I had copious plans for tackling my tbr pile at the beginning of this year. But then, alas, it was not to be. I was hit with a profound sense of not wanting to read a thing.
Yes, it was shocking to me too.
It was Gulliver’s Travels that had finished me off. Boy oh boy reading his scatologically obsessed moments put me off my food my life everything reading. I felt bruised and tired and done, just done with reading and books and anything that Jonathan Swift had written.
The future stretched before me, devoid of literature and hollow, like a hollow drum that was also devoid of literature.
I was terribly close to composing a blog post full of laments and misery, but then, dear Reader, I found my grove again. A simple idle click of a book on my e-reader, one I’d bought yonks ago because I’d seen it on someone’s blog or vlog recommending it (was I influenced?) and six books later I was blinking into the light, like a newborn calf.
(I’ve never seen a calf’s birth but I assume they blink into the light.)
HIDDEN LEGACY
Blessings be upon Ilona Andrews for writing a series that grabbed me by the spleen and refused to let me go. It felt as though I was a teenager again, obsessing over a series. It’s a paranormal romance about a family who are just trying to run their PI business in a world of hugely powerful & magical humans, damn it! Can’t they do it in peace?! (No! Never!) Obviously the leads have magic themselves. Obviously they have SECRET! HIDDEN! POWER! and are loved by The Mostest Powerfulest Men Ever.
The first three books are based on the eldest sister, Nevada Baylor, and the second three are based on Catalina, her younger sister. And though I think I preferred the first three, the second half was still gripping.
It’s very family-centric & the world building and magic system are quite well formed, and I cheerfully suspended my disbelief for it all. And I’d do it again.
There are some passionate clothing ripping off Ikea-manual-esque scenes, which I skipped because listen I’ve read the A Court Of Thingy and Thing series and there’s only so much a mortal can take. (There are two new additions to that series coming out and should I go back to the fairy-schlong world? Do I dare?)
Mistakenly Saving the Villain Vol. 2
The world Feng Yu Nie created for this series is a really awful miserable unpleasant one. Song Qingshi has transmitgated into it so he’s stuck there. (Better him than me!) He has also unfortunately misunderstood the plot of this world and saved the villain instead of the hero! Gasp.
It had been a few months since I read the first volume so for the first few chapters I was puzzled by who was who. (It’s why sometimes I wait for a series to be done because reacquainting yourself with a book world sometimes feels like an exam that you’ve forgotten to study for.)
Will I continue this series? I’m not certain. I guess it depends on how long the next volume takes to be translated. Wow. How shallow!
The King’s Grave: The Search for Richard III
Okay. So I’m sure the Tudors worked really hard at their anti-Richard propaganda; it was in their best interests after all. And I’m also sure that Philippa Langley really loves Richard III and wants to clear his name, however …
This book feels a bit too biased in his favour? You know?
I thought having his handwriting analysed to prove his character was a bit much. That’s what I thought: ‘Hmm, this seems a bit much.’ (The deep depths of my thoughts cannot be plumbed.)
However, I read the whole thing over a series of breakfasts with porridge and decaf coffee and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The discovery of his body in the car park under the letter R felt almost miraculous and I have to hand it to Langley for absolutely battling through every obstacle to find him. It’s very admirable and her work has done a lot in exonerating his name from More and Shakespeare’s mudslinging etc etc.
While reading the book, I just couldn’t get the Horrible Histories song about him out of my mind, which I shall leave here for your enjoyment:
“he’s a nice guy”
of words & books 