It’s time for September’s Whatcha Reading! If you’re new here, Whatcha Reading is the post where we gush or gripe about all the books we’ve been reading this month. And sometimes, it’s awfully terrible on our wallets. We wish we could say we were genuinely sorry about that.
Sarah: I am very much looking forward to this month’s discussion of what you’re reading. I’ve DNFd several books in a row for a variety of reasons, so I’m now carefully researching newer-to-me sub-genres. Based on Amanda’s recommendation, I’m going to try Highland Dragon Warrior by Isabel Cooper ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). But I’m watching this thread like damn, hell, and whoa to see what you’re enjoying – so thank you in advance for sharing your recommendations!
Amanda: All right, Sarah. Strap in. Because you’re probably going to want to glom up both of these books.
I have two books on my Kindle that come out in October and I don’t know what to read first.
There’s Grigori by Lauren Smith ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). The heroine is working on her PhD in mythology and she totes believes there’s evidence that dragons are real. And of course, the hero is a dragon shifter.
Then there’s Take the Lead by Alexis Daria. It’s a contemporary romance that takes place on a dancing reality show. The heroine is a dancer and in the latest season, she’s paired with a dude who stars in an Alaskan Wilderness nature show. HELLLLOOOOO.
Sarah: OK I AM LISTENING TO ALL OF THIS.
Redheadedgirl: Ohhhhhhh
I’m reading The Duke’s Bridle Path ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which is two related novellas by Grace Burrowes and Theresa Romain that involve horses. I like it!
I also, after finishing a disappointing book (and because of a conversation on the Book of Faces), just reread Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which I still like, in spite of McCaffrey’s myriad of Capital-I-Issues.
Elyse: I just started Deep Dark by Laura Griffin which features a white hat hacker heroine!
Redheadedgirl: Once I finish the Bridle Path, then I will move on to Alisha Rai’s Wrong To Need You ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
Carrie: I’m reading Unwanted Girl by M.K. Schiller ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). It’s a romance between a wealthy writer who is a recovering addict and a woman from India who is studying to be a teacher. I like it so far because both characters tend to defy stereotype.
What have you been reading? Anything good or disappointingly bad? We want to know all the details!
By request, since we can’t link to every book you mention in the comments, here are bookstore links that help support the site with your purchases. If you use them, thank you so much, and if you’d prefer not to, no worries. Thanks for being a part of SBTB and hopefully, you’ve found some great books to read!
@ Cleo
Thank you so much for the recs! I’m excited to look up some of these authors/books and the blog you mentioned. I’m in the middle of RP’s Out of Nowhere and really enjoying it. I’m definitely going to look up Small Change because I LOVED Ginger in MoS.
Have you read Ilona Andrews’ post about ‘Kingpin of Camelot’ by Cassandra Gannon? The book sounded so zany and cute, of course I checked this author out and she had this title: “Cowboy from the Future”… how to resist such a title?! No one can! It was a very entertaining read so I went on with “Wicked Ugly Bad” and “Beast in Shining Armor” which were even better. I’m now reading “Not Another Vampire Book” and it’s hilarious, the best one yet. The h falls into this horrendous vampire romance novel she’s editing, and besides the very entertaining prose of Cassandra Gannon, as a reader-slash-wannabe writer, I’m thrilled by the mises en abîme in this book. I mean, we’re reading a romance novel in which the h falls into a bad (sooooo bad) romance novel and we can laugh at all those clichés that are dear to every romance readers’ heart. Another thing to laugh at are the very bad mistakes of the fake author… and recognize some of my own
Okay, I’m not only reading Cassandra Gannon’s books. I also got through “Breaking Bad” anthology (about lawless/mafia type H, if that’s your thing; and all the stories featured a white-ish H and black h) and came out of it with the name of Theodora Taylor to add to my to-read list. Her short story “His to Possess” features a blind h that takes no shit. It was very good and I love how we were shown the main couple’s bond developing, despite it being a short story. The ending was very rushed (but hey, short story) but I’m very eager to read something longer from this author.
There was one other okay story by Caitlin Dare. The rest of the anthology was not very good.
This month I’m resting my brain by alternating between fairy tales and children‘s books.
–Asbjørnsen & Moe, in a compilation of unknown provenance, with illustrations ranging from the ones in the original 2-volume collection from the 1880s, up through artists that were still living when this version was published in 1959. I must have been given the book in early childhood, as it’s got my name in block letters in my father’s handwriting. Irritatingly, the editor isn’t named in even the tiniest print, so somebody did a lot of work and didn’t get credit for it. Seems unfair.
–Lemony Snicket’s “All the wrong questions” series, featuring in-jokes like descriptions of extremely famous books without any reference to author, title, date, or characters’ names and a librarian named Dashiell Qwerty. A running gag in the second book is Schoenberg cereal, which I didn’t get until the narrator visited the grocery store (Partial Foods) and read the label: Twelve wholesome grains, combined in a strict sequence. D’oh!
–Grimm, in a gorgeously illustrated edition from 1937, though I’ve got a postwar reprint. I’m only partway through; I do remember that later on in the book, there are a few stories told in a Deutsch so platt it’s practically Dutch, so it’s questionable just how much rest my brain will get.
A popular motif in Norwegian fairy tales–or at least the ones selected for the edition I own–goes like this: A princess is held captive by a troll. To free her, the hero has to cut off all the troll’s multiple heads, using the troll’s own sword, which is so immense that he can’t even lift it until he has taken several swigs of a strengthening potion, conveniently stored nearby. How does he know to do this? Because the princess tells him. I don’t think the original reader was expected to wonder why, in that case, the princess doesn’t drink the potion herself and cut off the troll’s heads herself instead of waiting for some convenient Youngest Son to stop by.
Oh, and I’ve currently got eight different ebooks in various stages of preparation, which I guess counts as Stuff I’m Reading. That includes Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters from Sweden (1794) and Eliza Acton’s Modern Cookery.
@KateB – I hope you read this! Because of you, I tore through RIVER OF TEETH last week. I loved it! And I would never even have known about it if not for you and this thread. So, thanks SO much for posting this.
Did you know there’s a second book? True. It’s called TASTE OF MARROW, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it!