May wrap up + June TBR

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[@mattkean1128]

I love a good variety 👏

[@bookswithzara]

100000%

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

I'm so glad you loved Piranesi!❤ Emma M Lion!!🎉🎉❤ I can't wait to start these! CRIME & PUNISHMENT!!!!❤❤❤

[@bookswithzara]

Yesssssss, I love how similar our reading tastes are! I need you to read Emma M Lion! We need to talk about it haha.

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

@@bookswithzara I may try to start it in July. I definitely can't this month.

[@blacknbluecollarreader]

Yes Yes Yes, Piranesi is a gorgeous read. It might be in my top 3-4 books I've read this year. I have Embassy Town on my shelf. Lmk when you start it. Cheers

[@bookswithzara]

It really is! One to be reread, for sure. I will! I'm thinking middle of this month so I'll ping you.

[@esmayrosalyne]

Super nice to hear that Seeds of War was a hit for you! I think you will really appreciate the sequel (and the prequel, for that matter!). Also, heeeck yes for Piranesi, eager to hear more of your thoughts! And really glad to hear that you have found such comfort in that manga, hope you are doing okay, sending hugs! 🥰

[@bookswithzara]

Thanks Esmay! I’m planning to read the second book later this year. What was your best pick of May?

[@esmayrosalyne]

@@bookswithzara For fiction, absolutely Hell For Hire by Rachel Aaron. One of the best urban fantasies I have ever read! And for nonfiction, I was blown away by The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee, about her survival after defecting from North Korea! Would highly recommend both ;)

[@bookswithzara]

@@esmayrosalyne Ohhh I'm especially interested in the latter! Adding it to my list now :) Will check out the former too! Thanks Esmay.

[@billybilodeau1991]

I read “16 Ways to Defend a Walled City” and its sequels. I did like them mainly because they were faster paced then some other Parker books and not dark. My favorite was the first. I liked seeing the main character always thinking on his toes.

[@bookswithzara]

Ah that’s good to know! I’m planning to read this series this year.

[@joshyaks]

Sorry to hear you've been dealing with a lot of stuff, but I'm glad you still got some great reading in! I was down for the month of May with severe illness and 6 days in hospital so I didn't take time to do a lot of reading, but I'm still slowly working my way through the first couple of Vorkosigan Saga books (book 2 is already an improvement over book 1, though still not even close to the level of her World of the Five Gods fantasy series).

[@bookswithzara]

Thanks Josh, appreciate it. I'm so sorry to hear you were in hospital. Are you feeling better now? Glad ot hear book 2 is slightly better! I hope it picks up for you.

[@mariareadsssf]

So glad you loved "Piranesi" and "Blood Over Bright Haven". I just finished "Water Moon" and it was so charming and imaginative. My favorite book of May and of the year so far was "A Master of Djin" by P. Djèlí Clark. I felt it was written for me as I fell in love with reading thanks to "1001 Arabian Nights". I also re-read one of my favorite books of all times, "Black Sun" abd its sequel "Fevered Star" in preparation for the conclusion, my most anticipated book of the year, "Mirrored Heavens" by Rebecca Roanhorse.

[@bookswithzara]

Hey Maria! Ohhhh you're making me want to pick up A Master of Djinn now haha. I read one of Clark's short stories last year and really enjoyed it. I was literally talking about Black Sun with my patreons last week. I heard the second book wasn't as good. Curious to hear your thoughts though by the sound of it you enjoyed it?

[@mariareadsssf]

@@bookswithzara "Fevered Star" is not as intense for sure. I remember when I read it first time I was a bit disappointed, but on the second read I appreciated it for the character studies and developments, even if the plot was more of a set up for the conclusion.

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

Yesssssssssss Piranesi living up to the hype since it's just that good. This is the first time I've ever felt compelled to try Blood Over Bright Haven (wasn't the biggest fan of Sword of Kaigen), but seems worth a go. Water Moon also seems worth checking out, and though I don't read manga or graphic novels typically, Hirayasumi sounds delightful!

