Graphic Audio edition. Another honker in this series. I listened to about 75% of this on my long journey home. I finished ACFAS on my first flight and started this one. I did doze at couple hours here and there. It kept me company on 3 flights and I did appreciate it.

On the whole, I do think this is one of the better written in the series if not the best yet. Nesta and Elain are more interesting than Freyre at this point. She did nothing at all in this book except touch her belly. I missed her actually doing something. I did not miss Rhysand. At this point, I feel like his pedestal is too high.

This book was all Nesta and Cassian. It’s slow but the book did a decent job of Nesta’s character development including her self-hatred and depression. The story and plot dragged in parts. There were too many magical objects. They add about half a dozen more in this book. It’s repetitive at this point because these objects always call to the Acheron sisters. Also, I did not mind the romantic relationship but there was too much smut. I had to put those scenes on 2x+ speed.

The last two books have not been narrated by Feyre and the third person limited narration done by Colleen Delaney is great. She is a better narrator than the actor who plays Feyre. It added to the story for me.

The book does the female relationships well. I do wish it had explored the sisters’ relationships a bit more. They continue to be bad at communication.

I sorta hate how addictive this series is. Some aspects of it are really cringey and not well written, but I liked Nesta in this book. I read the bonus chapter on my ebook copy. I think I’ll like Elain’s book when that gets released too. SJM’s writing has gotten better.

Setting: High fantasy universe.

1.25x – 2x audiobook. January 19-21, 2024.

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas

Graphic Audio edition. I listened to 85% of this large audiobook on active transit: buses and planes. Oh boy. I still have the same issues. I think the writing can be too much and too cringey. Characters are sometimes written questionably or unrealistically. For a fantasy with mind readers, characters have a hard time with communication skills. To focus on the good parts I think the world building is nice. I like how many baths are included in this series not because I like baths personally but the author gives room to breathe in the world. The characters are mostly likeable. I end up liking Freyre by the end of each of these books even if I am indifferent or wary about her for most of the book. I continue to really like the Graphic Audio audiobooks. I hope I can start the Crescent series with it too. I will keep going on the wild SJM journey slowly. The fantasy is fun for the most part.

Setting: High Fantasy other world.

1.25x audiobook. November 28, 2023 – January 2, 2024.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

I started and listened to about one third of this on audiobook. I even read along with it in one of my favourite parks in Sydney for a little bit. I finished it on ebook because it was more convenient in the end. The audiobook is good because of Meryl Streep. The middle was a bit slow but the last few chapters were as good as usual from Patchett. The novel is sentimental almost maudlin but I like the slow yet consistent character development and story. Great relationships. I revisited a couple of the last chapters with Streep’s narration.

Setting: Michigan, USA.

Read on ebook on kindle. 1.5x audiobook. January 9-15, 2024.

A Court of Frost and Startlight by Sarah J. Maas

Graphic Audio edition. This was shorter and cozier. Not much happened but I liked it. I actually love the cozy world building moments in this series. I think I preferred the non Freyre and Rhys scenes a bit more. I do think Freyre’s story truly ends here in this novel but without getting into spoilers, I do think the couple is a bit stupid and annoying by the end of it. After reading so many books and chapters about Volaris, I almost want to go there.

Setting: High fantasy universe.

1.25-5x audiobook. January 6-19, 2024.

My overall reading goal for 2024 is 60 books and 18,000 pages up from 52 and 15,000 pages from last year. I will always try to keep my reading goal achievable. It puts less pressure on me and allows more flexibility for other things in my life.

Top reading challenges for 2024

1. Read 60 Books
2. Reading Glasses 2024 Challenge: A couple of activities are more difficult than last year but achievable.
3. The StoryGraph’s Genre Challenge 2024: I entered this one because it had books which I tend to already read or plan to read.
4. Read more from my physical TBR: Read at least 25 books from my physical TBR shelves so I can free up space. In 2023, 23% of the books I read were from the TBR. Ideally I’d like to increase this to one third or at least one quarter by the end of 2024.

The rest of these are more guidelines and ongoing challenges:

• Read 3 books from the Boxall 1001 list: Continuing this life long challenge.
• Read more from previously started series: I should try to read more from series that I started and wanted to continue.
• Track the settings: This was an idea from the Reading Glasses podcast. I’ll track it with my book reviews and hopefully a map.
• Read 1 poetry book: I would be glad to read a couple of poetry books per year. It is hard to discover poetry that I love. There have been a lot of misses but I should keep trying.
• Read 1 Shakespeare play: Lots of Shakespeare in my physical TBR so I should read at least one of them.
• Read at least 1 French book: Succeeded this in 2023 and hope to do better with some Tintin in French too.

Ebooks, audiobooks, and E-reader upgrade

Starting in the last half of 2023, I began to whittle down my library check-out’s. I would usually have 15-20 items from the library at any time. This ballooned during the lockdowns to sometimes 40-50. Even 15 is a lot. I switched to audiobooks (especially audiobooks of those in my already owned TBR) and ebook hoarding. The library can be addictive so part of my goal here is to only have less than ten or five physical library books at any time.

I still have too many physical books so I will continue to read them or listen to them in audiobook or even ebook when travelling. I have a collecting and hoarding tendency for my hobbies and past-times. Moving to a digital collection and consumption is a wee bit better at least.

I will continue to use my library’s Libby and CloudLibrary collections. I have the opportunity of accessing another smaller library system’s digital content as well.

In the past, I would primarily use my e-book reader while I was travelling. I love my Kindle 3 Keyboard. It is now almost 14 years old. A lot of those years had light usage which is why the battery and condition of my e-reader is excellent for its age. I would even buy another model if I had the chance. I am planning to replace the battery.

I’ve been wanting a new e-reader for awhile and plan on getting a Kobo with the next upgrade. As much as I love my Kindle Keyboard, I sideload most of my ebooks so sticking with Amazon and Kindle is not necessary. Secondly, the Kindle Oasis model was the one I was most interested in but it has not been updated since 2019. I really like physical page turning and want a slightly bigger screen. It is looking unlikely that Kindle will make an update so I will go with the Canada based Kobo which also has Overdrive integration.

I will continue to blog about almost every book I read here.