This is part of the weekly meme over at the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where book bloggers can share the books and blogs they have written.
It’s been another really busy week. On Tuesday my son unexpectedly popped down to do another audition tape on Wednesday, which was a treat in itself – he was able to stay until Thursday morning so we got a chance to properly catch up. On Thursday evening I went to see a production of Limelight written by talented playwright Liz Tait as part of the Brighton festival at The Iron Duke pub. It is a play about an open mike evening and if you get the chance to see it (they are hoping to go on tour) do so. The writing is sharp, funny and poignant, while the acting is extraordinarily good. It’s been a good teaching week, all the sessions went off well – though I can’t quite believe we are now halfway the last term of the academic year at Northbrook. Where has the time gone?
It hasn’t been such a successful reading week – I completed three books, but was forced to give up on two others. One was truly dreadful and the other is just very bleak – I may well get back to it, but I read for pleasure and escapism, so I refuse to trudge through a book I’m not enjoying. The books this week I completed were:
The Loneliness of Distant Beings by Kate Ling
I was seduced by the wonderful cover and cool title – but should have taken more notice of the blurb. I was expecting a space opera adventure with a bit of romance thrown in and instead found myself reading a Romeo and Juliet scenario set on a generational ship. Nevertheless, the setting and situation was well depicted and I enjoyed it sufficiently to want to complete and review it.
Banished – Book 1 of The Blackhart Legacy series by Liz de Jager
My friend Mhairi Simpson had the arc of this book and once again, I fell for the cover. And I’m very glad I did. This debut swords and sorcery adventure is a great fantasy tale with a strong heroine and a really intriguing Fae world. I’ll be posting the review in due course.
The Nothing Girl by Jodi Taylor
My husband was blown away by it, so I had to give it a go. He’s right. This unusual, contemporary tale full of humour, animals, some farcical set pieces and a crime mystery, with a romantic sub-plot running through it is something of a genre mash-up. But it works due to Taylor’s strong characterisation of a tongue-tied stammering heroine and a lovely dry humour. I’ve already posted the review.
The good news is I’ve restarted editing Breathing Space and now I’m back into Jezel’s world, I’m hoping to really get going on it.
My posts last week:
Sunday Post – 15th May
Review of The Flood Dragon’s Sacrifice – Book 1 of the Tide Dragons series by Sarah Ash
Teaser Tuesday – The Nothing Girl by Jodi Taylor
Review of The Snare – Book 1 of Star Wars Adventures in Wild Space by Scott Cavan
*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* The Loneliness of Distant Beings by Kate Ling
Review of The Nothing Girl by Jodi Taylor
I’ve also had a thoroughly enjoyable week on my blog, chatting with a number of friendly, interesting readers. Thank you. I still find it miraculous that I can fire up my computer and share my passion for reading and books – a mostly solitary hobby – with other like-minded people.
May your books bring you entertainment and enjoyment, or profound insights and I hope you all have a great week.
Brainfluff 
I’m curious about The Nothing Girl…and I completely agree about not trudging through books we don’t enjoy. Have a great week, and thanks for visiting my blog.
You’re welcome. I highly recommend The Nothing Girl:)
I love the generation ship concept (always have) but a Romeo and Juliet plot aboard one- not sure how I’d think about that, so I can understand. Hope it turned out not too bad. And I also read for escapism, so while I will read a dark read once ion a while I don’t usually like anything TOO dark, or unrelentingly grim.
Glad it was a good reading week, and here’s hoping you have a nice week ahead as well.
Thank you, Greg:). Hope you have a great week, too.
Sounds nice to have time with your son and enjoy time away from books and the blog. It’s necessary to get out and enjoy other things. And all of us bloggers like to know more about each other and our interests. Nice book selection this week!
My Sunday Post
You’re right – it is good to get out and do other things. A fact I sometimes need to remind myself:). And it is lovely how as the days, weeks and months spool by we do get to know more about each other and how we spend our time. Have a great week.
Sounds like you had a good week, and that’s great that you got to catch up with your son! That’s too bad about the books though
Well, we can’t love ’em all.
Isn’t that such a beautiful thing about blogging though? It’s amazing how it can turn something that’s always been so solitary into something social, adding a whole new layer of greatness to reading!
You’re right Kristen – it would be really boring world if we all liked the same books, wouldn’t it? And it IS beautiful that we get to share in this essentially private passion and can communicate our thoughts and ideas about our reading experiences. I hope you have a lovely reading week:)
I like the sound of The Nothing Girl…will keep my eye out for it. Emma
Oh do… The Nothing Girl is a really unusual read – and there’s lots of animals in it, including a mangy cat – very unlike Lucky! Many thanks for take the time to visit.
Oh, the sword and sorcery one seems quite interesting (though I’m not a huge fan of fae), I’ll be looking forward to your review!