Top Ten Tuesday #1 – 10 Most Recent Additions to My To-Read List

Welcome to my first ever Top Ten Tuesday! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and this week’s topic is the 10 most recent additions to my to-read list.

• Noumenon – Marina J. Lostetter

I stumbled upon this in my local book shop recently and the blurb stood out to me so much I immediately bought the book despite never having heard of it before, which is not something I often do these days.

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

This is a book I’ve known about since I was a child, but have just never got around to reading it. As a huge science fiction fan, I feel like I really need to read this book.

• The Warrior’s Apprentice – Lois McMaster Bujold

This book is part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and it’s the first of several books following a protagonist called Miles Vorkosigan. This has been mentioned and recommended several times at the book club I go to as a really good sci-fi series.

• Ninefox Gambit – Yoon Ha Lee

I can’t remember where I first heard of this book, but I’m pretty sure it was somewhere online. The blurb sounds very interesting and I love a good space opera.

• Throne of Jade – Naomi Novik

Throne of Jade is the sequel to Temeraire, which I recently finished and absolutely adored.

• Dune – Frank Herbert

This is another very, very popular sci-fi novel I keep seeing and hearing about, and I know I really need to get around to reading it at some point.

• Mirage – Somaiya Daud

I found this book on Goodreads recently and I was intrigued by the fact that it combines both fantasy and sci-fi.

• Ascension – Jacqueline Koyanagi

Ascension is another book I discovered online when I was looking for book recommendations, it definitely seems like something I would enjoy.

• Swordspoint – Ellen Kushner

This was another novel recommended at the book club I go to, at first I wasn’t sure if it would be something I’d be interested in reading, but after investigating further on Goodreads I’ve decided to add it to my to-read list.

• V for Vendetta – Alan Moore

This is a graphic novel I’ve been wanting to read for many years but for some reason never got around to adding it to my to-read list until recently. I’ve read a couple of other works by Alan Moore (Watchmen and The Killing Joke) and really enjoyed them, so I’m sure I’ll like this too.

Have you read any of these books before? If so, which ones would you recommend me prioritising? Let me know in the comments!

2019 Reading Goals

Since this is a brand new blog and a new year began recently (did 2018 just fly by for anyone else?), I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to set some reading and blogging goals for the year ahead:

SEQUELS

One really bad habit of mine is how I will start the first book series, really enjoy it and buy the sequel, then for some strange reason I never get round to reading it even though I really want to? I have absolutely no idea why I do this, but in 2019 I’m determined to combat it. So, I’ve set myself a challenge of sorts to read at least five sequels of books I’ve really enjoyed. These are the books I have in mind, in no particular order:

• A Gathering of Shadows – V.E. Schwab. This book continues the Shades of Magic storyline after A Darker Shade of Magic. I absolutely loved the world-building in this series and the first book immediately cemented itself as one of my favourite novels. I actually read the first chapter of this book last summer but got distracted and unintentionally abandoned it. I’m determined to finish it this year though.
• The Masked City – Genevieve Cogman. This is the second book in The Invisible Library series, I absolutely adored the first book, it had everything I could possibly want in a novel: librarians, dragons and steampunk. I immediately went out to buy The Masked City after I finished it, but it has been sat on my shelf unread for about three years now. Terrible, I know.
• Caliban’s War – James S.A. Corey. Caliban’s War is the second book in the science fiction The Expanse series. I actually read the first book, Leviathan Wakes, not too long ago since it was chosen at one of the book clubs I go to, but I’m very keen to get stuck into the sequel as soon as possible, especially since The Expanse series currently has eight novels, with the ninth due to release in the summer, so I have a lot of catching up to do.
• Hollow City – Ransom Riggs. Hollow City is the second book in the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series. I read Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children about two and a half years ago and I loved how different it was and how Riggs used old photographs he had found to set the mood of the book. Like with The Masked City, I also immediately bought Hollow City after finishing the first book, but it has also been sat on my shelf unread for a long time now.
• The Tropic of Serpents – Marie Brennan. This book is the second in The Memoirs of Lady Trent series, and follows the adventures of dragon naturalist Lady Isabella Trent. I found the first book to be really charming and I really enjoyed seeing Lady Trent’s character develop, so I’m interested to see where the next book takes her.

