LucianYaz:
Reading-wise, I have nothing to show for July; I made very little headway and didn't complete anything. My health was acting up and I spent most of my free time watching dramas, my version of comfort food. I have no firm reading plans for August; it's my birthday month and I want to be carefree with it.
Hi fellow readers, how are you all? I'm back after some time away from MDL. Hoping everyone is doing well and feeling the holiday spirit. And reading good books!
I read quite a bit during my self-imposed exile, though, like July above, I completed no books during the months of August and September. For the books I read in October and November, I'll use the spoiler tag to keep from overwhelming anyone who's not interested ;)
October
- Silent Separation by Gu Man (4/5) - My Sunshine is one of my favorite dramas so, of course, I really enjoyed the book from which it was adapted
- The Golden Hairpin by Qinghan CeCe (4/5) - I read this for consolation since I may never get to see the drama
- A Regimental Murder by Ashley Gardner (3.5/5) - average read
- Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories by Michael Shermer (4/5) - a lecture series from The Great Courses
- Alpha Night by Nalini Singh (4/5) - a great entry in one of my all-time favorite series (PsyChangeling)
- Rock Hard by Nalini Singh (4/5) - a contemporary romance by one of my favorite authors
November
- The Innocent Behind the Scandal by Abby Green (4/5) - an emotionally satisfying romance between two people who help each move past childhood pain
- The Glass House by Ashley Gardner (3/5) - average read
- Last Guard by Nalini Singh (4/5) - the romance in this one was not as compelling as others in the series (PsyChangeling) but I loved both characters and the continuing chaos and intrigues in the post-Silence world of the Trinity
- Sinister Magic by Lindsay Buroker (4/5) - fun, fast-paced urban fantasy; I wish someone would gift me with a snarky tiger like Sindari xD
- The Golden Slipper and Other Problems for Violet Strange by Anna Katharine Green (3.5/5) - short or long, AKG could fit in her convoluted plots anywhere
- The Man She Should Have Married (3/5) - this was a snooze; for all I cared, the two of them could've kept going with their separate lives and never bothered to reunite
- The Warden by Anthony Trollope (4/5) - I loved this character-driven look at a thorny problem which had no satisfying resolution for anyone
- The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie (4/5) - a reread of a small favorite
- The Lord of Stariel by AJ Lancaster (4/5) - a low maintenance fantasy with a new-to-me premise
- Hate Notes by Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward (4/5) - I like hate-to-love and friends-to-lovers stories and this was a good one, though the ending was meh
- Dragons Don't Eat Meat by Kim McDougall (4/5) - interesting start to an urban fantasy with a strong heroine and lots of disparate species and intriguing political factions
- Learn To Love Reading: 365 Powerful Quotes That Will Inspire You To Read More Books (4/5) - comprised of inspirational quotes on the joys and benefits of reading
- Passing by Nella Larsen (4.5/5) - a short excellent work from the Harlem Renaissance; similar to how I feel about The Great Gatsby and Ethan Frome, I loved the writing and setting while remaining ambivalent about the characters
- Apology, Crito, Phaedo of Socrates (3.5/5) - my mind hasn't moved on from his body/soul dualism theory
- Past Masters by Various Authors (4/5) - this is not an actual book but a compilation of public domain short stories of the mystery/detective fiction genre
- The Black Death: A History From Beginning to End (3.5/5) - only 'informative' and too speculative for me but it's enough to get you interested in the subject
- Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie (4/5) - this was a reread; Poirot is a perennial favorite
- The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (4/5) - implausible but fun and fast-paced, plus I found a new favorite character in the person of Sir Eustace Pedler :D
- As a Man Thinketh by James Allen (3/5) - some good in this but mostly impractical, plus I can't get over how he 'borrowed' so much from the Bible but gave no attribution
In October I dropped As kingfishers catch fire (by Gerard Manley Hopkins) when I was just past the half-way mark; despite being about two favorite subjects (God and nature), I was too distracted to appreciate his poetry. I'm hoping to pick it up again later down the line.
I've already completed some books for December but I'll leave these for my end-of-month wrap-up.
Happy reading to everyone!
