Reindeer Readathon - Update The First

I haven't done reviews for my Reindeer Readathon on here (or the one that I finished a few days into December, but I didn't think it would be fair to include that into this readathon as I audiobooked a good chunk of it in November). 

I have reviewed that on Goodreads, so you can go there and have a look, but am telling myself that it's ok to not review EVERYTHING I read/audiobook on here. But I like doing little write-ups on Goodreads and I do link them in my Review Listings tab so you can go snooping there (though I must state that I have been running this as a book blog since 2010 so be warned. Maybe I should do another tab to show reviews in Year Order. Thoughts?)

So, let me give you an update of where I am at this present moment of time in this readathon:

I have audiobooked two prompts: Donner and Vixen. Donner's prompt is "A Book You Want To Read But You Are Not A Fan Of The Cover" and Vixen's "A Book You Want To Read But Think It Might Be Overhyped". 

Now, I had very different books in mind for both these prompts (For Vixen, I was going towards The House In The Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klume [an author I know am going to love, but everyone RAVES about this book and that worries me] or Scythe by Neal Shusterman (again, a book I think I am going to devour!). For Donner, there are a few on my TBR that I could lean towards...

But instead, I audiobooked two novellas. For Vixen, I audiobooked Killing The Dead by Marcus Sedgwick. This was a World Book Day novella and the "fifth" story in connection to his previous novel, The Ghosts of Heaven (I haven't read this and in two minds if I will... it doesn't grab me compared to his other novels which I'm going to try and read next year). The audiobook is only 2 hours long and yet, I listened to it in one sitting - I DEVOURED this and I loved it. I now "get" the cover, but I am still not a fan of it. 

For Donner, I audiobooked The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. It's, also, read by the author with music by Max Richter and Isobel Waller-Bridge. This was everywhere during the Covid Lockdowns in the UK, and it's turned into a Chritmas feature for BBC One's Christmas Day viewing. It's surprisingly a very gentle, calming read. A bit philosophic at times and that might rub some readers up the wrong way, but I got why the hype was there and I really liked it. 

Oh, and the book I read that I said doesn't count as a Reindeer Readathon read? A Taste of Poison by Neil Bradbury. A fascinating insight into poisons, but after a while, I felt it got bogged down with the science rather than the crime where the poisons were used. Plus, the crimes used were very USA and UK based, and I was hoping for more global used of crimes. 

So, that's where I am at the moment. I am a slow reader so will update when I have a few more reads under my belt.