[@bookswithzara]

I think you’d liked aspects of BoBH! Not sure if it’s be a favourite by any means but I think you’ll like it! I have a feeling you’ll also like Water Moon!

[@BookishVicky]

Piranesi ❤. I've just started Polansky's 'A City Dreaming' and so far so good. 'Embassytown' has been on my tbr for forever; I look forward to your review!

[@bookswithzara]

Hi Vicky! I hope you have fun with ACD. I had such a good time with it! Have you read any China Mieville?

[@BookishVicky]

@@bookswithzara Not yet. He's been on my wishlist forever, but I've read reviews that make his books sound a little intimidating and I haven't taken the plunge yet, but I really want to!

[@bookswithzara]

@@BookishVicky I started with The Last Days of New Paris and it was good for me! It’s short and not as trippy as some of his other stuff.

[@BookishVicky]

@@bookswithzara That's a great tip, thanks! I'll see if I can get my hands on a copy of that one and I'll start there 😊

[@thatsci-firogue]

Glad you liked Piranesi, I was 99% certain you'd like it :) May was a weird one for me. It was a month of indecisiveness, randomly picking up books and DNFed/NFNed on a whim very quickly. But what I did finish I really enjoyed. *Epic Fantasy* Wars of Light & Shadow 1: Curse of the Mistwraith - I liked it a lot, Lysaer and Arithon are great characters. I did struggle at times, especially in the 2nd half, with the high magic elements, its not a hard magic system but there's a lot at play. The prose is very rich and elaborate but not overly so. I think I'm gonna treat this series like I did Malazan, and read it over the course of a couple of years. Carried over from April. *Mystery* Shutter Island / Dennis Lehane - I'll certainly be reading more Lehane, this was fantastic! Book of the Month!!! *Sci-Fi* Warhammer 40k - Gaunt's Ghosts: A Ghost Return (re-read) - Short story prelude to a much longer series. I'm already a fan of Abentt through his comics, especially Sinister Dexter. *Steampunk* Books of Babel 1: Senlin Ascends (re-read) - Carry over from April. I had gotten 40% into a re-read of The Blade Itself via audiobook and just wasn't feeling it, I NFNed Robert McCammon's Swan Song and M.L.N Hanover (Daniel Abraham)'s Unclean Spirits for now. And I re-read Part 1 and the first set of Interludes for the Way of Kings. So far in June I have finished: *Historical-Fantasy* Children of Earth & Sky / Guy Gavriel Kay - Not my favourite GGK so far, but still superb. I'm a huge of fan of Renaissance inspired stories and this did not disappoint, there was a particular character I wanted more of because the dialogue and interactions were just so good but what we did get was fantastic. A Brightness Long Ago / Guy Gavriel Kay - Picked it up immediately after finishing Children of Earth & Sky, and blazed through it. I think I can comfortably say its my favourite GGK I've read so far. As for what I'm currently reading: *Epic Fantasy* Wars of Light & Shadow 2: Ships of Merior *Historical-Fantasy* All the Seas of the World / Guy Gavriel Kay *Sci-Fi* Sun Eater 2: Howling Dark *Southern Gothic* Child of God / Cormac McCarthy

[@SarahJ70]

Dennis Lehane fan! Read Mystic River! Mystic River is great ❤

[@thatsci-firogue]

@@SarahJ70 That's the plan. Can't wait.

[@bookswithzara]

Alright, you’ve both hyped up Lehane for me. Adding him to my list. I loved the Shutter Island movie too. So good. I’m so glad to hear ABLA is your fave GGK so far! Have you read Arbonne? That is the only one that’s slightly pipped it thus far.

[@thatsci-firogue]

@@bookswithzara I'm be restarting A Song for Arbonne soonish. After I'm finished All the Seas of the World I'll only have 3 of Kay's non-Fionavar connected works left and I'm torn between that and River of Stars for my next Kay book.

[@bookswithzara]

@@thatsci-firogue I hope you love it!

