Started: 23.5.26
DNF: 23.5.26
Paperback
When I told my other half that the next SK book that I was going to read was Salem's Lot, he said something like "ooh, you can't beat a good vampire story". My heart sank. I really don't like vampire stories... So I'm not going to force myself to read over 700 pages of something that I'm not really interested in...
Started: 22.5.26
Finished: 23.5.26
Paperback
At last, a finished book! I really enjoyed this, the story was gripping, and I loved the little 'reader participation' bits, with working out the Morse Code and the capitalised letters. The psychological thriller aspect was so creepy, a (mostly) normal family coming into your house and then just not leaving. Towards the end it started to get very weird, almost a bit 'cosmic horror' (or cosmic thriller, if that's a genre), and is it too much of a spoiler to say I got a few Shutter Island vibes? Definitely left me with more questions than answers, but it was a good read, nonetheless.
I've got three books left from my May TBR choices, but they're all on my kindle. My book buying has got a bit out of hand lately, and the shelves are overflowing, so I think I really need to focus on reading physical books that I can put on Vinted when I've finished them, so that I can start whittling them down.
My last few choices have unfortunately been DNFs; I might have a break from the TBR prompts and just choose a book that I really want to read, and hopefully lift myself out of this slump...
Started: 20.5.26
DNF: 22.5.26
Paperback
TBR Prompt: Under 300 pages
Well, I seem to be in a bit of a reading slump at the moment, because I couldn't even finish a book that's only 108 pages! It's a silly reason for not continuing, I suppose, but I didn't like the way the characters were speaking to each other, or some of the nicknames they used - I was confused just a few pages in. And things being referred to as The Lump, and The Hole... I don't know, it was just bugging me. Fungi and a rat on the cover are a clue, and I think I'm done with botanical horror for now...
Started: 18.5.26
DNF: 20.5.26
Hardcover
TBR Prompt: From the top shelf (of my bookcase)
Oh dear, it's another DNF! As much as I love a good ghost story - and this was a haunted house ghost story - it just wasn't holding my interest.
Started: 18.5.26
DNF: 18.5.26
Paperback
TBR Prompt: Grey book
Another DNF, another one that could've been the last prompt because I'd been putting this off too. Not for me.
Started: 17.5.26
DNF: 18.5.26
Paperback
TBR Prompt: Book I've been putting off
Well, with a TBR prompt of "book I've been putting off" there was always a chance that I wasn't going to get far with this, and I'm afraid I DNF'd it just a couple of chapters in. Not my cup of tea.
Started: 16.5.26
Finished: 17.5.26
Paperback / library book
Stephen King Challenge Book 1
I feel like everyone knows the plot already, but in short, Carrie is a girl with telekinetic powers, which become amplified with the late onset of puberty. Bullied by the other kids at school, and beaten down by her religious fanatic of a mother, she finally exacts her revenge on those who have hurt her. Written in the style of various reports from investigation commissions, witness statements and personal accounts, with flashbacks to the events discussed, this was a quick, easy read. I've seen the original film (Sissy Spacek) so I had occasional images from that in my mind as I read the book.
Started: 10.5.26
Finished: 15.5.26
Paperback
TBR Prompt: A book from the bottom shelf
Whew, this was epic, in the original sense of that word! The story follows two childhood best friends, Patch and Saint, whose lives are changed forever after a tragedy. Through the years that follow, their search for truth and justice takes them on very different, and incompatible, journeys, at times stretching their friendship almost to breaking point. This was not a happy story, though there were some happy moments. There was a kind of bleak inevitability running through it, knowing that what happened to them as children changed the whole trajectory of their lives. 261 mostly very short chapters, sometimes less than a page, kept the pace going in what might otherwise have been quite a slog. Characters were well fleshed out and likeable (except the ones we're not meant to like), descriptions of setting and location were, well, very descriptive. The last few chapters were kind of 'chase scene' exciting, and the very end of the book reminded me a lot of The Shawshank Redemption.
Started: 7.5.26
Finished: 9.5.26
Paperback
TBR Prompt: black book
This is a curious book and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It was very atmospheric; the setting of the south west of Scotland really came to life. I love anything to do with hares, and this story was full of them, in all their mystical and mysterious wonder. There was an unreliable narrator escaping from a troubled past, a woman who seemed to bear a serious grudge, another person who kept appearing randomly out of nowhere, talk of witchcraft, folk charms and possible hexes (and TW: some animal death). As I read it I had that feeling of creeping dread; that there was some kind of malevolence around Hare House. But... it never really materialised into anything, and I was left feeling a bit confused at the end of it. What had it all been about?
