After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌘🌑

Published: March 01, 2000 (First published March 1953)

Publisher: Berkley

Format: audiobook

Pages: 256

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Synopsis:

The master of a Victorian mansion dies suddenly – and his sister is convinced it was murder…. When Cora is savagely murdered with a hatchet, the extraordinary remark she made the previous day at her brother Richard’s funeral suddenly takes on a chilling significance. At the reading of Richard’s will, Cora was clearly heard to say: ‘It’s been hushed up very nicely, hasn’t it…But he was murdered, wasn’t he?’ In desperation, the family solicitor turns to Hercule Poirot to unravel the mystery.

 

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Published: October 31, 2017 (First published February 24, 2015)

Publisher: Tor Books

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 429

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“Purity without balance is its own corruption.”

Synopsis:

Kell is one of the last Antari―magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes―Red London―and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.

 

 

2020 The Reading Rush Wrap-up

Hi.

It’s been a week since I last posted anything in this blog. I was so engrossed with The Reading Rush that I did not even stop and sit down to blog. Also, my work week has been busy lately since we have a lot to do so I only managed to read during the night. I also did not read on Sunday so that makes my reading days a day shorter. Plus, Taylor Swift drops a new album so I have to drop everything, reading included, to listen to Folklore.

But before I proceed with my wrap-up, I want to talk about the issues going around for this round of The Reading Rush. It was quite disappointing how insensitive the hosts are with what was happening during this time. I think the first issue is the reading challenge to read outside the house, which most of us can’t do because of the pandemic. The hosts resolved that by saying that it is up to us to interpret that challenge, like reading a book with the word OUTSIDE on the title or whatsoever though some still think that they did not even consider what was happening. However, what truly disappoints me is the issue with regards to the book group, which holds a very powerful topic with regards to raising awareness with the black community. I just hope that they will reflect on their actions and learn from it. They have such a powerful voice as an influencer in the book community and I hope they will use it right.

Okay, now that is all said and done, let’s get into my wrap-up. I don’t want to make this long but I just wanted to point that out.

 

The Reading Rush TBR 2020

If you have been in the book community for a long time, you would know what The Reading Rush is. But just in case you don’t know, it is a week-long readathon hosted by Ariel Bissett and Raeleen Lemay. This year’s readathon starts on July 20, Monday, and ends on July 26, Sunday. If you are interested to join, I’ll be linking the Youtube Channel and the website down below for more information about the readathon.

7 prompts could help you choose your TBR for the week and there are badges as well on the website that you could claim once you finished a prompt. This is perfect for competitive readers out there.

I usually list down the prompts and the corresponding book that I will be reading for the said prompt; but since you could use one book for multiple prompts and I am working next week, I will utilize my TBR so if I only managed to finish one book it could still fit to various prompts.

So let’s get to the prompts!

 

Recent Reads (July 06-12, 2020)

During the weeks where I feel like I have not been reading much, I always contemplate as to whether a weekly check-in is necessary. But I realized that this is the only constant thing that I’ve been doing since I started this and I don’t want to slack off. So here we are now.

Once again, I am into sleeping rather than reading during the weekend and I only managed to finish one book for this week which is not bad. At least I finished a book, right?

So let’s talk about the book that I am currently reading and the book that I managed to finish this week.

 

2020 Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag

Hello bookworms! I am very much aware that the middle of the year has already passed. But better late than never in posting this book tag.

I haven’t been posting a lot of book tags lately because I am a lazy daisy. But here we are now with this oh-so-popular tag that has been circulating in the book community in the last couple of weeks.

Looking back in my reading year, I am proud of myself. It was only the middle or the not-so-middle of the year and yet I am almost done with my reading goal in Goodreads. The only positive thing about this pandemic, I guess.

There is a lot of questions in this tag, so let’s get into it.😉

Yeah, I am that smooth with transitioning from one thing to another.🤣

 

 

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑

Published: January 07, 2020

Publisher: Tor.com

Format: eBook

Pages: 208

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“Sometimes heroism is pressing on when the endings is already pre-ordained.”

Synopsis:

When Jack left Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister—whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice—back to their home on the Moors.

But death in their adopted world isn’t always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.

Eleanor West’s “No Quests” rule is about to be broken.

Again.

Recent Reads (June 29-July 05, 2020)

Happy Monday everyone! I can’t believe that June is already gone and July is already on its 6th day. And here I am, not reading much.

I took some time off in reading when June ended and I have yet to pick up my reading phase. I’ve been reading a couple of pages at night before sleeping but I have not finished any books for this month.

So today, we are only talking about the books that I am currently reading.😅 So without further ado, let’s get into it!

 

 

June 2020 Wrap-up and Book Haul

June has finally bid goodbye and July has finally come. I am very excited for July because it’s my birth month! I have a lot of reading plans but nothing is final yet because The Reading Rush is also happening this month.

But this blog is not about my reading plans for July but my wrap-up for June. I did not read a lot of books for this month but I am happy with all the books that I have read. And most of them are physical copy which is a habit that I was hoping to carry over for July.

I managed to finish 7 books though 2 of which are less than 200 pages. But I also have 1 book that I DNF-ed which is a relief on my part. I also have some exciting books to show you that I hauled this month. So without further ado, let’s get into my wrap-up and book haul!

 

 

 

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

Published: July 29, 2014

Publisher: Vintage

Format: e-Book

Page: 52

 

 

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“The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are.”

Synopsis:

What does “feminism” mean today? That is the question at the heart of We Should All Be Feminists, a personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name—by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.

With humor and levity, here Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century—one rooted in inclusion and awareness. She shines a light not only on blatant discrimination but also the more insidious, institutional behaviors that marginalize women around the world, in order to help readers of all walks of life better understand the often masked realities of sexual politics. Throughout, she draws extensively on her own experiences—in the U.S., in her native Nigeria, and abroad—offering an artfully nuanced explanation of why the gender divide is harmful for women and men, alike.

Argued in the same observant, witty and clever prose that has made Adichie a bestselling novelist, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman today—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.