#bookbandit

These still look like some great reads! I really want to read the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and things by N. K. Jemison. Did you like her book?

The 5th Season was my first book by N.K. Jemisin. It had been on my radar for some time, and then there was a sale for the ebook. I read it pretty quickly and got the box set of the whole series right away. The narrative style is something I have not encountered often and it took a little getting used to: there are three storylines, and one (the main one) is told in second person, i.e. “you go to your house and...”. I think I have never read a story written like this. But I really liked it. And the story itself is intriguing and very complex. I appreciate that the “heroine” is a 40-something women with kids, who has her faults. Actually, everybody has faults. All characters felt like real people. The book deals heavily with oppression and exploitation, violence against certain groups of people and on the whole, the society is (had to become) pretty tough, not only against the oppressed group of people (lots of trigger warnings though: physical and mental abuse, child abuse, oppression/slavery, mentioning of sexual abuse (not graphic) and making the oppressed people think what is being done to them is perfectly justified). I seldom read fantasy that is both so political and relevant to our time and yet not focused on politics. It is hard to describe. 

By now, I have finished the last book in the series. I read books 2 and 3 as audiobooks (because I was once again overwhelmed by my tbr and wanted to get more done in the same amount of time - adulting is no fun). Fantasy audiobooks are more difficult, I find, because you have to understand a whole new world. But as I read the first book and only listend to the audiobook of the 2nd and 3rd book it was alright for me. And the narrator is amazing. I could listen to her for so much longer.

Yes, that’s definitely part of it.  The only way I can describe it is that it’s so minimalist but evoking so much emotion. I might just stare at the book cover periodically. I tried to translate the title and what I got on google was “The imperfect life or how happiness found Samuel”. Is that about right?

The translation is spot on :-) I come across a lot of different languages at work and sometimes I check them with online translation services. Some languages are still just (extremely funny) gibberish but others work pretty well.

The orignal titel is Wabi-Sabi and it is actually the second book, chronologically. But I never read the first one and still enjoyed it. The first one features Samuel’s cat a lot more, and I will keep my eyes open for a good deal on it. Although the cover is not as stunning it is still quite beautiful. And it features a cat.

This looks like a great list! 

I totally get what you said about wanting to read some of the earlier series books before getting into the later ones. That’s one of the big problems I have with unfinished series. I forget some of the details and then enjoy the later books less.

I’m personally trying to read 30 minutes a day to see how that goes, but I might have to change to chapters or pages if I’m progressing slowly. At least with a minimum of 30 minutes per day, I’m moving forward a little bit everyday.

Prior to Christmas, I had set myself a reading goal and it turned out I could meet it by reading 35 pages/day. I even took all the books I wanted to read and marked each 35 pages step. And that helped tremendously. After only a short while, I was ahead of my reading schedule and it felt so good. At the moment, I do not think I need it but it is certainly something I will keep in mind.

bookbandit reblogged your post and added:

I hope the challenge helps you bust that shelf!...

Thank you and same to you :-)