[@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels]

Better than Sword of Kaigen? Definitely looking forward to what you have to say then. Glad you liked Piranesi, I loved it immensely. Susanna Clarke's just the best. Embassytown's another favorite, hope you have a blast with that one! Some of the good stuff I've finished reading recently are: - James Islington's The Will of the Many (your review actually made me bump it up closer, and holy crap was that a good decision). - Adrian Tchaikovsky's Guns of the Dawn (not sure if you've read that yet, but an absolute blast and worth checking out) - Moses Utomi's Lies of the Ajungo and Truth of the Aleke (two absolutely insane novellas, more people need to read these) - Vajra Chandrasekera's The Saint of Bright Doors (I'd be curious to see what you make of this one, it's . . . interesting)

[@bookswithzara]

Yeah definitely! Just edited my review so it'll be out some time this month. Have you read any other Susanna Clarke? I'm so glad you enjoyed TWOTM! It's so fun, right? I tried Guns a last year but couldn't get into it. I've kept the book and will give it another go some time. I'll definitely check out the two novella and The Saint of Bright Doors. I'm intrigued! Thanks for the recs.

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

@@bookswithzara butting in here to say... now that you're reading Emma Lion, you definitely need to try Guns of the Dawn again. The MC was definitely like a Mary from Downton Abbey or Elizabeth Bennett from P&P to me. Just be prepared for a slower read. And I'm reading Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell in Sept. She is supposed to be coming out with another book set in the same world but not connected to JS in October I think.

[@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels]

@@bookswithzara I've read all her stuff and listened to the BBC recording of that short story she has coming out soon, Jonathan Strange is in my top 10 fantasy books easy. Will of the Many completely blew me away, Islington's just really good at taking classic fantasy concepts and making something extremely engaging. Hopefully the novellas and Saint of Bright Doors works for you!

[@bookswithzara]

@@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD I definitely will add it back on to my list. Yeah I saw she’s writing a new book! Excited to see what it’s about.

[@MacScarfield]

Just finished “A Wise Man’s Fear” (Kingkiller Chronicle #2) by Patrick Rothfuss: The Man’s prose is amazing, so even though I am sad the third book is so delayed and I doubt I ever will consider Kvothe to be a favorite character of mine (a matter of taste rather than quality, make no mistake), I by no means regret reading the books! Also finished the Jack Vance’s “Lyonesse” Trilogy (Arthurian Fantasy), “Ash: A Secret History” by Mary Gentle (Alt-History/Fantasy inspired by the Mercenary Wars of Late Medieval & Renaissance Europe) and the “Sun Eater” Novellas & Short Stories by Christopher Ruocchio up to “Demon In White”. I will be taking a breather the coming days before starting on the “Memory, Sorrow & Thorn” Trilogy by Tad Williams over the Summer (also plan to read “The Darkness That Comes Before” by R. Scott Bakker & “A Brightness Long Ago” by GGK in June), with Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “A Princess of Mars”: I received a library copy from 1920, the British 4th Edition, 104 years old!

[@bookswithzara]

Hey Mac! Hope you're doing ok :) I really really really need to read Rothfuss' books. They're waiting patiently on my bookshelves. How did you find the Lyonesse trilogy? Did it stay consistently strong? Ash also sounds intriguing to me. I will check this out. Sun Eater is a series I'm going to tackle next year! I'm hyped for it. You have some amazing books coming your way. TDTCB and ABLA were both favourite books of mine last year. Hope you enjoy them. I've heard mixed things about Memory, Sorrow and Thorn so I'm curious to hear your thoughts once you finish the first book. That is so cool re A Princess of Mars! Let me know how you get on with this please!

[@MacScarfield]

@@bookswithzara Thank you Zara!☺️ 🙏 Definitely better! Jack Vance’ prose is excellent all the way through! I think you might enjoy “A Princess of Mars” as there definitely is a link to both Classical Adventure Stories, such as “The Three Musketeers” and to Modern Sci-Fantasy, from “Star Wars” to “Sun Eater”! On the other hand, do think many consider it to be the definition of “The White Savior” Trope that “Dune” critiques. I would say it is well worth a try!

