Well it’s been a strange few weeks in the UK, what with the national mourning and then when the government finally got back to work, they tank the economy. I’ve half-heartedly started my job search but I’m not feeling all that cheery about it. So this is a several week check-in, since I haven’t been doing all that much.
Since my last update I have reviewed Ithaca by Claire North, Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans, and The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew. I also shared my TBR for autumn. Because it definitely feels autumnal all of a sudden, which colder mornings and having to turn lights on during the day.
At least things are starter to look a bit greener:
I also finished listening to Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes which was emotionally quite tough going, since as Charlie gets smarter he begins to understand the bullying and child abuse he has been put through. I think it must have been quite eye-opening at the time, and it was well done with showing Charlie’s change in intelligence and personality through the writing, but I don’t think I can say I enjoyed it.
So after that I’ve been reaching for the easy reads, with Nothing More to Tell by Karen M. McManus (it’s what you’d expect from her), The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston (cute ghost writer sees ghosts romcom), The Honeys by Ryan La Sala (summer camp hive-mind YA horror) and I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston (missing girl scavenger hunt).
And I read The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal for my Popsugar Hugo winner because I just wasn’t finding anything I really wanted to read for it that I hadn’t read already. But this won best novelette, and it made me cry. It’s very short, so feels a bit cheaty for a challenge, but it’ll do.
I watched The Sandman on Netflix. I’ve never read the comics so I didn’t know what to expect, and I enjoyed it, just maybe not as much as all the people on Twitter saying they’re re-watching it already. I liked that it was quite episodic in nature, so you could watch one episode at a time.
Also finally got round to watching Stranger Things season four…which I had thought was the final series so was a bit disappointed by the ending. But turns out there is a season five coming. I don’t now why the episodes were film-length, made it harder to fit in watching it.
And then I have spent the rest of my time playing My Time at Portia, which is a major time suck but it takes my mind off things.
New books acquired:
[gifted] The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard (Gollancz)
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes (audiobook)
The Coral Bones by E.J. Swift
Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (ebook)
Meredith Alone by Claire Alexander (ebook)
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (ebook)
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I really enjoyed Take My Hand so I look forward to seeing what you think of it.
Good luck in your job search!
Autumn has come in full swing here in Virginia; I’m kind of shocked at the abrupt transition from summer to fall, actually, as that usually doesn’t happen here.
I also enjoyed the Sandman as someone who hasn’t read any of the comics. I was a bit surprised at how dark it was, so you’re right–it was nice that each episode could be watched without bingeing it, so to speak, to give myself a mental break between each episode. As for Stranger Things, I haven’t even started S4. I was a bit peeved at the number of people tweeting spoiler-y things right off the bat; the dangers of the internet….
I read Flowers for Algernon years ago and I remember it being very emotional! Good luck with your job search and some sensible reading choices there.
I have flowers for algernon on my tbrm, heard a lot about it xxx
http://Www.alwaysreading.net Lainy xxx