Edition 2

Reading has always been one of my favourite past times. It has been that way since I was a kid. I remember trading books with friends in class. Reading new stories and always having the most fun when it came to creative writing to choose the one word prompts during exams. My reading taste has definitely changed over the years but the love of books and reading has not changed. It kind of tapered off a bit, as it usually does when you are in uni and all you do is read textbooks, essays, and articles all day. But the love has not gone away. I will say that I used to be a multi book reader. But I found that reading that way actually meant I read less. It works for some people but it doesn’t work for me. So I am on that one book at a time train and it’s been working well for me so far. My goal every year is to read the year in books. So last year it was 25 in 2025 and this year it is 26 in 2026. I think it is a manageable goal. So far this year I’ve read 15 books which is not a bad start to the year at all.

I will say that I came into the year in kind of a reading slump. I burnt myself out reading so much last year after a couple of years of not reading much that I kind of just overwhelmed my own brain doing all these different challenges and reading themes and so on. So I told myself that this year all I was going to do was mood read (which I normally already do) but with a few little asterisks attached to act as my guard rails so I don’t just go of the deep end and burn myself out again. One of the main asterisks that I am determined to follow is to not read as many American authors. No hate no shade, but also some hate and some shade. Sorry. The publishing industry, the book sphere is just full to the brim of white American authors that it is kind of getting on my nerves. So if I do pick up a book by an American author because the blurb sounds interesting or something else I try to make sure it is from an author of colour. That really is the only asterisk actually. Trying to read less American authors, especially white ones. On that note, let’s roll the tape.

The Good.

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Mariller

I am definitely going to be reading more Mariller. She has a way of writing about nature and magic and just telling stories that pushes all the right buttons for me. It is lyrical and just full of all these details that make you feel like you are right there in the forest with these characters. I have already ordered the first book in her Blackthorn and Grim series.

Grave Empire by Richard Swan

Now this is why I love fantasy. The way you have all the leeway in the world to create something so out there and still have it make sense. It was honestly just so much fun reading this book. It’s not lighthearted by any means and it does touch on some serious themes. like colonisation, power and perspectives in war. It was a book that was definitely well thought out and well written. Second book incoming when it is finally released in the same size as the first (I really hate when they make it a different size, that is so strange to me.)

Dissection of A Murder by Jo Murray

I do love me a murder mystery where you are in the thick of it and trying to figure who is did what to whom. Definitely the kind of book where the less you know about it the better and as someone who has studied the criminal law system this was a fun read. I will say I got some things right and others I did not see coming which is always fun in a thriller book. heh.

Red Queen by Juan Gomez - Jurado

Translated from Spanish and for a crime book, his writing is really quite humorous and so are his characters. Again, not a light hearted book. But I think when books and authors don’t take themselves so seriously it makes for such a good read. Sometimes with first books in trilogies, they can leave you with not enough or sometimes too much and it makes you not want to reach for the second one. Red Queen leaves you with enough open endings that you know you are going to pick up the next book because I want to find out where the rest of the story goes. definitely a good sign in my opinion.

The Bad

Virgil by George Saunders

Now, I won’t say it’s bad, it just didn’t work for me. The lack of chapters and quotation marks really just freaked me out. I don’t know what to do with a book like that. The story is interesting enough. A dead lady ghost is there to make her charge feel comforted as he lays there slowly dying. It is very reminiscent of a Christmas carol but the scrooge character here is just not buying it. After a while I found myself wondering what on earth I was doing reading this book, which is never a good sign. So I powered through it on audiobook which did help with the whole no quotation marks and chapters thing. But I just didn’t get it. It didn’t work for me. I was bored and wanted to not be there anymore.

The Ugly

None for the past 6 months thank the Lord. I reserve ugly status for books that make me want to either pull my hair eye, claw my eyes out or just lie down and wonder how to get those hours of my life back. So far so good, none of the books I have read this year have done that to me. So no immensely ugly books but a few books that I have put on pause and I am willing to return to when they hit a bit better. One of them is Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle. People on the interwebs have been talking about it for a while. But I think I started reading it when I was in my sad hospitality spiral of doom (meaning I was working in the hospitality industry) and I was just not about it. So maybe one day I will come back to it. Another one is The Starseekers by Nicole Glover. I don’t know why but I was just not in the mood for this one. Again, nothing inherently wrong with the book. Just was not vibing it at the time of picking it up. So I will give it another go one day.

In the past 6 months I have had a mighty amount of four stars. One two star, one three star and a couple of five stars. A few bangers. A couple of authors I would definitely continue to read more from which is always a nice surprise and all in all not a bad 6 months of reading. I do want to get into more classics eventually because my best friend is a classics fiend and her book tastes kind of scares me and challenges me at the same time. But I have not found the vaginal strength to pick up a classic just yet. But I will one day. I am determined. She is making her way, with mind map in hand, through the Count of Monte Cristo and I am intimidated but no less amazed at her. I will say that the Brothers Karamazov, East of Eden and The Master and the Margherita have been waving their literary hands at me every time I pass them in the bookstore. But that is for another time, if I make it to a classic in the next 6 months I can guarantee that substack will be the first place to hear about it.