Lost Mojo

As someone who has read all their life, not having the concentration span to read is a scary thing. Reading has always been a solace and when that solace is taken away from me I know something is not quite right.  The last couple of years with the pandemic, its aftermath and the state of the world in general my ability to concentrate on books diminished, and my back up being able to listen to audiobooks also diminished.

It has taken months for the desire to come back and its been a slow and incremental thing. But the habit is back and it is reliable and again I can get some solace by escaping to worlds created by others.

So what have I been reading? RJ Barker has featured heavily both in his fantasy guise and as RJ Dark his Mal and Jackie Crime books are a delight and I love them. The Bone Ships trilogy is fantastic and I am saving the last one because I don’t want the series to be over.

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell was delightful, hope punk. Closer to The Goblin Emperor than the A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet.

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark was a delight a butch lesbian detective in turn of the 20th Century Egypt with an eye for style and a talent for trouble. I caught up with the last 3 novels in Genevieve Cogman’s Invisible Library series and she really didn’t disappoint.  Such an enjoyable ride and I like to think I called some of the twists earlier on in the series.

I caught up with Paul Cornell’s wonderful Lychford series. There are no words, those novellas feel a litle bit like home to me.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia which again blew me away.  It reminded me of American Gods but I enjoyed it far more.

The sublime A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine.  This has been on my to be read list for far too long. Gorgeous premise and I loved the world.

Edward Cox’s Song of the Sycamore which was brutal and dark and I really didn’t know what I was getting into but I enjoyed it very much.

FD Lee’s The Academy which in turns reminds me of Terry Pratchett whilst also doing its own thing.  Funny intelligent and it skips into my brain.

Coming up I’m on a bit of a multi cultural reading binge. After Soul of the Deep I’m reading Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel an interpretation of the Ramayana. It has me hooked. I am also Intrigued by Strike the Zither by Joan He. 

Plus some norse Mythology with Melvin Burgess’ Loki and some fantasy in the form of Godkiller by Hannah Kaner.

Lets hope the mojo stays lit.