Miscellaneous Musings about Books

[ScarletBea]

What do you guys think of Adrian Shelby's Snakewood and Rebecca Levine's Smiler's Fair? I've stumbled across these two books at a promo in an online book fair I'm visiting, so I'm wondering if they're gonna be worth a buck.

The first is on my TBR list, so I look forward to opinions too.

I've read the second one, and book 2 as well, and I enjoyed it (4/4.5 stars).
I can't exactly remember (what else is new?), but I think it works well as a standalone too. Good because it's supposed to be a trilogy but these books were published in 2014 and 2016 and there's no book 3 yet.

Oh, actually I just did a quick google search and book 3 is set to be published in October, according to the publisher's page!
(and that page has got a quote from the Fantasy Faction review, yay!)

[Rostum]

Snakewood is a grim and dark read of the finest order and is sufficiently otherworldly to keep it interesting all the way through. Adrian is a great writer and I look forward to his future works.

[S. K. Inkslinger]

What do you guys think of Adrian Shelby's Snakewood and Rebecca Levine's Smiler's Fair? I've stumbled across these two books at a promo in an online book fair I'm visiting, so I'm wondering if they're gonna be worth a buck.

Snakewood is ambitious as all hell and has some enjoyable moments but it's uneven as a narrative, often confusing, and sometimes falls flat. Also quite grimdark if that matters.

Oh it's grimdark. Not really my genre, then. I don't think I'll be picking up anything from this fair, hahah. 

[ScarletBea]

Replying to something that @isos81 said on the "August reads" thread, here because it's general:

Not an efficient month,

Sorry, but please don't be that hard on yourself (and this goes for everybody else including me).
Reading isn't a numbers game, the winner isn't the one who reads more books - rather the one who truly enjoys each one they read, even if just one book in the entire year.

There will always be more books than you can read. Always.
There will always be books you really wanted to read but don't.

We need to change our mindset that more is better - I fear we might actually be alienating/scaring some members because of this (I know it's not what you meant at all).

Everyone is welcome here, the ones who read a book every couple of days and the ones who take their sweet time, but still enjoy reading and talking about books

[S. K. Inkslinger]

Replying to something that @isos81 said on the "August reads" thread, here because it's general:

Not an efficient month,

Sorry, but please don't be that hard on yourself (and this goes for everybody else including me).
Reading isn't a numbers game, the winner isn't the one who reads more books - rather the one who truly enjoys each one they read, even if just one book in the entire year.

There will always be more books than you can read. Always.
There will always be books you really wanted to read but don't.

We need to change our mindset that more is better - I fear we might actually be alienating/scaring some members because of this (I know it's not what you meant at all).

Everyone is welcome here, the ones who read a book every couple of days and the ones who take their sweet time, but still enjoy reading and talking about books

This. It's why I never posted in the 'What have you read this month' threads because it's going to make me feel pressured to reach some sort of quota each month. I mean setting a yearly goal for Goodreads that are below what I can probably reach is one thing, but having to strictly count how many pages you read in each day is another.

[isos81]

Just to be clear, I wasn't even moaning, I was only stating a fact. I completely agree with Bea that numbers don't mean anything. I set myself a goal of reading 4 books a month and I could't accomplish that goal this month. And it was only natural as I was busier and more tired.

I also agree that numbers put pressure on some people. I once saw a pic in a Turkish forum, a man claimed to read lots of books in a single month. Actually, let me post it here



When I first saw this, I was like "Damn, I will never be able to read as many as this guy", to be fair, I felt pressured. Then I thought, he works at home, he is not married and has lots of time.

What I'm trying to say is, there will always be people who read more or less than you. This is not a competition, only sharing

[ScarletBea]

It's why I never posted in the 'What have you read this month' threads because it's going to make me feel pressured to reach some sort of quota each month.

I see thse threads more like a summary of books, instead of trailling through all the "what are you reading" posts

And I'm sure you didn't mean it badly, isos, I just thought it was a good prompt for what I wanted to say.

Personally, this stress is diminished for me because I don't read ebooks: what I read is basically limited by availability and money/going to the library instead of looking at the thousands of ebooks available, hehe

[Alex Hormann]

What do you guys think of Adrian Shelby's Snakewood and Rebecca Levine's Smiler's Fair? I've stumbled across these two books at a promo in an online book fair I'm visiting, so I'm wondering if they're gonna be worth a buck.

Snakewood is ambitious as all hell and has some enjoyable moments but it's uneven as a narrative, often confusing, and sometimes falls flat. Also quite grimdark if that matters.

Oh it's grimdark. Not really my genre, then. I don't think I'll be picking up anything from this fair, hahah.

Snakewood is dark, but I'm not sure I'd call it grimdark. It's a lot more literary than a lot of books like it. My reading was helped by having read True History of the Kelly Gang, which was a major influence, but I still found the style off-putting. It's told through letters and diaries, some of them written by people who are semi-literate. A very good book, but not one that worked for me.

[Rostum]

And now for something completely different. 567 new titles released in September in the UK including a lot of books delayed by the pandemic. Hopefully something for everyone.

[ScarletBea]

567 new titles released in September

Ohmygawd!!!
I'd heard that it was a big month but I had no idea of numbers! Isn't it all a bit too much? It links perfectly with the posts above about reading stress and FOMO (fear of missing out, much apt!)

[DrNefario]

I thought I'd read that that number was just today.

[eclipse]

567 new titles released in September

Ohmygawd!!!
I'd heard that it was a big month but I had no idea of numbers! Isn't it all a bit too much? It links perfectly with the posts above about reading stress and FOMO (fear of missing out, much apt!)

it's only text books

[Rostum]

Only fiction I believe. Text book publishing is big around May/June in the UK prior to the new academic year starting in September

[eclipse]

all those books are fantasy?

[ScarletBea]

all those books are fantasy?

Of course not, hehe - but a few titles I've seen do look interesting if only I had more time/read more