Books I DNF But Didn’t Chat About

I do a roundup of books I did not finish (DNF) every now and then because I often otherwise don’t chat about them. I don’t often give up on books (although I wish I did) and unlike most people, I sometimes rate books I DNF if I’ve formed a strong opinion about them or have developed strong feelings about what I read.

I usually do a full review for those I end up rating to explain the reason for the low rating, but for others, like those below, they fall into this roundup of reads.

Previous DNF roundups:

• Weekend Reads #111: Recent Books I DNF
• Weekend Reads #91: Books I DNF’d in 2018
• Weekend Reads #84: Recent Books I DNF

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John Constantine, Hellblazer, Vol. 1: Original Sins by Jamie Delano & Rick Veitch, illus. by John Ridgway, Alfredo Alcala, Rick Veitch, Tom Mandrake, Brett Ewins, & Jim McCarthy

GENRE

Horror

SERIES

John Constantine, Hellblazer

PUBBED

1988

QUICK SUMMARY

I managed to read all of Hellblazer #1 and #2 and part of #3 before giving up. The first and second issues focus on John Constantine helping out a friend with a hunger spirit. The friend had travelled to an African country and accidentally picked up the spirit there when trying to help a tongueless child. Realizing he’s way out of his league with this spirit, he tries shipping it to Constantine after first trapping it in a bottle. But the spirit gets loose and starts infecting people in NYC who begin gorging on food despite seeming more and more malnourished. Using his friend, who’s addicted to heroin, as bait for the spirit, Constantine works with Papa Midnite, voodoo priest and crime kingpin, to trap the spirit.

2022 Reading Wrap-Up: Fourth Quarter

It seems that my reading and blogging slumps have passed, and I’m glad. It really isn’t a good feeling to lose interest in my hobbies, or to feel as if I’ve lost interest in them when what I am is just busy.

My interest in reading returned with a vigor in the fourth quarter of 2022, and I managed to read 5 novels and a novella! I’m so proud of myself. It helped that I was really interested in the majority of what I read.

BOOKS | AUDIO | COMICS | PICTURE BOOKS

Twelve Days of Bookmas Tag

In honor of the Christmas season, I’m publishing a post everyday leading up to Christmas, most of which will be book tags. And for today’s post, I’m doing the Twelve Days of Bookmas Tag, which was created by Milliebot Reads.

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A Partridge in a Pear Tree: A book whose plot and genre seem like an unlikely pairing

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

It’s a contemporary novel about a young Black woman working at a popular publishing company to whom weird things start happening once another Black girl is hired. I chose it for this category because it’s supposed to be a thriller, but it didn’t deliver on that.

Classic Christmas Cinema Book Tag

It’s a busy time. It’s a festive time, and I want to indulge in the Christmas cheer on my blog, so here’s another Christmas-themed book tag (which I actually began last year but didn’t finish, lol. I’ll just pick up from where I left off, which means I’ll repeat some answers from the most-recent tag I did).

I found the Classic Christmas Cinema Book Tag over on Embuhleeliest, my buddy-reader in all things Hobb and Abercrombie and whatever else we decide to read, lol! The tag was created by booktuber TwoBookTeens.

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Elf: Choose a book that puts you in the Christmas mood.

Klaus: How Santa Claus Began by Grant Morrison, illus. by Dan Mora

Okay, so I’ve only read this once and it actually doesn’t put me in the Christmas mood, but I wanted to feature it anyway because I’ve mentioned the Harry Potter books too many times already (they’re my Christmas books).

“Death on the Nile” by Agatha Christie

I picked up this one because of the movie, starring Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, and Kenneth Branagh, who plays Hercule Poirot. I get the impression that they’ll make a series of Poirot movies, which I’m glad for as I’ve enjoyed the two out so far. Just liked with Murder on the Orient Express, I was motivated to read the book after seeing Death on Nile. I wanted to experience the story in its original format and am glad to have enjoyed it that way too.

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GENRE

Mystery

SERIES

Hercule Poirot Mysteries

PUBBED

1937

Quick summary

As the title suggests, this story takes place in Egypt. Hercule Poirot is on vacation, on a cruise on the river Nile. When he boards the boat, he’s approached by Linnet Ridgeway, a wealthy young woman who’d recently married, about a job to help her and her husband.

