Books I Loved So Much I Had to Get a Copy for My Personal Library

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. I’m amused with how surprisingly difficult I found this week’s prompt to be, as it seemed an easy one to provide ten books for, but I tend to buy the books that I read so much that it’s rare for me to read a book that isn’t already a part of my personal library. Nevertheless, after some digging, I was able to find some books that qualify, though some of them are repurchases of more worthy editions.Read More »

Books I Love That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts, but whenever I see one that I know I can easily answer I try to post one of my own. Initially, I started to be concerned that this will be a list not unlike a lot of others. In that vein, certain obvious answers aren’t being included here. I’m sure I don’t need to once again talk about how Far-Seer is among my favourite books. So, I followed this week’s topic to the letter, but tried to pick some books that I’m fond of but don’t immediately spring to mind, just to keep things interesting.Read More »

Book Review | The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a project by John Koenig that he has undertaken since 2009. Originally a blog and then a YouTube series, the author’s work culminated into this book, which was published in November of 2021. All of them created by the author, the book is a collection of new words and their definitions, which encapsulate emotions we all feel but have difficulty putting into words.

This review is going to be a little different from normal, as fiction/nonfiction is more typically my wheelhouse. I don’t feel I’m equipped to examine it more deeply as a reference book or a work of linguistics. However, I wanted to write a little something about this book anyway to share some of my feelings about it, so this is going to be a less formal review among my posts.Read More »

New Books & Novel Discoveries (July 2022)

I think for the first time ever I’m getting one of these up late. Unfortunate, but not the end of the world. I was on holidays last week, and though I was back home by the end of the week, I didn’t manage to set aside time to get this post in order. July was a hard month for a lot of personal reasons, so that little trip did me some good. Not going to let a post being a little late get me down.

Enough about this, on to the books!Read More »

Reading Challenge Update

This is a couple of weeks later than I ought to have put it up, but a lot of life has been happening, so I hope you can forgive me procrastinating this a smidge. I still want to get it up regardless, though, so it’s time to see where I’m at with my challenges with the year now half over.

Right off the bat, I’m not really where I want to be. Having been doing freelance editing work for almost a year now, I think it is safe to say it has a significant impact on my reading progress. I will have to re-evaluate my goals in the future, presuming that I continue to do this job long term, which I would like to do, but you never know what the future might hold.Read More »

Book Review | Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

SleepingGiants

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel is the first novel in the Themis Files series. Seemingly at random, a mysterious object of massive scale is found in a sinkhole in South Dakota after a young girl crashes her bike into it. Rescue crews working to get her out are baffled by the fact that she rests in a giant metal hand. Seventeen years later, the hand’s purpose and origins are still a complete mystery. Some can’t let secrets lie, however, and Dr. Rose Franklin, the girl who first stumbled upon the thing, is now a physicist who leads a top-secret team determined to uncover the truth. The work is challenging, but the object’s hidden power is greater than they could have imagined. As they get closer to unlocking its secrets, it becomes impossible to keep such a thing hidden from the world, which may not be ready for it.Read More »

New Books & Novel Discoveries (June 2022)

June was  a weirdly dizzying month. As per usual, I’m a little stunned that it’s finished already, but at the same time it felt oddly drawn out. I think the main thing making me feel this way is the fact that I feel stuck on the books I’m reading at the moment. This is the first time in a while I’ve gone through an entire month without finishing any of the books I’m in the middle of. I don’t dislike them or anything, so I’m troubled by this reading rut I’m in at the moment.

Anyway, enough disgruntled introspection. On to the new books!Read More »

New Books & Novel Discoveries (May 2022)

May was a surprisingly low-key month, especially compared to April. This was very nearly the first month since I’ve started writing these that I hadn’t purchased a new book at all, but I couldn’t resist letting one squeak through.

The greenery exploded into growth around where I live this month, which was a bit of a wonder to behold. At the start of the month, weather was still a bit chilly, keeping things brown and drab. The second the warm weather suddenly hit, it was like night and day. I hope this summer doesn’t get too unbearably hot too often.

Enough rambling, on to the books!Read More »

Book Review | A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons

A Black and Endless Sky

A Black and Endless Sky is a recently published horror novel by Matthew Lyons. In it, Jonah Talbot’s life has fallen apart. After 12 years of marriage, the love between him and his wife has simply faded away, and the two have finalized their divorce. Jonah is left with no choice but to leave California and move back home to Albuquerque, accompanied on his drive home by his sister Nell. The two of them used to be inseparable but became estranged after he suddenly left town and got married all those years ago. Now, they hope maybe they can start mending their relationship on this road trip home. However, the open road has more in store for them than they can fathom, as a bizarre incident at an abandoned construction site in the Nevada desert results in Nell’s body playing host to an ancient, otherworldly presence.Read More »