Category Archives: other

TTT: Books set in a school

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toptentuesday

It is that time of the week for another Top Ten Tuesday. It is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish in June 2010. This weeks topic is a back to school freebie, so I thought I would share my top 10 books set in school. I personally really enjoy this type of setting so it seemed like a good topic to talk about. The books I’m sharing today are some of my favourites and I would recommend checking them all out :). Most of these are fantasy book – one is a mix of dystopian and science fiction. Although I have loved all of these settings, it actually took me quite some time to come up with this list. I have eight books to share so let’s get started.
  1. Wylerly College from Sabriel by Garth Nix.
  2. The University from the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
  3. Hailsham from Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
  4. The Magicians Guild from The Black Magicians trilogy by Trudi Canvan
  5. The Academy from the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher 
  6. The Convent of Sweet Mercy from Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
  7. The Order from Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
  8. The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst (not sure what the school is called)
That’s it for this weeks top ten Tuesday post :). It took me a while to come up with this topic but I got there in the end. I hope to read more books set in schools in the future, as I really enjoy them. Do you have any favourite fictional schools? I hope you are all having a wonderful and I will see you next time.

 

Pippa

 

 

It’s Monday… What are you reading?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog   and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

 

So I’m currently reading two books, although I’ve only just started both of them. The first is The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst, and the second is A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro. Both of which I am very excited to read. I also kind of want to get to The Power by Naomi Alderman by the end of the month but I haven’t started it yet.
Goodreads synopsis of A Pale View of Hills: In his highly acclaimed debut, A Pale View of Hills, Kazuo Ishiguro tells the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. Retreating into the past, she finds herself reliving one particular hot summer in Nagasaki, when she and her friends struggled to rebuild their lives after the war. But then as she recalls her strange friendship with Sachiko – a wealthy woman reduced to vagrancy – the memories take on a disturbing cast.
I’m not going to give a synopsis of The Reluctant Queen as it is the second book in the Queens of Renthia trilogy and I don’t want to spoil it. I loved the first book in this fantasy series so I am very much looking forward to reading it’s sequel. I have a spoiler free review of The Queen of Blood (first book in the trilogy) which you can check out here.

 

There are so many books that I want to read but these are the two that I am currently reading. Hopefully I can read a few more books by the end of the month. Have you guys read either of these books? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.

 

Pippa

 

 

 

Favourite Places I’ve Visited

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Hi guys, I thought I would do something a little different post today. I’m fortunate to have travelled a fair bit in my life so far and I wanted to share some of my favourite places I’ve been. Now I’m by no means a travelling expert – these are just some places I like that I’ve been lucky enough to visit. I would love to travel more but it also makes me very anxious. I’ve never travelled on my own before (always with family or on a school trip) so maybe that is something to work towards in the future. All photos are my own. Let’s get started.
Prague
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
  1. Prague, Czech Republic  – I’ve been here twice now and I have loved it both times. It is such a lovely place and it’s a great place to just wander around.
  2. Hong Kong – I’ve only been here once and not for very long but I absolutely loved it. It was such a great place and the food was amazing. The flight there is pretty bad but it’s worth it once you get there.
  3. Italy – I’ve been to a few places in Italy and I’ve loved all of them but one of my favourites is Siena – I also love Rome and Venice. I can’t seem to find my photos of Siena so I’ll show some other places I’ve been instead.
  4. New York, America – the only place I’ve been to in America. I’ve been there twice now and I have loved it both times.
Rome
Venice
Florence
New York
New York
I hope to travel more in the future – I would love to go back to Hong Kong, see more of America, see more of Italy, visit Japan, visit China, visit Germany etc. Looking back at some of these photos I’m kind of annoyed that I didn’t take me photos. Anyway I hope in the future I will have the confidence to travel on my own but at the moment I think my anxiety would get the better of me. What is your favourite place you’ve visited? And what’s on your travel wishlist? I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.

 

Pippa

 

 

10 Ongoing Series I’m Loving Right Now

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Hi guys, I hope you are all well. Today I want to talk about some of my favourite ongoing series. These are basically the series that I want the next book in the life :). I’m quite impatient when it comes to books so I would love all of these sequels to just arrive magically at my door, so I can find out what happens next in each series. No surprises that the majority of these are fantasy series and I do have some honourable mentioned. Let’s get started.
  1. The Winnowing trilogy by Jen Williams – 3 books planned – only 1 out so far – The Ninth Rain and The Bitter Twin (unreleased)
  2. Book of the Ancestor trilogy by Mark Lawrence – 3 books planned – only 1 out so far – Red Sister and Grey Sister (unreleased)
  3. The Queens of Renthia trilogy by Sarah Beth Durst – 3 books planned – 2nd book just released – The Queen of Blood, The Reluctant Queen and The Queen of Sorrow (unreleased)
  4. Echoes of the Fall series by Adrian Tchaikovsky – unsure about the length of this series – currently 2 books out – The Tiger and the Wolf and The Bear and the Serpent
  5. Gods of Blood and Powder series by Brian McClellan – possibly 3 books – only 1 out so far – Sins of Empire 
  6. Gentleman Bastard sequences by Scott Lynch – 7 books planned – 3 out so far – Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, The Republic of Thieves, The Thorn of Emberlain (unreleased), The Ministry of Necessity (unreleased), The Mage and the Master Spy (unreleased) and Inherit the Night (unreleased)
  7. The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon – 6 books planned – 3 out so far – The Bone Season, The Mime Order and The Song Rising
  8. Draconis Memoria series by Anthony Ryan – possibly 3 books – 2 out so far – The Waking Fire and The Legion of Flame
  9. The Song of the Shattered Sand series by Bradley P. Bealieu – 6 books planned – 2 out so far – Twelve Kings, Blood Upon the Sand and A Veil of Spears (unreleased)
  10. Dandelion Dynasty trilogy by Ken Liu – 3 books planned – 2 out so far – The Grace of Kings and The Wall of Storms 

 

Honourable mentions: The Bear and the Nightingale series by Katharine Arden, the Cromwell trilogy by Hilary Mantel, The Legends of the First Empire series by Michael J. Sullivan, the Licanius trilogy by James Islington and the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss.

