Weekend Reads #54: I’ve been gone for a minute

Weekend Reads is a weekly discussion on a variety of topics. At the end of the post, I’ll include what I plan to read on the weekend.

Again, no discussion this weekend. This post is more an update just to say I’m back after a little break. I haven’t posted anything all week because work and life has been crazy busy but hopefully I’ll have time to catch up on my reviews and posts and reading.

I can’t believe it’s already August, actually. In my reality, summer began a few days ago. Then I blinked and now it’s almost over. I was so consumed by work and other things that I didn’t notice my favorite season passing by and didn’t get to enjoy much of it either. Not that I could to the extent I wanted to since this summer is one of the hottest in my existence. The heat and humidity has been oppressive.

But I plan to change my ways in the following weeks. I plan to catch up on blogging and reading things and pay attention to stuff outside, like watching the birds and the bees and the butterflies. As luck would have it, Lappy 2.0, my new laptop I got last year, has chosen to start fucking up these past few weeks, which pisses me off. So let’s hope it holds out for the rest of the week and doesn’t get all dramatic and decide to pass out on me.

What I’m reading this weekend:

The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

I featured this novel in my last book haul. I received an e-ARC of it and decided to give it a try because I liked the premise — the devil visits a town and all shit breaks loose. It’s literary fiction and the writing is very detailed. The pace is also slow and since I’m not as hooked on the story as I thought I would be, my reading pace is very slow as well. I’ve seen and read many reviews of the story and everyone seems to really like it but my enjoyment level isn’t there yet. I am curious about the characters though and that keeps me reading. I also love the atmosphere of the novel, which is hot and oppressive as if boiling to a point. I’m about 30% through and it feels tense right now as if the threads that keep the characters from acting their worst is fraying.

It’s so hot in the story that air conditioners and fans don’t help. The heat seems to consume everything and even the story seems to radiate heat. It’s crazy hot and humid on my side of the world right now (sometimes I open my door to go outside and it’s as if a wall of hot humid air is blocking my way); I can’t decide if this is the best or worst season to read this book. Maybe I should have waited for winter to read it so it could warm me up.

Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu, illus. by Sana Takeda

I read the first issue of this comic a couple weeks ago and enjoyed it so I picked up the first volume. The story is great and the art is beautiful. For samples of the artwork, see my review of the first issue.

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

I’m listening to this one on audio book and am enjoying it. The narrator, Roy Dotrice, does a great job. I like that he uses different accents for the characters, which helps to avoid confusion while listening. I just like hearing them though. The only setback for me is that as entertaining as it is to listen to this story, I don’t retain much, especially since the only time I have to listen to it is when I’m working on something, which makes it easy for me to go off in a daydream and block out what’s being said. I think I’ll have to reread this by reading the physical copy. I might read the book to catch up to where I am in the audio book and then use them at the same time… Maybe. We’ll see.

Well then, what ya been up to and what’re you reading these days?

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