#goodreads challenge 2023

[str8-up-lost-in-a-dream]

I still have to read four books to hit my Goodreads reading challenge goal for the fourth year in a row. I mean, technically I’ve probably read more already because novel length fanfics, buuuut I still have to satisfy the Goodreads.

Like I can’t hit my NaNo goal but not my Goodreads goal. I psychologically cannot.

[kkayslibrary]

Book doesn’t match the aesthetic but oh well 😆😆 I’m rereading Helfyre to refresh my memory before moving on to the next book Honey.

[sapphiretears444]

i love the feeling of starting a new book! 📖

[millylouedward]

Spotify Wrapped, but for my books <3

[books-in-a-storm]

The year is almost over and I have read a lot of books. So far 908 books and still lots more time to read.

[libertyreads]

Book Review #114 of 2023--

System Collapse by Martha Wells. Rating: 4 stars.

Read from September 6th to 8th.

Before I get into the review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at Tor giving me access to one of my most anticipated releases of the year in exchange for an honest review. If you've been here for any length of time then you already know about the Murderbot Diaries, but let me give you a quick series synopsis. In the series, we follow a Security Unit (SecUnit) who has hacked their governor module and all it wants now is to do its job while watching its shows. But SecUnit finds itself getting attached to humans as it travels the universe which inevitably leads to more danger and drama and dealing with more Corporation Rim companies than it would like. In this one, we follow SecUnit and its 'friend' ART who must protect their humans and some how prevent a company from seizing a colony of humans for their own selfish reasons. If only SecUnit wasn't starting to malfunction. This is the seventh in the series and it comes out on November 14th. Available for preorder now.

Discussing Murderbot with people who haven't read the series is hard, especially now that we're on number seven in the series. But we all know the basic premise, right? A SecUnit has gone rogue because it wants to not be controlled by a system that can kill it for disobeying. Oh, and so it can watch its shows. I will always enjoy getting back into this world. I think the author does such a great job with both the human characters and the constructs that always draws me in. This one actually made me like Ratthi way more than I did before which came as a huge surprise and showed me just how good of an author Martha Wells really is. At times I hated that something was wrong with Murderbot and that they weren't on top of their game the way they usually are. But we also got to see how trauma has impacted them and what happens when trauma just keeps getting compounded without any sort of treatment. The thing that I LOVED about this one was that we got both Murderbot and ART while also getting all of their humans. I love that the teams were mixed together based on task and ability instead of who came from where. And I loved that by the end Murderbot found itself attached to all the humans not just the ones it knew before meeting ART.

There were a few moments that felt unclear in the action. There is usually a decent amount of fight sequences/action scenes in this series and usually I can follow them pretty well, but in this one it felt more muddled. I think it might actually be me and not the book. I have a lot of real life stress going on at the moment so I feel like my focus has been pretty split. I'm willing to say it might not be the book's fault here. Just my attention span at the moment. I also wasn't 100% sure where this fit timeline wise for the series. It seems like it would fit after Network Effect and not the latest novella which is Fugitive Telemetry. Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

Overall, it's Murderbot and you cannot go wrong with reading some Murderbot. I will always sing this series' praises. Probably not my favorite but up there for sure.

[supitsgdo]

Book review: Unwind series by Neal Shusterman

Rating:

Unwind: 5⭐

Unwholly: 3,5⭐

Unsouled: 3,5⭐

Undivided: 4⭐

Unbound: 4⭐

The dystopic worlds created by Neal are brilliant. This series in particular approaches some interesting and somewhat controversial topics, such as children/teenagers, organ donors, abortion, etc. Some of it is fucked up, but the way it was developed was 👌

I mean, I had dreams about it after I finished the first book, I couldn't sleep properly 😅 (The chapter 61 was heavy. I mean damn... I'm glad it was included.)

I gave a big rating to the first book because I was shocked tbh, and in the end my reaction was solely, 'damn..... What have I just read?!!?!'

With the second and third books, I didn't have the same feelings. In the fourth book, a lot was happening (actually, there was a lot happening in all books), but in this one specifically, I was already past the middle point and couldn't see the end. Get what I mean? Anyway, I liked how it ended. About the fifth book, I'm a sucker for these short stories. I just love to have more stories packed in one book, and they were all interesting to me.

I think this was a very interesting read, because the subjects were not easy to deal with, and were a bit shocking at times, but were developed and dealt with superbly, and kept me on the edge of my seat for a great part of it. I also think it's good to sometimes face these topics head on and trying to understand them better and how they make us feel.

PS: I LOVE THESE HARDBACKS!!!!! 😍😍😍

[wordsifelt]

It's that time of the year again

[dream-beyond-the-fantasy]

Stories to Finish Reading Today

Doctor Who: Origin Stories

Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion novelization

The Killing Stone

Doctor Who: The Day She Saved the Doctor: Four Stories from the TARDIS

Doctor Who: Inferno novelization

Way of the Cobra by Sean Kanan

four books yet to be decided on, so probably audiobooks or short ebooks

[wingsofhcpe]

Here's what I read in 2023! Tbh, T3M and the Ballad of Songbirds were rereads, but still.

