Another action packed Murderbot novella. In this one, Murderbot is reunited with Dr. Mensah and her team. It has some really sweet, emotional moments (poor Murderbot), but also some great fight scenes. I‘m looking forward to the full-length novel next.

These novellas get better and better. Murderbot is even more sarcastic and the adventure is more exciting and entertaining. Wells is a genius. I‘m going to have to buy copies of all of the novellas so I can reread them, dang it. 😂

Pacifique Irankunda was 4 when civil war broke out in #Burundi. While he provides some detail about atrocities committed during the 13 year war, those passages feel detached and nearly emotionless. The Tears of a Man Flow Inward reads more like a love letter to his homeland. You can feel his longing for the culture, the storytellers, and the sense of community that was lost or dying even before he was born, due to German and Belgian occupation.

I‘m sure I‘ll finish The Empty Hours this week and at least start the next 87th Precinct audiobook, but I doubt I‘ll finish my other in progress reads. Instead, I‘m going to try to get through more of the books that have library due dates or NetGalley publication dates. Yes, I had to make a list to keep track of it all. 🤦🏻‍♀️ #weeklyforecast

The second Murderbot book was just as engaging and entertaining as the first. Actually, I enjoyed it even more. Murderbot decides to try to find out what happened when it supposedly committed mass murder and ends up taking a private security job. Hijinks ensue (who knew humans could be so self-destructively, monumentally stupid), with more sarcasm and a fantastic transport bot who I hope we see more of in future books. Absolutely delightful.

Not a terrible week, even though most of my reading has been done today. I‘m happy to have finished Mister N finally, and before its publication date. Murderbot is just as delightful as everyone says and I can‘t wait for more Twig. The 87th Precinct novels are about all I can tolerate on audio right now, so I‘m continuing my binge of that series. Slowly plugging away at Tongue‘s Blood and just started Master of Djinn. #bookreport

Here‘s a shocker-I do not have an #unpopularopinion. I was worried I‘d hate it since there is so much love, but Murderbot is, in fact, hysterical. How could I not like a snarky SecUnit designed to protect clients by killing all threats that really only wants to binge Netflix? The story surrounding this particular assignment was interesting and I enjoyed the adventure. I have high hopes for the rest of the series.

This is really difficult for me to review. For the right reader, I can see this being a much loved work. The prose is excellent and the story is complex. The eponymous Mister N is mentally ill, which creates a great deal of confusion in the 1st person narrative. I did not enjoy spending 254 pages stuck inside Mister N‘s brain. The back cover calls this a dark comedy and says it is “comical and tragic by turns”.👇🏻

Clearly this isn‘t I HATE FAIRYLAND, but TWIG isn‘t in the database. This is Splat. He‘s Twig‘s companion and I love him. The art here is fantastic, the story is sucking me in, and I can‘t wait to read more. I broke my book buying ban for the digital copy and I‘M NOT SORRY! Seriously, this is fun: good story, great art, wonderful vivid colors, and easy to follow panels and speech bubbles. Reading it made my day. 🤩

Woke up feeling kind of yucky in a “all is hopeless, there‘s no point in anything” kind of mood. I put my #weeklyforecast together yesterday, but I doubt I‘ll stick to it. I need to get Mister N finished this week, but I am not sure if I‘ll start Murderbot or not. I may not read anything at all or I may read something that isn‘t on my May TBR plan.🤷🏻‍♀️

I have too many books going now for comfort, so hopefully I can finish a couple this weekend. I did finish a great book (Denver Noir) this week, and two other fun, short reads. I‘m struggling again with audiobooks-bailed on one and just didn‘t feel like listening to the other (no reflection on the story). I think Mister N is going to be my focus today. Or maybe I‘ll try to cross off another quick read. 🤪 #bookreport

I tell myself every time I get a publisher email - don‘t open it and absolutely do not click the NetGalley widget, yet I usually do. I‘m not sorry I clicked this one 2 days ago. I love a good Krampus story. This was a little short on Krampus, but long on human monsters and while somewhat predictable, still deceptively creepy. This would be a good novella to read around Christmas when you‘re sick of Hallmark Movies. 😂

I took a chance on this one, knowing it wasn‘t a genre a typically enjoy, because it was highly recommended. The audiobook is narrated by Juliet Stevenson, who I adore, but sadly, her narration wasn‘t enough to keep me going. Enid‘s baby obsession irritates me to no end, and I‘m not fond of Miss Benson. I think I‘ve given the story a fair shot. I‘m just not interested enough in the fates of the characters to carry on.