NEW SERIES

I’ve been wanting to start some series for the first time this year, all of them I have heard of for some time but I’ve just never got around to starting.

• Discworld – Terry Pratchett. I’ve been wanting to start this series for over ten years now, but have always been intimidated by the sheer number of books Terry Pratchett wrote for this series, as well as the fact most people said to not start with the first book he published. After hearing some recommendations, I’ll most likely be starting with either Guards! Guards! or Going Postal.
• Grishaverse – Leigh Bardugo. I first heard of this series around the time Six of Crows was first published, and have been intrigued ever since. I currently own Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows, but I have started with the former since it was chosen at the book club I go to.
• Wayfarers – Becky Chambers. I first spotted The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet in my local book shop, as both the cover and the title really stood out to me and I’ve been wanting to read the series ever since.

OTHER GOALS

My other book/reading related goals include:

• Read at least 25 books. I just about managed 20 books in 2018, and I barely read anything during the first six months since I was so busy with university. Ideally, I’d like to read more than 25, but I’d rather not put too much pressure on myself, especially since I have my dissertation to do this year (gulp).
• Review books that I read. This is of course the reason I started this blog, and I really want to get into regularly reviewing books that I read. Hopefully I’ll be able to achieve this in 2019!
• Read more science fiction. I’m a huge fan of science fiction, particularly movies, tv shows and video games, but for some reason I’ve barely read any sci-fi novels. I’m not really sure why, but after reading Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey and Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel last year for the book club I go to and really, really loving them, I realised that there’s a whole genre of books that I’ve yet to properly sink my teeth into. So I’ll definitely be making an effort to choose more science fiction in 2019.

What are your reading goals for 2019? Let me know in the comments!

WWW Wednesday #1 – 16th January 2019

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words and asks bloggers to answer three questions:

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

Review: Sleeping Giants – Sylvain Neuvel

Sleeping Giants is the first book in the Themis Files series by Sylvain Neuvel. The story follows scientist Dr. Rose Franklin and her team, who are tasked by the government with researching a mysterious giant hand that Franklin had quite literally stumbled into as a child, deep beneath the earth. As the story goes on, other body parts are discovered, which raises questions as to what this giant is and where it came from.

WHAT I LIKED

Sleeping Giants is different from many other works of fiction as the story is pieced together through various ‘files’, including interviews, phone transcripts and journal entries. This was one of the main things that I enjoyed reading in this story, as I had never read anything like it before.

I finished the book in about three days, which is incredibly unusual for me (I usually take at least a couple of weeks, but more often than not around a month to finish a book) and it’s definitely a credit to how gripping the book is. As the story progressed, I found it harder and harder to put the book down as the files continued to be left on cliffhangers and I just had to know what happened next. Without spoiling anything, there were several plot twists in the book which genuinely made my jaw drop (I’m sure those who have read the book will know what events I’m talking about), and I didn’t see them coming at all.

My favourite characters were Rose and Kara, and I really enjoyed seeing their characters develop throughout the story. I also liked the unnamed interviewer’s character, and how his identity remains a mystery to both the characters and the reader throughout the story.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

To be honest, the book didn’t turn out to be entirely what I was expecting, which was a bit disappointing. Without spoiling it too much, I was hoping there would be more story surrounding what exactly happened immediately after Dr. Franklin first discovered the hand, and then more of a focus on the origins of the giant itself. Instead, a lot of the book seemed to deal with the international response surrounding the giant’s discovery, which I found a bit tiresome to read after a while.

As I said before, Dr Franklin was the most intriguing character to me, but it felt like her character took a back seat for the majority of the book in favour of other characters. While I liked the other characters, and found them and their relationships to one another intriguing, I was more interested in Rose and her connection with the giant so I felt disappointed by the lack of content surrounding that. Particularly as the blurb was so focused on Rose.

VERDICT

Overall, I would give the book 4/5 stars. While it was not entirely what I was hoping for, I nonetheless still really enjoyed the story, and it’s not too often where I come across a book which I simply can’t put down. I have already bought the sequel, Waking Gods and intend on reading and reviewing it soon. There’s still so many questions left unanswered at the end of Sleeping Giants which I hope will be addressed in the next book.