The Weekend Wrap-Up offers a little look at what I’m reading, the new books that came my way, and anything else I may have gotten up to this past week. I will be linking up to Stacking the Shelves, The Sunday Post and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and hopping around your blogs a little to see what the community has to share too!

My Week

It’s been a strange week. I started writing this on Wednesday and could barely tell you what I’ve been up to since the last post. The sleep issues persist, though I’d rather not harp on about that week after week, and my depression popped up. I spent some time hanging out on voice chat on Saturday night with some Discord friends, pulling cards and chatting, that was a nice time.

There was some shocking and sad news on Twitter Monday that Rades had suddenly passed away over the weekend. He was one of the kindest, funniest, and most talented people from the World of Warcraft blogosphere, and among the first people I connected with when I got my start in 2009. I always loved seeing his interactions with people and updates from his D&D games and it doesn’t feel right that… he’s gone. I wasn’t even that close with him, personally, being EU-side, but that little Twitter core from the early days has been rocked.

By the end of the week, I think I got my sleep round to human hours again. This took longer than usual to fix and I’m exhausted but I sure do like being awake when other people are awake. Thursday and Friday were particularly tough. Thursday I had no focus whatsoever, but a determination to get my review out for The Liar of Red Valley. I’d written the base of the review up on Wednesday so I just needed to make sure I added anything from my notes and edit it. It took me 5 hours to do that. Then Friday I had my CBT appointment, rescheduled from the previous week. It was really tough to get myself out of bed in order to leave the house for it but I got there. Agoraphobia is fun, kids… Anyway, apparently the guy I’ve been talking to is being shuffled off somewhere else so I’ll be dealing with a lady going forward. Fingers crossed I’m comfortable with her.

Reading

I actually sat down and started to read Shadows of the Apt this week. Doing so felt like stretching an old, creaky muscle. Aside from my near brushes with Elantris and Tigana, it has been a while since I read an adult epic fantasy and it always feels a bit like catching up with an old friend. Though along with my other struggles, I didn’t manage to read as much as I’d have liked and I think I need to be a little stricter with myself about setting aside at least an hour or two each day. Perhaps find some people running reading sprints around the times when I’ll be reading.

Listening

Tried a couple of podcasts, nothing worth mentioning this week, and listened to a bunch of lofi radios. This one is probably my favourite, it really helped me Thursday when I was struggling with my review. It’s just so lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCs48OFv7xA

Playing

Naithin was talking about how he started up in The Elder Scrolls Online again and it clicked that I should hop over to the NA servers and chuck him a friend request. In doing so, I realised I didn’t have a character I really cared for over there so I made a new character (modelled after the D&D character I’d love a chance to play in a campaign some time *hint hint*) and went off to unlock ESO’s version of archaeology. I then noticed I had 57 of the Twitch drop loot boxes so I opened those and got the exact mount I’d wanted for my EU characters. Oops. Here she is:

And Friday I got to play some Phasmophobia with Rini and start getting her used to all of the changes. A nice end to such a strange week.

On the Blog

Despite my struggles, I successfully wrote and posted 3 posts this week, including a book review! I will pat myself on the back for that. Here they are in case you missed them. Would love some support for the review after it took so long. Also of note? The Liar of Red Valley is my first NetGalley and review book since my return to blogging!

• Weekend Wrap-Up: Awoken Too Soon
• Yet to Read… Delightful Indie Fantasy
• Review: The Liar of Red Valley by Walter Goodwater

Incoming

The usual Kindle deals and freebie checks this week, as well as one from NetGalley.

A few books on sale this week, all of these were 99p and believe me, there were several others but past a certain point I was just cursing out Amazon. After Sundown is a horror anthology with some interesting names involved (including Grady Hendrix). Dark Disciple is another of the Star Wars books… I forget if we’re calling these the new canon or extended universe or what, but whatever, Star Wars is neat and Christie Golden knows how to handle a franchise (also I’d maybe like to peep these after Buffy). I think the TV adaptation of Lovecraft Country is one of my favourite things in media, full stop. It was that good. So of course I’ve been wanting to pick up the book and it happened to be on sale this week. And Ringworld by Larry Niven, a science fiction classic. 

Chaos Awakens by Megg Jensen was a freebie! I remember chatting with Megg a fair bit back in the day and I’m delighted to see she’s moved over to high fantasy. This series follows an orc assassin and I’m actually super intrigued to check it out.

Last but not least, Cunning Women by Elizabeth Lee. A historical fiction set in 16th century Lancashire. This one had me at witches, I’m a sucker for some witches. I found this one on NetGalley right at the back of the Women’s Fiction tag and took a chance. I only happened to be checking because I found myself in a huge Christmas romance mood and was holding back from requesting because “I’m a fantasy/sci-fi/horror book blogger,” which goes against what I told myself on my return: no boxes, no pigeonholing, only reading for pleasure. I requested a couple of things but I doubt I’ll be accepted. That’s fine, I have stuff on my shelves!

Speaking of NetGalley, I tried to see if I could wipe my slate clean from my overzealous requesting back in 2013 this week but no such luck. With 127 approved books on my account and 3 reviews sent in, it’s going to be a hard road fixing my feedback ratio. I probably should have just started fresh with a new account, eh? Ah well! It’s not the end of the world. I have plenty to read.

Oh yeah, I also apparently have one free Audible credit to spend. I’m not sure what to pick up! Maybe Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne? The second Wheel of Time book for when I finally get around to the first one? The Hobbit as read by Andy Serkis? What do you think?

Next Week

New reading rules. I’ll be setting time aside and trying to run reading sprints to help get me reading, hopefully. I refuse to let my reading slide again. 

How have your weeks been? Reading anything good? Got up to anything interesting? I’d love to hear what you’re all getting up to in the comments!