Embracing-the-shortness - Embracing The Shortness Since '96

Trail therapy

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Experimenting with a different kind of graphic for the April wrap-up! Finished up the Goodreads Community Favorites Challenge and made a little progress with my 25 for 2025!

The River Has Roots || Amal El-Mohtar ★★★★★ Started: 22.05.2025 Finished: 01.06.2025 In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family. There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees. But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…

A Language of Dragons || S.F. Williamson ★★★★☆ Started: 23.04.2025 Finished: 05.05.2025 London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivian Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get an internship studying dragon languages, and make sure her little sister never has to risk growing up Third Class. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war. With her parents arrested and her sister missing, all the safety Viv has worked for is collapsing around her. So when a lifeline is offered in the form of a mysterious ‘job’, she grabs it. Arriving at Bletchley Park, Viv discovers that she has been recruited as a codebreaker helping the war effort – if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die. I'll come clean - I only got this book because of the stunning international edition with the blue cover and sprayed edges. Luckily, the content did not let me down either - the main plotline of cracking the secret dragon code / language was fascinating. The advertised enemies to lovers romance was, truthfully, barely enemies to lovers at all, but since that was never the main draw for me, I didn't mind this one bit. And though at times A Language of Dragons feels a little too ostensibly "Babel meets Fourth Wing", with heavy emphasis on the Babel influence, it was overall still a very enjoyable read.

Beautiful World, Where Are You || Sally Rooney ★★☆☆☆ Started: 12.05.2025 Finished: 24.05.2025 This was, unfortunately, not a very pleasant experience overall… I think I might have enjoyed "Beautiful World, Where Are You" if I had already been a fan of Sally Rooney, what with Alice's letters being essentially letters the author could have written in real life, but given that this was the first book of hers I read, the musings just felt like being lectured at by a person you barely know and don't particularly like. The remaining three main characters, whose lives we'd follow in every other chapter, likewise, were hard to root for - I'm no stranger to a flawed character, but maybe 30 chapters of Unpeasant characters being actively Unpleasant to each other and, despite that, ending up in what I'm sure will be ultimately Unpleasant relationships with each other is a tad bit much.

An updated graphic for my 25 for 2025! My progress so far: 10/25 ☐ How High We Go In The Dark ☐ Vita Nostra ☐ Smila's Sense of Snow ☐ Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell ☐ House of Leaves ☐ Possession ☑ Pandora's Box ☑ A Dark and Drowning Tide ☐ Katabasis ☑ The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi ☐ Kürk Mantolu Madonna ☑ Mina's Matchbox ☑ Autobiography of Red ☑ We - A Novel ☑ Anxious People ☑ Yumi and the Nightmare Painter ☐ Out ☑ Анна Ин в Гробниците на Света ☑ Small Things Like These ☐ The Third Policeman ☐ The Snow Child ☐ Your Utopia ☐ The Book That Wouldn't Burn ☐ Mrs. Death Misses Death ☐ N.P.

JOMP Book Photo Challenge

August 13, 2023 - Published This Year