Another month has passed, and I still haven’t had a single summer day. I know the Northen Europe is under a big heat wave but here in the Southwest things aren’t that great. Clouds in the morning, clouds in the afternoon, and when the wind doesn’t show up, you get to feel the sun a little bit. While I wait for the summer to finally arrive is better to distract my mind with books. And since the BookTube-A-Thon is finally here, I’m in full bookworm mode.

Wrap-Up

Since the BTAT stills the last two days of July, anything I read I will not add to this wrap-up. It will be in my readathon wrap-up. But it also means that I had to put on hold my plans to finish The 100 by Kass Morgan and The Nightmare by Lars Kepler. When I realised I had a week left to finish both books I knew I was screwed. Knowing myself, I was lucky to even finish one. Instead, I didn’t end any. I’m more than halfway into both, and I can’t wait to jump back in. Having them on my nightstand and looking at them every day makes me want to read them even more. Although, I don’t want to waste readathon time with two books I can read when the week is over.

So, this month I didn’t finish any book, actually, and I’m not even bothered. I tackle a book with 500 pages like a champion as if I could read it within a week. Then I finally picked up The 100, and I couldn’t be happier with the course of the story. And now I’m left with the best part, the endings. No more slow-passing moment to know characters, no more descriptive scenes, now the action is about to take place and keep me reading for hours until there are no more pages left in the books.

Caught on my Radar

Ever since I read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (you can read my review of this book here), I’m keeping my eyes out for other books that resemble the same topic. I’m a gamer, and I never get tired of saying it. I love games! And when you mix that up with pop culture, I get in full geek mode. So whenever I catch a book that touches those points, I’m already interested in it. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson couldn’t come in a better time. Full of humour and published in the 90s, I’m expecting it to give a new perspective on virtual reality that today we don’t see. After all, it was written before the turn of the millennium, when everyone thought the world was going to end, and by 2015 we would have floating over boards – the only flaw is that the over boards don’t actually fly. While reading the synopsis, it also made me remember a french tv cartoon series Code Lyoko that is also set in a virtual reality world. It follows a group of teenagers that have other identities online, fights virus and other evil things that are disturbing the VR world bringing consequences to the real world. I don’t know how close the book might come to the show, but I intend to find out.

Speaking of things I like, I can never say no to a book about diaries and old letters – and yet I haven’t read The Diary of Anne Frank. The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah caught my attention for two reasons, the first being about an old diary, – obviously – and second because it’s set in a vineyard. Even though I don’t like wine, I can’t resist to the beauty of a vineyard. Whether it’s in France, in Italy or wherever, I’m completely passionate about the landscapes. The methodical pattern covering the curves of the land, the unending fields, or the history that it shows through, there is something about vineyards that makes me want to visit or even own one. And more than anything I hope this book can make me travel – in this case to Burgundy, France – and let me smell the fresh air of the countryside.

Haul

Yesterday, the mailman finally came with my books that I was waiting for what seems like ages ago. I ordered two books from Book Depository* since they recently had their prices dropping almost 50%. If you have a chance to buy books for half of the price would you turn your back on it? Obviously, not. At least, I didn’t.

Otherworld* by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller was the biggest surprise, not only it came out less than a year ago, the discount was in the hardcover edition. It’s not every day I get to see hardcovers under 10€. I knew I had to grab this opportunity. The book is described as being perfect for fans of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and now that’s up to me to decide. And just as I said above, I want to read Snow Crash because of RPO, and now I actually have a book in my shelf that I can read while I try to land on another discount for Neal Stephenson’s book.

Worst than not having the books arriving in time for my monthly wrap-up is not having the books arriving in time for the readathon. Another reason for ordering books was because Sweet Bean Paste* by Durian Sukegawa could fill one of the reading challenges. I’ve always wanted to try dorayaki thanks to Doraemon, but since I don’t have plans for my near future to travel to Japan and taste them, at least I can try it through books. Since my best friend introduced me to the Japanese culture over 10 years ago, I started to grow more and more obsessed with it. And instead of just going there through images or YouTubers videos, now I can taste a glimpse of their world and their people in this book.

And don’t make me start on the cover. Despite the beautiful colours and design, it also feels like an old book. A book that has been passing from hand to hand and the cover is slightly warned to the touched but is in perfect condition. Being the story about the friendship of a young man with an old lady it really feels as if my grandmother had passed the story to me as if I’m ready to receive this piece of wisdom. I’m just hoping that the story inside can match the exterior and warm my heart just how holding the book does.

TBR

Even though I was so looking forward to the first week of August for the readathon, I seem to forget that there is more to the month after that. When the clocks stricks midnight on Monday I will no longer have a TBR to read. No more challenges or reading sprints, no more schedules or deadlines. And then what should I read? If I accomplish all the challenges then I’m left with two books I started in July, that probably I can finish within a week. And then what? I still have at least 2 weeks left in the month. It would be a great time to read finally The Fates Divide by Veronica Roth – I say this every month – and then who knows maybe I can read The Rosie Hopkins’ Sweet Shop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan.

Although since the book fair has finally arrived in my town, I might also lose my mind and spend a couple bucks. And depending on what I can find, I can be more or less excited about the new books. Either way that’s what next month’s wrap-up is for. Whatever my month ends up being you can count in 30 days I’ll be back to tell you everything about it.

* This is an affiliate link. To know more please visit my Disclaimer page.