Not towards my goal but I did listen to most of the Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells (the author of the murderbot diaries) and highly recommend it. Eyeball reading, maybe not listening reading. The last book in the main story switched narrators after leaving off on a cliffhanger. Usually a narrator change doesn't bother me but it absolutely killed the vibes this time. So Harbors of the Sun will probably be on my update for next month. Read in my own head with the character voices from the original narrator, somewhat angstily. I don't think I'd be mad if the he wasn't so good. I'll probably even look through what else Christopher Kipiniak has narrated for my next listens, I liked him that much.

Confusing I still want to tell people about audiobooks when I don't count them for my own goal? Yeah probably. I'd have hit my goal 3 times by now though. I still want to challenge myself to take time and sit down with my books.

But yeah everything but the first two books of that series is "free" with membership on audible right now.

Not sure if I want to set a goal but I'd like to come back and give my updates about what I've read.

1st book of the year was The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

I actually have never seen the movie before reading it but have heard good things about it and the book so I wanted to give it a shot. I've been a bit nervous about committing my time outside of my comfort zone of Ursula K Le Guin and Terry Pratchett cause like... reading books takes a LONG time and a lot of focus from me so sunk cost is scary. The endorsement by Ursula on the cover really eased me into this one though.

An incredibly earnest and exceptionally fantastical fantasy where magic was described as one would describe a dream upon waking. Schmendrick's ramblings are all entertaining and there's such a liveliness to all the characters.

[spoiler]

I think most interestingly is how pensive I felt about prince Lir and his romance with the unicorn at first, which then was answered by the narrative which agreed that it was like a death for not only the unicorn but to Lir as well, who yearned for purpose and passion, which was provided not by a person but the idea that the Unicorn represented.

[/spoiler]

Great read, though the hints of modernity always threw me off like a prince reading a magazine, or schemdrick being offered a taco. They came off as silly fun though.

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms by Fumiyo Kouno for March

READING CHALLENGE UPDATE: MARCH

Changes:

• Added @ninjamuffin99 with a goal of 24
• Added @SourCherryJack with a goal of 20
• @TecNoir's goal increased from 10 to 83
• Awarded bonus phantom books to @Malachy

@Aalasteir @AbstractOutliers @AngelLOL123 @Asandir @Atlas @AypS @detergent1 @door88 @Dr-Freebase @Featherwaite @Ganon-Dorf @Gimmick @Haggard @Jackho @JerseyWildcard @Malachy @MetalSlayer69 @ninjamuffin99 @ObscuraArcanum @OneThousandMeeps @Pingu @Prinzy2 @PudgieDaFrog @SlutasaurusRex @SourCherryJack @StrangInk @SteveMaddenFootball @TecNoir @TopazAzul @TurtleWaffle @Yomuchan @ZJ

8. The Knight of the Swords - Michael Moorcock

I love me some Moorcock (lol) but man this book was BO-RING.

5 books for me. I already read Uzumaki and The Art of Pink Floyd The Wall, so that's three left. I'm halfway through another already.