Author: Miss Known

More than a decade since the release of The Hunger Games, we go back once again to the dystopian world of Panem. The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes is the prequel to the highly acclaimed series. When it came out, it received mixed reviews since the protagonist is none other than President Snow. But that didn’t push me away, especially since I didn’t enjoy The Hunger Games as much as everyone else seemed to. I wanted one thing from this book and one thing only: to see more of Panem. Title: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Author: Suzanne Collins Series: The Hunger Games #4 Publication year: 2020 Length: 16 hours 16 minutes Genre: YA, Dystopia Pace: Medium Story focus: Character Ten years after the rebellion of District 13, Coriolanus Snow is a mentor in the Hunger Games. The house of Snow has fallen since the war. While keeping up …

Another four months passed since my last update. I’m so happy my reading is back to normal, and I feel motivated again to tackle my TBR. Some progress was made. Some were undone, but better months will come. The slump curse was lifted, and I’m in an amazing reading mood and ready to wrap up 2023 and have a great 2024. October Coming out of a reading slump is not always easy but very exciting. And audiobooks can be helpful. I didn’t make any progress in reducing my TBR, I even increased it. Although sometimes going out to dinner is better than forcing me to cook something at home. So I started the spooky month with The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, which was great. This is the type of horror I like. No confirmed supernatural things, only vibes. Then I listened to Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. …

If you are reading this, I’m hoping you have also read We Were Liars by E Lockhart. If not, run like the wind to my spoiler-free review before it’s too late. Or proceed and spoil yourself. Either way, I’m not holding back because I had way too much fun working on this post. I’m diving deeply into the story and answering the question once and for all: were the Liars ghosts or hallucinations? When I finished reading We Were Liars for the first time, I wanted to read it again to see everything I missed and if there was any “proof” of what the Liars were. That reread took 5 years to come, but it’s here. So I opened the book with a pencil in hand and underlined anything and everything I saw relevant to the plot, the characters, and the Liars. In my original review (no longer published), I …

From time to time, I do find a TV series or a mini-series that sparks my interest. And if I’m lucky enough, I want to talk about it. One of the latest additions to the Netflix catalogue is the mini-series Bodies. The premise is straight up my cup of tea. Four crimes. Four time periods. Same body. It’s time travel story time, y’all! I love time travel stories, but I’m very specific about how I like time travel to work. I even have a post all about that. And Bodies left the story in the perfect place to be exactly what I wanted. While the end of the story is wrapped up, it still leaves room for the time travel plot to fit into my plot. And I was so incredibly happy and excited to have a story that hit the right spot, and now I can gush all about …

If you are into sci-fi shows, then the name Expanse isn’t foreign to you. But if you didn’t know, that Prime exclusive series is based on a book by the writing duo James S A Corey. Leviathan Wakes is the first book in The Expanse series, which has grown to become an immense world. From novellas, short stories, comics, games and a TV series, it can be daunting to dip your toes into this epic space opera. Title: Leviathan Wakes Author: James S A Corey Series: The Expanse #1 Publication year: 2011 Length: 20 hours 56 minutes Genre: Sci-fi, Mystery, Crime Pace: Medium Story focus: Character & Plot There are 3 things you need to know. First, Humans have colonised the Moon, Mars, the asteroid Belt and other outer planets. Second, the story follows two characters: Holden, an executive officer aboard an ice mining ship and Miller, a cop from …

After reading Deep Work by Carl Newport, I was determined to try the four philosophies of work he presents in his book: rhythmic, bimodal, monastic, and journalistic. I already tried the rhythmic philosophy and have a blog post about how it went. Right after, I moved along to the bimodal philosophy. I planned to do it for a month, from the 17th of October to the 13th of November of 2022. But things didn’t go as planned, so I stretched the experiment until the 4th of December. Then I wrote an entire blog post going over the experiment and what went wrong, and after 1550 words, I decided not to post it. My objective with this series is to understand and experiment with various ways of scheduling to achieve productivity most effectively. And reading back the post, I only saw myself trying to do something I wasn’t prepared for. I …

For any fan of mystery thrillers, Gone Girl is probably not a foreign title. And for mystery readers, the name Gillian Flynn is very well-regarded. For the longest time, I had no idea this book and movie existed, until I heard it be pitched as having the best plot twist. So, did I read the book straight away? No, I saw the movie. And I’m glad I did. Because if I hadn’t, I don’t think I would have finished reading the book. Title: Gone Girl Author: Gillian Flynn Publication year: 2012 Length: 19 hours 57 minutes Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime Pace: Slow Story focus: Character & Plot Nick and Amy have been married for five years. And on their wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing. Nick is desperate to find her. Although not everything is as it seems. Since moving out of New York City to Nick’s hometown, their marriage has …

Milo Rossi, also known as Miniminuteman, started gaining popularity on TikTok by debunking conspiracy theories and plain wrong assumptions about archaeology. Through his humour and calling people out for being dumb-dums who pray on other dum-dums, his viewership kept growing. He later moved on to YouTube, where he has been doing longer videos on archaeology, either presenting and explaining various findings as well as continuing to debunk misinformation. Only recently, I discovered Milo through his YouTube channel and enjoyed his humour. He’s an archaeologist very enthusiastic and passionate about his work, and his excitement and eagerness to share his knowledge and to teach is contagious. So when I had the opportunity to read his book, I couldn’t pass it. Disclaimer: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book for free. All the thoughts and opinions here are my own. Title: The Encyclopedia of the …

My reading year has been extensive and quite hectic. And it’s not over yet. Between amazing books and a huge reading slump, I’ve been conflicted about my feelings towards this pet project. On one hand, I want to see it through, but on the other, I’m questioning if it’s worth it. If it will change anything. Lately, I’ve been thinking about joining my read and unread books and treating my entire book collection as a whole. All the possibilities of what I can read, instead of putting pressure on me to read the ones I haven’t yet. While this quarter update is still haunted by the slump of months past, it was also a time of change and realisation that hopefully will affect the upcoming months and maybe even my relationship with my books. I hope this can take the dreaded reading slump out of the horizon for a while. …

Some people judge books by their covers. I judge them by their titles. With such a bold title that makes you question the mental state of the reader, How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie is exactly what you should expect. Not a step-by-step guide if that’s what you are wondering, but the tale of an unhinged woman in her quest for revenge against her family. Title: How to Kill Your Family Author: Bella Mackie Publication year: 2021 Length: 10 hours 50 minutes Genre: Crime, Drama Pace: Slow Story focus: Character The book starts in Limehouse, an all-women prison, where Grace is telling the story of how she successfully killed six members of her family and, yet, she is serving time for a crime she didn’t commit. Without any friends inside prison, and outside, she decided to occupy her time by writing about the murders she committed. And those …

I already wrote a post detailing my journey to explore crochet and everything I learned in just two months. However, there’s one thing I never did. Read a crochet book. I’ve been thinking about it, but until this month, I have never followed along or seen the inside of a crochet book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Walter Foster Publishing, I finally got to see one: Cute and Cuddly Crochet by Lauren Bergstrom. Disclaimer: Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for allowing me to read this book for free. All the thoughts and opinions here are my own. Author: Lauren Bergstrom Publisher: Walter Foster Publishing Pages: 128 Publication: 5th September 2023 The book is a compilation of 12 amigurumi projects alongside basic stitch instructions, an exploration of the tools and materials needed, and tips and tricks, very helpful for beginners in the art of crochet. As a …