Hey there folks, I’m back again with the August installment of Whatcha Reading, Paullina 11 days into September.
Oops.
Back to school and the start of football season (how cute is this kid, though?) has been hard on this Mama, but I have gotten to read some great books that I am excited to share with you!
Are you ready for it? *cue Taylor Swift music*
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
I was really excited to read this book for our Sugar & Spice book club. It’s a stand alone historical realistic fantasy romance and I thought it would be right up my alley. It was definitely a slow burner, and not as spicy as I anticipated, but I did enjoy reading it. I don’t know a whole lot about the Spanish Inquisition, so I felt like some of the historical references went over my head. Overall, I don’t think I would re-read this one, but I would like to check out more of Leigh Bardugo’s books.
The Hobbit + The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
If you know me, you know I LOVE Tolkien. I’m a huge fan of the Hobbit and LOTR movies and books and make at least one reference to them every single day. They are my Roman Empire, and I have no shame admitting it. I just finished my LOTR tattoo YESTERDAY and I am glad that I got to finish the books before my appointment!
Yes, that’s my elbow.
Yes, it hurt like crazy.
Yes, it was absolutely worth the 4 hours if agony we spent coloring it!
Back to business…I went back and forth between listening to all four of these books on Libro.fm and reading them in my new *beautiful* leather bound box set. The audiobooks are narrated by Andy Serkis who plays Gollum in the films, and he is is one of the most incredibly talented voice actors of all time, in my humble opinion. If I didn’t know he was the only narrator, I would have thought it was a fully casted reading. His impersonations of each of the characters was so spot on and it really made for an immersive experience. My new favorite thing to do is “lazy girl read” where I curl up in my rocking char with my book and read along with the audiobook. It feels like being a kid again and reading along with your teacher in class, but less stressful because you don’t have to panic about having to read anything aloud!
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher
I want to take a moment to acknowledge how gorgeous this book is. The cover art is spectacular and the teal sprayed edges are so bright and colorful. I am a sucker for a sprayed edge. I just can’t resist. We are meeting to discuss this book for the Sugar & Spice book club on Friday 9/12 (tomorrow) and I can’t wait to chat about it and hear what everyone thought. I listened to most of it, and read a few chapters. I enjoyed the audiobook narration by Jesse Vilinsky, especially the Scottish brogue she gave Sarkis the MMC. One of the questions I posted to the Facebook event page for this meeting was, “How would you adapt this book into a movie? Who would you cast in the leading roles?” I envisioned Halla as Nicola Coughlan from Bridgerton and Sarkis as Jason Kelce with an accent. Who would you cast for the leads? What about the supporting characters? Zale was Shanola Hampton from Shameless, Alver was Elijah Wood and Aunt Malva was Jane Fonda.
That it for this month! I’ll be back with more recommendations for September (hopefully on time).
See you in the next chapter,
