N.E.W.Ts Readathon TBR!

Earlier this year I took part in Book Roast's O.W.Ls Readathon, a readathon inspired by the exams fifth year students take at Hogwarts, and this August it's time to take our N.E.W.Ts! There are a number of challenges, N.E.W.Ts are more difficult than O.W.Ls after all, and you can only take N.E.W.Ts for the subjects you 'passed' at O.W.L level.

For my O.W.Ls I completed Ancient Runes (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll), Arithmancy (Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo), Charms (The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine) and History of Magic (Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough), so those are the subjects I'll be tackling throughout August with a TBR of 12 books. Will I read all 12 of these in August? I'll be very impressed with myself if I do, but I've chosen all but three of them from my huge end-of-the-year TBR so I'm hoping I'll be able to get a good chunk of them under my belt. 

So, as tomorrow is the start of the readathon and today is Harry's birthday, I thought I'd share my Fantasy-heavy TBR with you!

Ancient Runes

• Read a book set in the past - Riddle of the Runes by Janina Ramirez
  This is historian Janina Ramirez's first foray into fiction with the start of a Middle Grade series set during the Viking era, and I was sent a review copy by Oxford University Press. It looks so fun and I couldn't resist the opportunity to read a book with 'runes' in the title.
• Read one of the most ancient books on your shelves that you haven't yet read - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
  I've been meaning to read this book for years and years and now that there's a new adaptation on television more of my friends want me to watch it so they have someone to talk to about it, but I can't watch it until I read it and I want to read it soon.
• Read a book translated from another language - Macbeth by Jo Nesbø
  I don't know yet if I'll get to this one because it's quite chunky and I haven't been a big fan of the Hogarth Shakespeare series so far, but Macbeth is my favourite Shakespeare play so I'm not going to say no to a crime fiction retelling. I've yet to read any Nesbø so this should be an interesting introduction to his work.

Arithmancy

• Read a book of at least 300 pages - Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
  I haven't seen a single bad review for this one yet and, as well as Fantasy and YA, I've rediscovered a love for Middle Grade this year too. I think this will be a fun one to blast through if I feel myself getting a bit bogged down during the readathon.
• Read a book that ends on an even numbered page - On the Front Line with the Women Who Fight Back by Stacey Dooley
  I haven't read any non-fiction yet this year but I keep eyeing up Stacey Dooley's first book because I love her documentaries. This one's actually less than 300 pages and is written in Dooley's conversational style so this is another one that I think will be fairly quick to blast through.
• Read a book that's not a first in a series - The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
  It's about time I returned to this trilogy! I really enjoyed The Fifth Season and I've actually started The Obelisk Gate and got about a quarter of the way through it, so it's about time I got back to it so I can try and finish this trilogy this year.

Charms

• Read a book with magic in it - Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
  This is another one I've heard nothing but good things about and I've been craving some African-inspired fantasy, so I can't wait to get to this one.
• Read a book with a cover that charmed you - Circe by Madeline Miller
  Admittedly this wasn't really a cover buy because I would have bought it anyway having loved The Song of Achilles so much last year, but the cover is absolutely gorgeous, even more so in person, and I can't wait to read this one.
• Read a book that you think will leave a mark - Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
  I'm nervous about this one because I didn't enjoy Uprooted as much as I hoped to, but I've been longing for a novel-length retelling of Rumpelstiltskin for a long time now and I've seen so many amazing reviews that I'm hoping this will become a new favourite. I'll be buddy reading this one with the lovely Natalie @ A Sea Change!

History of Magic

• Read a book that you think would fit right in at the Hogwarts Library - Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
  That cover looks exactly like the kind of cover I'd expect to see in Hogwarts. I'm ashamed to say I've yet to read any Robin Hobb but she's an author I desperately want to try and, I hope, love.
• Read a book published at least 5 years ago - The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
  This is another modern classic of Fantasy that I've been meaning to get to for years and ever since I read and adored Six of Crows I've been craving more Fantasy about thieves. I believe this one also has a setting inspired by Venice and I love Italy so I'm very excited about this one.
• Read a book that's at least 400 pages long - The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
  This is another one I've started but put aside to try and get through some review books and to read some more YA which I've been rediscovering my love for this year. I've enjoyed what I've read so far so I'd be very proud if I could finish it in August!

Are you taking part in the N.E.W.Ts Readathon? What are your reading plans for August?

HUGE second half of 2018 TBR!

