The TBR I Posted in August

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And today I'll be discussing the last TBR I posted this year: the TBR, where I vowed that I wouldn't be posting another one until all the books on that list have been read. 

Anyway, as this is just the introduction, I won't reveal anything more than that. 

I hope you enjoy my, reality check, of sorts. 

~The TBR I Posted in August~

I'm drawing a line below it. When I posted this list of books. If you still don't know which post I'm talking about, I'll link it here. 

Basically, I thought it would take a matter of weeks, maybe a couple of months at most to finish this pile of books. But, December is a week on Monday, and I still have a significant list of them left to read. 

1. American Gods and Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman 

2. The Miniaturist, by Jessie Burton 

3. I Am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes

4. Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell 

Now, the only ones I feel truly bad about are the Neil Gaiman books, because I was gifted those over a year ago (still going to try and finish those before the end of the year), but I've decided that it's in my best interest to pause that list for now, or maybe, not to push myself to read them, one after another, when I don't want to. 

Most of the time I'll argue that it's worth pushing through a book at the start when 1) you know the book will improve- like if you've read books by said author in the past, and you know the writing style, or 2) you know you'll end up regretting not pursuing said book (like Great Expectations, for example). 

Let me explain. With Great Expectations, I knew the language was going to be difficult. I knew I was going to struggle with it. Yet I read it any way, because I like the story, and wanted to, despite how difficult the language was. Pushing through was what got me through it. It just required a lot of focus and determination on my part. 

That's Great Expectations. But when you feel like that with almost book on that list, and the motivation to carry on with that dwindles rapidly, it's so hard to keep going. 

Which is why I'm drawing a line under it. I don't want to go into December, and possibly even January, reading books I don't have the interest in. I want to read fluffy romances about Christmas, or even, I want to be able to read books I want to read on the spur of the moment, not books on a list I feel obligated to pick up. 

And that's fine. For the rest of the year I'm going to be picking up books on the spur of the moment. Right now I'm re-reading Paula Radcliffe's autobiography, a book I've been thinking of re-reading since she took on the Tokyo and Boston marathons earlier this year. 

I will be posting a loose TBR in December, but I definitely won't be sticking to it 100%. 

Moving on, I wanted to add a brief word about the posting I'll be doing in December. They're your standard December posts: 

1. December TBR (2025)

2. Anticipated Releases for January- March 2026. 

3. Favourite Books of 2025. 

4. Maybe a Christmas tag, if I have time?

5. Yearly Wrap Up (the big whoopang!) 

I know, right? Barely posts three times a month, then decides on 5 at the end of the year? Anybody want to put a bet on that I won't do it? Well, we'll see. 

Okay! That is all that I have for you guys for now, but be on the lookout for my November Wrap Up, coming up some time next week! 

I hope you have a wonderful evening and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeeeee! 

-Abi xxxxxx

Reading Tastes

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And recently I've been thinking alot about our reading tastes. How they change as we age, books we get the urge to go back and re-read, and how we simply forget the entire plot of others, as new, more interesting books come into the picture. 

I've been doing some digging on Goodreads this evening, looking for my 'Most Read Authors' section on my profile, only to find it missing. Turns out, it was removed from Goodreads 6 years ago. 

Anyway, I wanted to see whether I still thought the same about these books, all those years ago, to now. 

That section may be gone now, but I'm still going to discuss it on here.

This is basically going to be another rambler post so sorry to anyone that was looking for QUALITY tonight, because this won't be it. 

But I'll do it anyway. 

I hope you enjoy it. 

~Reading Tastes~

Okay, so. Growing up, I was a HUGE distopian fan. Like most preteens discoving the wide world of books. They're exciting, full of adventures, romances, fights, death. They're great gateways to the adult fantasy genre, as well as middlegrade adventures, like Harry Potter, or Narnia, Percy Jackson, etc. 

Authors like Cassandra Clare, Veronica Roth, Suzanne Collins, Stephanie Meyer. They were my introduction to the dystopian genre. Of course the YA subgenre was smack bang in the middle of that too. 

