August TBR: Booktube SFF Awards Nominees
In an original twist of fate, I haven’t seen the beginning of this year swish by and I can’t believe it’s August already!
Shiny things in August
I’m really excited for this month: the Great British Bake Off is coming back in two days, shortly followed by Nine Worlds, my favourite geeky convention. If these weren’t enough to set me a-squee (they are), the BooktubeSFF Awards would certainly do it.
I started my booktube channel last October and just has it took me a while to find booktube in the first place, it has then taken me ages to find the BooktubeSFF, the science-fiction and fantasy loving section of the booktube community. But I did eventually find fellow SFF-focused booktubers, and I’m super excited to have found them now, just as the first BooktubeSFF Awards are kicking off.
Some excellent books were nominated for the inaugural awards, and from now until October, the organisers are holding readalongs to read & discuss all of the nominees over on Goodreads.
The August readalong will be focusing on these five works:
Best Adult Novel
The Martian by Andy Weir
I first read The Martian last year, and listened to the audiobook again in June, so I won’t be re-reading this one in August, but I’ll definitely participate in the readalong discussion.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
I bought a copy of this book a while back on a bit of a whim, so I’ll be reading it as soon as I’m done with my current commute book. I hear it’s beautifully written, although very bleak.
Best YA Novel
Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
I’ve just borrowed this book from the library, and I have high hopes for it. I haven’t read any Abercrombie before but I do enjoy a bit of grimdark, so there’s no reason I shouldn’t really like it.
Best Graphic Work
Rat Queens Vol 1: Sass and Sorcery by Kurtis J Weibe and Roc Upchurch
I got an e-copy of this one in my Hugo voter’s pack and read it towards the end of July, so it’ll be fresh in my mind for the readalong.
Best Short Work
The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
I’ve got this book on hold at the library & I should get my hands on it soon, though I’d like to read The Name of the Wind before starting this one. This is a character study type of piece for one of the characters in The Name of the Wind, so it doesn’t make much sense to read it on its own.
And a few more…
Apart from these, I also want to at least start The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson, because its sequel, Words of Radiance, is one of the nominees and a part of the September readalong. The only slight issue I might have with that is that the books are A THOUSAND PAGES LONG. EACH. Quite literally.
If I have any time left over for reading this month (which I rather doubt!!), I’d also like to start The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. The third book, Cress, is nominated & we’ll get to that one in the September readalong, but I haven’t read either of the first two books, Cinder and Scarlet.
PHEW.
That is quite a list for a slow reader like me! Thank goodness I’ve got a plane ride or two planned this month…
The Last Ten Books That Came Into My Possession
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is all types of differently acquired books which I think is really cool because I don’t normally include audiobooks or books lent to me by friends in my book hauls and this list has both!
1. The Fire Sermon, by Francesca Haig
A friend of mine lent me this book after we went to an event together where we heard the author read from it. The book sounded great but as this was still before my house move, I couldn’t buy any more books! I haven’t started it yet.
2. Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson
I got this one as an audiobook after I got into a bit of a Sci-Fi kick. I’d never read any other Stephenson books but this came highly recommended and I listened to it very quickly (for such a big book anyway!). I very much enjoyed it and I’ll do a video review of it soon.
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3. The Tropic of Serpents (Lady Trent 2), by Marie Brennan
I’m currently reading the first book in this series and loving it so much that I’m having to make myself slow down so I can enjoy it more. I had to own the next one, I want to have it on hand as soon as I finish A Natural History of Dragons.
4. The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, by Julie Berry
I kept hearing about this book, which is about a group of proper young ladies trying to hide a murders and figure out whodunnit in a Victorian boarding school. It just seemed like it’d tick a lot of my boxes so I picked it up from my local book shop.
5. Uprooted, by Naomi Novik
I love Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, so I was so, so eager for her next novel. Uprooted is a standalone fantasy with a folk fairytale setting and atmosphere inspired by Novik’s polish roots. It’s also got the most beautiful cover! Having read a few pages, I can’t wait to get more time to dive into this one.
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6. The History of Medicine: A Very Short Introduction, by William Bynum
Yay, novel research! One of the main characters in my WIP is a doctor in Victorian London. I needed to figure out that period of time a bit better within the wider historical context of the development of modern medicine, so I thought this would be a great place to start.
7. Victorian Pharmacy: Remedies and Recipes, by Jane Eastoe
I also got the companion book to the BBC Victorian Pharmacy TV series, which is excellent and well-worth a watch if you’re interested in history or you’d like to see some gross remedies and steampunky implements in action. The book itself has a lot more on the perception of doctors and health during the period, as well as great pictures of the reconstructed pharmacy from the show (it’s so useful to have visual references!).
8. Get Started in Writing Young Adult Fiction, by Juliet Mushens
The last physical book I bought recently was a writing book by agent Juliet Mushens, who represents a few people I know and is very wise & funny on twitter. I’m a teensy bit obsessed with writing books and I’ve heard great things about this one from my writing group buddies. It’s supposed to be full of practical tips and exercises which I can’t wait to try!
9. Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch 1), by Ann Leckie
I failed to read Ancillary Justice before the Hugos last year, so I got the audiobook now in order to catch up with the series! I’ve already listened to it and really loved it!
10. Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch 2), by Ann Leckie
And of course, I also got Ancillary Sword to read in time for this year’s award season. I haven’t started this audiobook yet but I want to get to it soon. I’m pretty excited to continue the story, especially as a few friends have said they liked this installment better than the first.
Let me know in the comments what books you’ve acquired recently & if you’ve read anything from this list. If you do your own list, please link back to The Broke and the Bookish, who created and hosts Top Ten Tuesday.