I'm hoping to finish Emily Skrutskie's The Edge of the Abyss tonight which will mean I'll have read 17 books so far this year. That's definitely less than I was hoping by July - although three of those books have been 5 star reads that I've been raving about since finishing them - but this year I've been writing a lot more than I've been reading, which has been wonderful.

That being said, 2018 has also become the year that I've rediscovered my love for High/Epic Fantasy, not that it ever completely went away, and also the year that I've rediscovered my love for YA Fantasy in particular and I'd like to be reading more. The main reason I haven't been is because I haven't been making time for it, which is my own fault, so something I'd like to try and do the rest of this year is make more time for reading. I don't want to be super strict with myself because I don't want reading to turn into homework, but I am giving myself a TBR (an incredibly unrealistic one) for the rest of this year full of books that I'd like to try and have under my belt.

Will I get to all of these? Probably not, but I'd like to try and get to some of them and I'm creating this list today so I can keep track of my progress. The first 20 of these books are books I've been sent for review, mostly via NetGalley, and I want to get on top of my NetGalley reads - especially as I've had a lot of these for a while now! The others are a mix of 2018 releases that I'd like to read this year and some other books that I simply should have read by now and I'm annoyed that I still haven't.

So, grab yourself a drink and a snack, and on with my list!

West by Carys Davies: A few years ago I organised a book launch that Carys Davies read at and her writing was beautiful. I've been meaning to read her short stories since then but still haven't, story of my life, but West is her first novel - more of a novella, really, at around 160 pages - set in 19th century America. As it's so short I'm hoping to read and review this one soon!

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss: Another very short one, Sarah Moss is another author I've been meaning to read for a while now and Ghost Wall sounds amazing. I believe it follows a young girl taking part in an archaeological experiment with her mother and her abusive father who has an obsession with the brutal lifestyle lived by Britain's Iron Age people.

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt: I know Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight wasn't the biggest fan of this one and I've been curious to see what I think of it ever since, especially as it's a fictional account of the murders of Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother - murders Lizzie was suspected of committing herself.

The Good People by Hannah Kent: I adored Kent's debut, Burial Rites, so it's about time I read this one, too. I just haven't been in the mood for it yet!

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker: My only experience with Pat Barker is her WWI era novel Regeneration which I had to read during sixth form, but her latest novel, about the women of Troy after the Trojan War, sounds brilliant. It follows Briseis who is awarded to Achilles as a prize of war, and after I read and adored The Song of Achilles last year it'll be interesting to read a book set during the same conflict from the women's point of view.

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar: This book has been everywhere this year and I've actually already read a bit of it, but it didn't grip me like I hoped it would. I do want to finish it, though, because the writing is beautiful and I think there's the potential for it to be a real fun romp of a novel.

The Cursed Wife by Pamela Hartshorne: This novel is described as a psychological thriller set in Elizabethan London. That's all I need to know.

The King's Witch by Tracy Borman: There have been a lot of historians turning to historical fiction lately, in fact there are two more on this list, and Tracy Borman is a Tudor and Stuart historian whose documentaries I've always enjoyed so I'm intrigued by her first foray into fiction.

Lady Mary by Lucy Worsley: Unlike Borman, Worsley, another historian who makes fantastic documentaries, has turned to writing fiction for younger readers to spark their interest in history, and I believe Lady Mary is her third novel. I'm really interested in reading a novel from the point of view of the young Mary I during the dramatic break-up of her parents' marriage.

Riddle of the Runes by Janina Ramirez: Once again, Ramirez is another historian whose recently turned to writing fiction with the first in a children's series about a young viking detective. This one sounds really fun and I'm looking forward to reading some more Middle Grade!

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning: Put witches in a story and I'm 1000% more likely to pick it up. I'm not usually a big fan of villain origin stories, mainly because they always seem to be tragic love stories and I find a broken heart as an excuse for villainy pretty boring, but what I love about the sound of this one is that Henning has combined The Little Mermaid with Denmark's long history of witch hunts and I'm looking forward to reading it.

Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory: This one sounds absolutely bizarre and I'm ashamed to say I've had it for a year and still haven't read it, mainly because when I started reading it I fell pretty ill - I ended up in hospital overnight - and now I can't stop thinking of how lousy I felt the first time I started reading it. I'd still like to read it, though!

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: If you've been following my blog for a while you'll know I'm a huge fan of Moreno-Garcia's work so I'm annoyed I still haven't got to this one yet, but I'm hoping to read it soon!

