Reading Through 2026

My goodness, I'm so impressed at how much reading (here and here) has been happening this year. Though I do admit there has been a slow down in the last couple of weeks. Life is gearing up as we race towards the end of the year and the calendar is just week after week of full events. I was thinking of saving this post till the end, but it's feeling full, and I also want to discuss (rant) a bit about the last few books, so I may as well get that out of my system now. 

Romeo V Juliet by R. A. Spratt
Hamlet is Not Ok by R. A. Spratt
My Lady Jane by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand and Jodie Meadows

R. A. Spratt - quality Australian kids author. The girls and I all enjoyed these humorous retellings. My Lady Jane, which I had initially seen the series of on Prime not realising it was a book was a fun find at the library, but it got quite carried away at the end and there was way too much going on. I think the changes they made for the series adaptation were sensible and helped a lot with the overall plot. 

The Bookbinders of Jericho by Pip Williams
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Rachel had been asking to read the Hunger Games books for a while, but I was holding her back - she was only 11! I did have the set on the shelf since I got all three books for $10 at the local second hand bookstore, so I read them to check if I was remembering the violence correctly - it does have kids killing kids after all. They are such fast-pace, easy to read books, that I knocked them out in no time and decided they were actually totally fine for the girls after all. Honestly, they had read worse in the Wingfeather Saga. 

Both girls were delighted to finally be able to read these and were done in a weekend. 

Troy retold by Stephen Fry
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Once Upon a Broken Heart was a total waste of time. There is no reason for the main character to even remotely like the love-interest jerk who treats her terribly. The premise isn't believable and none of the side characters make sense either. I remember feeling similar thoughts when I read Caraval, and I won't be picking up any Stephanie Garber books again. 

The Ali Hazelwood books were fun and easy. They both had similar settings and storylines, but the characters were different enough that it was interesting. Don't know if I would bother with any more of them though, since they weren't really meaty enough for me.  

The Last Tiger by Julia Riew and Brad Riew
Ice Breaker by Lian Tanner
The Knowledge Seeker by Rea Knightly
The Lost Daughter of Sparta by Felicia Day
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskel

Rachel recommended Ice Breaker to me, since she's very into Lian Tanner (after I had her read the Keepers Series). It's a book one of three, but didn't leave us hanging too much. The Lost Daughter of Sparta was a graphic novel exploring Helen and Clytemnestra's younger sister who is only mentioned in one line in Homer's poems. Very cool. 

I read lots of North and South on the bus to choir rehearsals, and it was a bit of a slog. It was a re-read but I honestly didn't remember much of it at all. I was also struck by how totally useless Margaret's parents are. At almost every occasion, they are expecting her to do all of the hard and heavy work of life and also not even giving her the resources she needs to complete the task. You would have thought it would have endeared me to her more, but I just felt angry at her parents. I also remember being frustrated with John Thornton at one point, but I can't remember if that was by him or for him now. Maybe the latter. 

Since it was a bit of a slog getting through North and South, I broke it up with a YA novel I grabbed from the Library. Dungeons and Drama was cute, junk food reading. 

Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa
Ink and Ivy by Ashley Willingham

I had high hopes for the Julie Kagawa books, but (similar to Once Upon a Broken Heart) the main character apparently falls desperately in love with a complete jerk of a prince, which makes no sense. It's set in the fey world of Oberon and Titania with Puck as well, being all key characters. Though it is completely irrational for a centuries old fey character like Puck to fall in love with our (honestly totally useless) female heroine, that's what happens, because of course she needs everyone to be in love with her. Blergh! The original premise of the conflict was great, but the time wasted on the completely unbelievable and cringe-worthy "love" rubbish was painful. 

The last book I read this round was another anger-inducing ride. Again, loved the original premise, the characters were solid and interesting. Even the way the two main characters met, while a little cliche, was still enjoyable. 

But then. There was a proposal moment where the male character quoted Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice word for word. And I mean, word for word. I've got no problem with being inspired by Jane Austen's works - they are pretty dang fabulous, but you can't lift entire speeches from her (arguably) most recognisable book and hope no one will notice. Also, while her Darcy character was somewhat believable, the reason a Mr Darcy works in Pride and Prejudice is because Elizabeth is the other side to the story. Mr Darcy doesn't work without Elizabeth! 

The rest of the story went rapidly downhill from this moment as the author tried to force her characters into more and more contrived and overly suspenseful/serious situations where they could "be confused" with each other, and wonder at their feelings. If I exclaimed in outrage at the Julie Kagawa books I was having full on shouting matches with this one. 

The main character was so far from Elizabeth (disorganised, forgetful, whimsical) that there was no believable way she would ever be a match for the Darcy stand in. The second proposal scene had more direct plagiarism from Jane Austen's works too. Ugh. 

On top of all of these literary crimes, the book was Christian Fiction. Two thirds of the way through, our main character has one meaningful quiet time and suddenly everything is better. I'm a believer and yes, miracles can happen, but a way more relatable and believable story is change that happens gradually over time. And there was no way I was believing that the Darcy stand in was going to sign up to run a kids ministry at church. Absolutely Inconceivable! 

On reflection too, something that makes Pride and Prejudice work is that the changes in our characters happen over time - the book is the course of an entire year. This one was trying to jam all the substantial character development and changes into three weeks and call it the same. Nope. It's just not going to work. 

Suffice to say, I won't be reading this work again. Gosh, I wish it were better. The author did have a great world built, but why she felt the need to try to imitate Jane Austen was beyond me. Maybe I've been scarred because picking up a new book after that run has been tough, especially with the busy life season that we are. :P 

I have got two new Garth Nix on the shelf though, so they are slowly calling me back to reading with an author I can trust to deliver. I do feel I need a smaller, familiar, pallet cleanser in the meantime though. Wish me luck!