Halfway

Hello dear friends.
It's been a busy and rough couple of weeks, but it's Sunday, and those of you who read this blog last year will recognise a sunday afternoon blog post when you see one.

Family drama aside, i am settling into my job and getting into a routine around working full time, so things are good. I could do with more sleep, but hey, who couldn't?

I've been reading, as always:

49. Will Grayson Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green
50. Caution: contains small parts by Kirstyn McDermott
51. Young Blood by Meg Cabot
52. The Ice Twins by S K Tremayne
53. Case closed by Gosho Aoyama
54. Loveless by Yun Kouga

So i am now past the yearly half way mark! 46 to go to hit my target by the end of the year. Totally doable.

Now, to discuss what I've read.

I haven't been overly keen on the John Green which I've read previously, but this one was a little better. Maybe the characters did it for me more, they were a touch less predictable and annoying, and thankfully nothing like Margo from Paper Towns who may be one of the most irritating characters I've ever read. The writing was more engaging, I'm a sucker for some irregular prose, so perhaps the influence of David Levithan made all the difference.

I'm still enjoying manga, yet Loveless was slightly too wacky for me, but Case Closed was based around a child obsessed with Sherlock Holmes so i loved that. Today i finished the Meg Cabot and shall begin the next volume as The Mediator series is deliciously funny and engaging. I wish i was still the target audience age, but to be fair, I'm enjoying it anyway. I also read Kirstyn McDermott's short story collection which was loaned to me, along with a large stack of other wonders, by a friend, and I've got to say, I don't know what I expected from her writing. For those of you who don't know, Kirstyn is one half of Australian book podcast The Writer and the Critic, which I love listening to, so i was eager to read some of her work and it was rich and engaging and other-wordly and quite frankly bizarre in places, but I loved it. I really have missed reading short stories, it reawoke my love of the form.

One book which was a standout read for me these last few weeks was S K Tremayne's The Ice Twins, which was creepy and gripping and everything i wanted. I have to say i was a little...astonished, maybe even a touch let down at the ending, but it was enough to leave me thinking about what really happened. It's one of those kind of books, full of creepy kids, who you don't want to believe are creepy and page turning action and unreliable narrators, who I am always a sucker for.

Previous to this, i finished Holly Bourne's How hard can love be? Which, as always, was an absolute delight and i instantly want to join and/or create my own spinster club because the whole concept and the books are just awesome and i love her writing and everything she is doing. What a star.

Anyway friends. It is a drizzly Sunday and i have a few hours left to myself before the weekly grind begins again, so i shall retire to , my favourite reading spot with a pot of tea while i still can. These moments of calm are all i need to recuperate in the storm surrounding me at the moment, especially when calm moments are few and far between.

Have a wonderful week.
:)