Despite being sick, May was a pretty good month for me as far as getting re-established here and getting some decent reading in.
This month I read:
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan 4/5 stars
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan 4/5 stars
A Deadly Educaton by Naomi Novik 5/5 stars
The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik 5/5 stars
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore 5/5 stars
King of Midnight by Lara Adrian. Rating 3.5-4/5 stars (undecided on the final rating so far)
Started, but did not finish The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan – read 141/690 pages
I also re-read two ebook favorites and read a new (to me) romance ebook: Dadbod by Kayt Miller which was entertaining enough, but there were some aspects that I found to be unnecessary and don’t think served a purpose while other things were very well done. 3.5/5 stars
All in all, a very decent reading month for me.
Total books read: 7 (not including re-reads)
Total pages read: 3502 pages (3933 pages including re-reads)
This month I hauled:
…Many new books. I definitely did some book shopping this month, but who am I kidding…. I’m always happy to buy books!
First I bought the rest of The Wheel of Time books, this is book 4-14, plus the prequel. I read the first two books in May and started book three, so of course, why wait to buy more or buy only the next box set of three when I can buy ALL of them? I’m no rookie! Also, I have no bookish self-control and I’m okay with it.
1. Leviathan Wakes, Caliban’s War, Abaddon’s Gate by James S. A. Corey: I purchased the first three books of The Expanse series after reading Cyberkitten’s review and hearing a review on booktube (and because I found the box set for a very decent cost on Thriftbooks shortly after, we love it). I had seen a preview for the show a while back and was intrigued, but did not realize they were books until recently.
2. A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik: I also purchased (and read) the first two books in The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik which I loved, loved, loved. I did pre-order the third book, but I have to wait until the end of September!
3. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson: I have an ebook of this, but I really wanted a hardcopy to read this one so I purchased (another, oops!) copy of The Way of Kings (and no we won’t discuss the fact that my damning existing copy can be seen in the bottom left of this photo).
4. Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin: Please Look After Mom is a book that takes place in South Korea about a mother that goes missing and her family’s attempts to find her. It sounds so interesting from the little bit that we get in the blurb.
5. For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten: I don’t actually know a ton about For the Wolf, but from what I can gather its a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, but in a fantasy land? I think. I’ll find out when I read it!
I did order some other books from The Book Depository, but they haven’t arrived yet, so I’ll wait until next month to talk about those (and the audiobooks that go along with them!).
Non-bookishness:
Listening to: I’ve been working on my backlog of the Ologies podcast which I am woefully behind on during my evening walks. Of particular note, the Testudinology (Tortoises!) and Cheloniology (Sea Turtles – Surtles!) episodes were AMAZING. I had no idea.
Watching: I don’t watch much TV these days it seems, in fact I have probably 25 shows that I’ve started at some point here or there, but never finished, go me. That said, I did watch the first two episodes of The Wheel of Time, to fit with this months non-stop Robert Jordan theme and I am reserving judgment at this point, but clearly we are going to be missing A LOT from the books based on the first two episodes. I watched a bit of How the Universe Works as well. There is nothing better than seeing science nerds get nerdy about their science for us nerdy laymen. Also, it rains on Saturn’s atmosphere?! What?!
Do you have any notable reads, bookish purchases, or other non-bookish things from May?
Until next time, Happy Reading!
Among Stories 
NICE haul! Just gotta LOVE thrift shops [grin]
1K pages a week is pretty rad. I *aim* at 700 but don’t always get there. As long as I can manage 2 books a week to refill my review pile I’m happy [lol]
Agree with the rookie comment [grin]. See it, want it, buy it, is my philosophy. I’ve been burnt before when I didn’t buy a series of books when I had the opportunity (after all it’s the UNIVERSE giving you a not so subtle hint, right?) only to find, years later, that some books are no longer available and are difficult at best to track down.
Just finished (yesterday) the 2nd Expanse book (thanks for the cite!) which was amazingly good – though interestingly quite different from the Series in places… I expect to schedule in the 3rd book before Christmas.
As you probably already know, Fantasy isn’t really my ‘thing’ compared to SF but I do like it from time to time. If I can I’m going to start the ‘Shadow & Bone’ trilogy by Leigh Bardugo this year after being intrigued by the Netflix adaptation. Because why NOT start yet another series before finishing any of the ones you’re already reading – right? [lol]
Thanks! Yes, anywhere I can pick up secondhand books I am happy. You never know what you will find!
I don’t always read that much, but I do my best. It all just depends on how much I’m working. In this case I think the being stuck home with covid worked in my favor, lol! Two books a week is perfectly respectable!
Interesting about The Expanse. It’s funny how different shows can be from the books they’re based on, given the fact that there is generally more time to play with than in movies. I did watch the Shadow & Bone show and read the first book. I remember bits from both, but I didn’t retain all of the details honestly. If I’m not mistaken though, Leigh Bardugo has an offshoot series with the crew that pulls crazy jobs, and I definitely want to read those at some point.
The main thrust of the 2nd Expanse book was the same as the series and the characters were definitely ‘on point’ but the plot varied a bit during the last third/quarter. I did find it ‘interesting’ when some iconic scenes from the TV show didn’t happen (or happened in different ways) and especially when an iconic death didn’t happen at all! THAT was rather surprising! I did LOVE it when my 2nd favourite character finally appeared. She was part of the series from the start but only appeared in Book Two. She’s one of my ALL TIME fave characters these days. I *think* my favourite character in the show appears in Book Three but again she appears earlier in the TV version.
I picked up one of Bardugo’s offshoot series yesterday. I think I have the pair now. Looks fun – Fantasy crime…. Nice genre mix!