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Book Review: Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry’s Definitive Collection

Book Review: Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry’s Definitive Collection

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Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry’s Definitive Collection by Stephen Fry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Did I purchase this on Amazon solely because it was narrated by Stephen Fry? You bet. He’s one of my favorite narrators of all time. There’s something about his voice that is incredibly soothing, something about his delivery that is cozy and instantly transportive. Additionally, I loved the thought of getting not only his narration, but his brief thoughts on each of these classic, spooky tales. I love his way with words almost as much as the way he says them, and I found his introductions to each story interesting and informative. This collection proved to be perfect for spooky season.

Not only is it an excellent narration of eight classic tales of horror, Fry and the audio producers took things a step further by adding in sound effects that really added to the experience. These effects were perfectly balanced, contributing greatly to the tone and mood without being so prominent as to distract. I wish more audio productions would follow suit. …

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Book Review: 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill

Book Review: 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill

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20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

20th Century Ghosts is not the first short story collection I’ve read by Hill, but it’s the first one he released. As a whole, I think it might be a touch stronger than Full Throttle, a more recent short story collection of his I read in 2019. However, I also found the individual stories largely less memorable. It was more even across the board, but that meant that there were fewer that stood out to me. That being said, I really enjoyed my time with this collection, and there wasn’t a single story that I legitimately hated. In a collection of 15 stories, I’d say that’s a pretty fantastic achievement. Below are micro-reviews of each story. …

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Book Review: Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Book Review: Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

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Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sometimes you need to read something that stretches you. Or at least, I do. Because reading is such a vital part of my life, and something to which I give such a large portion of my time, I try to read things on occasion that push me to think outside of myself. It’s been a long while since I found a book that did that as successfully as Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and Others. I felt as if I were trying to keep my head above water the entire time I was reading it, but in the best way possible. Chiang raises some truly profound moral, theological, and philosophical questions, and he does so in a way that doesn’t lead you to any specific conclusion. Sometimes it’s enough to think and to question, and Chiang’s stories give readers the freedom to do just that. It was completely unclear what type of worldview he was writing from, which I actually loved. More than one of these stories had some heavy religious connotations, but felt neither like proselytization or a subtle ridicule of believers. That is a very difficult balance to strike in one story, let along an entire collection. I am in awe of Chiang’s mind, and was equally awed by every single story housed in this book. …

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TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : May 2022

TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : May 2022

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Hello all!  Welcome back to my monthly wrap-up.

Amazingly, I found my Book of the Month for May right at the very beginning of the month, but that’s not to say that the books that came after that were not good.  Most of them were great reads (in fact, only one book disappointed me), and I’m happy to say that the series conclusion that I was looking forward to delivered very satisfactorily.   I did start to feel a slight burn-out from reading almost non-stop fantasy (albeit mostly Middle Grade) and ended the month with two crime/mystery thrillers.

NB. Books are rated within its genre.  For avoidance of doubt, rereads are not considered for Book of the Month.

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TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : April 2022

TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : April 2022

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Hello all!  Welcome back to my monthly wrap-up.  I can’t believe that four months had already gone by this year.   One positive development so far in 2022 is that international borders are opening up and I’m looking forward to be able to travel again, one of my other favourite things to do besides reading.

April was another great month of reading, as we continued our Middle Grade series reads and started the epic reread of all the Mistborn books in preparation for the release of The Lost Metal in November this year.

NB. Books are rated within its genre.  For avoidance of doubt, rereads are not considered for Book of the Month.

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TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : March 2022

TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : March 2022

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Hi everyone!  Wow, Middle Grade March was a very full month of reading for me.  Aside from the fact that that MG books tend to be easy and fast to read, most of the ones that we’ve chosen to buddy read for the month of March were very enjoyable as well.  In total, I’ve managed to complete 11 novels this month, which was quite a record.

I didn’t only read Middle Grade this month, as I was working towards finishing two adult series – The Winternight Trilogy and The Riyria Revelations, as well as continuing with some classic (horror) short stories from Edgar Allan Poe and Ray Bradbury.  I also couldn’t resist picking up a self-published stand-alone fantasy novel which everyone was raving about on social media, and I’m so glad that I’ve done so because it was definitely one of my Books of the Month.  Yups, I couldn’t pick between two novels for BotM.

So let’s get the show on the road shall we?

NB. Books are rated within its genre.

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Book Review: The Last Wish (The Witcher, #1) by Andrzej Sapkowski

Book Review: The Last Wish (The Witcher, #1) by Andrzej Sapkowski

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Review copy was provided by Gollancz in exchange for an honest review.

Cover art illustrated by Tommy Arnold

Cover designed by Lauren Panepinto

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Witcher (Book #0.5 of 5)

Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy

Pages: 352 pages (Illustrated edition)

Published: 7th December 2021 by Orbit (US) and Gollancz (UK)

The Last Wish made me feel like I was reading Geralt doing his side quests in the game.

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TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : February 2022

TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : February 2022

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Hi everyone, I’m back with my monthly wrap-up for February.

With the shorter month and the Chinese festivities of the Lunar New Year (which means more time spent with family and friends instead of my nose in my books), I only managed to complete 5 novels, a couple of Sherlock Holmes novellas and a handful of short stories.

I’ll start with the novel which was the book of the month for me.

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TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : January 2022

TS’s Monthly Wrap-Up : January 2022

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Hi everyone!

I’m trying something new this year as my review mojo (whatever there was left of it) seemed to have finally vanished into oblivion.  Instead of writing individual book reviews, I’ll be posting a monthly wrap-up post on what I’ve read for the month.  I still do write short reviews and thoughts on my Goodreads profile, so this post will be sort of an summary and reflection upon the month that was.

I’ve read 6 books and several short stories in the month of January, most of them are buddy reads with my co-bloggers.

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