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden: I'm determined to read this one this winter, it's been on my TBR too long!

The Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May: ... I don't even want to admit how long this one's been on my TBR, but hopefully I'll finally read and review it this year.

Gone by Min Kym: I haven't read much non-fiction lately but this memoir sounds fascinating so I'm hoping to get to it this year. Perhaps I'll read it for Non-Fiction November!

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng: This historical fantasy follows a woman who must travel to the land of the Fae to find her brother, a missionary, who's gone missing there. It sounds amazing so it's about time I got to it!

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang: I've been eager for some Asian and African-inspired high fantasy this year and I keep seeing this novel everywhere. It's giving me Mulan vibes, so I'm hoping to love it.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See: As much as I love historical fiction I've been on such a fantasy kick this year that it's a genre I haven't been gravitating towards as much, so novels like this one keep getting left behind. It sounds really interesting, though, so I'd like to get to it at some point.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: I'm really interested in the history between Japan and South Korea, something this novel covers, but I've also seen so many mixed reviews of this one that it's made me a little hesitant to pick it up. I'm hoping to get to it sooner rather than later, though!

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: This novel has been EVERYWHERE this year and I still haven't read it even though I haven't seen a single bad review yet. This is one I'm hoping to read very, very soon.

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu: More Asian-inspired fantasy! This is another novel I've already started and have enjoyed so far. I'm on a bit of a YA kick at the moment, but I'm planning to return to it soon.

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland: The American Civil War and zombies? Yes please. This one sounds really fun and I've seen some great reviews. As it has zombies in it I think I might save this one for Halloween unless the mood takes me.

The Brilliant Death by Amy Rose Capetta: This is one of the few books on this list that isn't out yet, but it's Italian-inspired fantasy with an LGBT+ romance. I'm all for LGBT+ fantasy and I love Italy so I can't wait to read a setting inspired by it.

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence: Assassins and nuns. Yes. I couldn't get on with this the first time I tried to read it but as I'm now completely back in a fantasy frame of mind I want to give it another try and I'm hoping to love it.

The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton: This is a fantasy retelling of King Lear in which three sisters vie for their father's throne. It sounds excellent.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik: I'm planning to buddy read this one with Natalie @ A Sea Change, which should be interesting considering she adored Uprooted and I thought it was okay. As this is a retelling of my favourite fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin, however, I'm hoping I'll love it.

Circe by Madeline Miller: I fell in love with The Song of Achilles last year so I can't wait to read Miller's second novel.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty: This novel features a heroine who is a con artist in 18th century Cairo and includes a genie. That's all I need to know to want to read it.

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh: Since reading Six of Crows and The Abyss Surrounds Us this year I've developed a love for duologies, so I'd like to start this one set in Feudal Japan and featuring a girl who poses as a boy - one of my favourite tropes.

On the Front Line with the Women Who Fight Back by Stacey Dooley: The only other piece of non-fiction on this list, this is Dooley's first book. I love her documentaries so I'm hoping I'll really enjoy this, too.

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli: I haven't really been in the mood for Contemporary this year but I'm planning to read this one soon because I always enjoy Albertalli's novels.

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee: I really enjoyed The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue last year so I can't wait to get my hands on this one!

My Mum Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson: I haven't read any Wilson in years but she was my favourite author for the longest time during my childhood and I can't resist her new book in which a character I grew up with, Tracy Beaker, has become a mother herself.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend: This is another book I haven't seen a single bad review for so I'm hoping to get to it soon.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: I recently read the first page of this and could feel myself getting sucked in, but I wanted to finish The Edge of the Abyss before I let myself get pulled into another series. I've heard great things about this one and I believe this has a setting inspired by Venice, and I will take all the Italian-inspired fantasy I can get.

IT by Stephen King: I'm slowly making my way through this one and I'd like to finish it this year, especially as I loved the new film adaptation last year.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood: I still haven't read this one and I need to rectify that asap.

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers: I love Chambers' sci-fi so I can't wait for the latest addition to her series.

Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft ed. by Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe: An entire anthology of stories about witches? Yes please, give it to me now.

The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo: And lastly, as I'm sure you all know by now I adored Bardugo's Six of Crows duology earlier this year and with the news that one of the main characters from that duology is going to make an appearance in her new book being released in January, I think it's about time I read the trilogy that introduced the Grishaverse. I've actually already started Shadow and Bone and I can already tell I'm not going to love it anywhere near as much as I loved Six of Crows, but I still want to read it and appreciate it for what it is so I completely understand this fantasy world by the time her new book comes out.

