Another busy month in meatspace, and while books gave me some much-needed respite, they were also a challenge in their own right. The month started off with a disappointing novella, then several excellent books that exhausted me in spite of their good points – so I took a step back from “I must read this now” for some shorter reads and books I just wanted to read. Erm, and then I read all the things. And a few more.

Reading Round-up 

• Chalk – Paul Cornell     
• Strange Practice – Vivian Shaw    
• White Tears – Hari Kunzru     
• A Wizard of Earthsea – Ursula Le Guin      
• Revenant Gun – Yoon Ha Lee     
• The City of Brass – S A Chakraborty     
• Bite-size Books: A Divided River – Christian Ellingsen   
• Bite-size Books: Passing Strange – Ellen Klages     
• Bite-size Books: Fisher of Bones – Sarah Gailey    
• Bite-size Books: Cold-Forged Flame – Marie Brennan    
• Bite-size Books: Buffalo Soldier – Maurice Broaddus    
• Bite-size Books: Born to the Blade Arrivals – Michael R Underwood      

I also made a start on the excellent Queens of Innis Lear, but just didn’t have the staying power for a doorstop this month. While it’s the sort of rich tapestry I love in epic fantasy, it’s undermined for me by its core strength: as a Shakespearean re-imagining (yay!), I know some key plot points (ah) – so I didn’t have the patience for a slow burn read to reach them (zzz). Consequently, I found myself a bit frustrated even though I love the world-building. I will come back to it when I’m in a more patient frame of mind and feeling less pressed by my deadlines.

Review Round-up

• Dogs of War – Adrian Tchaikovsky    
• Bite-size Books: Rupert Wong and the Ends of the Earth – Cassandra Khaw     
• Throwback Thursday: Abaddon’s Gate – James S A Corey     

 

Stacking the shelves

When you buy two books on the first of the month, you know you’re in trouble. But I took myself in hand, and tried to stick to only acquiring books for my Subjective Chaos reading list after that. …what? The Library at Mount Char was a gift, so that one’s not my fault. I’m just REALLY excited to read it.

Reading statistics

My goal – as always – is to read diversely and to love every book. I’ve put no targets on my reading this year beyond a number of books, but I’m tracking some stats for my own interest.

• 34 / 75 books or novellas + 3 DNFs
• 14 male (41%) / 14 female (415%) / 5 trans, non-binary or genderfluid (15%)
• 12 (35%) – by authors of colour
• 5 (15%) – by LGBTQIA authors
• 6 ARCs / 2 off the shelf (it doesn’t count if I bought them to read them straight away)
• Game of Books score: 163 / 400

Other Challenges

A Comment A Day – I’m calling time on this challenge, because tracking my comments is currently a step too far in the list of things I need to do – it’s become a reason to put off commenting at all (“I’ll do it later when I can open my tracker”), which is completely counter productive. However, I’m reassured from progress so far that I comment more than I think I do, if less than I’d like. That will do for now.

Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards – I’ve now finished reading the Novella category and am jaunting through the Fantasy nominees (what a mix! Urban fantasy, grimdark, fantasy romance, and fantasy horror – no epic fantasy in the main category, but NK Jemisin and Jen Williams are flying the flag elsewhere). If I’m honest, I’m dying to finish off the SF category, but first Wyrd and Wonder. Speaking of which….

IT’S NEARLY HERE FANTASY FANS! WYRD AND WONDER starts tomorrow: a fantasy-themed month of enthusiasm for all things fantastic across blogs, twitter and other social media channels through May. Tag @wyrdandwonder and/or #wyrdandwonder on Twitter to join the conversation there, or add links to your fantasy-related flailing to the schedule for us all to find them.

How has your month been?