It’s time for a look back at the past month on the Oaken Bookcase.
Yes, I’m still around. May has been a fairly quiet month around here – I haven’t had a lot of time for reading, even though I took part in Bout of Books. I’ve also hit something that I haven’t had in quite a while – a reading slump. Sucks!
I also joined in with the Clean Sweep ARC Challenge and although I had grand plans, I only managed to cross three and a half books off my goal list. Dreadful effort! Well, I’ll be keeping that list and continuing to cross books off it, I hope.
Philippa and I managed to get one episode of Tea in the Treetops in before her little bubba arrived – yep, her little girl is here and all is well 🙂 Don’t forget, you can now subscribe to the podcast in a few different ways, including iTunes, Stitcher radio and email. Check out the podcast page for more information, and as always, let us know if you’re enjoying it or if you have any questions we can answer on the show for you.
Reviews for May:
- The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker – 5 stars for this tale of two creatures in early 20th-Century New York City.
- In The End, Alexandra Rowland – 4 stars for a funny and quirky story of the end of days.
- The 5th Wave, Rick Yancey – 4 stars for a fast-paced story of survival during an alien invasion.
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling – 5 stars of course! Children’s fantasy for all ages.
- The River of No Return, Bee Ridgway – 5 stars, very enjoyable story of time travellers, set both in the present and in Regency London.
- The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch – 4.5 stars, swashbuckling adventure with the Gentleman Bastards. Fantasy adventure at its finest.
Books I read but didn’t review yet:
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling – the re-read continues. The last light-hearted adventures before the start of the darker parts of the story.
- Shadow of Night, Deborah Harkness – This is the sequel to A Discovery of Witches, which I quite enjoyed during last year. I’m currently over half-way through this one and struggling a little. It’s not that the story isn’t enjoyable, it’s just… meandering all over the place. It doesn’t help that I’m in a bit of a reading slump at the moment. Hopefully will finish this in the next few days.
Goal Update
- Goodreads challenge – I’m currently sitting at 41 books read. My reading slump and some larger books read this month means that I’m back on schedule rather than being ahead.
Coming up in May
The Wicked Wildfire read-a-thon starts next Friday, June 7. It rather helpfully lies on a long weekend here in Queensland, and I’ll have a few extra days off around that time as well, so here’s hoping for some extra reading time!
You may remember last year I held the Discover Australian Fantasy event in July, where I featured a load of books by Aussie authors. Well, I’m planning another one for this July. If you’re interested in guest posting or if you have a suggestion for a book to include in the line-up, please get in touch with me as soon as possible! The help of the community made things so much easier last year.
Keep your ears open for another Tea in the Treetops episode, coming very soon, and have a fantastic June 🙂
41 is pretty impressive! I’m looking forward to your fantasy event since it not a genre a read a lot of and it introduces me to some interesting ideas
Some of those books sound really good – super looking forward to reading the 5th Wave! I haven’t heard of In the End before but totally checking it out! I really want to do a re-read of HP sometime this year too!
I haven’t gotten around to A Discovery of Witches yet but it’s on my to-read-eventually list! I hope you are able to pull out of your reading slumps, those always suck! 🙁
And yay! So stoked for the WWReadathon, and so glad that it happens on a good week for you and Queensland!
April @ My Shelf Confessions recently posted..Armchair BEA: Keeping It Real & Children’s / Young Adult Literature
Thanks April 🙂 Have a great read-a-thon week!
Well keep my ear out for Aussie fantasy peeps for you!
Pass on my congrats to Philippa! 😀
And I say you had a pretty good reading month even with the slump. Look at all of those 4-5 star ratings! I guess in a sense I’m in a slight slump at the moment. Only managing to read really exceptional books. If at any point I think “meh” I just put it down and move on. Hope your slump passes soon though. I’m avoiding books like Witches because I just can’t face that much text. It’s not the size of the book it’s the words! Chick lit, nice and simple and fun. <3
Hannah @ Once Upon A Time recently posted..Summer of Love: Chick Lit & Romantic Comedy
Yeah I did read some great books 🙂 Thanks hun, will have to be something light next I think!
I struggled a bit with Shadow of Night too. I am still looking forward to the next book…whenever it comes out!
Marg recently posted..Sunday Salon: May Reading Reflections