Byrne's Books

Amanda's books

The Wise Man's Fear
The Name of the Wind
Insurgent
Divergent
A Game of Thrones
The Prophet
Shakespeare: The World as Stage
Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur
Angels & Demons
Absolute Midnight
Days of Magic, Nights of War
Abarat
Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Lost Colony
Silverwing
The Arctic Incident
The Opal Deception


Amanda's favorite books »

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Time to Read

There is a time for everything under the sun:
A time for school and a time for summer.
A time for leaving and a time for returning.
A time for planning and...suddenly there's no more time.

This summer I have really struggled with finding time to read for pleasure. In between leaving my old school and transitioning to my new school, there has been little time for sleep, let alone reading. After a long day that mostly involves chasing a one-year-old around the house (and sometimes culdesac), I am usually only in the mood for binge-watching Friends or sleeping. Actually, I'm always in the mood for sleeping.

Knowing I would need to blog about it, I forced myself to carve out 30 minutes of reading time after Margo went to sleep. I am making progress through the third book in N.K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy. Despite the fact that I have been reading the book since January--mostly because I accidentally purchased the three-in-one volume book--I am still surprised at the way it has captured my attention. It says something about a novel if I can set it down for a week (sometimes two) and come back to it with the same level of excitement and anticipation as when I started it. One of the great aspects of Jemisin's writing is her focus on imperfect protagonists. When you read the book, not a single character is entirely good nor completely evil. As a result, her stories aren't predictable or patterned. I won't bore you too much with the details (yet), but there are several betrayals and unexpected twists within the godlings, aristocrats, and working class. It is a bit of Game of Thrones with more focus on the gods vs. the humans.

...And just like that, 30 minutes turn into two hours.