Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish

This is a bit of a challenge for me because it is really rare for me to give up on a book! I like to think that this is because I find it easy to find something to enjoy in most books: the genre may not be a favourite, but I may like the characters; I may not like the characters but the language could be sublime; I may find the language pedestrian but the plot could be thrilling; the plot might be cliched and quotidian but the ideas and themes might be powerful. And oftentimes, if I do put a book down, its because I was not in the right headspace for it then but I may well go back to it later... a pause does not a DNF make, does it? On the other hand, it may also reflect negatively on me as a person. I am generally a completionist, keen to finish a book - or a series - just because I started it. Yes, I am that sort of person who cannot leave a sidequest incomplete in a game! I also fall foul of the sunk-cost fallacy easily: I feel that when I have invested in a book (the time to start reading it probably more than the price), I must "get my money's worth" from it, even if giving up and finding a book I do love would be a much more enjoyable use of my time. And perhaps my eternal optimism: even halfway through a book, even three-quarters of the way, I might still be thinking This could get better any moment...

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Pet Peeves

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Previous Top Ten Tuesday Topics September 7: Books Guaranteed to Put a… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Pet Peeves

Death Bringer, Derek Landy

Death Bringer. An apt title to read this week as I have struggled with another vile bug. Or possibly the same vile bug that I've had since Christmas and never really shifted. The Death Bringer virus. Or perhaps just book six in the Skulduggery Pleasant series. I lost faith a little with Mortal Coil and… Continue reading Death Bringer, Derek Landy

Mortal Coil, Derek Landy

I have been enjoying this series. They were nothing exciting, nothing terribly original. But they were fun. They were light hearted. They were fast-paced and witty. But niggles and worries are starting to mar my enjoyment of them now. The worse elements are coming to the fore and the books are becoming increasingly dark, violent… Continue reading Mortal Coil, Derek Landy

Playing With Fire, Derek Landy

Reading this immediately after the first in the series, Skulduggery Pleasant, is interesting: it highlights both some flaws and some developments. In terms of plot, there's a sense of dรฉjร  vu from the first book: a general from the previous war escapes from prison; he sets about acquiring an artefact to bring back ancient Gods,… Continue reading Playing With Fire, Derek Landy

Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek Landy

I read Landy's The Faceless Ones - the third in the Skulduggery Pleasant series - and, I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it: a smart and sassy heroine; an enigmatic and intriguing (possibly anti-) hero; a wide range of engaging characters. So I have taken the fact that the current seventh book, The Kingdom… Continue reading Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek Landy