June 2020 TBR

The weather so far in June hasn’t beed amazing up here in NW England, which is fine by me as it means more time inside reading. Here’s a quick breakdown of what I plan on reading (though knowing me I’ll very likely swap out a couple of options here and there). Let me know what you think!

PS, the links are to Goodreads in case you want some more information about any of the books 🙂

1. The Way of Kings – Brandon Sanderson.

I read a lot of Sanderson a few years ago – all of the Mistborn books, in fact – and recently listened my way through the audiobooks for Elantris and Warbreaker. Both had, as expected, interesting magic systems and amazing worldbuilding, with decent enough plots and somewhat engaging characters. I saw that a few people on BookTube are doing a #StormAlong2020 readathon, where they plan to read the three current instalments of the Stormlight Archive books over the next six months, leaving readers in a position to move on to the newest behemoth when it is released this November. This pace (two months for each chunker) appeals to me, as does the community aspect and general knowledge that the readathon means there will be plenty of content for me to consume alongside the novel. I haven’t read any of the Stormlight books before but having heard the praise from almost all of the people who seem to have read them, I’m expecting nothing less than a 4.5/5 read. Let’s see. The aim is to read half of this in June and then finish it at the end of July, but as of June 06 I’m a few days ahead of schedule – so this may be finished before the due date as it were.

2. Moving Pictures – Terry Pratchett.

This is my current audiobook listen, a re-read of sorts (I went through the paperback a few years ago, but I can remember very little of what went on), and one that I am quite excited to get to. Having just finished Warbreaker, I’m hoping that the wornderful world of Pratchett can provide me with some light entertainment and solid satire as a break away from the epicness of Warbreaker. It’s just over 10 hours long and as I listed at 15.-2x speed (usually), I imagine that this will be finished quite early on this month.

For those who don’t know, Moving Pictures is the Discworld’s take on the invention of cinema and the magic of Hollywood (or, is that Holy Wood?).

3. The Goblin Emperor – Katherine Addison.

This is my current Kindle read, and I’m about 35% of the way through it at the moment. It tells the story of a young goblin who is rather unexpectedly given an empire to rule, having had next to no preparation and with no knowledge of what’s expected of him. So far it’s a fun read with a good amount of worldbuilding and politicing, but I’m yet to see the ‘uplifting’ side of things (which the novel is heavily touted for, especially on reddit). It’s also quite a slow burner, and so far I’m focusing more of my time of The Way of Kings than this. I’ll probably finish this once Sanderson’s tome is done.

4. Hellboy Omnibus Volume 1: Seed of Destruction – Mike Mignola, John Byrne, Mark Chiarello (Illustrator), Dave Stewart (Illustrator).

Another re-read of sorts. A couple of years ago I worked my way through a large portion of the Hellboy graphic novels but I eventually set it aside and… well forgot what was going on. The main series (there are various spin-offs) are now collected in four omnibus volumes, and my plan going forward is to stay on track reading them as per the de facto reading order. I love the art, the stories, the interweaving of various mythologies and histories. It’s an excellent graphic novel series, and one that I highly recommend to anyone with even a passing interest in superhero(ish) stories. My hope is to get through at least one volume of these omnibi per month until completion. I’m reading them digitally but am looking at purchasing the ‘Library’ editions (collectable editions really), and I usually get through a fair bit every night before bed.

5. A study book – maybe The Bible: A Very Short Introduction

As I touched on in my latest update posts, I’m trying to learn more about… things. Terribly generic thing to say, but I don’t even know what I don’t know when it comes to the wider world. Getting a degree in Classics is good and all, but I know that my general, historical, religious, and political knowledge is not as extensive as I’d like. I’m thinking that this book on the Bible (which I’ve never read in any great depth) will help to fill that hole, but time will tell and if I start it and don’t enjoy it, I’ll move on to something more enjoyable.

6. Some other, lighter stories

I don’t want to over-commit myself this months, escpeially with The Way of Kings. I will try to fit in a few lighter books (as you can see above, the Pratchett and Hellboy books fit this remit right now) to keep things feeling fresh. Going forward, I might take a gander at Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (almost entirely unfamiliar with the novels, but I have watched a fair few adaptations over the years), or Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files #3) (I’ve recently listened to the first two Dresden Files books on audio and enjoyed them). A fair selection to pick from there, I think, I’ll touch base again at the end of the month to see what I ended up reading.

That’s the general expectations I have for June 2020. Going forward I have a long list of books to read that will show a wider array of diversity, but being the mood reader I am, these were the selections for the month.

Please let me know what you think of the TBR, and link me to your own TBRs or views on any of these!