening to the audiobook of this one for my History of Magic O.W.L.: a book that was published 10 or more years ago.

I have about 10 hours left of the audiobook and I'm enjoying it very much. This is actually my second time listening to this book. I have a long history with this huge series. I started reading it about ten years ago but I didn't read the entire series back then. Three years ago I discovered audiobooks and I started listening to this series, but I never got past book 4. This year I really want to get further into the series, so I decided to relisten to the first books and then continue and finally finish this 14-books series.

Recently finished:

Shadow Me by Tahereh Mafi

This is book #4.5 in the Shatter Me series and it's the third novella in this series. I recently reread the original trilogy so I could finally read Restore Me and this one.

I really enjoyed seeing the events through Kenji's POV. We really got to see a different side of him and we got some backstory for him. I'm definitely picking up Defy Me.

I read this for my Potions O.W.L.: a sequel.

The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins

This one is completely different from the book by Robert Jordan. This is actually a retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Singing Bone”, which I actually don't know anything about.

This was a bit predictable at times (even though my guess for the ending was not correct) and it definitely has a couple of typical YA tropes.
I liked the interpretation of magic and I'll probably pick up the conclusion to the duology even though I'm a bit scared that it will be too focused on the romance.

(This is the review I wrote on Goodreads and when I first finished it, I went online to see if I could get the sequel. But now that a couple of days have passed, I'm feeling less inclined to get the sequel. We'll see how I feel about it in a couple of weeks/months.)

I read this for my Ancient Runes O.W.L.: a retelling.

 

What's next?

I am very much a mood reader, so predicting what my next read is going to be isn't easy for me. Since I'm still taking part in the O.W.L.s magical readathon for the rest of the month I'll probably read books that fit some of the prompts.

Maybe I'll go for

Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb

This is the third book in the Liveship Trades trilogy and I really want to know how the story ends. I love Hobbs writing and even though I'm a non-native English reader I have no trouble getting through these easily (I alternate between reading the physical book and listening to the audiobook).

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

This is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses. Theirs is a world in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren's capital city. A world transformed by a power based on an essence known as breath. Using magic is arduous as breath can only be collected one unit at a time.





So far, I've really enjoyed all the books I've read by Sanderson and I've heard this one is a lot of fun.

Both these books could go towards the Charms O.W.L.: age line: read an adult work.

The problem with these are that they are both chunky books and thus not ideal for readathons.

So I might pick up this one instead

Brieven van Marie (Letters from Marie) by Lize Feryn

This is in Dutch and it's a companion book to the Flemish tv-series called In Flanders Fields about World War I. The first book was Maries diary and this is a collection of letters Marie writes after the war has ended.

This one could go towards the Herbology O.W.L.: plant on the cover.

Have you read any of these books or are you planning to read any of them? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies



Anticipated releases April - June 2019.

Hi booklovers

Just like at the beginning of the year I'm going to take a look at the books I'm looking forward to in the months of April, May and June.

April

*2nd: Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi

I read Restore Me(#4) and Shadow Me(#4.5) for the O.W.L.s magical readathon and I'm curious to see how the story will continue.

May

*1st: One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence

This premise sounds really intriguing.

*7th: Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I already know that these two write awesome space stories. Hopefully this one will be up there with the Illuminae Files.

*9th: Finale by Stephanie Garber

Very excited to see how the story ends. I might do a reread of the first two before reading this one. I'm going to preorder the hardcover edition so it has the secret cover like the other two.

June

*11th: Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I remember really enjoying The Dark Elements trilogy by Armentrout. This is apparently a spin-off series so I'm going to give the first book a go.

Are any of these books on your anticipated releases lists as well or are there other books you are excited about? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Jan - Feb - March '19 wrap-up.

Hi booklovers

I just realised that I haven't posted any monthly wrap-ups this year.

So, today, I'm going to combine the January, February and March wrap-up.

* = Beat the Backlist reading challenge book

January

1) Lovers Like Us* - Becca and Krista Ritchie - 4 stars

2) Alphas Like Us* - Becca and Krista Ritchie - 4 stars

3) The Eye of the World* - Robert Jordan - 4 stars

4) Unravel Me* - Tahereh Mafi - 3 stars

5) In An Absent Dream - Seanan McGuire - 5 stars

6) Tangled Like Us - Becca and Krista Ritchie - 4 stars

7) Days of Blood and Starlight* - Laini Taylor - 5 stars

8) Saga Volume 9* - Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples - 5 stars

February

9) The Mad Ship* - Robin Hobb - 5 stars

10) Fracture Me* - Tahereh Mafi - 3.5 stars

11) Sleeping Giants* - Sylvain Neuvel - 4 stars

12) Waking Gods* - Sylvain Neuvel - 4 stars

March

13) The Redemption of Callie and Kayden* - Jessica Sorensen - 4.5 stars

14) The Risk - Elle Kennedy - 4.5 stars

15) Dreams of Gods and Monsters* - Laini Taylor - 5 stars

16) Girls: Conception* - the Luna brothers - 4 stars

17) Girls: Emergence* - the Luna brothers - 4 stars

18) Ignite Me* - Tahereh Mafi - 3.5 stars

I can honestly say that I've had three great reading months so far and I hope it will continue to be a great reading year.

How has your reading been so far? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Sequelathon wrap-up.

Hi booklovers

Yesterday was the last day of the #sequelathon, so here's my wrap-up.

This was my original TBR:

1) Read the sequel you've been putting of the longest: Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell.

2) Continue with a series that you started last year: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi or Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb.

3) Finish a series: Again: either Ship of Destiny or Ignite Me.


And this is my wrap-up:
1) Girls: Emergence by the Luna Brothers. I read the first volume back in 2017, so it's safe to say I've put off reading volume 2 for quite a while.

2) Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi. I finished this one yesterday morning. I'm glad I did, this way I can read Restore Me for one of my O.W.L.s.

3) Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel. I listened to the final book in the trilogy on my commute and while adulting. (Technically, I only finished it today, but I only had about an hour left of the audiobook, so I'm counting it.)

I'm definitely calling this readathon a success :-) Let's hope my O.W.L.s will be just as successful!

Bye for now

Annelies