N.E.W.Ts Readathon | Week #1 Update

If you saw my TBR at the end of last month then you know I'm taking part in Book Roast's N.E.W.Ts Readathon this month, with the subjects Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Charms and History of Magic. 

I've never done update posts on my blog for readathons before, although I am tweeting regularly here if you're interested, but I thought it would be fun to do for this one because it's such a great idea for a readathon and my TBR has already changed quite a bit.

My challenges (and the books I've read so far) are:

Ancient Runes

1. Read a book set in the past Riddle of the Runes by Janina Ramirez
2. Read an ancient book on your shelves that you've not yet read
3. Read a book translated from another language

Arithmancy

1. Read a book of at least 300 pages The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
2. Read a book that ends on an even-numbered page
3. Read a book that isn't a first in a series

Charms

1. Read a book with magic in it The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
2. Read a book with a cover that charmed you
3. Read a book that you think will leave a mark

History of Magic

1. Read a book that looks as though it would fit in at Hogwarts Library
2. Read a book published at least five years ago
3. Read a book over 400 pages long

As you can probably tell if you saw my TBR, I've been tweaking it a little.

Originally I planned to read Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend, On the Front Line with the Women Who Fight Back by Stacey Dooley and The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin for Arithmancy. However, right at the beginning of the month I finished The Beautiful Ones, which I thought I'd finish in July, and because I finished it in August (and it was one of the books on my big End of the Year TBR) I decided to count it towards this readathon.

It easily could have been my A in Charms, but because I'm on such a fantasy kick I wanted to save the 'book with magic in it' challenge for more of a high fantasy read than a fantasy of manners, and as the first challenge for Arithmancy was simply to read a book at least 300 pages long then I thought I might as well count it!

Then recently I had such a craving to return to the Broken Earth trilogy that I couldn't wait. Luckily The Obelisk Gate has magic in it, so it could go towards my A in Charms!

Originally I was planning to read Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, Circe by Madeline Miller and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik for Charms, but right now I'm not quite in the mood for Circe, despite it being one of my most anticipated books of the year, and I'm worried I won't like it if I make myself read it just so I can read Spinning Silver which I'm very in the mood for right now. I'm also planning to buddy read Spinning Silver with Natalie @ A Sea Change this month, so the sooner I can get to it the better and now I can move on towards my O in Charms.

As I was planning to read The Obelisk Gate for the final Arithmancy challenge, now I can simple pick any book off my shelves that ends in an even number and then read the final book in the trilogy, The Stone Sky, to get my O in the subject.

I'm also planning to rejig my TBR for History of Magic, as it's proving a little trickier; particularly the first challenge which involves reading a book that looks as though it would fit in at Hogwarts Library. The only one I could initially think of is my copy of Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb, which has a very medieval parchment look about it, but I don't know if I'm in the mood for Assassin's Apprentice right now and if you hadn't already guessed I am very much a mood reader. This is particularly a problem when the second two books on my TBR for History of Magic, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu, are both books I'm really looking forward to and I can't read them and get an O unless I've read something to fulfill the first challenge.

I know many of you are probably thinking 'Jess, just read the damn books - it's only a readathon!' and part of me thinks that too, but as I said before it's such a fun idea for a readathon and I'd love to complete as many challenges as I can just to prove to myself that I can.

So, instead of Assassin's Apprentice I'm now leaning towards Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton. I hadn't even heard of Heart of Thorns until I received it in a Fairyloot box, but it feels like the kind of fantasy story I would have loved when I was a teenager - there are dark elements to the story, but more than anything it feels like an adventure and I love that - and because fantasy is where I'm at right now I'm excited for it. Plus it has thorns on the cover that immediately made me think of Devil's Snare, so I think it's a cover that would definitely fit in at the Hogwarts Library!

Are you taking part in this readathon? How's your progress going and what are you reading at the moment? Let me know down below and I'll be back next week with another update!

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?

Native American November | Announcement + TBR!

November is Native American Heritage Month!

I've been fascinated by Native American history since I read Celia Rees's Witch Child when I was around fourteen, and the older I grew the more I realised just how much western, European societies completely screwed over indigenous people around the world.

The worst thing is indigenous people are still being treated poorly; in fact one of America's most popular holidays is celebrated because Native Americans helped starving colonials and the settlers then repayed them by slaughtering them. Ah, good times.

