Hello my fellow fighters! What have you all been up to? Reading (m)any good titles? Tell me about it! No, seriously, tell me about it 🙂

I have managed 3 titles since my last book-update post, which was over a month ago. 2022 is seriously my worst reading year since about 2014.

Crowfall – Ed McDonald: book 3 in The Raven’s Mark series, I finally – FINALLY- finished a trilogy! hahaha, finishing a trilogy or a series is always cause for celebration for a bookworm. The main character Ryhalt is one of the most memorable characters for me in fantasy and McDonald has created some really incredible characters into what is called The Misery. Ah, the Misery and all that it is. I love it. It’s full of horror and death and as a complete contrast, I think, the biggest driving force of this whole series is love. Love.

Bloody Chamber – Angela Carter: I read this in Estonian, got the book on sale, of course. Loved the colour and I was promised some gothic horrory vibes, I could not say no. So, this is a collection of short stories, which are fairy tale retellings with a dark twist and some erotic undertones. First time ever I felt like the words were just all too much for me. Maybe it’s because I was reading in Estonian, the language can be a bit angular and sounds like it has ‘way too many corners’ in your head so it’s not like a smooth flow… am I making sense? Anyway, very lyrical, the prose. I definitely couldn’t do more than a story at a time. That said, I never bloody realized this collection was first published in 1979! Holy wow! Yeah! That little fact just really made me like this book a bit more 🙂

Kellegi teise muru – Maario Essa: The title translates, directly, to: ‘Someone else’s grass’ … I wonder if he meant grass like weed? Or if it’s a play on ‘grass is greener on the other side’? I’ll never know… Anyway, this is a small collection of poems, written by a then 16-year old, in 2004, if I am correct. I mean, poetry… right? I think poetry is such a subjective experience. 63 pages of rather interesting content for me. 50% of it was a total miss for me – too simplistic, too ‘in the mould’, too ‘does what it says on the tin’. The other 50% however was very enjoyable. These gems of poems that I could truly sense that inspiration had struck the young man. The wordery, the imagery, the rhythm… I am glad there were poems which will act as testament to his potential.

***

So, not a whole lot read, I admit, but every page counts! 🙂 I am hardly going to meet my 50 book reading challenge this year as I am currently at 26 books.

I am reading 2 titles, though….

The Tiger and the Cauldron – Andrew Greenfield Lockhart: I have this title for aaaagggeees! And when the author started sharing the book chapter by chapter via his website/blog, I was like, right, this is the time to start the book. Also, the first chapter captured me and I said, I have to continue. I am only at the start, but I have enjoyed it this far!

Fifteen-year-old Hassan returns to his native Persia in search of adventure, but emotionally unprepared for a chance encounter that will change his life.
Saved from a degrading forced marriage, sixteen-year-old Princess Doquz is bent on revenge for her humiliation.
With the rebel commander, Ahmed Sabbah, she declares war on the Mongol Il-khanate. Her daring and her skills in weaponry earn her a reputation as the Tiger Princess.
However, Doquz is reluctant to play the religious card that will help her brother Ghazan to the throne of Persia until a reunion with Hassan, her childhood companion, forces her to reappraise her objectives and her sexuality.
From Tabriz to the Valley of the Assassins, deep in the Alburz Mountains, Hassan and Doquz pursue their quest, unaware of secrets that can destroy them both … and Sabbah must break a solemn oath to save them.

Goodreads

The Islander – Tomas O’Crohan: this is one of my non-fiction titles I promised to read. I have read 6 pages and I am loving it, I have a feeling I’ll like it through and through. It’s about people and life on The Great Blasket island off the West coast of Ireland. Harsh conditions, especially in the 1800s. But true to Irish nature – they’re tough as nails and cheeky as heck, too… I went to the island in 2012

This superb account of life on the Great Blasket Island off the west coast of Kerry, written as the nineteenth century draws to its close and the dawn of a new era trespasses on the lives of its small community, is both a shocking and captivating read.

Tomas O’Crohan, a fisherman who, at around the age of forty, has taught himself to read and write in his own native tongue, depicts in unaffected, vivid language a very unforgiving landscape of human experience. The Islander reflects life as it was on the Blaskets, raw, real and extremely challenging.

Goodreads

Anyway, that’s me… What have you been up to? Are you making the most of the ‘socks, hot cuppa, blanket‘ season? 🙂