If you read all of this, I salute you! 

Also if you haven't seen it already I'm currently hosting a giveaway for one of my favourite reads of 2018, so head on over here to enter!

Have you read any of these? Do you want to read any of these? And are there any books you really want to cross off your TBR by the end of the year?

Pride Month Reading Challenge | TBR

Happy Pride Month!

This month Simon @ Savidge Reads and George at @ The George Lester are hosting a reading challenge to celebrate Pride, and as someone who doesn't identify with any kind of label but definitely doesn't consider herself 'straight', I couldn't resist joining in.

They're hosting some fun challenges on Instagram that you can take part in, so today I thought I'd share my very tentative TBR for the month. Now as many of you know already I don't do well with TBRs, but it's my goal to read at least one LGBT+ book this month and there are several I can choose from, so today I thought I'd share them with you!

The Night Watch is the only one of Sarah Waters' novels I've yet to read. I've actually started it a couple of times and haven't been able to get into it, but as she's one of my favourite authors I'd really like to have all of her novels under my belt until she releases her next one, whenever that may be. The Night Watch is set during the Second World War and is told backwards, following a group of characters in London during The Blitz. As with all but one of her novels, The Night Watch is a book with at least one queer protagonist - although her non-queer novel, The Little Stranger, has a side character who it's fairly heavily implied is not heterosexual - and I'm looking forward to reading another novel from one of my favourite storytellers.

Yet another favourite author of mine, I've adored both Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli, who is now my go-to author for YA contemporary fiction. Now her latest novel, Leah On the Offbeat, follows one of the side characters from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda who just so happens to be bisexual. It's very rare to come across bisexuality in fiction, especially a bisexual main character, so I can't wait to read this one.

One of my friends is a big Alexander the Great fan and she's been recommending Mary Renault's novels to me for a while now, so really it's about time I picked up a copy of Fire From Heaven and I now have a copy of this gorgeous new Virago 40th anniversary edition. It's so warm in the UK right now that I've been craving some fiction set in Ancient Greece and this novel is the perfect opportunity for me to merge that desire with Pride!

All I know about Emily Skrutskie's The Abyss Surrounds Us is that it's the first book in a duology, something I'm very into right now, and it's a book about lesbians, pirates and sea monsters. What more could a girl want? If I enjoy this one it'd be nice to to read the whole duology this month but we'll see how my reading goes as I recently started Ken Liu's The Grace of Kings, which is quite a beast.

Gail Carriger has become one of those authors I turn to when I'm in the mood for something comforting and fun, but whether or not I read her two novellas, Romancing the Inventor and Romancing the Werewolf, depends entirely on whether or not I finish her Parasol Protectorate series this month. To be honest I might just read Romancing the Inventor as I'm fairly sure Romancing the Werewolf is set over Christmas, so it'd be nice to save it for December, but if I feel like I need some gay werewolves in my life this June - and when don't I, let's be honest - I'll be picking this one up too.

Have you got any reading plans this Pride Month?

My 5 Star TBR Predictions!

This post is entirely inspired by Mercedes @ MercysBookishMusings who has invited readers everywhere to pick some books from our TBR that we think we're going to give five stars to - and then see if we're right!

Ratings are such a subjective thing, and a five star rating varies from reader to reader and book to book. Some readers give a book five stars depending on the quality of the writing while others rate a book based purely on enjoyment, and the best thing about the subjectivity of reading is that none of us are wrong. Sometimes I'll know immediately if a book is a five star read while other times I'll go back and change my ratings having thought about the book for a while.

What I want more than anything is a brilliant story with characters I care about. If the writing's lyrical and beautiful then that's a bonus, but how much I care about the characters and how much they tugged at my emotions is the deciding factor for me.

So, without further ado, below are six books I think (and hope) that I'll love enough to give them five stars!

Ever since I learned about her, I've been fascinated by Joan, Lady of Wales, who was the illegitimate daughter of King John and the wife of Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, and it's so frustrating that we're never really going to know anything about her because she lived so long ago and there's so little record of her. I was in a charity shop when I discovered that Sharon Kay Penman, a highly respected author of historical fiction, had written a book all about her, Here Be Dragons, and I knew I had to have it.

I also came across A Thousand Orange Trees in a charity shop and had never heard of it before until I found it. It has fairly mixed reviews on Goodreads but it sounds like the kind of story that I would love; again it's historical fiction focused on women, this time set in Spain during the inquisition, and it sounds amazing.