Hi fellow readers, how are you all? I'm back after some time away from MDL. Hoping everyone is doing well and feeling the holiday spirit. And reading good books!
I read quite a bit during my self-imposed exile, though, like July above, I completed no books during the months of August and September. For the books I read in October and November, I'll use the spoiler tag to keep from overwhelming anyone who's not interested ;)
Glad to see you back and hope you're okay!
Wow! You've read so many books in two months' time!
penel:
Glad to see you back and hope you're okay!
Wow! You've read so many books in two months' time!
Thank you, I'm doing okay. The books I complete in a month may not have been started in that month. I'm a moody reader so I always have several books going at once, some of which I may eventually complete months later (if at all). Also, some of these are audiobooks or were read with a combination of audio and text.
Hey yall! This month I finished one prose book and two graphic novels. The prose book was Infinity Son by Adam Silvera. 
The story was pretty cool, but the writing was a bit off. I think the writer could have benefited from using a bit more subtext.
I also dropped a c-webnovel I was reading. I'd worked really hard to find it after losing it for several years, but when I finally got the book back I realized it wasn't very good. A bit disappointing after reading something like 200+ chapters, but at least I won't be wistfully wondering what the name of this book is anymore. I really tried to stick with the book until the very end but its nearly 300 chapters, and I think I gave it a good try.
Edit: UPDATE~
So I only started rereading The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation like this past week or something so I didn't expect to finish it in time for December but I literally finished reading it today! What a great book. It's only volume 1 so I have to wait for 2 and 3. Luckily I've already read the entire webnovel version of it, so I'm not upset that i have to wait for the other volumes. But it really is a story that should be reread! There is so much depth to the words once you know the whole thing. It makes rereading super fun ^_^ I'm super grateful for having read the webnovel, and I'm super grateful that I was able to read the physical edition too! Ah :) life is good life is good.
I still have one book to finish to complete all my challenges at The StoryGraph, but the two main ones have both been accomplished, which is nice
On the eve of a new year, I'm hoping for a good year for all of us--reading-wise and in other aspects as well. May we all blessed with health, happiness, and contentment.
I somehow managed to finish four books in December: two Japanese crime novels, a non-fiction book about Japanese cinema, and a Soviet literary novel.
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My favorite read in December was Chingiz Aitmatov's The Day Lasts More Than A Hundred Years. Aitmatov was a Soviet writer of Kirghiz ethnicity, and this novel is about an old Kazakh man who tries to bury a friend according to the old custom, as the dead man wished, which means he needs to cross the desert to a local burial ground. There's also a subplot about American-Soviet joint space program that, without meaning to, stumbles upon an extraterrestrial intelligence.
Nothing I could say about the novel could give it justice, but it's so good some parts gave me visceral pain. It talks about collective memory and history, and how modernization and the Soviet system don't always have room for them. (It's actually pretty critical of Soviet authoritarianism. But I guess it could still be published domestically because it's written in late 1970s and not earlier.) On the other hand, I truly don't understand why it needs to have the space program subplot in the first place, but it doesn't make me like the book less or anything. In fact, I think I like the novel so much I'm eager to check out other stuff written by Soviet authors of Central Asian extraction. Or just Central Asian novelists in general.
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somehow this month i managed to read the duology I've been wanting to read for a while now. the pacing was a bit too slow for my liking but i enjoyed it nevertheless. actually, still reading the second book but I'm hoping I'd finish by the end of the day (60 pages and 6hrs left). on that note, Happy New Year (advance/belated or whatever it is) to my beloved book lovers family ♡. wishing for nothing but best this year, most importantly stay safe!! cheers to hoping you'd stick to those 2022 resolutions. xx
December wrap up:foxyjo:
somehow this month i managed to read the duology I've been wanting to read for a while now. the pacing was a bit too slow for my liking but i enjoyed it nevertheless. actually, still reading the second book but I'm hoping I'd finish by the end of the day (60 pages and 6hrs left). on that note, Happy New Year (advance/belated or whatever it is) to my beloved book lovers family ♡. wishing for nothing but best this year, most importantly stay safe!! cheers to hoping you'd stick to those 2022 resolutions. xx
Oh nice! I just got We Hunt the Flame! I started it last week and I'm hoping to finish it some time in January.