I know very, very little about Native American history but it's something I'm constantly eager to learn more about. I've been meaning to do a reading challenge like this for a while now and there's no time like the present!

If you'd like to join in then please feel free! If you would like to join in, I've created three 'rules' to encourage reading that doesn't encourage oppression, white-washing or victimisation. Naturally books that feature horrible moments in history are likely to be read during a reading challenge like this, but I'd like it to be a primarily positive and eye-opening experience.

1) Read a book written by a Native American author. Someone like Sherman Alexie or Thomas King, for example! Someone who's as white as milk but whose great great grandmother was Native American doesn't count.

2) Read a book with a Native American protagonist. Something like Celia Rees's Sorceress or Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

3) Read a book with Native American characters. These are books in which the protagonist may not be Native American, but there are characters in the book who are Native American and who also have agency. The Twilight books would fit into this category, as would Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves.

You don't have to do any of these challenges to take part, I don't want this to come across as some strict reading challenge if it is something you want to do, I can only suggest that, if you do want to take part, you read books that don't exoticise America's indigenous people or treat them as punching bags with no agency. Don't do what Joe Wright did when he cast Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily...

So what'll I be reading? Well there are a few books I own I've yet to get to, and now seems like the perfect time to gobble them up! I don't know if I'll get to all of them, though I hope I do, because I'm going to try and take part in a few other reading challenges this month too, but I'm certainly going to try.

I'd be a hypocrite if my TBR didn't match my own rules, so I've got a book for each. I've been meaning to read more Geraldine Brooks since I read and enjoyed Year of Wonders which, like Caleb's Crossing, is a fictionalised account of a true event. Caleb's Crossing is based on the first Native American student to graduate from Harvard in 1665; while the student himself isn't our protagonist he's still a very important character, and instead our protagonist is Bethia Mayfield, the daughter of a Puritan minister whose childhood friendship with Caleb, a local chieftain's son, ends up with her following him to college as his housekeeper. It's Bethia's father who sends Caleb to college, intending to prove that 'savages' can be 'civilised', and Bethia's forced to watch her friend receive the education her own sex deprives her of.

Joseph Boyden's The Orenda has three protagonists, two of whom are Native Americans. Or I suppose I should say Native Canadians, given that Canada is actually the setting of this novel, but I'm still going to count them as part of this challenge for no other reason than that it wasn't actually North America's indigenous population who decided Canada and the United States were separate countries so... Anyway, I've yet to read any Joseph Boyden but I've heard nothing but good things, particularly about this novel. It's quite chunky but I'm looking forward to diving into it!

I mentioned Thomas King above and unlike the other books on my TBR The Inconvenient Indian is a piece of non-fiction, and another book I've heard nothing but praise for. Thomas King is a Native American writer who, through this book, explores the history of North America's indigenous population, the way indingeous people are still treated now, and even how Native Americans are portrayed in the media. I think it's going to be a heart-breaking read, but an importand and informative one. If I can only get to one of these books this month, I hope it's this one.

I'll be back in a few days with some recommendations for anyone interested in joining me for this reading challenge, and if not I hope you look forward to any reviews or discussions I post throughout November!

#TBRTakedown Readathon | TBR

Over on BookTube Shannon @ leaninglights has announced a casual reading challenge to run throughout the first week of June, and as May was very busy and something of a slow reading month for me I thought I'd join in!

The TBR Takedown Readathon is all about crossing books off your TBR. Shannon has created five challenges that you don't have to follow if you don't want to, but I'm going to see if I can at least tackle one or two of them. 

A book that's been on your TBR shelf for over a year

Stargirl

by Jerry Spinelli

I'm pretty sure I've owned this for at least two years, if not more, after I found it for just 99p in a local charity shop. I've heard lovely things about it and it's not even 200 pages long, so I think it'll be a good read for a readathon!

An unread sequel sitting on your TBR shelf

Mortal Heart

by Robin LaFevers

I got this for Christmas and I still haven't read it. I'm terrible at finishing series no matter how much I love them, and it's about time I finished this one!

A first book in a series on your TBR shelf

A Darker Shade of Magic

by V.E. Schwab

I've heard nothing but amazing things about this one and I've owned it since February, so it's about time I read it.

