Mt TBR report: May 2016

Seveneves, Neal Stephenson, Jim Butcher, The Aeronaut's Windlass, The Cinder Spires, The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin, Ishtar, Amanda Pillar, K.V. Taylor, The Wild Girl, Kate Forsyth, books and tea, Earl Grey Editing, Mt TBR

May was a challenging month for reading. It got off to a slow start, thanks to the way I binge-watched two seasons of Daredevil on Netflix. It also didn’t help that May unofficially turned into the month of chunksters, particularly when the Hugo nominees for Best Novel arrived from the library.

My #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks stats are looking reasonable. My goal for the challenge was to make sure 60% of the books I read this year come from Mt TBR. I was at 52% at the end of last month and am at the same now. I don’t anticipate that this will improve (or that I will meet my goal for the year) now that I’ve signed up as an Aurealis judge. Books for the Aurealis Awards will likely start arriving in the next month.

Books with an asterisk on the list below were part of my #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks effort.

Mt TBR Status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2016: 244
Mt TBR @ 30 April 2016: 245
Mt TBR @ 31 May 2016: 248

Books Read

43. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones *. Reread. I saw the Miyazaki anime before I read the book and was so astonished at how different the versions were that I had trouble seeing the book for its own merits. I think I did better this time around. There’s a lot to love in this quirky YA tale. I especially love Howl’s origins and Sophie’s no-nonsense approach to his drama-queen antics.

44. Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold. Reviewed here.

45. Ishtar edited by Amanda Pillar and K.V. Taylor *. Reviewed here.

46. Memories of Ash by Intisar Khanani. Reviewed here.

47. Defying Doomsday by Tsana Dolichva and Holly Kench. Reviewed here.

48. The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth *. Review forthcoming.

DNF – The Summon Stone by Ian Irvine. Much like The Lyre Thief, this is the first book in a new epic fantasy series that utilises the world and characters of a prior series. Unfortunately, this book doesn’t pull it off nearly as well. Perhaps it was relying too strongly on the prior series because I felt no emotional connection to the characters. Which was disappointing, because it’s not often you see a protagonist dealing with chronic pain. However, I couldn’t get past that character’s narrow-minded view or the slow pace of the story.

DNF – Carpentaria by Alexis Wright. Only DNF for now, since I fully intend to come back to this one. I got about a fifth of the way through this literary chunkster before I had to set it aside to meet other deadlines. It’s a book that refuses to be hurried.

 

Books Acquired

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
7&7: Anthology of Virtue and Vice
Tempting Mr Townsend
by Anna Campbell
Winning Lord West by Anna Campbell
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
The Aeronaut’s Windlass Jim Butcher
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Vigil by Angela Slatter
A Word and a Bullet by Rachel Sharp

Online Reading

No online reading this month, as I was too busy trying to keep afloat with the rest of my reading.

What have you read this month?


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2 thoughts on “Mt TBR report: May 2016”

    1. I’m way behind with her work, too. The Wild Girl is the first of her novels I’ve read.

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