A New Name!!

Two posts on a Monday? Well I felt like I should explain, I’ve changed my online bookish name!! For the past…however many years I’ve gone by Autumn of Pellinor on the bookternet. I’m not making any huge changes but from now I’ll be going by Abi of Pellinor! Abi is my real name and I feel like it’s just time for me to have that rather than having people calling me Autumn and me feeling awkward and also just cause… it’s me!

When I first made all my accounts I was worried about people in my “real” life finding out, but now pretty much everyone knows. In fact my brand new avatar was drawn by my best friend!! (she also did the one I had before, they’re both amazing) These accounts are all me, every weird, annoying, bookish aspect of me!

So… Hi! My name’s Abi. Nice to meet you 🙂

Learning how to handle Ancient Roman slaves

 

I picked this book up years ago, probably in 2016. I’ve only just gotten around to it which is ridiculous, as I knew from the second that I picked it up in the shop that I would love it. This is the work of a lot of research by Jerry Toner, who has looked at the different practices across the times of the Roman Empire and written about them as Marcus Sidoneous Flax, an imaginary Roman slave owner who gives you advice on how to control your possessions. Jerry interrupts at the end of every section to talk about these bits of advice from a modern mindset.

This is incredibly interesting if you at all are interested in how slaves were treated in Ancient Rome, how they could become freedmen, and how they got into that situation. It’s a very quick read and I really enjoyed it throughout. I love the concept and the approach that Toner took to this book, which I think is really unique and I’d love to see it used for more historical situations to bring them into the modern mindset.

I definitely recommend this and I’d love to know if any more of you have read this!

A Small Hiatus!!

Hey guys! So there is going to be a wee bit of a gap between this and my next blog post. If you follow me on other platforms then you’ll likely know that I’m currently doing a Masters degree (in Geological and Environmental Hazards if you care) and right now is crunch time. I’ve had a little backlog/schedule of posts to be going up for a while, but I review my books as I read them and I haven’t read anything since as my thesis is taking up the majority of my time.

My thesis should be finished up by mid-September and my last assignment finishes up on the 20th September, so there should hopefully be some new posts coming in by October, and maybe even some more videos!!! I’ve missed doing this so so much but this Masters is the most important thing in my life rn (seriously, my so is in hospital after breaking 4 ribs and puncturing their lung but can I go visit? Nope! Need to work – well… he’s there at time of writing… I really hope he’s still not there by the time this posts…but anyways)

For those who have stayed with me I am so so grateful, knowing that I have you guys whenever things get a little too rough has been amazing. To those who have just found me/dip in and out, I hope you enjoy the increase in content in a few months and that my little backlog of posts and videos has been entertaining!

Thank you again, now it’s time to go write some more about a volcanic eruption from 1944. If you can guess which one it is comment below!!

I’ve Opened an Etsy!!

I’ve been looking at doing this for a while now, and I’m so happy I’ve finally done it! I have opened up an Etsy shop! My store has downloadable pdf’s also known as printables (although you can use them digitally) which are there to help you track your reading, your purchases and inspire you!

Before we get started, I should say that I have cropped down all of these photos to highlight the parts I’m mentioning.

I know that I find it all too easy to lose track of how much I’m spending on books. One here, three there, and all of a sudden I’ve spent more money than I can afford to! To help myself with this, I write down each book I purchase and how much it cost me. Just simply making myself aware of this can really help me to stop mindlessly spending (no matter how much I want that book!!)

I have the sheets available in Pounds (GBP), Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), and Yen (YEN) and if you require a different currency you can message me and I’ll do my best to accommodate you.

 

I can also find myself putting reading to the wayside when I get busy, or simply distracted, which is why I make myself monthly reading trackers. They allow me to note down how many pages I read each day and personally, I find it encourages me to keep going each day and reading more.

I have a variety of different page numbers available, from 50 to 1000, so that readers of all speeds and those who have more or less time can track how much they get to more effectively. Further up the page these printables also have a place to track your tbr and what you get around to reading within the month.

I also like to write up a bit of a review after I read a book, it helps for if there are sequels in the future (which I can take a bit of a while to get around to!) so that I remember key events and also just allows me to more accurately reflect on a book.

As I also fill in a pdf for the year of my reads this also helps me keep a track of the data that I need to fill this in. There is currently only one file format for this, but again if you’d like some alterations then please do message me and I’ll do what I can for you.