An "out of your comfort zone" book on your TBR shelf

How To Be a Heroine

by Samantha Ellis

I'm not sure if this is out of my comfort zone exactly because the last book I read was a non-fiction book about heroines and I loved it, but I still don't tend to read much non-fiction. I'd like to cross this one off my TBR!

A book from your most recent book haul

Resistance Is Futile

by Jenny T. Colgan

This is the most recent book I hauled after I pre-ordered it. This is probably the book I'm least likely to get to, only because it's been on my TBR shelf the shortest amount of time!

Are you taking part in the readathon? What are you planning to read?

S&S Bingo Challenge!

I'm taking part in quite a few reading challenges this year, but as far as I'm concerned there's nothing wrong with even more, especially when they're as fun as this one!

The fabulous Kritika @ Snowflakes & Spidersilk has created the brilliant Bingo Challenge, and I'm so annoyed that I didn't discover this earlier on in the year because it looks like so much fun! The challenge is aimed at SFF, and the aim is to fill out the bingo card below:

Rules:

1. One book can only count as one square, but feel free to shuffle which square you're using the book for as the year progresses

2. Although this card is geared towards SF/F, you can use other genres for squares like "debut author" or "reread a favorite"

3. Fill out the entire square if you're feeling motivated, or 5 in a row (across, vertically, or diagonally) for a more relaxed challenge. You are welcome to fill out as much or as little as you like!

Let's play bingo!

I've already read a few SFF books this year, so I'm gonna go ahead and start marking my card - I'd love to fill out the whole square!

Space Travel: Saga, Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Female Author: Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Fairy Tale Retelling: The Meat Tree by Gwyneth Lewis

Published 2015: Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Urban Fantasy: My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland

Aliens: Saga, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

2nd Book in a Series: Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues by Diana Rowland

POC Main Character: Ms. Marvel, Vol.1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona

Novella/Short Story: A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman

Dragons: The Ice Dragon by George R. R. Martin

New-to-Me Author: Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Humorous SFF: Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch

Non-Human Main Character: Saga, Vol. 4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

I think I've made pretty good progress so far!

What's Up Wednesday! | 04/03/15

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly feature created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!

It's March! March!

What I'm Reading

Well this week is the first week of my Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge - and it's not too late to join in! - and the challenge this week is to read an alternate history book. So I'm going to finish Relic by Renee Collins, and then I'm hoping I'll still have time to read Temeraire by Naomi Novik.

Since last week I've also read The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen, a Victorian Gothic novella by a Welsh author, Fairest by Marissa Meyer, Ms. Marvel, Vol.1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona, and I'm still reading Mistress Firebrand by Donna Thorland; I'm aiming to finish it soon so my review can go up on Friday after Donna very kindly sent me an ARC.

I'm also in the middle of Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which is fantastic so far!

What I'm Writing

Well last week I wrote a blog post for work titled 'Top 5 Tips for Getting a Job in Publishing' aimed particularly at students and recent grads, and I'm rather proud of it.

I've also been working on some other non-fiction stuff; I'm taking part in the A to Z Blogging Challenge for the first time this year, so I've been getting those posts ready, and I'm also working on a mini essay I'm hoping to submit to the next issue of Sonorus: Feminist Perspectives on Harry Potter titled 'Tonks: Manic Pixie Dream Girl or Body Positive Role Model?'

What can I say? Once a Potterhead, always a Potterhead.

I'm also working on a short story called 'Piranha' that I'm hoping to enter into the Mslexia Short Story Competition.

What Works For Me

Visit your own setting. If what you write is set on Earth, and it's not set in a fictional town or village, then visit that place. I don't think it's often that a writer will write about a place that they haven't at least seen some pretty decent pictures of, but when writing historical fiction it's often easy to assume that every Medieval/Early Modern/Regency/Victorian village/town looked the same when we know that's not the case. Even if you're writing something that's set back in 10th century Britain and there are no buildings left for you to examine, you can still go and see how the land lies: what the weather's like; whether the ground beneath your feet is boggy or firm; whether it rains a lot; whether crops would be easy to grow; whether the coast is nearby, therefore making it likely that your characters eat a lot of seafood and worry about Viking invaders more than the people inland.

There's a lot you can learn from visiting the right places, even if it's just giving you a feel for what it's like for your characters to live there!

What Else Is New

Last week I won a giveaway over on Twitter, and my favourite magazine, SciFiNow, ended up sending me a box of 11 books. I've never won anything before, but recently I've won three different giveaways - I must have hit a lucky streak!