Hannah Kent's Burial Rites and Susan Fletcher's Corrag were both five star reads for me, and as Alias Grace is another piece of fiction focusing on a woman accused of being a murderess I'm expecting to love this one, too.

We're going to see a lot of The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock this year, I have a feeling it's going to get the same buzz as Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent. Usually I'm wary of really hyped books but something about this one makes me think I'm going to love it.

The Shadow of the Wind is another book that I've heard nothing but great things about and one that's been on my TBR for years. One of my colleagues read it last year and loved it, so I'm hoping to love it, too.

To be honest it's exactly the same case with A Thousand Splendid Suns. It's been on my TBR for years and I've heard fantastic things; my dad read it last year and really enjoyed it so I need to listen to his recommendation and get to it soon.

Are there any books on your TBR that you think you're going to love?

BIG Books on my TBR!

When I was younger I was never intimidated by big books, but I suppose 'big' is very subjective. For me, a really big book is anything that's 600 pages or more, and yet when I was younger reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was nothing, nor were the chunky latter two books in Cornelia Funke's Inkworld trilogy. Lately the biggest book I've read is the conclusion to Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles, Winter.

For some reason, as I've gotten older, I've begun to find larger books incredibly intimidating and I'm not 100% sure why. I think I've been so eager to read as much as I can in one year because there's always so much I want to read and too little time to read it all in that I've let the big books on my TBR gather dust. Well not anymore! Some books have been on my TBR for far too long, and if I could cross even one of these books off my TBR this year I'd be a very happy bunny.

My lovely friend Natalie @ A Sea Change has sung the praises of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell many times, but I still haven't read my copy despite owning it for a few years now - it has footnotes, for Heaven's sake! I've heard so many readers praise it as a masterpiece, however, so I need to read it soon.

I'm not the biggest fan of Stephen King's writing, especially when he writes about the supernatural - so far Misery is the book of his I've enjoyed most - but I adored the 2017 adaptation of IT so much that I'd really like to give the book a shot. It's just so huge...

This year will mark nine years since I bought my copy of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. Nine years. I love a good ol' revenge story and I've actually tried to read this one a couple of times and haven't been able to get into it. One of these days I need to give it another try and, if it still isn't for me, it's time to send my edition off to a more loving home.

Despite being a proud northerner and a lover of Victorian literature, I'm ashamed to admit I've yet to read any Elizabeth Gaskell. One of these days I'm going to read North and South because I love the 2004 adaptation starring Richard Armitage and Daniela Denby-Ashe, but Wives and Daughters is the one that's really calling to me because I've heard so many good things about it. I particularly like that it features a friendship between two stepsisters at the centre of it - step-families have something of a bad reputation in fiction!

I fell in love with Italy when my friend Elena and I visited Rome in 2015, and I've since been lucky enough to visit Florence and Bologna, too. Italo Calvino has selected and retold a variety of stories in Italian Folktales - there are just so many crammed into one book that the idea of starting it makes me feel a bit nervous! I think it's a book I might have to work my way through over an extended period of time.

I've said time and time again how much I want to start Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, particularly as I'd like to watch the TV adaptation, but the series is so long and each book is so big that it seems like such a huge commitment. One of these days, though, I'd at least like to cross the first book off my TBR and see what I think of the series.

The shortest book on this list, Ken Liu's The Grace of Kings is still a fairly chunky one at just over 600 pages. I was very kindly sent this one for Christmas by Lorraine @ Insanity Sandwich and was thrilled to receive it as I'm very eager to explore more Asian and African-inspired high fantasy. This is one I'm hoping to cross off my TBR very soon!

Another one I've had on my list for a few years now, as a historical fiction fan I'm ashamed to admit I've yet to read any Sharon Kay Penman. Here Be Dragons is a novelisation of Joan, Lady of Wales (also known by her Welsh name, Siwan) who was the illegitimate daughter of King John and was married to the Welsh Prince Llywelyn the Great (or Llywelyn ap Iorwerth). I've been fascinated by her ever since I learned about her which is particularly frustrating because so little about her is actually known. This is another one I'd like to cross off my list sooner rather than later!

Are you intimidated by big books? Which larger books would you like to cross off your TBR?

Top Ten Tuesday | My Winter TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Books On My Winter TBR' - hooray for themed TBRs which, if you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know I love! 

