Jan-Feb Wrap Up

Hi friends :)

I've made a sort-of mini resolution to stop doing wrap-ups only at the end of months, partly because it's a purely arbitrary division and I should be able to post a wrap-up whenever I want (amirite?), and partly because, let's face it, I'm not that great at doing them on time!

So this is my books-I've-read-this-year-so-far wrap-up as of the third week of February!

Despite the slow blogging start, I've actually been having a really interesting reading year so far.

 

 

I started off with Night Watch by Terry Pratchett, which was my first Pratchett in a really long time and I absolutely LOVED it! It was everything I've come to expect from him (and more): humour, complexity, fun and relatable characters, inventiveness, and an ingenious plot. Plus this book had time travel which, as people who've read my blog before will know, is an instant sell for me!

Next up I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I actually only started this book because I'd brought it home with me over Christmas and I wanted to justify having lugged such a big book home with me on the train... But I'm so glad I did! I absolutely loved this book as well. I slightly felt like Neverwhere wasn't everything I wanted it to be, but this book really was. It was complex, inventive, thoughtful and just plain wonderful, as well as making me look at America in a whole new light. Not only that, but it also may well have cured my fear of long books. I normally find them really intimidating and hesitate to pick them up, but this 600+ page tome was just really satisfying. I felt like I could just keep chewing on it forever!

At the end of January, I picked up one that I downloaded onto my Kindle on a whim, which was All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I wasn't entirely sure I was going to like this book going in, as I didn't immediately gel with the writing style. As it went on, however, I became more and more invested in the story, especially the perspective of Marie-Laure, a blind French girl who flees Paris with her father during WWII. While I didn't absolutely love every aspect of the story, I did really enjoy reading it and would certainly recommend it.

Finally, I'm currently reading a book that has been in vogue of late thanks to a recent TV adaptation, and that is War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I decided to pick this up partly to see what all the fuss is about, and partly to challenge myself and see if my fear of chunky books is cured once and for all. It's a little early to say for sure, but I'm really really enjoying this book. So far, I'm really loving how human all the characters are, with their little quirks and mannerisms, as well as their more serious flaws. I'm so intrigued with how it's all going to pan out. I just wish I was a bit better at remembering all the Russian names.

So there you go! It may not seem like a very good reading year so far to some people, but I've enjoyed every book so far and am learning more and more about my tastes as I go.

Next up, a non-white/non-male author! :P Any recommendations?

What have you been reading so far this year?