Signal to Noise is one of the books I won, and I'm pretty pleased with that considering it only came out last month, and I also won copies of Parts II and III of the Dangerous Women anthologies, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner R. Dozois, and featuring work by authors like Diana Rowland, Diana Gabaldon, Sharon Kay Penman, Robin Hobb, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch... Needless to say, I'm very pleased and I ordered myself Part I from Amazon so I can own the entire collection!

Other than that, not much has happened. An old school friend of mine had a baby on Monday which is so weird; I still feel like a 15 year old who's just pretending to be a grown up and there are people I knew at school getting married and having babies. I have a lot of respect for anyone who decides to have babies in their 20s. I'm way too selfish.

What's new with you?

2015 Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge! | Week 1 + Giveaway!

Welcome to the very first day of the Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge! Don't worry if you haven't signed up yet, there's still time for you to do so here, so come and join in!

The challenge this week is to read an alternate history book. For each of the four weeks of the challenge I'm going to be posting a little list of recommendations, just in case there are any readers out there who aren't sure which book to pick up!


Don't forget to share what you're reading on Twitter, Tumblr or Instagram with #2015FHRC!

Shades of Milk and Honey 

by Mary Robinette Kowal

A Darker Shade of Magic 

by V. E. Schwab

Relic 

by Renee Collins

Temeraire 

by Naomi Novik

Twelve 

by Jasper Kent

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter 

by Seth Grahame-Smith

Leviathan 

by Scott Westerfeld

Dominion 

by C. J. Sansom

I also have a giveaway that will be running until the end of the reading challenge; a chance for you to win a copy of Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History. As this reading challenge is dedicated to reading diverse historical fiction, it only seemed right to give away an anthology that's dedicated to exactly that.

This giveaway is open internationally thanks to the The Book Depository, just fill out the form below for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge | My TBR

Next week brings with it the start of my Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge, a four week challenge get people reading more diverse historical fiction! I'm partnering up with the lovely Amy @ Passages to the Past to bring this challenge to you, so for those of you taking part in Amy's Historical Fiction Reading Challenge anything you read for this challenge will count towards that one, too.

For all the information about this challenge, and to sign up, head over to my announcement post here!

So today I thought I'd share with you my TBR for the challenge. The books I choose may change - though I'm adamant I'm going to be crossing Kindred and Fingersmith off my TBR - but these are the four I'm planning on reading!

Week 1 - Read an alternate history book

Temeraire by Naomi Novik

Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors ride mighty fighting dragons, bred for size or speed. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes the precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future – and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. 

Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire.

Week 2 - Read a book with a non-white protagonist

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana's life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.

Week 3 - Read a book with an LGBT protagonist

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksby’s household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves—fingersmiths—for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home.

One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives—Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of—passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum.

With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways...

Week 4 - Read a book that is NOT set in Europe (including Britain) or North America

The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall

In a city full of thieves and Communists, danger and death, spirited young Lydia Ivanova has lived a hard life. Always looking over her shoulder, the sixteen-year-old must steal to feed herself and her mother, Valentina, who numbered among the Russian elite until Bolsheviks murdered most of them, including her husband. As exiles, Lydia and Valentina have learned to survive in a foreign land. Often, Lydia steals away to meet with the handsome young freedom fighter Chang An Lo. But they face danger: Chiang Kai Shek's troops are headed toward Junchow to kill Reds like Chang, who has in his possession the jewels of a tsarina, meant as a gift for the despot's wife. The young pair's all-consuming love can only bring shame and peril upon them, from both sides. Those in power will do anything to quell it. But Lydia and Chang are powerless to end it.

Are you taking part in the Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge? What are you reading?

ANNOUNCEMENT | Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge!

Today I have a very exciting announcement: next month I'm going to be partnering up with the lovely Amy Bruno @ Passages to the Past to bring you the Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge! This year Amy is hosting the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, which you should totally join if you haven't already, and now she's been kind enough to partner up with me for a four week challenge created with the intention of reading more diverse historical fiction! 

You all know I love my historical fiction, but I don't think I read as widely as I could - I've lost count of the amount of books I own which are set at the Tudor court! This isn't an entirely bad thing; when you find a period of history that you love it's only natural that you'd try to read as much from that period as possible, but it can be tricky to read diversely that way.

