April Book Haul

With everything going on, I've been doing a lot of reading. As a result, I've inevitably gone on more than one book-buying binge recently. Strangely, all of the books I purchased arrived on the same day, so I've decided to make a book haul post to show off my purchases.

(Please note, all book blurbs are copied from Goodreads.com)

And I Darken by Kiersten White || Genre: Fantasy

Blurb: No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets. 

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion. 

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbet || Genre: Science Fiction

Blurb: More than three thousand years have passed since the first events recorded in DUNE. Only one link survives with those tumultuous times: the grotesque figure of Leto Atreides, son of the prophet Paul Muad'Dib, and now the virtually immortal God Emperor of Dune. He alone understands the future, and he knows with a terrible certainty that the evolution of his race is at an end unless he can breed new qualities into his species. But to achieve his final victory, Leto Atreides must also bring about his own downfall.

Prelude to Extinction by Andreas Karpf || Genre: Science Fiction

Blurb: When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs. Warm sunlight shined through his helmet, making him almost forget the decade he just spent captaining Earth’s first ship to another star system. The serene tropical surroundings, though, stood in stark contrast to the long abandoned structures that lay nearby.

Evidence points to a massacre – the systematic extermination of an alien colony hundreds of millennia ahead of humanity. Time, however, has erased any trace of the attackers. Jack and his crew barely start probing the ruins before their curiosity betrays them as an abandoned alien device cuts them off from their main ship. Lost and short on supplies, survival soon becomes their only goal. Even their short-lived rescue by an alien race, who themselves are under siege, offers little hope. As they struggle to find a way home, signs begin pointing to a danger darker than any they could have foreseen. Jack knows that playing it safe may no longer be an option – but his only other choice is to confront a threat that they don’t even begin to understand.

Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder || Genre: Comics

Blurb: After a series of brutal murders rocks Gotham City, Batman begins to realize that perhaps these crimes go far deeper than appearances suggest. As the Caped Crusader begins to unravel this deadly mystery, he discovers a conspiracy going back to his youth and beyond to the origins of the city he's sworn to protect. Could the Court of Owls, once thought to be nothing more than an urban legend, be behind the crime and corruption? Or is Bruce Wayne losing his grip on sanity and falling prey to the pressures of his war on crime?

Superman, Volume 1: Son of Superman by Peter J. Tomasi || Genre: Comics

Blurb: After the stunning events of DC Universe: Rebirth, the world is left without Superman! Luckily, there is another Man of Steel to fill his shoes: the pre-Flashpoint Kal-El! However, can this new Superman protect the world while raising a super-son with his wife, Lois Lane? And should they help their boy use his new and rapidly increasing abilities, or hide them from the world?

Those are the books I bought during my book-buying sprees. I know it's not a huge haul, but it's more books than I've bought in a while, and I felt like sharing them.

Have you bought any new books recently? Any books you'd recommend?

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Ubiety

Ubiety is a 2019 adult fiction novel by Grzegorz Kunowski. The novel has elements of mystery and magical realism as well as some aspects of psychological thriller. I was provided with a free copy of the novel, by the author, in exchange for an honest review.

The description of the novel is as follows: If you were to find yourself at the edge of a dying world with a lingering sense of reality, would you simply fade into the nothingness or would you fight for everything you hold dear? This assertive question is at the heart of the thought-provoking book Ubiety, for this book was designed to help people emerge into reality and find the truth whilst questioning both what could and should be. Join Adam’s journey through the gruelling world of the unforgiving future, diving into the many mysteries which will uncover bittersweet secrets to see if he can save the fate of his daughter along with that of the world, using nothing but his boldness of character, the brilliance of one’s mind and a hint of madness.

One of the strengths of this story comes from how well-written and descriptive the setting is. As Adam moves from one scene to another, one section of the book to another, the author goes to considerable length to make sure the reader isn’t only able to envision a given location, but feel as if they are really there. Some may feel the writing is too vivid at times, but it makes the novel very immersive. There was also a great deal of creativity used in forming the dream sequences that occur in each part of the story. The dream sequences are used to pose philosophical questions about life, the world, the nature of free will and death itself. Make no mistake, Ubiety is a book meant to make the reader think.

There’s not very much I can say about characters, as the only named character in the book is Adam himself. Given that he’s an unreliable narrator, and it’s never made sure how much of what occurs is real and how much isn’t, he doesn’t have a character arc and there’s not a lot that can be said about his personality. He’s a man in a very dark place. Additionally, I can’t say anything about the plot of this book, since there isn’t one. Each section has it’s own plot, in one way or another, but the story lacks a central conflict and resolution, instead being a series of vignettes that are loosely connected.

