Friday Conversation 3/8

This week's Feature & Follow discussion question is about whether your reading habits change based on your mood. Do you read a certain genre if you are feeling depressed or happy?

I do this all the time, on an almost daily basis - it's part of the reason I tend to be reading half a dozen books at a time. Fast paced, energetic books I can read in almost any mood, but there are some subjects for which I need to be in a more contemplative mindset. And I have to be in a pretty good mood to tackle a depressing storyline.

The Book Blogger Hop asks, when a book goes "viral" (Hunger Games, Fifty Shades, Twilight), do you rush out to read it like everyone else, even if it’s not in your typical genre?

Short answer: no.

I haven't read Twilight, though I probably will get around to it eventually (because as well as all the criticism, I've also heard some good things from friends whose opinions I trust). I haven't read Fifty Shades, and I almost certainly never will. For that matter, I only read The Hunger Games (which I loved) a couple of weeks back. So it really can take me a while to catch up with even the fashions that interest me!

I'm joining in with TGIF for the first time this week. The question is, in the spirit of the Olympics, which books would you give the gold, silver, and bronze medals to?

I'm going to make this easier for myself by limiting it to books I've read this year, because otherwise I just wouldn't know where to start. It's still really difficult, because I read across a number of genres, and there's really no way to compare my favorite epic fantasy with my favourite popular science book. Of course, these are all books that I gave five stars, because you don't get into the Olympics without being five-star standard - and I've only given out that magic  to 24 books in 2012 (so far).

GOLD: Orlind, by Charlotte E. English - this one gets gold because it's (relatively) easy to start a wonderful series, but much harder to bring one to a satisfying conclusion. Orlind brings the Draykon trilogy to an end with style and humour.

SILVER: Nothing to Envy, by Barbara Demick - an incredible glimpse behind the North Korean curtain, into a world so different from my life that it's almost hard to believe this is modern history and current events. Harrowing and frightening, but also stories full of hope and escape.

BRONZE: Empire in Black and Gold, by Adrian Tchaikovsky - the first in a series of heavily political fantasy war stories, full of interesting and believable characters, and setting up what looks like being an amazing series.

Oh dear, there's a Kindle sale on. Not only that, but if you spend £20 on sale items, you get a £5 voucher back. What's a girl to do, except buy a stack of books which she won't have time to read for months? Still, a number of these were on my to-buy list, anyway, so it is a saving in the long term.

This week, I've bought:

• Rivers of London, by Ben Aaronovich
• The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie
• The Girl in the Steel Corset, by Kady Cross
• A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness
• Driving Over Lemons, by Chris Stewart
• Paddle: A Long Way Around Ireland, by Jasper Winn
• The New York Trilogy, by Paul Auster
• 5x Sal Kilkenny novels by Cath Staincliffe
• Looking For Trouble (already reviewed)
• Go Not Gently
• Dead Wrong
• Stone Cold Red Hot
• Towers of Silence
• The Blind Goddess, by Ann Holt 
• Splinter, by Sebastian Fitzek

And received for review:

• Dead Anyway, by Chris Knopf
• What Einstein Told His Cook, by Robert L. Wolke (audio)