Fast forward to today, I keep thinking about how golden a time that time was. Late 2000s, the Twilight film came out. A few years later, A City of Bones, The Hunger Games and Divergent all got film deals. I am so thankful that I was the right age for these book release/ film releases, to feel the magic when my favourite books became loved by all who knew them. 

It was at this time that #Booktube reached an all time high. Live shows, getting to talk to Booktubers in America about these releases. To this day, I remember reading the entire Lunar Chronicles series in time to finish Winter, in time for the liveshow (which I fell asleep for, in the end, because in the UK it was 2am that it took place). There was #UKYAChat, a Twitter conversation with youtuber Lucy Powrie (now author of The Paper & Hearts Society series), who created the theme, and posted questions, every Friday night. It was the time for booktubers and distopian fiction. 

And now, as a 28 year old woman, I want to go back. Not to re-read, but for the first time. To all of it. I'll reach to one of these favourites every so often, when I'm in danger of dissolving into a reading slump. Teri Terry, Lemony Snicket, and of course, I'm still reading Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant novels, sixteen years later. 

Because of that Booktube community, I feel like certain books, that were popular within the group, led me to my reading tastes today. The Book Thief, is what started my interest in historical fiction, I'm 100% sure of it. Cassandra Clare, Nicola Yoon, Adam Silvera, all authors that I discovered and loved, because of those liveshows. 

Now, that wasn't all I was reading. I had a strong love for Sci-fi, I still do. But, is it just me, or do not as many people go in for Sci-fi as much as fantasy? Like, I get that magic and all is amazing, but space, stars, unknown species from outer space, and a world without gravity is interesting too, surely? 

My love of Science Fiction hasn't changed much at all, really. I still have a long list of Science Fiction books that I'm eager to get to, the Skyward series at the top of the pile. 

Saying that, if anyone has any recommendations for sci-fi novels, let me know in the comments- I don't have as many on my list as I'd like. I think maybe the subject pool is bigger for fantasy, hence why there's a bigger interest for the average reader. 

Before I move on to fantasy, I just want to make a note about fiction/ contemporary. Looking back at my reading taste as a teen, there's a single book that springs to mind that's the most similar to the type of fiction book I like to pick up now. That book is Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell. That book, the light-hearted tone, about a writer, going to University, and trying to figure herself out as an individual, without her twin sister, was the gateway to authors like Taylor Jenkins Reid, Marian Keyes, Jodi Picoult, Fredrik Backman. Not that I don't like cutesy fiction, but I'm very much a sucker for a tough journey. 

Now, moving on to fantasy. There was never a chance I wasn't going to like this genre, after picking up Skulduggery Pleasant, age twelve. Conjuring fire, powerful boxers with a face full of scars, kick-ass women with knives running up walls- that book completely changed my life- and with the final book due to be released in March, I don't know how I'm going to deal with it (though there's an epic re-read coming up, you mark my words). That book series sparked a love for fantasy, for magic, every kind of it, and it's never gone away. It's just changed somewhat. 

The kind of fantasy novels I crave now, are huge, 700-800 pages of dialogue, discovery, vast worlds, complicated characters, a full series I can lose myself in. I've changed from reading Cassandra Clare, Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, to wanting to read Robin Hobb, R.F. Kuang, Fonda Lee, N.K. Jemison. 

Which is natural. It's normal to grow as a reader, to develop a liking to different themes, tropes, different authors. 

That's what's great about reading. There's something for everyone. 

Okay! Those are all my thoughts on reading tastes! I'm sure I'll be thinking of a lot more than what I've written, the minute I publish this, but for now, that's my lot. Please don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments if you feel like chatting though! I love any imput! 

Okay! I hope you have a lovely evening and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeeee! 

-Abi xxxxxx

October Wrap Up (2025)

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm back with my October Wrap Up! 

I read a fair few books, which I'm pretty happy with, considering one of them took me a while to get into. 

Anyway, with further ado, I hope you enjoy, and as always, feel free to comment what you read, or got up to, in the spookiest month of the year! 

1. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

My achievement of the year! I got this for my birthday/ Christmas last year, and when it got to August, I decided it was crunch time. The target was the end of the year. 

