January Bookish Wrap Up
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Hello Readers and Happy February!
I hope you’ve read some lovely books this past month. I’ve personally had a good reading month and I’m looking forward to sharing what I’ve read and my thoughts on them with you.
I’ve managed to read 8 books this month, so let’s get straight into them shall we?
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
This was my book club’s Buddy Read for January and I’m so glad I chose it as such as we had such an interesting chat about when we had our meet up.
This book follows Esme and the making of the first Oxford English Dictionary. While many of the characters and events within the book are real, Esme is fictional. We follow her from being a child under the table in the Scriptorium as her dad worked on the Dictionary, to her becoming an adult trying to find her place in a quick changing England during the early 1900’s.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, especially when the story focused on the Dictionary and Esme’s collection of words, most of which came from the women around her and would likely never make it into the Dictionary. This book felt like a history lesson at times, seeing how the Dictionary was put together and how events at the time effected that process, namely the Suffrage movement and World War 1. Those moments in the country’s history definitely had an influence on the words that would be included in the Dictionary.
While I liked Esme as a main character, I will admit I preferred seeing her focused on the Dictionary and collecting words, rather than when the story shifted focus a bit to her life outside of that and certain things she has to deal with. But while reading those moments, it was nice to see her grow, even though it was difficult to read at times.
But it’s a book I’d recommend if you like Historical Fiction and want to know more about how the Oxford English Dictionary was first made.
The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson / Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson / The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
I’ve grouped these books together as they are the second set of three within the Mistborn Saga. From what I understand, the Mistborn Saga is going to be made up of three trilogies ~ but don’t quote me on that! I’m also not going to fully share my thoughts on these books, as I will be writing a full review on them in the coming weeks. But I’ll give you a little overview of sorts:
So these three books are set around 300 years after the end of The Hero of Ages, the final of the first trilogy. They follow Waxillium {Wax} Ladrian, an ancestor of a character in those first books. Allomancy is still very much a thing within these stories though Allomancy has changed a bit within the past 300 years ~ it’s a little complicated and I feel it would spoil the previous books a bit as you learn about the basic Allomancy system more in those and I feel it’s important to know about that first.
The world has progressed into what we would know as the Industrial Age and fortunately for the Allomancers, metal is used pretty much everywhere. There’s also a “Wild West” feel to certain parts of this world, which I found interesting and enjoyable. Brandon Sanderson has done an incredible job of building the world and the characters within this next instalment of the Mistborn Saga.
But that’s all I’m going to share in this wrap up ~ so keep an eye out for my full review if you want to know more about this wonderful series!
{Just a note for all the Mistborn Books ~ I read these via Audiobook and physically reading a long and I highly recommend the Audiobook for every book in this series!}
I’m really not sure what I can tell you about this book. It’s part of the Mistborn Saga but it’s so spoiler heavy for the first trilogy and a little bit for The Bands of Mourning that it doesn’t even have a synopsis. Most book selling websites just give a warning that you need to read the main books before picking up this novella.
But what I will say about this is that it’s cleverly written. It fills in a number of gaps surrounding certain main events and gives some background information on a certain character and what they were up to throughout the main books. Honestly, I just loved spending more time with this character and hope that Sanderson will be including another novella or two about them within the series.
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
In true Beck Chambers’ style, this is a very quiet, character focused Science Fiction and after the epic fantasy I’d been reading, it was a lovely change of pace.
It follows a group of deep space astronauts whose mission is to explore and document certain planets and asteroids and see what life, if any, is on them and if they can be inhabited. But due to the time it takes them to travel from place to place, years and years have passed on Earth. So one member of the crew, Ariadne, begins to wonder if anyone will remember them when they get back to Earth and if their mission is still important. So the story is essentially her chronicling these missions and documenting her thoughts on the work she and her fellow crew mates are doing.
This was such a beautiful book and each mission Ariadne shares was so interesting. There’s glimpses into the mental health of the astronauts and how they cope not only with being in space for such a long period of time but also with each planet they land on, as each is so different from the last. Becky Chambers’ does an excellent job of describing each place they visit that it felt like you could be there yourself.
While this novella isn’t set in the same universe as the Wayfarers Series, I think if you enjoyed that series, especially the third book in that series, that you’d also enjoy this one.
Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
I’ve been meaning to start this series for such a long time and I’m so glad that I’ve finally started it.
Noughts and Crosses is set in a world where the dominant race are people of colour/black {Crosses} and the ones that are seen as lesser people in society are white people {Noughts} ~ so it’s flipped the real world situation around and the way Malorie Blackman does this and talks about race equality is really interesting and eye opening.
The story is told in duel perspective and follows Callum, a Nought and Sephy, a Cross. As Callum’s mum works for Sephy’s family, the two have grown up together and have become best friends. However, things become more complicated the older they get and the inequality of the society they live in begins to effect their friendship.
The issues and narrative on race raised within this book are important and definitely made me stop and think at times ~ a lot of which is based around educational opportunities since the main characters are teenagers for most of the book. I will just say that there are some time jumps within the book as they start as children, then teens and it ends with them being around 20 or so years old, so you can see how the world situation effects them during each of these periods in their lives.
This book was definitely a quick read as I just wanted to keep reading but also the chapters at times are so short, showing the urgency of some situations Callum and Sephy find themselves in. But overall, I really liked this book and Malorie Blackman’s writing style, so I’m looking forward to continuing the series this month.
After reading Noughts and Crosses, I felt I needed a more cosy, lighter read. So I decided to pick up Once There Was a Bear and it was everything I wanted it to be and more!
Retellings or continuations of stories from different authors of the originals can be hit and miss. But Jane Riordan has done an excellent job with this prequel to A. A Milne’s original Winnie the Pooh stories. This little book tells the tale of “Before” ~ that is before Christopher Robin and his friends lived in the Hundred Acre Woods and had all their adventures. Essentially, it’s the Pooh Bear and Christopher Robin origin story.
Most fans of A. A Milne will know that he based his stories on the toys his son had but Jane Riordan has brought that story to life with a very Winnie the Pooh spin on it. Her writing style and phrasing within this book are very faithful to that of A. A Milne and I like to think he would approve. Also, no Pooh Bear book would be complete without illustrations and the ones included are again, very faithful to the style of the originals created by E. H Shepard.
I could really tell that this book has been put together with such love of the originals and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who grew up loving Winnie the Pooh, as I did.
So there we have it, a run down of all the books I managed to read during January. I feel my reading year has got off to an excellent start and while I don’t expect to read 8 books each and every month this year, I am hoping that I will enjoy all the books I decide to read as much as the ones I chose to start with.
What books have you picked up and loved in January? I’d love to know.
Stay Safe. Read a Book.
L x
