September TBR| 2018

So I’m a little behind with this post, but I’m really not sure how to write it up! I’ll link my video version here, cause it’s easier to babble and explain that way. However, I’ll attempt to list at least the basics of what I’d like to read this month!

Let’s get going!

First up, I aim to finish my beta read of Jemahl Evan’s newest book in the Blandford Candy series. There’s no cover image for this book yet but I am excited to finally finish it up and give Jemahl my thoughts!

Aaru by David Meredith

This was sent to me as a review copy by the author, so I’d like to get around to this while I still have access to the physical copy. It’s a dystopian novel about the possibilities of a digital afterlife and the impacts that will have on society when it’s owned by a company.

The Empathy Problem by Gavin Extance

This book follows a banker who discovers he has a brain tumour, and after this he slowly starts to become more empathetic (where previously he had been uncaring). I absolutely loved The Universe versus Alex Woods, also from this author, so I’m excited for this one.

Truth Sister by Phil Gilvin

I got this book as an ARC at the NYAListFest at the beginning of the year and I didn’t manage to read it before the publication date, so this is one I would love to be able to get to!!

 

The Mystery of the Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah

This beauty (I mean look at it!) came out at the end of last month, and I got an ARC of it from NetGalley so I’d like to get around to it sometime soon. I’m a liiiitle behind on my arcs (I’m so far behind, please send help!)

 

The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry

According to Goodreads, this book is released in October. So maybe I could actually get to it before it’s pub date?! Probably not, but it’s the aim at least! Set in 1800s Edinburgh, there is murder afoot.

 

Time School by Nikki Young

This is a middle grade novel and is based around WWII so of course I need to read it. This should be a nice quick read as it’s only 129 pages long and aimed at a younger audience.

 

The End of Chiraq by Young Chicago Authors

This is a collection of modern poetry set in and based around Chicago. As a Brit I don’t know too much about this area so this should be an interesting read, and possibly another quick one as poetry usually flows quickly. We’ll see

 

So there it is, the main bulk of my September tbr! There are a few offshoots and random bits and pieces here and there that I mention a little more in my video, but this is the core, and is what is written down in my bullet journal! Fingers crossed I can complete this tbr this month. I really hope I can!

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, a review

My boyfriend read this book, incredibly quickly for him, and then brought it along when he came to visit (we’re long distance) in order for me to read it! So I decided this was going to be my 2nd book for the 7in7readathon. I am so so grateful that he did as I absolutely loved this! I have only read one of Gaiman’s works before, The Ocean at the End at the End of the Lane (click here for my review!), so I was excited to get back into some of his writing. I also haven’t read any Norse mythology before, and I absolutely love mythology from Romans and Egyptians so I was excited about expanding my horizons within this area! Due to me never having learned anything about these myths before, I can’t attest to their accuracy so if that’s what you’re looking for here you might want to try a different review. However, if you just want to know about the book itself then please stay! I’ll tell you more!

This book is told in shorter stories, which I didn’t realise at first, and they all link together really well. They create one larger story overall and follow on from each other well. It also meant that I got through this book pretty quickly, as I always tend to do with short stories, and made it absolutely fly by. This is unlikely to be a long read!

The book introduces you to every single character and doesn’t assume you know anyone, which is great for a newbie like me, but it also doesn’t linger on them for too long. As a Marvel fan, I know about a few of the Gods such as Thor, Loki, Odin and some more, but the explanations and introductions given to them didn’t feel overly long or imposing, so if you’re already acquainted with these individuals you shouldn’t have to wade through much unnecessary backstory.

Each story comes from the mythology already present, passed down through history, and Gaiman explains where he took liberties and his reasons for this. Again, allowing more knowledgeable readers to understand his process a little more whilst also explaining to newcomers what is happening here.

If you couldn’t tell, I really enjoyed this book. The stories were written beautifully and I love how they flow into one another, also this book cemented my dislike for Loki! However, I also absolutely loved how this book was put together, with the narration style, the explanations, the flow and more. Sadly there wasn’t the little spark I get with some books, so this book is “just” a 4.5/5* read for me. There is literally nothing wrong with it that I can think of! I definitely recommend and hope that you enjoy this book as much, or a little bit more, than I did!

BookTubeAThon 2018 TBR!

I originally did this TBR as a video (if you couldn’t tell by the thumbnail-esque picture) so if you’d like to watch that then click here!

This will be my first foray into BookTubeAThon, which is spanning the 30th July till the 5th August this year, and I am really excited to take part in as many of the YouTube and Instagram challenges as possible! It’ll be a bit of a test for me as my editing skills are still in development but I’m looking forward to the challenge!

There are 7 reading challenges every year, so I’ll go through each challenge and explain my book choices.