 

What ongoing series are you guys loving at the moment? Are there any sequels you’re impatiently waiting for? Clearly I have quite a few :). I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.

 

Pippa

 

 

Top 5 Most Read Authors

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Hi guys, so I thought I would do something a little bit different and talk about my most read authors. This is pretty self explanatory – I am going to talk about the authors I’ve read the most books from. I’ve maybe missed some but I think these are right. Having said that, I’ve just remembered Meg Cabot. I read quite a lot of her stuff when I was younger. That’s the only other possible candiate I may have missed. Anyway I think these are my most read authors. Let’s get started.

 

  1. Garth Nix / 21 books – I think I have read the majority of his books by now, but there are some middle grade books co-written by him that I haven’t read. So I’ve read the Old Kingdoms trilogy, as well as Clariel and Goldenhand. I’ve also read the Keys to the Kingdom series, The Seventh Tower series, Shade’s Children, The Creature in the Case and To Hold the Bridge.

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  2. Robin Hobb / 13 books – I’ve been slowly making my way through her books since I read Assassin’s Apprentice back in 2015. This does not include her work under her real name, Megan Lindholm. I have read the Farseer trilogy, the Liveship Trader’s trilogy, the Tawny Man trilogy and two books in the Rain Wild Chronicles. I have also read The Wilful Princess & the Piebald Prince and Shaman’s Crossing.

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  3. Trudi Canavan / 12 books – I think I have read all of her released books but I may be wrong. I’ve read the Black Magicians trilogy, the Traitor Spy trilogy, the Age of Five trilogy and The Magician’s Apprentice. I have also read the first two books in the Millennium’s Rule trilogy and the third and final book comes out this September.

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  4. Brandon Sanderson / 11 books – To be honest I’ve kind of lost some of my love for Sanderson. I just don’t find myself wanting to read his books so much now – there are definitely a few sequels I’m interested in though. Anyway I’ve read the Elantris, Warbreaker, The Rithmatist, Steelheart, the Mistborn trilogy and The Alloy of Law. I have also read The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance: Part 1. 

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  5. John Scalzi / 10 books – I find his books to be easy, fun and entertaining reads. The books I’ve read by this author include the Old Man’s War series, Fuzzy Nation, Lock in, Redshirts and The Collapsing Empire (read on my kindle).

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It will be interesting to see how this changes over the future years of reading. Although it will be a bit of work to get ahead of Garth Nix at this point :). Do you know who your most read author is? I’d love to know :). I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.

 

Pippa

 

 

Favourite Book Covers

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Hi guys, I hope you are all well. Today I thought it was about time that I shared some more beautiful books. I’ve done a few posts like this before but I haven’t done one in a while… so I’ve chosen some amazing books covers to share with you all from the books I’ve read or got so far this year. I have eight book to show you guys, all of which have amazing covers :). Let’s get started.

 

 

The Ice / Laline Paull / unread

 

 

The Ninth Rain / Jen Williams / ★★★★ 

 

Dark Fire C. J. Sansom / ★★★★ 

 

 

The Queen of Blood / Sarah Beth Durst / ★★★★ 

 

 

Servant of the Empire / Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts / unread

 

 

All for Nothing / Walter Kempowski / ★★★

 

 

The Shadow Of What Was Lost / James Islington / ★★★.5

 

 

The Goddess Chronicles / Natuso Kirino / ★★★

 

I am sure I will doing another of these posts by the end of the year – there are so many great book covers out there. I really enjoy putting these post together. Which one is your favourite? I love all of them but mine is probably The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst. It’s pretty hard to choose thought! I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.

 

Pippa

 

 

Tome Topple TBR

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Hi guys, I’m back with an additional post today as I wanted to share my TBR for a certain readathon that starts tomorrow. Tome Topple was created by Sam (@ Thoughts on Tomes) and is all about big books. This round of the Tome Topple readathon will start at midnight on August 4th and end on the 17th, so it goes on for around two weeks. The whole point of this readathon is to read big books (over 500 pages). You don’t need to finish the books – the point is to tackle some of the daunting big books on your TBR. There are also a few challenges you can take part of. I have taken part in this readathon and think it is such a great idea. Let’s get onto the challenges and TBR.

 

Challenges:
1. Read more than 1 tome
2. Read a graphic novel (still over 500 pages!)
3. Read a tome that is part of a series
4. Buddy read a tome
5. Read an adult novel

 

To be honest I’m not going to pressure myself to much with these challenges but as it turns out the books I’ve chosen work quite well with a few of these challenges. The first one I should be able to do as I think I am quite a fast reader. I won’t be getting to a graphic novel – one because I don’t currently own any unread graphic novels and two because I don’t have any on my TBR that is 500+ pages. I doubt I’ll buddy read a tome either. A book that is a part of a series is Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts (827 pages), which I will definitely be reading. It is the second book in the Empire trilogy. For the last challenge (read a adult novel) I’ve chosen Germinal by Emile Zola (592 pages). I’ve had this on my TBR for quite some time so I thought this would be a great time to pick it up. The picture below is a tentative TBR for Tome Topple readathon – obviously I won’t get to all of them though.

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I’m very much looking forward to tackling these bigger books :). Are you guys taking part in this readathon? What’s the biggest book on your TBR? I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.

 

Pippa