WWW Wednesday: 8/28

Happy Wednesday everyone! What’s everybody been reading lately?

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Thing I’m Currently Reading

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

CURRENT STATUS: 20%

CURRENT FEELS: 🥱😒 (bored and annoyed – there’s something about the way this story is told (and how slow it’s being told) that’s getting to me; I’m probably going to DNF it)

The Thing I Most Recently Finished Reading

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

☆★ my review ★☆

The Thing(s) I’ll Probably Read Next

Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie: This has been on my radar since it came out this April. It’s kind of been floating in the back of my mind, but it’s also been a bit forgotten about. It’s also gotten a little lost in the shuffle of new releases that have been on my TBR lately. Nonetheless, I’m still interested in reading it!

Darker by Four by June C.L. Tan: This has also been on my radar since April – no, since March (it was actually on my second list of anticipated new books of 2024 that I posted this year). Actually, basically the same reasons for not reading it yet as Lake of Souls apply. I’m thinking I’ll read this after that one though.

Noragami: Stray Stories by Adachitoka: I’m gonna read this this week definitely, though I’m not sure if it’ll be before or after the other two books. Depends when I get ahold of it, I guess. I’ve followed and loved this series for like seven years, and I’m looking forward to the final volume at the end of the year, though I’ll be sad to see it finally end. (Yes, I know the ending has already been out for months. But I’ve managed to stay unspoiled and I want to keep it that way until I have the physical copy in my hands in December!)

What books has everyone been reading lately? What have you thought of them? What are you thinking of reading next?

Anyway, thank you to everyone for reading, and I hope that you have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday: 8/23

Been a couple of weeks again. Oh well…

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page
📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
📙 Finally… reveal the book!

Here’s the first line:

The first time Eliza Grey laid eyes on the baby was at dusk in a slow-moving boxcar on a rain-swept stretch of the line three miles west of Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk, England.

Don’t know? Here’s another hint for you if you need one. Or two.

Need to give it some more thought? Admire these beautiful pictures of books while you think about it…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro!!

(Didja guess it?)

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

SERIES: The Talents Trilogy #1

LENGTH: 660 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Historical, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Flatiron Books

RELEASE DATE: 7 June 2022

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

England, 1882. In Victorian London, two children with mysterious powers are hunted by a figure of darkness ―a man made of smoke.

Sixteen-year-old Charlie Ovid, despite a lifetime of brutality, doesn’t have a scar on him. His body heals itself, whether he wants it to or not. Marlowe, a foundling from a railway freight car, shines with a strange bluish light. He can melt or mend flesh. When two grizzled detectives are recruited to escort them north to safety, they are forced to confront the nature of difference, and belonging, and the shadowy edges of the monstrous.

What follows is a journey from the gaslit streets of London, to an eerie estate outside Edinburgh, where other children with gifts―the Talents―have been gathered. Here, the world of the dead and the world of the living threaten to collide. And as secrets within the Institute unfurl, Marlowe, Charlie and the rest of the Talents will discover the truth about their abilities, and the nature of the force that is stalking them: that the worst monsters sometimes come bearing the sweetest gifts.

With lush prose, mesmerizing world-building, and a gripping plot, Ordinary Monsters presents a catastophic vision of the Victorian world―and of the gifted, broken children who must save it.

What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

WWW Wednesday: 8/21

I’m so happy to be reading more books again. Sort of. Summer is weird for me – for some reason, I have trouble getting into and reading books. I dunno why. But it feels like it’s picking up again for me?

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Thing I’m Currently Reading

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

CURRENT STATUS: 25%

CURRENT FEELS: 🤔 (unsure…)

The Thing I Most Recently Finished Reading

The Girl With No Reflection by Keshe Chow

☆★ my review ★☆

The Thing I Might Read Next

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

This has been on my TBR since last year. It was even on my Christmas list, so I received a copy then. I just haven’t gotten around to reading it, unfortunately. But with the sequel, Bringer of Dust releasing next month, I’ve decided that I gotta get on this.

What books are you guys currently reading? Have you read any of the ones on my list this week? What did you think of them, if you had? How do you feel about the book(s) you’re reading now?

Anyway, thank you to everyone for reading, and I hope that you have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

WWW Wednesday: 8/7

It’s been… forever since I’ve participated in this post. Like, it’s been over half a year. Geez. I dunno why I dropped it for so long, though part of it was ’cause I was still doing Weekly Wrap-Ups at the time, so doing WWW Wednesday felt redundant when I was already recapping which books I read recently and planning on reading next for my wrap-ups.

But then I got burned out on that too, so I wasn’t doing either. Basically, what I’m trying to say, is that I’m gonna be doing this post pretty regularly again.

So yeah.

Anyway.

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Thing I’m Currently Reading

The Girl With No Reflection by Keshe Chow

CURRENT STATUS: 2%

CURRENT FEELS: 😁 (excited – this is one of my anticipated books from my July, Aug, Sept list)

The Thing I Most Recently Finished Reading

The Ghostkeeper by Johanna Taylor

☆★ my review ★☆

The Thing(s) I Might Read Next

A Prayer for the Crown Shy by Becky Chambers

A Prayer for the Crown Shy by Becky Chambers: This has been on my TBR for a few months, ever since I read its predecessor, but has been pushed around for a while. I think I might be in the mood for a smaller read next, though, so it’s here as a potential.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke: This is another that’s been on my radar for awhile – years in fact. But with the announcement of a movie produced by Laika, I’ve been reminded that it’s been buried in my TBR. It’s also shorter, so it’s also here for similar reasons as to A Prayer for the Crown Shy.

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro: This has been on my TBR since last year. It was even on my Christmas list, so I received a copy then. I just haven’t gotten around to reading it, unfortunately. But with the sequel, Bringer of Dust releasing next month, I’ve decided that I gotta get on this.

What books are you guys currently reading? Have you read any of the ones on my list this week? What did you think of them, if you had? How do you feel about the book(s) you’re reading now?

Anyway, thank you to everyone for reading, and I hope that you have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: December 2023

So. Confession time: this is not much of a reading wrap-up. In fact, it can hardly be considered one at all. But seeing as this has been an uninterrupted monthly tradition for me since starting activity on this blog in 2022, I feel compelled to do a variation. Like, it feels wrong for me not to, even though I have basically nothing to show for my reading in December 2023.

Last month, I attempted to read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, and I got about a quarter through it (around 220 pages or so) before I decided that I wasn’t going to be able to get into it. And I figured I’d have to DNF it before I fell into a reading slump or something. Well, I guess I was a bit too late for that, haha. Cuz, uh, I ended up in a reading slump. Nice going me.

So yeah, I didn’t really do any reading, unfortunately. (With actual novels – fanfiction was a whole nother story in December.) But I’m gonna talk about my failures last month anyway. So here’s my stats from The StoryGraph from December 2023.

December 2023 Reading

Parts of 2 different books and approximately 300 pages (but no books finished)

Moods 😐, Pace 👢, and Page Number 🔢

GENRES 🎭, Format 📄, and Fiction/Nonfiction 📖

Books I Read (Parts of) in December

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So yeah, quite frankly, I sucked last month; both with my book reading and my blogging. And I’m determined to do better this month. Though it hasn’t yet, hopefully I’ll have a strong start here in 2024. I have some books on my TBR that I’m looking forward to somewhat, and a few anticipated releases in the first quarter of this year.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a good day/night!

See ya ~Mar