When I was first contacted by the author, he described the book as being similar to James Joyce’s Ulysses, which I feel is a fair description. Ubiety is written in a way that is intentionally confusing, including run-on sentences that last most of a page and making sure many details of what’s going on aren’t clear. This isn’t an easy, quick read, despite the fact that it’s less than 125 pages. I found myself having to read at a very slow pace to be able to follow what was happening and needing to reread in parts. I do feel like the author went a little overboard with what some call “10 cent words”. Using complex language and words is not something I take issue with, but the amount used here makes this work very frustrating to read. It’s difficult to like a story and become immersed in it if the reader needs a thesaurus to understand every single page. Having said all of that, this book is a success in the sense that the author seems to have achieved what he meant to with his writing style. I didn’t like the writing style, though.

Overall, I can’t really say that I enjoyed Ubiety. It was a struggle to get through, and since its story is all over the place and has no real resolution, I was a bit annoyed when I reached the end. I will commend the author for writing this work at the age of 16 and I feel like, given some time and with some editorial feedback, he could have a very successful career as an author. Fans of dark and intense literature might enjoy this book, as well as anyone who wants to ponder over the meaning of life for a few days. This book simply wasn’t for me.

Rating: 2.3 Stars  

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The TBR Book Tag

I was tagged by Krista over on The Bookish Hedgemom to do this tag. So, let's dig into my seemingly endless TBR pile.

HOW DO YOU KEEP TRACK OF YOUR TBR?

I have a spreadsheet which shows all the books I've bought, ARCs I've received and books I own but haven't read. Whenever a new book is purchased, it's added to the list. When a book is read, I move it to a separate column. I also use Goodreads, but I'm not as diligent about keeping the to-read shelf up to date, because it feels overwhelming.

IS YOUR TBR MOSTLY PRINT OR EBOOK?

Honestly, it's about 75/25. Most of my TBR are physical books, but I have quite a few eBooks on the list as well. 

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT TO READ NEXT?

Every few weeks, I break out my calendar and plan for the next month. Obviously, adjustments are made if I'm not in the right mood to read a certain book, but for the most part, that's how I decided what's next.

A BOOK THAT'S BEEN ON YOUR TBR THE LONGEST?

The Witcher series. I have most of the books, and I've had them since before the Netflix series, but I just haven't gotten around to reading them yet.

A BOOK THAT YOU RECENTLY ADDED TO YOUR TBR

And I Darken by Kiersten White. In fact, it's so recent that I don't even have the book itself yet.

A BOOK THAT'S ON YOUR TBR BECAUSE OF THE BEAUTIFUL COVER

The Hollowed Gods by A.J. Vrana. The cover just looks so gorgeous to me.

A BOOK ON YOUR TBR THAT YOU NEVER ACTUALLY PLAN ON READING

While I want to say that I plan to read everything on my TBR, I'm pretty sure that I probably won't ever actually end up reading The Once and Future King

AN UNPUBLISHED BOOK ON YOUR TBR THAT YOU'RE EXCITED FOR



The Orphanage of Gods by Helena Coggan. This cover is gorgeous and the description makes me wish it was already June.

A BOOK ON YOUR TBR THAT EVERYONE HAD READ EXCEPT YOU

Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao. I keep seeing it in everyone's tweets and bookstagram posts

A BOOK ON YOUR TBR THAT EVERYONE RECOMMENDS TO YOU.

This is a tie between Red, White and Royal Blue and the Six of Crows duology.

A BOOK ON YOUR TBR THAT YOU ARE DYING TO READ

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi. I loved Children of Blood and Bone and I can't wait to see where the story goes from there.

THE NUMBER OF BOOKS ON YOUR GOODREADS SHELF

16, but as I said on the first question, most of my TBR list isn't on Goodreads, because seeing too many things on the TBR shelf stresses me out. The actual number is around 40.


And that's the tag. I'm not good at tagging people in these things, because I never know who has/hasn't done the tag before. If this looks interesting to you, consider yourself tagged!

WWW Wednesday

Hello everyone! Today is Wednesday, which means it's time to do the three Ws. For those who don't know, the three Ws are:What did you recently finish reading? What are you currently reading? What are you reading next?

What I Recently Finished:

I recently finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. While I didn't hate it, it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. My review can be found here.

I also finished Wonder Woman: Year One by Greg Rucka, Nicola Scott and Romulo Fajado Jr. Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I count comics and graphic novels as reading.

What I'm Currently Reading:
      

I'm currently reading Ubiety by Grzegorz Kunoski. I'm about 90% through it as I write this. My next read will be Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, which I'll be starting either today or tomorrow.

