Apparently during my years away from the book blogging world, end of week wrap-up posts and incoming book posts trended from Sunday to Saturday, or even Friday. Saturday works for me, so here’s a little look at what I’m reading, the new books that came my way, and anything else I may have gotten up to for this past week. I will be linking up to Stacking the Shelves and The Sunday Post for this one.

My Week

This past week has been a weird one. About a week ago my sleep schedule was leaning nocturnal again (this is an ongoing problem for me these days) and one night I suddenly woke up after maybe 4 hours with a massive tummy ache and ended up just staying up. Next night didn’t get much sleep for similar reasons so I’ve spent most of this past week attempting to pull my sleep schedule back to human hours. I’m getting there! Slept from maybe 9.30pm til 7am last night, 11pm-12am is my ideal bedtime, so over the next few days, then I just need to try and maintain it and hope to stave off the random insomnia nights that always inevitably ruin it.

I also managed to do something I’ve been struggling with for a while and tidied my armchair! This means I can read by the window again which is really nice when I’m stuck indoors for so long, and it’s great for summer too. Being closer to the fresh air and the lovely view is so nice. And I have my little nest set up! All that’s missing, really, is a foot rest.

My reading has been a struggle, let me tell you. After finishing Raybearer I picked up an indie press novel I won via The Fantasy Hive on Twitter, Bloodsworn by Tej Turner. I wasn’t hating the writing style, most of the characters weren’t particularly interesting though the twins intrigued me, and the story and worldbuilding were really great, but it’s a multiple perspectives book. I really, really struggle with multi-POVs at the best of times and frankly, these weren’t working. Every time a new one was introduced I just felt a sense of whiplash and I had to set it aside. I’m not sure it’s for me. So I tried to pick up Mythos but Stephen Fry’s writing style was clashing with my fatigue brain fog and I picked up a horror anthology called Hellhole which turned out to be mostly militaristic type stories which just aren’t my bag. I’m floundering here!!

On Thursday we celebrated Dan’s birthday, which was on Friday but he had to work so we did it the day before. We went into town, which was my first time since before the pandemic began (yes, really, I’ve left the house 3 times prior to this, twice for the doctors, and once for my first vaccine) and it was really lovely to get out again but wow it was weird. Managed to miss queues outside of shops, not notice entrances/exits for certain shops, not realise I needed to hand sanitise… good job I wasn’t alone! The whole reason we went out was to get lunch, however. There’s a new Japanese restaurant in town and Dan’s been dying to try it. It was really nice! We shared some chicken gyoza which were divine, I got some braised ribs with a like.. soy, lime, ginger (and something else I forget) sauce, and then a chocolate taiyaki for dessert! The only thing I took a picture of was my drink however so nothing much to show, it was good though, and I got to wear in my new boots a bit. Also, not suffering pain-wise too bad the days following.

On the Blog

After making my comeback last week, this week I posted my review of Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko. This was my first review in more than 2 years and I’m super proud of myself! A question to my fellow reviewers – are you posting your reviews anywhere (aside from Goodreads/Amazon), for additional exposure? I recall yesterday ago one or two blogs having linkups but I’m super out of the loop now!

I also added a few of the weekly book blogger memes to my Google calendar to help me with ideas for posts each week. I have been considering some kind of TBR highlight feature as well. My reviews will be a lot more sporadic than they were on Once Upon a Time, I’m still working on fixing my reading habit and I’m reading a lot more epic fantasy this days, which inevitably take longer to read than the young adult fiction I was focused on back then. So anything I can come up with that’s fun inbetween would be great! Of course we have other topics these days: Dungeons & Dragons, cross stitch, colouring, TV and movies, music, video games… all sorts of things. And I wrote up a review policy. I haven’t published it yet because my backlog is vast and I can’t make promises, but it’s nice to know that if/when I’m ready, I can just publish the page. I was also looking at blog hosting options earlier in the week but shhh, we’ll see how this goes before I make a monetary leap!

Incoming

I do try not to make a habit of picking up too many new books. Every now and then I might see something on sale for Kindle and swoop it up but overall, I have a lot of unread books I need to get to reading! I never stopped collecting. However, I was a tad naughty this week and I picked up a small handful of books. Three second-hand books that should hopefully scratch my oldschool high fantasy itch and a small classic I picked up from the local bookshop in town.

Next Week

I try not to make big plans because every day is different. My mental health can always take a turn, I’m always fatigued, and I never know where my sleep schedule or pain levels will be. However, I always have something lined up!

This week’s plans: start reading a new book, make sure I’m all prepped for my two D&D games at the weekend, and maybe start another weekly book blog meme aside from this one.

With my struggles to find my next read and my choices being a lot, I am thinking I may give Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay a go. Keep seeing it mentioned lately and it’s been sat on my shelves for years.

Thanks to everybody who has been so supportive of my attempted return to the blogosphere. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years, but just haven’t had the energy to put into it. It’s a struggle for sure but I’m glad I’m doing it and your support means the world to me!

How have your weeks been? Reading anything good? Let’s encourage each other in the comments!