I know, these check ins are hardly weekly at the moment, but even with our hermit lifestyle, Covid finally caught up with us…and right when the heatwave struck the UK too. So I’ve been feeling a bit sorry for myself. I know lots of people are saying it’s just like a cold now, but it’s not like any cold I’ve ever had.
Here’s Scully looking how I feel (this was at the beach the weekend where we must have caught it doing outside things):
My brain’s a bit woolly still, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to catch up on reviews for 20 Books of Summer. I have been reading but not necessarily remembering enough to write much about them! Two review books I will make sure I review are The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen, an enemies to lovers fantasy, and Dead Water by C.A. Fletcher, a Scottish island set horror.
I hoovered up a couple of novellas, Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman after binge watching the adorable Heartstopper adaptation, and Below Zero, the third and final STEMinist novella by Ali Hazelwood. Below Zero was my favourite of the trilogy, lots of space nerdery and a not too over-the-top misunderstanding.
It’s taken me a while to get through the audiobook of Coward by Tim Clare but overall I thought it was a good deep dive into the science of anxiety, coupled with Tim’s own experiences and his attempts to find a cure.
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy was another delightful novella from Becky Chambers. I finally finished off the underwhelming Aurora Cycle trilogy with Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff and read about dragon matadors in Together We Burn by Isabel Ibanez.
The Trees by Percival Everett ticked off the Popsugar Anisfield-Wolf winner prompt. Looking at reviews, those who liked it found it funny, but it’s not my kind of humour and the story wasn’t really strong enough to make up for that. It went in a very weird and unexplained direction at the end.
Since my last update I reviewed The Ends and shared Top Tens for my most anticipated books and summer covers.
New books acquired:
[gifted] Hothouse Earth by Bill McGuire (Icon Books)
[gifted] The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew (Gollancz)
[gifted] A Restless Truth by Freya Marske (Tor)
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson
The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight (ebook)
You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry (ebook)
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I’m so sorry that you got COVID and during the heatwave as well but I hope you recover quickly! Looks like you got some good reading in though. I’m very excited for more Monk & Robot and I can’t wait to dive into the STEMinist novellas cos I’ve heard good things about them!
Thank you, I’m starting to feel a bit more normal now.
I’m sorry you got COVID. I got it at the beginning of June and it was also unlike any cold I’ve ever had. It felt more like a really bad bout of the flu. I think it depends on what strain you get. I hope you feel better soon! 😀 I also hope you and Scully survive the heat wave going through Europe right now. I feels so bad for everyone because y’all don’t have ACs in your homes
I think we are close enough to the sea that temperatures didn’t get too crazy here….but still far too hot for me!
My family told me how horrible the heat wave was and to have COVID on top of that? Awful! I do hope you are feeling better and getting over COVID brain, which is a real thing. I agree that it is not just a cold.
Thank you, I am mostly better just get really tired from not doing a lot, but at least that’s an excuse to lie around reading!