Why Libby? Why? You told me yesterday I had a 3 week wait! I was counting on those 3 weeks!!!😭😭

That cliffhanger…*sob* 🥺

I was worried Hoopla wouldn‘t get this issue. Patience is not my greatest virtue, but now I‘m a little sorry that I read it at bedtime. 😭😭😭

My favorite of the collections to date. There is not a single story I did not enjoy. Cynthia Swanson has curated and edited a stunning series of diverse stories, not only in terms of authors and characters, but also a wide variety of time periods and styles. There‘s even a graphic story! The stories are full of interesting characters you have to care about while maintaining that classic noir atmosphere. TWs for nearly everything. I loved it.

The only phrase of Russian I really want to learn: “put your pig paws back in your pocket”. 🤣🐷🤣🐷🤣

Starting off the first week of May hoping to finish the books that I‘m carrying over from April, and hopefully finishing at least one more ARC. #weeklyforecast

It‘s my birthday month, so of course I‘ve set myself a ridiculous TBR! I have a couple of ARC commitments, LMPBC, and a series to binge. I may be most excited about my Dracula reread, since apparently Stoker‘s Dracula and I share a birthday (according to Crime Reads and I‘m too lazy to fact check them). I can‘t wait to crack open my new copy illustrated by Edward Gorey! #maytbr #happybirthdaytome (image does not include audiobooks)

That‘s a wrap on April. I made a little more progress in Denver Noir, but I didn‘t finish it. I read some good books, several crummy ones, and what is definitely going to be Top 10, if not the best of this year: The Diamond Eye. #aprilstats

It‘s been a week of lows and HIGHS. I may try to finish Denver Noir today, but The Diamond Eye has given me a book hangover. I‘ll save creating my end of month stat post for later, just in case, and go watch Dateline or something equally ridiculous. 🤪 Seriously, though, it‘s going to be hard to top The Diamond Eye for favorite book of the year. #bookreport

I usually avoid WWII historical fiction like the plague, but after reading The Huntress and now The Diamond Eye, I will read anything Kate Quinn writes. This fictionalized account of real-life Soviet WWII sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, is stunning. Beautifully crafted, expertly plotted, and well-researched, it is a book I didn‘t want to put down. I cried, cheered, or held my breath through every page. All the stars for this one. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I almost bailed 10% of the way through, but then it started to get entertaining, and then, it tanked. By 80%, I regretted not bailing. My second Kleypas, and definitely my last. It‘s not completely terrible, but it‘s inconsistent and not for me. YMMV

There‘s a reason why enemies-to-lovers is my favorite trope. It literally makes me bounce in my chair, clap my hands gleefully, and giggle like a naughty child. 😂😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I‘m really on the fence with this one. On one hand, I disliked Molly and we spend the whole book in her head, which was hard for me to stomach. On the other hand, there are some great secondary characters and the ending left me the kind of smile that reaches the eyes, even if it was a little ridiculous. There are also some real pearls of wisdom and insightful comments that I appreciated.

😔

@Mitch This looks AMAZING! Thank you so much my dear friend. I can‘t wait to read it!

I have 2 books I have to finish to meet commitment deadlines, 4 books I‘d like to get finished before the end of the month, and 2 books in progress that I plan to read in small amounts, so they will probably stay on my forecast for some time. #weeklyforecast

This was a week of starting things not finishing, especially trying to find something interesting, but not too interesting (textbook, please) to conquer the insomnia. Maybe I‘ll actually finish a few books next week. 🤷🏻‍♀️ #bookreport

#libraryhaul Have to binge the first books so I can read my Easter gift from @Mitch 💖 Yay for libraries!

I‘ve been having trouble sleeping lately, so I pulled this off my shelves. I started it more than 20 years ago, reached page 193 (my bookmark is still there) and got distracted by other books. I think I‘m going to see if it will be heavy enough reading (metaphorically speaking) to help put me to sleep. 😂 It‘s a #chunkster at over 1350 pages and it‘s been so long, I have to start at the beginning.

#booked2022 #acomingoutstory This was an informative, touching graphic memoir about Maia‘s discovery of em gender identity. I had not heard of Spivak pronouns prior to this. There‘s a lot here that I didn‘t know. I appreciate having this memoir for an experience very different from my own and so glad that e felt secure enough to write this. My only quibble is that the art style is not to my liking, but it‘s the story that is really important.

Detective Kling‘s girlfriend is gunned down in a bookstore, along with three other people, which makes this personal for the detectives of the 87th Precinct. This was an unusually twisty mystery in this series that did a good job of giving the reader the same tunnel vision as the detectives. CW for rape and abortion.