[@C.S.Brulevent]

🤩 Been on a Dickens mood lately since I finished (and loved) Little Dorrit. So, after I read Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (quite interesting, but sadly unfinished so the second part is less gripping than the very intriguing and funny first part), I got back to Dickens and am now halfway through David Copperfiel. In parallel, I'm reading Too Like The Lightning, first entry in the SF series Terra Ingota and, well, I'm not sure I understand half of what's going on, hahaha. So many interesting concepts (societal, philosophical, you name it) all over the place; it's a lot to digest and I sometimes think I'm reading way too many different books/genres crammed into one, yet it remains interesting/intriguing. We'll see if I'll continue onto the second volume once I'm done with this one. Hirayasumi 5 is out here, volume 6 scheduled for august... guess it's finally time for me to purchase volumes 4 and 5. 🥰

[@bookswithzara]

Ok, what's your favourite Dickens? I need to read Dickens, it is criminal that I haven't tbh. I recently got Too Like The Lightning on Kindle. Are you at least enjoying it haha? Please let me know once you've read 5! It was sooooo good!

[@C.S.Brulevent]

@@bookswithzara I guess I am enjoying reading Too Much Like The Lightning, haha, I just read a part that almost made me DNF it though, haha, I sometimes really don't know where it means to go or the point of it all, but it keeps me curious about this universe. I've only read 3 and half Dickens so far (A Christmas Carol; Great Expectations; Little Dorrit, and David Copperfield should be read by the end of the week), and so far Little Dorit is my clear favourite, with such an incredible cast of characters.

[@annbechtel7113]

My favorite May read, Guns of the Dawn (A Tchaikovsky). It may have put me in a reading slump as so far this month I'm struggling to complete anything 😢

[@bookswithzara]

Oh no! I hope you’re able to get your groove back soon, Ann. I’m going to try giving this book another go this year.

[@annbechtel7113]

@@bookswithzara I’m gonna give The Curse of Chalion a try to see if that can pull me out of the slump 👍

[@SarahJ70]

Was also not a huge fan of Sword of Kaigen, due to the strange info dumps, but I’m glad Blood Haven worked for you. I’m not interested in it tho as the premise and the dark academia vibe does not appeal to me. Maybe someday 😂 I read Mystic River by Dennis Lehane which got me to buy rest of his other books which is rare for me, but it was such a great crime fiction novel, one I got spoiled for, but still enjoyed the reading experience due to character depth

[@bookswithzara]

Tbh I didn’t really get a dark academic vibe. It’s definitely set in an academic-ish setting but dark academia would definitely not be my first thought. I’d recommend giving it a try because I think it’s been missold to you haha. I say this because I also don’t particularly like dark academia. Based on one of your other comments, I’ve added Mystic River and also Shutter Island on to my list! I really want to read more crime.

[@v3rmilli0nair3]

Hi Zara! It's been a while. I hope you've been doing well :)

[@bookswithzara]

V3! It's been a while! How are you doing? All pretty good on my end for the most part :) thanks for checking in!

[@v3rmilli0nair3]

​@@bookswithzara I have kinda been lost lately Zara and idk what to do. I've decided to keep up with current events and stay informed, but honestly my mental has taken a huge hit as a result. Nothing I can do about the issues that are plaguing me even though I'm so informed. Anyway, I decided that since I can't stop the world from ending (no hyperbole, we are one bad decision away from the world ending) I will spend the last days of humanity doing what I love like reading and interacting with good ppl such as you Zara

[@bookswithzara]

@@v3rmilli0nair3 I’m really sorry to hear you’ve been going through this. Know that you’re not alone. I think a lot of people are struggling atm and understandably so. All we can do is try to educate ourselves, be open-minded and try to do what we can to help. The fact that you’ve decided to stay informed means you’re doing better than 90% of other people. But please don’t do it at the cost of your mental health. Balance is key 🙏🏽 I’m glad YT is helping. You’re always welcome here :) Are you reading anything currently? This helps me a lot, personally.