That's where the Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge comes in! I want to get myself reading some historical fiction that's a bit different from the stuff I usually read, and I'd love it if you joined me!

So, throughout the four weeks from the 2nd-29th of March there'll be four different reading challenges:

Week 1 - Read an alternate history book (e.g. Dominion by C. J. Sansom)

Week 2 - Read a book with a non-white protagonist (e.g. The Queen's Secret by Victoria Lamb)

Week 3 - Read a book with an LGBT protagonist (e.g. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters)

Week 4 - Read a book that is NOT set in Europe (including Britain) or North America (e.g. Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin)

Each week I'd love to see pictures of what you're reading on Instagram, Twitter or Tumblr, or just update your blog with a new post if you'd prefer - I'm just nosy, and sharing books like these is a great way to get more people reading them! If you do turn to whatever form of social media suits you best, be sure to use the hashtag #2015FHRC so the rest of us can find what you're reading!

This challenge is open to everyone, whether you're an avid reader of historical fiction or you're a complete newbie to the genre, and as I'm partnering up with Amy anything you read will of course count towards The Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, too!

To join up just add your link below!

Bout of Books 12 Wrap-Up!

This past week I took part in Bout of Books 12, for no other reason than that I wanted to get 2015 off to a great reading start! I didn't read as much as I wanted, but I did manage to read four books and considering I didn't really set myself any goals other than 'READ', I think I did rather well!

White Ravens

by Owen Sheers

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Based on the fable of Branwen, Daughter of Llyr, this interpretation revives one of the most action-packed stories in the whole myth cycle. Moving this bloodthirsty tale of Welsh and Irish power struggles and family tensions into the 21st century, this retelling retains many of the bizarre and magical happenings of the original. After being wounded in Italy, Matthew O’Connell is seeing out WWII in an obscure government department, spreading rumors and myths to the enemy. When he is assigned the bizarre task of escorting a box containing six raven chicks from a remote hill farm to the Tower of London, he soon finds himself ensnared in an adventure that leaves him powerless.

As part of the 2015 Fairytale Challenge I read my first retelling of the year this past week. White Ravens is a retelling of one of the tales from The Mabinogion, old Welsh Celtic folk tales that are thought to be the oldest written stories in Britain. I enjoyed this retelling, though it was certainly a lot less epic and much quieter than the blurb had me believe!

Saga: Volume 1

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

My Rating: 5 Stars

When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe. 

From New York Times bestselling writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina) and critically acclaimed artist Fiona Staples (Mystery Society, North 40), Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the worlds. Fantasy and science fiction are wed like never before in this sexy, subversive drama for adults. 

I've been meaning to start Saga for so long, and after I received some money for Christmas I headed straight into Waterstone's to buy the first three volumes. I've since acquired the fourth after finding it over on the Book Depository! I loved this so much; the dialogue is so fun and the character designs are fantastic. This kind of plot has been done so many times before - star-crossed lovers pop up everywhere nowadays! - and yet Vaughan and Staples have managed to create a story that really stands out.

Saga: Volume 2

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

My Rating: 5 Stars

Thanks to her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana, newborn baby Hazel has already survived lethal assassins, rampaging armies, and horrific monsters, but in the cold vastness of outer space, the little girl encounters her strangest adventure yet... grandparents.

After reading Volume 1 I jumped straight into Volume 2 and, again, I loved it. I don't know what else to say: this series is amazing.

Saga: Volume 3

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

My Rating: 4 Stars

Searching for their literary hero, new parents Marko and Alana travel to a cosmic lighthouse on the planet Quietus, while the couple's multiple pursuers finally close in on their targets.

Naturally, after finishing Volume 2 I jumped straight into Volume 3, and I would have read Volume 4 immediately afterwards if I hadn't been as sleepy as I was. Again, I love this series. I didn't like this volume quite as much as the previous two, but it was still fantastic; I think I felt a lot of this volume centered around Gwendolyn and I'm still waiting for her to grow on me. 

So Bout of Books 12 was pretty successful for me! I read 4 books, and while 3 of them may have been graphic novels I enjoyed everything I read. 

I also read 70 pages of A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, but I haven't finished it yet. That means all in all I read 710 pages this week. Hooray!

What did you read this week?