Die Hard Book Tag

Just a few more days to go before Christmas gets here! 😀 It’s my favorite holiday, and since I don’t want to think too much over these few days leading up to it, I’ll instead do a couple Christmas-themed book tags. Hopefully they’ll fill you with Christmas cheer. 😀

I’ll begin ringing in the Christmas cheer with Peat Long’s Die Hard Book Tag. I’ve heard many peeps talk of Die Hard as a Christmas movie. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any of the movies.

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John McClain: A book in which someone has a really bad time

Soldier Son trilogy by Robin Hobb

I was going to choose Fitz from Hobb’s Farseer trilogy, but I think Nevare from her Soldier Son trilogy has a worse time. At least there were moments of happiness and ease and companionship in Fitz’s story. In Nevare’s things start going downhill for him midway through the first book, Shaman’s Crossing, and don’t stop until a few pages from the end of the last book.

The Soldier Son trilogy is a fantasy series about a young man who gets on the bad side of some nature magic.

“The King of Crows” by Libba Bray

Here we are at the last book in the Diviners quartet, a YA series I’ve been enjoying since 2019, managing to read a book a year with Rachel at Life of a Female Bibliophile.

So far, I’ve enjoyed each book in the series more than the one that precedes it. But after completing the third book, Before the Devil Breaks You, I became worried that the last book wouldn’t measure up to the previous books and successfully wrap up all the plot threads. Well, now that I’ve completed the last book, it certainly wasn’t the reading experience I hoped for or expected.

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GENRE

YA Historical Fiction; Paranormal

Series

Diviners, book 4

Pubbed

2020

Quick summary

The King of Crows picks up immediately after Before the Devil Breaks You. Will and Mabel are dead. Jake Marlowe is gaining more influence and painting the Diviners as threats to society by posing the deceased Sarah Snow as some sort of saint. The Diviner Crew are at a loss and are running out of options on how to figure out their powers and defeat the King of Crows.

Reindeer Book Tag

It’s December, so let the Christmas book tags begin! 😀

For this iteration of Book Tag Thursday, I’m doing the Reindeer Book Recommendations Tag (or the Reindeer Book Tag), which was created by booktuber Hailey in Bookland.

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Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: An underdog or an inspiring book/character

Behind the Canvas by Alexander Vance

It’s a middle-grade fantasy novel about a girl whose able to explore the world behind painted canvases. Basically, she’s able to enter paintings to explore the world there, which I think is a superb idea. Just imagine being able to enter the scenes depicted in paintings to explore them! Well, I chose this book for this category because the protagonist didn’t seem amazed by this awesome ability. She expressed no wonder at the odd things happening, so they didn’t seem wondrous to me either. I was so bored by the book that I almost DNF’d it.

Top 5 Tuesday #81: 2022 Beauties

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Shanah, the Bionic Book Worm, and now hosted by Meeghan at Meeghan Reads.

This week’s topic:

Top 5 covers of 2022

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The following are my favorite covers of the books I read this year.

The Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith

The Worm and the Bird by Coralie Bickford-Smith

Mirka Andolfo’s Mercy: The Fair Lady, the Frost, and the Fiend by Mirka Andolfo (illus.), transl. by Arancia Studio

DCeased: Hope at World’s End by Tom Taylor, illus. by Trevor Hairsine

Every Tree Has a Story by Cécile Benoist, illus. by Charlotte Gastaut

“The Shadow Saint” by Gareth Hanrahan

I picked up The Shadow Saint based on Aquavenatus’s recommendation. She’d commented on one of my posts saying this second book in the Black Iron Legacy trilogy is worth checking out and is more of a world-building book, which got me curious. You see, I was conflicted about continuing with the series. I liked the first book, but there were some faults that didn’t make me too eager to continue with the story. But the story stuck with me, because I love fantasy stories about gods and religion, and Aquavenatus’s recommendation was just the nudge I needed to give it another chance. I’m glad I did.

Thanks, Aqua!

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GENRE

Fantasy

Series

Black Iron Legacy, book 1

Pubbed

2020

Quick summary

spoilers for the first book

“The Ishmeric pantheon is always in flux, always changing as the gods of one island rise in prominence, or one god metamorphoses through sheer madness into some new aspect.”

The Black Iron Legacy trilogy is set in a world that is drowning in a war fought by gods through their saints — the humans they choose to serve as their avatars. It’s said that the gods have all gone mad, which has brought on the Godswar. All the countries are involved in the war, except Guerdon, which is playing both sides — because it’s profitable.