1. Coin toss – this challenge is for my book to be decided by the flip of a coin (which I am horrendous at!). I decided it would be picking between 2 geography books that I own, one from the modern day and one a textbook from the late 1940s. I’d love to read both of them, especially now that I’ve finished my geography degree, so either one is fine by me! I ended up flipping and getting the modern day book so that is the first book on my tbr.
2. A book about something you want to do – so for me the book for challenge one is doubling up for this challenge. I really would love to have a job within the field of geography and so this fits in perfectly for me!
3. Book & Adaptation – challenge 3 is to read a book and then also watch its adaptation within the BookTubeAThon. I decided on Anne of Green Gables, which I have never read before and have been meaning to get around to for a while. I’ve also never seen an adaptation for it so I’m looking forward to this story.
4. Green – the fourth challenge is to read a book with green on the cover. The first two books I have already chosen also fit into this category as my copies both have green covers. However, I decided to pick some other books to also fit within this. I chose two books for this challenge, book #1 is Runaway by Meg Cabot (3rd book in the Airhead trilogy) and book #2 is Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (6th book in the Discworld). I have been really enjoying reading both of these series and felt that their covers being green was a sign that I should read them soon!
5. A hat? – This challenge is to wear a hat the whole time while reading a book. Not going to lie I’m not keen on this challenge, I dislike hats for multiple reasons (I also get migraines and just… no thank you) so for me I am going to wear a hat reading Runaway as I always blitz through Meg Cabot’s books and I won’t have to have it on for long! It also means I won’t have to wear the hat outside, which is good as the only one I can find is a woolly hat and it’s July (and I live in the northern hemisphere) so I’d look like a crazy woman!
6. Beautiful spine – challenge #6 is to read a book which has a very pretty spine, specifically the spine rather than the cover as a whole. I picked a book called Unrivalled by Alyson Noël, which I picked up for no reason other than its spine! What else could fit this challenge so perfectly?
7. 7 books – the very last challenge is to simply read seven books over the course of the readathon. As I only have 5 books so far on my tbr I have just chosen random books which I would really like to get to for the last two. Book 6 is The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank by Willy Lindwer, which I have owned for almost a decade now! I bought this on a school trip to the Netherlands in year 8 (12 to 13-year-olds) when we visited the Anne Frank Museum, and I was 13 at the time. I didn’t read it then as truth be told, I was kind of scared of the topic. It was stories about a dead girl which I knew were going to make me upset. I don’t think I was quite mature enough to read this book at that stage. Now I’m nearing the end of 21 years and I feel like I can pick up this book and really get out of it what the author intended. This will have a very different feel to all the other books on my tbr, however, I am happy to finally be getting around to this book. Book 7 is Alice by Christina Henry, the first book in a duology (I think) with the second book being Red Queen. My friend bought me these two books a couple of years ago for Christmas, and I was unable to get around to them as I had so many other books on my tbr! This seems to be a dystopian retelling of Alice in Wonderland and I am excited to dive into this darker version of the world.

That is my whole tbr explained and disected, so for ease of reference I’ll list all the books below:

• I Used To Know That Geography – Will Williams (Coin toss and something I want to do)
• Anne of Green Gables – L. M. Montgomery (Read a book and watch its adaptation)
• Runaway – Meg Cabot (Read a green book)
• Wyrd Sisters – Terry Pratchett (Read a green book)
• Unrivalled – Alyson Noël (A beautiful spine)
• The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank – Willy Lindwer (Additional)
• Alice – Christina Henry (Additional)

Please let me know if you’re going to be doing the ReadAThon too, I’d love to interact and see how you guys interpret the challenges! I’ll be posting updates and responses to the challenges on my YouTube channel and my Innstagram (and lets be real probably Twitter too) so if you’d like to keep up with my progress then you can find me there! Links below (they’ll open in a new tab).

Click here for my Instagram – @autumnofpellinor

Click here for my YouTube – Autumn of Pellinor

Click here for my Twitter – @autumnpellinor

 

I have a YouTube channel!!

I’ve been interested in making a YouTube channel for a long time now, but I had always been too worried about putting my face online. I didn’t have a lot of self-confidence. Somehow, and I’m not complaining about this, I suddenly don’t hate my face! Which is new for me, so I’m making the most of suddenly being a little big headed and starting my channel!

Possibly this is all just a huge procrastination device as I am supposed to be writing up my 10000-word dissertation which is due by the end of April! (For non-UK readers, this is the large project at the end of a University undergraduate degree and is a big deal haha)

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get some filming time squeezed in without compromising my degree and I really enjoyed making the first video and editing it was easier than I thought. It was made on my phone so I think I’m going to try and use an actual camera to improve the quality of the next video.

If you’re not interested than thank you for reading through this post, if you are interested in my channel then click here and I hope you enjoy! I should be making a blog post about the same topic as the video (The NYALitFest) sometime soon.

Thanks for reading!

Autumn