 

 

Finally, I will also have some reading challenges up there sometime soon! I’m thinking of hosting them on the blog and also my youtube channel at some point in the future, so the challenges themselves will be freely available to anyone. The sheets are just there if you’d like to do the challenges on your own time before I post them or if you’d like a place to write them down. There are four different challenges, ranging from a basic one to ones which are more difficult and specific to fulfill.

Each challenge sheet has 10 challenges, an area to write the book you used to fulfill it (if needed) and a box to mark it off!

I do hope that you’ll have a look at my store (link here), any money that I do make will be helping me along in getting my Masters. As I’m sure you all know, higher education doesn’t come cheap in many countries and sadly the UK is one of them so every penny counts! I hope you enjoy my products and I’ll see you tomorrow, 1800 GMT for my next book review!

 

Midnight by Derek Landy

I have been reading this series for years now. I first read them by borrowing them from my middle school library, and then my mum got me the first 3 paperbacks (all that was out at the time) for Christmas. Since then I have gotten every single book within a week of its release date and I’ll be honest I’m completely biased and love all of these books. This urban fantasy world has been built so well and I’ve enjoyed the way that Landy has managed to keep the books relevant to his older readers since the series first started and also relevant to the children finding the books today.

In the eleventh book in the series, Val is back and her little sister Alice is in danger. She’s been kidnapped in order to lure Valkyrie into a fight, and she’s running straight for it. We have Omen back in this book again, and I enjoyed his contribution. We don’t need everyone to be a badass! Sometimes it’s great to see how someone like us would react (because let’s be real, no matter how much I wish I was Val, I’m definitely an Omen) in this world of madness and magic.

Some people aren’t enjoying this revived series, which to be honest I hadn’t seen until I was writing up this review. I have never actually checked the internet that deeply for skulduggery related content, and I was kind of surprised to see the negativity from fans. But I also understand it, the series definitely has a different feel in this “new” series, and it did also feel like it had been rushed to completion. But I still really enjoyed being back in this world and devoured this book in one sitting, so if you like the world Landy has built I do definitely recommend still picking this one up.

If you’ve never read a Skulduggery Pleasant book then what are you waiting for? It’s a book about magic, a skeleton detective and a young girl in Ireland. It’s awesome!

December Wrap Up| 2018

I set my tbr as four books this month, and as per I deviated pretty early on. So let’s get into what I actually read in December! If you’d rather watch this in video format (with closed captions) then click here to go to my YouTube channel.

Five Go Gluten Free by Bruno Vincent -> 3/5*

This parody of Blyton’s well-loved Famous Five was a fun and quick little romp. I adored the original books as a child and it’s fun to see the group brought into the modern day and dealing with the most random of problems.

Five Give Up the Booze by Bruno Vincent -> 2/5*

Seeing as I read the book above so quickly I thought I’d get through this one as well. I did have a bit of a problem with one section, which is why it dropped a star, however, it’s also a fun little parody and I look forward to reading more from this mini-series.

Other Words for Smoke (sampler) by Sarah Maria Griffing -> 4.5/5*

25 pages and I’m hooked! I am so excited for the full book to be released so I can become fully immersed within this amazing world. Thank you Titan Books for the sampler!

The Devouring Gray (sampler) by Christine Lynn Herman -> 4/5*

Another sampler I was very kindly sent by Titan Books, another 25 pages and another book I am super excited for in 2019! This is also going on my tbr!

 

Enemy of the State, pt. 2 of 6 by Millar, Romita Jr., and Janson -> 2/5*

Honestly, I wasn’t that keen on this. I think I just don’t like comics as they’re too short and I don’t get enough of the story in one go. I don’t have any more comics in my tbr that I own so this is the last one.

Game of Thrones by George RR Martin -> 4/5*

I finally read it!! Finally!! This is a chunker of a book at over 800 pages, and I’ll be honest, when I tried to read this book before watching the show I just couldn’t get into it. There was too much for my little brain. But now that I’m completely up to date with the show (and in love with it) it was much easier to get through this book and I ended up really enjoying it.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens -> 5/5*

Starting Christmas Eve, and finishing Christmas Day, I read this little classic novella from Dickens. This was such an entertaining little book that I really enjoyed and I’m glad I’ve finally read the original after seeing various adaptations over the years. It was also a lovely way to spend Christmas Day.