#booked2022 #titlerepeatsitself

SQUEEEEEE! @Mitch You are the best Easter Bunny! Every time someone posts about Murderbot, I think, “I really need to try these murderbot books. They sound like something I would love”. I think I own the first novella on Kindle, but I do not have this one! Off to rearrange my reading plans for May and find something to do with these super cute page flags. Thank you so much my friend! 💖🐰💖

I‘ve got a fair bit that needs to be finished this week. Ideally, I would finish The Diamond Eye today, but I have more than half left, so the odds are not in my favor. I have dog cookies to make and it‘s Sunday, which is typically a veg on the couch with Dateline as background noise and sleep away the day, kind of day. So, we‘ll see. Most of these are for challenges/book club, though, so I would like to check them off the list.
#weeklyforecast

While not my favorite of the series, there is plenty to unpack here - gangs, racism, excessive use of force. It‘s sad to see topics that are front and center today in a book written in 1960. Will we ever learn to be better?

“My memoir, the unofficial version: Snipers must make themselves calm in order to succeed, and that is why women are good at sharpshooting. Because there is not a woman alive who has not learned how to eat rage in order to appear calm.”

I‘d hoped to finish something else today, but I‘m probably going to spend the rest of the day watching stupid movies and napping. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I only managed to finish one terrible book and couldn‘t stick to an audiobook until I grabbed the next 87th Precinct novel on Friday. I still might finish listening to that today. Loving the Quinn, just started The Maid, and have no memory of the 40 pages of Tongue‘s Blood that I‘ve read. 🤦🏻‍♀️

#bookreport

A little #bookmail today. I haven‘t read this one before (I love the Vintage Classic covers, but I hate that I have to wait for them to ship from the UK via Book Depository). I‘m thinking of using this for #booked2022 nautical novel. It‘s this one or Rafael Sabatini‘s Captain Blood.

The prequel short story was wonderful. The first book was disappointing, but still okay. This was tedious, dull, and filled with uninspired characters. I abhorred the H/h. Mr North, the butler, was one of the few entertaining characters, but even the few laugh out loud moments mostly due to him, were not enough to redeem this. The digital ARC is poorly edited, as well. Let‘s hope they clean it up for the final printing.

What can I say? It‘s Saga. IYKYK. If you haven‘t read it, go grab the first issue or trade edition. Go. I‘ll be here listening for your screams of delight and pain, joy and sadness. You can thank me later.

Oh reading slumps, how I loathe thee. I had a digital ARC of this through NetGalley but didn‘t get to it before pub date so I got the audiobook from my library. I was really excited for it. 2% of the way into a 13 hour audiobook and I hate all of the characters and am bailing. 😭😭😭 I know it‘s because I‘m super grumpy but now I‘m also super sad. Maybe I‘ll go see if the library has any fluffy audiobooks available now

Nope. Admittedly, memoirs are not something I often enjoy and rarely pick up on my own. This is a work book club pick. Since I lead book club, I have never bailed on a book no matter how much I hated it until now. I tried not to be judgmental about the father‘s lunatic anti-government, Illuminati conspiracy theories, but I cannot read any more of the abuse of the kids. At 21% of the audiobook, I‘m out.

To meet book club and ARC review deadlines, I need to finish all of the pictured books this week. 😭 My job workload is doubling this week, too, so we‘ll see just how much of these I get through. #weeklyforecast

I finished 3 books this week and I didn‘t love any of them as much as I wanted to. I had hoped to make more headway in The Diamond Eye today, maybe even finish it, but my allergies are so bad today that I had to take Benedryl so I will be watching WGI World Championships and/or sleeping off the Benedryl for the rest of the day. 🤧 #bookreport

So…as sad as this makes me, I didn‘t love the text. I don‘t have kids, so maybe it would go over better with them. However, I absolutely LOVE Blythe‘s artwork. Her style is one of my favorites and I‘d reread this just to look at the pictures.

A little dry and not for the faint of heart, this is a detailed account of Shackleton‘s expedition to Antarctica and the struggle for survival after the Endurance became trapped in ice and sank. If you are squeamish about animal death, skip this. Parts of this were so hard to listen to and the depictions of amputations made me gag (literally), but the story itself is an incredible one of perseverance against nearly impossible odds.

I do love #bookmail. 💖

80% through the book and Lansing writes, “On April 27th, three days out from Elephant Island, their luck turned bad.”

Have you not been paying attention to the other 286 pages you‘ve already written?? Because d*mn. This is not where things start going wrong. We left bad luck behind 200 pages ago. We have reached catastrophic levels of “bad luck”. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Today is an awesome #bookhaul #bookmail day! My preorder of my internet friend‘s book arrived and I can wait to read Blythe‘s first book as both author and illustrator (I LOVE her artwork), a Le Carre i didn‘t already own, and my March LibraryThing Early Reviewers win, Denver Noir. YAY!!