I am starting 2024 with a reread of Gideon & Harrow the Ninth, so I can finally read Nona the Ninth!

[reelaroundthedavekan]

Finished my 40th book this morning...I think 40 is a good goal number, so I think I will set the same goal for next year.

I am on GoodReads but I mostly use StoryGraph to track my progress, I think you can find me as DaveKan on both. StoryGraph has some nice tracking features.

[thatwritererinoriordan]

[shesamreads]

I finished this last night. It was cute and quick, and I enjoyed in immensely.

[elitheaceofalltrades]

My Last Books for 2023

There are officiall just 30 days left of 2023 (and isn't that a fucking WILD thought), and I have to finish 10 more books to finish my 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge. Full disclosure, I shamelessly count both manga and comics towards my reading challenge because as far as I'm concerned, if it has an ISBN and I read it then it counts. If you feel different, that's your opinion but I'm not changing mine.

Anyways, here are the 10 books I hope to finish this month to complete my reading challenge! The first five I'm already in possession of and numbers 4 and 10 are the only ones I own; all the others are accessed via Libby.

The Soul of a Woman by Isabel Allende

Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Picture House Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith

Together Alone by Syrah Kai

Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Shuri Vol. 1 by Nnedi Okorafor

Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares

Books 5-7 is me trying to binge Percy Jackson and the Olympians before the show comes out this month. We'll see how far I get!

Special Mention!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak! This has been my favourite book since 2015 and one of the few books I've ever re-read. I'm hoping to re-read it when I go home this winter, fingers crossed!

~Eli

Ace of All Trades, Pro at None😆

[emeralddoeadeer]

Last, current, next read

Thanks for the tag @letthebookbegin <3

Last book - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - TJR

Currently - Aptly timed for your tag - Just last night cracked the spine on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie

Next - The Song of Achilles -  Madeline Miller, or if I can brave the daunting size of the book then Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle.

my tbr is always increasing and leapfrogging depending on mood etc

tagging, if you fancy - @sunshine-lover @oyprongs @sunshinemarauder @dear-anathema @ghostofbambifanfiction

[libertyreads]

Book Review #115 of 2023--

The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Rating: 4 stars.

Read from September 8th to 10th.

One of my most anticipated new releases for the year has finally come out and been read. I'm seriously considering getting rid of my Barnes and Noble membership because this bad boy didn't make it to my house for over a week after release. Though there was a holiday in there so maybe we don't make any rash decisions. This is the fourth book in The Inheritance Games series and it follows two of the Hawthorne Brothers as they attempt to help out non-Hawthorne family members.

It was so refreshing to dive into this book. If you're a fan of the series you already know that there are a ton of riddles, games, puzzles throughout and I loved getting back into this world and attempting to solve the same puzzles as our main characters. I also love how this took two really different characters and gave them both an opportunity to be examined by the reader. I don't think anything in this series so far has given me a chance to dive so deep into who these characters are, how they think, what they feel, and their history. Jameson and Grayson have this thing where they work really well together but they also highlight each others differences. So, I loved the depth of character exploration in this one as well as the ability to see through their eyes. I also really loved the setting for Jameson's adventure in this one. It's starts in this sort of secret society in London and eventually finds its way to a beautiful castle. Grayson's adventure is set in Phoenix, but there are still plenty of riddles to solve there too. I don't know. There's just something about the Hawthornes and something about this world of unbelievable wealth and power and how each brother wields it. I can read book after book about these characters.

I felt like this one was sort of explaining things to the reader a little too much. At one point Jameson is in the secret society and is going to play 21 and a new character says 'Bonne Chance' to him as she walks away which the narration then goes on to explain to the reader means 'Good luck' in English. Having taken French for several years felt like I was being talked down to. Now, not everyone has taken several years of French, but I felt like context clues also gave this away? There are definitely times in this series when I need the author to explain to me how these brilliant characters have solved these riddles. But there are also times when I've been given enough context or can figure it out myself and don't need to feel like it's being dumbed down for me as a reader. I hope that makes sense. It definitely felt like I was solving some clues and then having them explained to me anyway. While we do get the world of The Inheritance Games expanded, I felt like the cast of characters got smaller. We do meet new characters but I missed seeing Alisa and her weird entanglements with the Hawthorne family. We also didn't get Libby in this one at all. Which is a little sad since we share a name and so many other things. Let me live vicariously through the character who is basically me except she also gets a rich cowboy. Haha.

It's the world of the Inheritance Games and I'm always down for it. I'm so excited that these adventures don't end here.