Little Moments of Love by Catana Chetwynd -> 4/5*

My lovely boyfriend gifted me with this book for Christmas, and I read it on Christmas day! We always send Catana’s comics to each other and this was such a sweet and thoughtful gift from him.

Legend by Marie Lu -> 3.5/5*

It took me a while, but once I got into this book I flew through it! I was tempted to give it 4*s but it doesn’t quite match up to other books I’ve given that rating. But, overall I massively enjoyed it, I even enjoyed the romance! And I look forward to carrying on with this trilogy in the future.

And that’s it! I should have read The Mime Order, and who knows. Maybe by some magic, I’ll read it tonight, but being realistic I won’t finish it this year. Ah well! That’s my last wrap up of 2018! It’s been a helluva year and I’m looking forward to 2019!

The Path to Modernity

Another book that I chose to read for Non-Fiction November, The Path To Change is an official biography of Pope Francis (the current pope) conducted through interviews with the author. I personally am not religious, but Pope Francis seems to be more in contact with the current social climate than previous popes and I was interested to hear his thoughts and learn a little more about him.

This book tells us a little about his background and childhood, where he started and how he has developed into the sort of man he is today, but the main focus of the interviews is his opinion of events today. How the Church communicates with its members, various political concepts which are hot topics and also opinions on morality. Although I found him repeating himself a lot (building bridges is a favourite topic of his), it was interesting to see what he thought about these topics and learn a little more about the head of the Catholic Church.

I won’t lie, this wasn’t the easiest of reads, the interview format does not lend itself to easy reading and the repetition, whilst emphasising points, did make me zone out a few times. However, I am glad that I have read this book and have learned more about an area of the world to which I am not connected.

I gave this book 3/5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for an ecopy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

Weird War Two, war is never normal

When I saw this title I just knew I had to pick it up, I already knew of some weird facts about WWII (a couple of which were in this book), but I was perfectly happy to add to my mental collection of odd facts. There were so many odd, and frankly unbelievable, rumours that spread around during this time, along with some very weird tactics used by both sides!

It’s a very short book, and I don’t want to spoil the oddities within, so there’s not much that I can talk about here. However, I will say that it is an interesting and easy read. There are weird facts from multiple different countries from within both the Allies and Axis, some are sad, some are silly and some are just interesting. If you at all care about WWII or want to widen your knowledge about it then this would be a good one to pick up.

I gave this book 3/5 stars, thank you to NetGalley for an ecopy of this book in return for an unbiased and honest review.

My October TBR!| 2018

After such a busy start to Masters life, I attempted to cut down my tbr for this month… I failed. But let’s have a look at what I couldn’t stop myself from adding to my list! I have done a video version of this on my YouTube channel, click here to go watch that! (It’s also my first video with Closed Captions, which I intend to add to every video I upload from now on. Making my content available to even more people!)

This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada

I was lucky enough to win a physical ARC of the second book in this series in a Twitter giveaway, but I’ve yet to read book #1! So this is definitely first up for this months tbr!

 

Hero at the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton

Book 3 in the Rebel of the Sands trilogy, I am so excited to finally get around to the final of the series!! This is also a book I’ve borrowed from the library and it has to be back by the 15th October… so this is a must!

 

A Promise Stitched in Time by Colleen Rowan Kosinski

If you’ve followed me for any time at all you know I love WWII literature. This cover seems to indicate this, and therefore I expect to really enjoy it! I hope this ends up being the case

 

This Cruel Design by Emily Suvada

Time for book 2! I put other books of different genres in between the reading of this series as I tend to meld books all into each other if I read a series in one big go. So I want to be able to differentiate whilst also reading before the publication date! That’s the plan, at least.

Weird War 2 by Richard Denham

This seems to be a book that talks about the funny and interesting aspects of WWII that aren’t very well know. I anticipate this being a quick and fun read

 

Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

I don’t actually aim to finish off this book this month, I just want to get another 100 pages in. Of course, I’d love to finish it but I’m still attempting to be realistic! But, who knows.

 

And that’s it! I don’t know if I’ll manage to get around to it all but I really hope so as this is a really interesting selection of books that promises to be a good reading month!!

Have you guys read any of these? And are you excited for This Cruel Design? I’m so excited to get to this series and I hope I love it!