Knowing how difficult the language was going to be, I decided not to shy away from it, and picked it up almost immediately. And let me tell you, I'm so glad my friend decided on this, and not Les Mis, because I reckon if he had, I'd still be reading it now. 

The language was challenging to say the least. I had to re-read a fair bit of this to make sure I was still following what was going on. Charles Dickens is definitely a bit of a 'waffler', it took a while for me to see the point of where he was going with a story. But nevertheless, I enjoyed the story, the characters were excellent, the pacing was fantastic, there were points in the story that I didn't want to put the book down, so I could find out what was going to happen next, and I'm eager to start another Charles Dickens book soon (when I've read some of my other unread books, of course). 

I will definitely be watching the 2010 BBC TV show of Great Expectations this winter. 

2. Skyward, Vol.1: My Low- G Life (Skyward #1), by Joe Henderson

3. Skyward, Vol. 2: Here There Be Dragonflies (Skyward #2), by Joe Henderson

4. Skyward, Vol. 3: Fix the World (Skyward #3), by Joe Henderson

 

I bought these with me for the flight to Dubrovnik because, being graphic novels, I knew they would be a fast-paced read. That was almost exactly what they were. Simple premise, protagonist is Willa, a girl born just before everything (literally) went up in the air. Grown up, she's looking for an adventure, a reason to leave, to explore what else the world has to offer. Except maybe not her Dad's grandmaster plan to bring back gravity, that could potentially get her killed. 

But here she is, smack bang in the middle of it. 

A fast-paced, fun graphic novel series is what I wanted, and that's exactly what I got. Another series conquered for the year. 

5. The Porpoise, by Mark Haddon 

The Porpoise. A book I never would have ever considered, had it not been for The Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Not wanting a huge marathon of a book for my holiday in Dubrovnik, I hesitantly chose it, after being gripped by the first chapter that sets up the story. 

After Angelica is the sole survivor of a horrible plane crash, she is kept in almost perfect isolation by her father Phillipe, and can do nothing to stop his abusive behavious and troubling obsession with her. Desperate for any kind of escape, she turns to literature for comfort, to resilient strangers embarking on wild escapades, and living to tell the tale. Sometimes she forgets where she ends and the stories begin. 

After a very gripping and fast-paced first chapter, we're fast forwarded a couple of years to when Angelica is a few years old. We see her grow up, form almost unnatural habits with regards to her over-protective father. We read from the time that Angelica is a few years old, until she reaches maturity and the abuse gets worse. A visitor arrives, about some paintings, which his recently deceased father was in business with Phillipe for. After he guesses at what's going on, tries to get Angelica away, and barely escapes with his life, we reach the beginning of the story. Stony resillence from Angelica from now until the end of the book means that the rest of the story is mostly the stories she is reading, to keep from dissolving into a complete breakdown, when fighting against her father inwardly. 

I have to admit, after we switching to the novels we were picking up, I didn't have the faintest clue what was going on. It was a good 40 pages until I twigged, and it was such a struggle to get to three digits. Once I did though, once the story had moved on some, it was like there was a switch flicked. And suddenly I couldn't put the book down. I struggled through 50 pages in an afternoon, and then suddenly it was 75 pages in a couple of hours, travelling on the bus, mostly. 

The Porpoise is a beautifully-written book about how stories can give you hope and bravery in the face of danger, and keep your head above water. It reads completely differently to The Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and it was a pleasure to read it. 

6. A Heart Full of Hatred (Skulduggery Pleasant #17), by Derek Landy 

A solid four star. Not my favourite in the Skulduggery Pleasant series, but then a 4 star for Skulduggery Pleasant is going to be better than any other normal four star anyway. 

Obviously, this is book 17 in the series, so I can't say much, because spoilers. 

I'm both ready for this series to be at an end and also not, because I've been reading this series for 16 years. The last book is out in March and I'll be doing an epic SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT SERIES SENDOFF around then, I've already decided. 

Please, let this be the last one. I don't want any more characters dying. 

Okay! Those are all the books I read in October! As I mentioned up top, let me know in the comments what you all read in October, or even if you watched/ saw something new. Just write about it in the comments! 

That's all I have for you all today, so I hope you have a lovely day and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeeeeee! 

-Abi xxxxxxx