Reading Roundup: So many books, so little time

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You know, I’d thought about doing the Goodreads challenge for 2019, but then I realized that I just can’t push myself to read a certain amount…I read what I read, I often RE-READ a lot of books (um hello, I’ve-now-read-the-Lockwood-series-four-times self!), and I will sometimes go for a stretch without reading anything.

However, that said…

I can’t stop sampling books on my Kindle and picking up new-to-me books at the local used bookstore and buying books during big Amazon sales!

It’s a problem.

Well, ok, I suppose when it comes to problems one might have, this one ranks pretty low on “actually problematic.” ;)

So to spread the ~~hoarding~~ reading love, I thought I’d share a few of the most interesting and intriguing titles I’ve come across recently and have added to my must-read list…

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Book 1: The Sword of Summer

I got this during one of Amazon’s Prime sales last year, and I’m about halfway through so far. I’m really enjoying it, enough so that I’ll definitely read the others in the series. Here’s the blurb:

Magnus Chase has seen his share of trouble. Ever since that terrible night two years ago when his mother told him to run, he has lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, staying one step ahead of the police and truant officers.
One day, he’s tracked down by an uncle he barely knows-a man his mother claimed was dangerous. Uncle Randolph tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.
The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants, and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.
When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.
Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .

The story is fast-paced and rollicking, and it maintains an upbeat vibe even when characters are going through things that should be…not really upbeat, hahaha. But I don’t mean that in a bad way; the story (so far) is told in a “good yarn” kind of way.

Wild Wood

This is one where the blurb caught my interest, I downloaded the sample to my Kindle, read it, and said MUST READ THIS NEXT (where “next” means “whenever I finish the current stack”).

Here’s the blurb:

For fans of Diana Galbaldon’s Outlander series comes a gripping and passionate new historical novel. Intrigue, ancient secrets, fairy tales, and the glorious scenery of the Scottish borders drive the story of a woman who must find out who she really is.

Jesse Marley calls herself a realist; she’s all about the here and now. But in the month before Charles and Diana’s wedding in 1981 all her certainties are blown aside by events she cannot control. First she finds out she’s adopted. Then she’s run down by a motor bike. In a London hospital, unable to speak, she must use her left hand to write. But Jesse’s right-handed. And as if her fingers have a will of their own, she begins to draw places she’s never been, people from another time—a castle, a man in armor. And a woman’s face.

Rory Brandon, Jesse’s neurologist, is intrigued. Maybe his patient’s head trauma has brought out latent abilities. But wait. He knows the castle. He’s been there.

So begins an extraordinary journey across borders and beyond time, a chase that takes Jesse to Hundredfield, a Scottish stronghold built a thousand years ago by a brutal Norman warlord. What’s more, Jesse Marley holds the key to the castle’s secret and its sacred history. And Hundredfield, with its grim Keep, will help Jesse find her true lineage. But what does the legend of the Lady of the Forest have to do with her? That’s the question at the heart of Wild Wood. There are no accidents. There is only fate.

Greenglass House

This is another one where I’ve only read the sample, but I’m sucked in enough to soon get it & finish reading it.

Here’s the blurb:

It’s wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler’s inn is always quiet during this season, and twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo’s home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook’s daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House—and themselves.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy

And to return to the Lockwood series I mentioned at the start…I’d posted about this on Instagram months ago but hadn’t blogged about it. At the suggestion of a fellow reader on Instagram, I decided I wanted to try the previous series that the Lockwood author, Jonathan Stroud, had written called The Bartimaeus Trilogy (because one of the characters in it is very similar to the Skull, my favorite character of the Lockwood series).

Here’s the blurb for the first book, The Amulet of Samarkand:

Nathaniel is a magician’s apprentice, taking his first lessons in the arts of magic. But when a devious hot-shot wizard named Simon Lovelace ruthlessly humiliates Nathaniel in front of his elders, Nathaniel decides to kick up his education a few notches and show Lovelace who’s boss. With revenge on his mind, he summons the powerful djinni, Bartimaeus. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni out to steal Lovelace’s greatest treasure, the Amulet of Samarkand, he finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder, and rebellion.

I read it for free on my Kindle (still free if you have Prime and a Kindle!); I enjoyed it & decided that yes, I must read the rest and get all the books so they can join my Lockwood collection…

…and soon after that, I went wandering in my local used bookstore, and what do I find?