Hey bookworms, I hope you’ve had better luck with your reading lately than I have. I’ve been uninspired by my last 3 reads, all of them underwhelming in different ways. I’m hoping to find a 5-star to get me out of my funk soon! In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy playing around with some Friday Bookish Blog Memes.
See my first Miscellany of Friday Bookish Blog Memes post here
Today’s Memes Are:
- Book Beginnings on Fridays Hosted by Rose City Reader
- The Friday56 Hosted by Head Full of Books
- Books From The Backlog Hosted by Carole’s Random Life
Book Beginnings on Fridays
Book Beginnings on Fridays asks us to share the opening sentence (or so) of the book we’re reading this week. Don’t forget to link up at Rose City Reader and check out her post.
I’m currently reading an ARC for a fantasy book that came out on May 21st…I am unfortunately behind on sharing my thoughts on it but I shall as soon as I finish it! It’s called The Silver Forest by J.D. Rasch. The first line is below.
“Seventy years. Seventy long years wasted, searching for the golden pulcher tree, hoping to find it and tap its knowledge, to make things right.”
The Silver Forest, J.D. Rasch
The author’s team got in touch with me and asked if I’d like to give their book a try. After checking out the synopsis, I said yes. I love fantasy and I was in the mood for a quest-type story, and I like to support indie authors when I can! The first couple of lines pulled me in because I wanted to know why and how 70 years were wasted. It already tells the reader that the quest has been going on for a while.
The Friday56
Here are the rules for this meme: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56%, and share a snippet (but please no spoilers). Then head over to Head Full of Books’s post to link up!
I’ll be sticking to The Silver Forest for this meme because I want to provide another little peak (and hopefully someone will want to give it a chance).
“This particular mine had been a disappointment in the overall quality of the gems that were being harvested. When this place had first been discovered, all the wizards had felt the power coming from it and had been so hopeful.”
The Silver Forest, J.D. Rasch
Books From the Backlog
Books from the Backlog is a fun way to highlight some of the neglected books from our bookshelves. Once again link up at Carole’s Random Life and check out her post.
My neglected book of the week is:
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
Genres: Nonfiction (Science, Nature, Biology)
Published by Random House in 2020
Format: Paperback
Pages: 225
Source: Purchased
In Entangled Life, the brilliant young biologist Merlin Sheldrake shows us the world from a fungal point of view, providing an exhilarating change of perspective. Sheldrake’s vivid exploration takes us from yeast to psychedelics, to the fungi that range for miles underground and are the largest organisms on the planet, to those that link plants together in complex networks known as the “Wood Wide Web,” to those that infiltrate and manipulate insect bodies with devastating precision.
Why did I add this book to my shelves?
I love watching nature documentaries and I’ve been telling myself for years that I’d like to read more nature nonfic. I also think mushrooms are super interesting, so when I heard about this book I bought it right away. The problem is that I don’t reach for nonfic very often, oops 🥴.
Let’s chat in the comments!
Did you participate in any bookish memes this week? Leave your link so I can check them out 🖤 Or, Do you accept ARC requests?
That fungi book is on my list — I’ve been meaning to read it since it released!
A first line for me would be:
“Recycled paper, rotten wooden branches, and fabric too old to be used for anything else. Burnable, burnable, and certainly burnable.”
Not very gripping, but the story so far is interesting. Exploring a solarpunk community.
hahah Same! I feel like I need a kick in the pants to pick up nonfiction no matter how much I think I might like it!
That first line might not be very punchy but It certainly conveys some sort of atmosphere and It makes me wonder why they need stuff to burn. Glad you’re enjoying the read so far!
The Silver Forest looks good. Interesting excerpts. I hope you are enjoying it. Have a great weekend!
I am almost finished and yes thank you I have enjoyed it! Have a great weekend as well 😀
I love the cover of Entangled Life! The cover combined with the author’s name (Merlin Sheldrake–amazing!) made me think it was fiction at first until I looked more closely at the details! Too bad it’s not …
haha if it was fiction I probably would have already picked it up by now. In our made-up version of this book there are magical mushrooms controlled by the Wizard Merlin or something 😂 but in all seriousness yes the cover is gorgeous!
Hi! Welcome to Friday56. Is this your first time visiting and participating or was I just not paying attention. Anyway. Welcome! I hope you like the community and want to share your book quotes every Friday. When Freda stopped hosting last September and the meme went dark for a few weeks I missed it so much I decided to step up and sub for her, but it is starting to feel like I am the host not the sub anymore. I like your quotes today which means I’d probably like the book, though I rarely read fantasy. I know there are a lot of participants who do, so I hope your feel at home! -Anne
Hi Anne, No you are correct, this IS my first time participating! Last time I did Book Beginnings on Fridays I remember you invited me so I took you up on it 😉
Well I am glad you stepped up for Freda and for the book community that’s so lovely! Thank you 🥰🥰🥰
I watched an interesting discussion on the good of fungi and was fascinated. Your non-fic book probably wouldn’t be my first grab, but once I started it then it would likely be interesting.
Enjoy both books!
Sophia
Delighted Reader
Yes, I’ve seen a documentary and I found it fascinating as well and I agree with you, I feel like picking it up is a lot of effort but once I have I’m sure I’ll enjoy it! Thanks Sophia 🙂
That’s odd, I can like your post from the WP reader, but I can’t comment – I don’t even see any comments or that there is an area to comment.
What sort of books or ideas in books do you like particularly? I’m thinking if you’re finding your latest reading is rather average, perhaps look for something that might feed what has been missing. Or if the latest reads have something in common, maybe try a book that doesn’t have that particular thing in common (whether it be an element of a story, or something as simple as being an arc or self-pub)
Oh that is so odd, I am still learning how the WP reader works but I’ll look into it in case there’s a setting or something off, otherwise hopefully it was a one-time glitch. Anyways I love fantasy most of all but other genres as well. The main reason I had so many duds this month is because I try not to DNF when it’s for a buddy read and one of the books was for an IP I engage with a lot via gaming (Magic: The Gathering) so even though I was disappointed I still wanted to know what was gonna happen in the end just for knowing the lore of the game 😂. Typically I am less shy of DNF-ing but your advice is solid, I can always narrow down what I do and don’t like a bit more! Thanks Nic ♥
I love the sound of this one! I’m always looking for new fantasy books, so this is going on my wishlist. Thanks for sharing! Hope you have a wonderful weekend! 🙂
Oh fantastic, yeah it’s definitely worth a try, especially when it helps out smaller authors because you never know what story you’ll fall in love with next! I hope you had a great weekend too!
I’ve been curious about Entangled Life for a while now, too! I hope you enjoy it when you get to it!
Yes, the cover is so eye-catching and the topic seems interesting! Thanks I do too 🙂