I love reading books set in cold landscapes during the winter, such as Hannah Kent's Burial Rites and Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves, but I also love trying to tackle high fantasy and fat, epic novels that I can totally escape to in the winter, when the nights are dark and the candles are lit.

The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin: I'm half way through The Obelisk Gate at the moment but my reading year's been so poor I've accidentally left it despite having pre-ordered, and now also owning, a copy of The Stone Sky. I'd love to get this trilogy finished because I really enjoyed The Fifth Season and I want to know where this story's going!

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb: Frankly it's criminal that I haven't read any Robin Hobb and I've owned my copy of Assassin's Apprentice for a while now, so it's about time I got to it. I'm looking forward to (hopefully) enjoying a long series in which I can follow one character from childhood through to adulthood.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: My lovely friend Natalie @ A Sea Change really enjoyed this book and it sounds like a lot of fun - I'm all for a heist story, and I liked Bardugo's story in Summer Days and Summer Nights so I'm interested in reading one of her novels.

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence: I tried reading this one earlier this year and, sadly, couldn't get into it, but I want to give it another chance. I've heard such wonderful things about Lawrence as a fantasy writer and I'm always drawn to stories set in nunneries so I'm hoping to, if not love, then at least like this one the second time around.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke: Natalie @ A Sea Change also loves this one and I still haven't read it because it's such a beast, but I think it'd be the ideal book to curl up with over winter and experience.

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu: I don't know why I didn't realise it sooner, but over the past year or so I've really begun to notice just how European the high fantasy I'm familiar with is. I'd like to discover more Asian and African-inspired fantasy realms and this series sounds very intriguing - I've heard very good things thus far!

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison: This is one of my favourite books of all time and I haven't reread it yet this year, so I think it'll be fun to curl up with it over Christmas. I love Maia so much.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: I've been meaning to start this series for a few years now, but there are almost ten books in the series now and each one is huge. So many people I know love this series, however, and I'd really like to watch the TV adaptation - I just want to read the book(s) first!

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis: Another chunky book and one that I think at least begins around Christmas time, so it's a fitting read for the winter. This is about a history student who time travels back to the Middle Ages during the outbreak of the Black Death, only to get stuck there. I've heard it's amazing so I'm looking forward to picking it up (hopefully) soon!

Which books made your list this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | New to my TBR!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Books I've Recently Added to my TBR'.

Fiction

Harrow County, Vol.1: Countless Haints by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook: I want to keep reading more graphic novels, and this series sounds like a lot of fun. Ever since I started reading Shirley Jackson I've been a little bit in love with Southern Gothic so I'd love to check some out in graphic novel form!

The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew: I haven't read any dystopia in a long time, and this one sounds very unique. Although I always find it weird when the main character in a book or movie or tv show is also called Jess...

Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E. K. Johnston: The author behind A Thousand Nights has turned her talents to a Shakespeare retelling. We can expect to see a lot of those this year, what with 2016 marking 400 years since Shakespeare's death. I'm not a big fan of The Winter's Tale, but I love the sound of this book; I really appreciate how much anti-rape culture we're seeing in YA lately.

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson: I have an eARC of this novel from NetGalley, and it sounds like a quiet, charming little read. I plan to read and review it soon!

Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal: I still haven't read Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamourist Histories series, but this book sounds very cool; I love stories involving mediums.

Non-Fiction

Do It Like a Woman... and Change the World by Caroline Criado-Perez: I just love the sound of this one. I'm all for feminist non-fiction.

Female Gothic Histories: Gender, History and the Gothic by Diana Wallace: I started working at the University of Wales Press this month, and this is one of their books; they have a brilliant series of Gothic literary criticism and I'd love to read this one, as it's all about historical fiction and how female authors have used the Gothic to reclaim their place in history through historical fiction.

My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff: A memoir about a writer who works in publishing. I wonder why I want to read that... In all seriousness, though, this sounds like a really interesting read.

Science in Wonderland: The Scientific Fairy Tales of Victorian Britain by Melanie Keene: I love Victorian Literature, it was my favourite period of literature to study at university, and this book sounds so cool. Given that the 19th century was a period of such huge scientific change I've always been fascinated by the effect that had on the literature of the time, so I can't wait to read this one.

The View from the Cheap Seats: A Collection of Introductions, Essays, and Assorted Writings by Neil Gaiman: Neil Gaiman's one of my favourite authors, but other than his Make Good Art speech I don't think I've actually read any of his non-fiction - this sounds good!

Which books made your list this week?