What I'm reading next:

My next read will be After Alice by Gregory Maguire which is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland that I picked up because I enjoyed Maguire's more well-known novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

What are you guys reading right now? What are you planning on reading next? Let me know in the comments!

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Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is a 2019 literary fiction novel by Gail Honeyman. It was published by Penguin Randomhouse in 2019 and became a New York Times bestseller. Reese Witherspoon selected it as one of her book club picks and it’s going to become a motion picture in the near future.

The novel follows the titular character Eleanor Oliphant, an accounting clerk in her late twenties living a very lonely and strictly scheduled life. Everything changes when she meets her new coworker Raymond who is determined to find a way to bring Eleanor out of her shell. Along the way, his big heart helps her repair her own heavily damaged one.

To start off, I’d like to point out that this book is not a romance. I know the blurb written above, which I paraphrased from the back of the book, makes it sound like one, but its not. The novel isn’t the story of a man and a woman meeting unexpectedly and falling in love. Instead, it’s a story about an unlikely friendship and said friendship being that catalyst in Eleanor realizing some difficult truths about herself and her past.

This book was recommended to me by a coworker. She’d begun reading it and thought it was an amusing story, which it is at first. At the beginning, Eleanor’s inner monologue is funny. She doesn’t have great social skills, she doesn’t know how to relate to people and doesn’t have a filter. She’s, for lack of a better term, a weirdo and spends a lot of time judging people for perfectly normal behavior that she finds strange. At first, Eleanor’s eccentricities were funny. I was reading about a story about an incredibly strange woman who was wondering why everyone else seemed so strange to her. Before long, however, it stopped being funny. Because Eleanor’s whole life, a boring job, no real connections to anyone, adhering to a strict schedule, is the result of a very troubled upbringing. She strives to be normal, but her childhood makes any idea of “normal” completely impossible. There are small moments of humor, but mostly the book is rather sad.

I don’t want to make it seem like I didn’t enjoy this book, because I did. It was a thorough deep-dive into self-discovery and self-improvement. It also delves into discussion trauma and how it can affect people. The author went out of her way to show Eleanor going through a major change in her life without it changing her personality completely. Eleanor still has her quirks at the end of the book, and she wouldn’t be described as “normal” but she’s in a healthier place. She’s stopped ignoring her problems and confronted some of the issues she’s been burying for so long.

Eleanor is an interesting character, although a tad bit annoying at times. Scenes where she’s being overly judgmental towards people for doing things like not knowing how to respond to something she said, or trying to have a conversation with her are hard to read. Her inability to relate to people makes sense in the context of the story, but until it becomes clear that there’s more to her than just that, she’s difficult to like. Raymond is one of the first people Eleanor really lets in because he seems to accept her exactly as she is. Sure, sometimes if she says something that’s inappropriate he’ll tell her, but he’s not trying to change her. He realizes that she’s not doing well, and wants to help her, but not in a way that’s self-serving. She’s his friend and he wants his friend to get better. Even in moments when Eleanor doesn’t want his help, but needs it. Another character that changes Eleanor’s life is an elderly man Sammy. Shortly after Eleanor and Raymond meet, they save Sammy when he falls and injures himself. Raymond continues to check in on Sammy after he’s taken to the hospital and talks Eleanor into joining him. During these visits, Eleanor starts to open up a bit more to both men and for the first time in a long time, develops a real connection with other people. The last character I want to discuss, and the one who had the biggest impact on Eleanor by far, is Mummy, her mother. Eleanor doesn’t see Mummy but at the beginning of the novel, they talk over the phone every Wednesday night. Mummy is a piece of work to say the least. Several of their calls are depicted in the story, but you only need one to understand their relationship dynamic. Mummy is a terrible mother, abusive in more than one way, and yet everything Eleanor does is in an attempt to please her mother. Mummy is the antagonist of this story, and her connection to Eleanor’s trauma is what propels the story forward.

I liked Eleanor’s character journey. I like the realizations she came to along the way as she let more people in and realized that she wasn't “fine” regardless of how often she claimed to be. What I liked most, however, was that the ending didn’t wrap everything up neatly. Eleanor doesn’t end the book by being completely recovered from her trauma. There isn’t a happy ending, just a realistic one. She’s getting better, her life has improved, but she still has a long way to go.

I didn’t love this book. I also didn’t hate it. I wish that the blurb adhered a little closer to the actual story than it did. Still, it’s an entertaining slice-of-life story while also discussing heavier themes. I’m not eagerly awaiting the motion picture, unlike some other readers I've talked to, but it’s a good book overall.

Rating: 2.9 stars

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