May has been that eye-watering combination of work hard play hard that stretches you too far, but has moments of pure joy. Work was a nightmare, but Wyrd and Wonder has been delightful – my only regret is that work (and a lapse in wifi whilst on holiday) meant I wasn’t able to stay fully engaged through the second half of the month. Still, I think our baby event did well for its first outing and I look forward to next year! Watch out for a wrap post this weekend.

Reading Round-up 

May has been full of pleasant surprises, as books I’d been dreading a little were all rewarding, enjoyable reads. Throw in a couple of lifelong favourites, and it was a perfect month.

• The Beautiful Ones – Silvia Moreno-Garcia     
• The Tombs of Atuan – Ursula Le Guin      
• Godblind – Anna Stephens     
• The Fifth Season – N K Jemisin      
• Daggerspell – Katharine Kerr      
• Born to the Blade     
  • Fault Lines – Marie Brennan
  • Baby Shower – Cassandra Khaw
  • Gauntlet – Michael R Underwood
  • Trade Deal – Malka Older
  • Spiralling – Marie Brennan

Review Round-up

• Strange Practice – Vivian Shaw    
• The City of Brass – S A Chakraborty      
• Bite-size Books: Fisher of Bones – Sarah Gailey    
• Bite-size Books: Cold-Forged Flame – Marie Brennan     

Stacking the shelves

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.

• 39 / 75 books or novellas + 3 DNFs
• 14 male (41%) / 19 female (415%) / 5 trans, non-binary or genderfluid (15%)
• 14 (35%) – by authors of colour
• 5 (15%) – by LGBTQIA authors
• 7 ARCs / 3 off the shelf (it doesn’t count if I bought them to read them straight away)
• Game of Books score: 195 / 400

Other Challenges

Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards – with the finishing straight in sight, my reading has become deadline driven. I’ve got over a dozen books left to read in a month (…that’s not going to happen), so it’s time to prioritise. I’m clearly not going to choose not to vote in fantasy or scifi, and I’ve almost finished novella already; but some of my favourite books are in blurred boundaries, and I’ve read at least one book in all but one of the series ….oh look, I’m not going to be able to prioritise either. Right. Anyone got a time turner I can borrow?

We’ve adventured! We’ve flailed! We’ve read and discussed all the fantasy, and Wyrd and Wonder has been an epic mini-adventure. It was honestly delightful to see the warm reception for our fantasy blogstravaganza – so here’s to another merry month of May next year. See you there?

How has your month been?