It’s that time again! Our second and last Whatcha Reading of October is where we chat about the books we’ve picked up in the last couple weeks.
So far, the general consensus is that it’s been hard to stick with anything.
Shana: I’m still reading Comet’s First Christmas by Delilah Night. ( A ) It’s an intensely Christmassy f/f reindeer shifter romance where all of Santa’s reindeers are queer. It’s low heat, but also low-tension, which I’m enjoying. I just finished Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching. I’m pretty sure it’s the best book about gentrification that I’ve ever read. It was a wild ride.
Kiki: I moved a few weeks ago and hadn’t had time to do much reading pre and post move so now I’m making up for it by trying to read all of the books at once. But what I’m most excited about The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller because I kept having to return the ebook loan because I was so busy but I finally have time for it now and am LOVING it.
Sarah: Happy new home, Kiki!
Elyse: I just started A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong.
I’ve been in quite a slump this month, I think because I don’t have the emotional bandwidth for creepier stuff but a lot of lighter books just aren’t sticking with me
Carrie: In War and Peace, things got super boring, then super exciting, then super boring again, which I gather is just how war is. I’m in Part 11, there are 15 parts, I’m losing my motivation! Will I make it? Pierre tried going to war and did not like it.
Tara: You can do it, Carrie!
Carrie: Other than that by coincidence I have two books that reference the Donnor Party back to back – I just finished The Arctic Fury which was a book I have many thoughts about, and now I’m about to finish Answer Creek by Sacramento author Ashley E. Sweeny ( A | BN | K | AB ).
The moral to both, in the words of Virginia Reed, “Don’t take any shortcuts and hurry along as fast as you can.”
Claudia: I’m making my way through Vanessa Riley’s A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby.
Catherine: I’ve begun and abandoned so many books recently – nothing seems to stick. But we read Troilus and Cressida with the Skypespeare group on Saturday, and while it is a pretty bad play, it did remind me that I haven’t read The Unknown Ajax ( A | BN | K | AB ) in well over a decade, so I’m giving that a shot (and hoping that it hasn’t been visited by the Racism Fairy since I last read it).
(The classism fairy definitely inhabits this book, but then, she always did!)
EllenM: I recently finished Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas ( A | BN | K | AB ) and it was amazing—definitely recommend if you are looking for good queer rep fantasy with a happy ending 🥰 although readers be warned that there’s a lot of transphobia committed by the MCs family in the opening chapters of the book.
I also finally read Harrow the Ninth ( A | BN | K | AB ) and even though it was really different from Gideon I loved it!!! cannot wait to hopefully get ALL THE ANSWERS I CRAVE in book 3
Amanda: I’ve been loving all the Harrow fanart.
Maya: A friend of mine told me to read Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender, so I just got that from my library and I’m listening to the audiobook of Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse. ( A | BN | K | AB ) The narrator is Tanis Parenteau, who also did Trail of Lightning and Storm of Locusts, and she is SO GOOD.
Amanda: The book blew my damn mind (Queen of the Conquered) and I still don’t know how to feel about it.
Maya: My friend asked me to read it because she needed someone to talk to about it, so I’m guessing samesies in short order!!
Amanda: Very curious to hear what you think!
Sneezy: I’ve been having the same problem with not being able to sink into a book, so largely I’m still lolling in Beverly Jenkin’s backlist. I’m on Something Like Love ( A | BN | K | AB ) right now. I’m also going to try reading Scattered Minds by Gabor Mate again. ( A ) I’m a (theoretical) adult, dammit, and I need to figure out my brain!!!!
Tara : Bouncing between books continues to be a thing for me too. But in good news, my hold finally came through for I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown ( A | BN | K | AB ) and it’s excellent.
What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments!
@MaryK: brace yourself, there’s at least 5 POVs in Mikoto! But they were all characters I was interested in following, so it worked out well for me. I also jumped cold into the book so at first I was (very) lost about who’s who (Amaranthine society is such a sprawling world…). But the narrative is full of clues about who goes where so the confusion settled after a couple of chapters. While I liked Mikoto, Kimiko is still my favorite.
@Empress of Blandings: you’re welcome! I only hope it pans out and that I’m not setting you up for disappointment ^_^;
Continuing my Heyer comfort reread, I actually enjoyed BLACK SHEEP, relatively low-angst with an engaging sense of humor. I think I related more to Abby now since my sister has become very much like Selina, and while Abby could not just chuck it all and run off due to her adherence to the obligation of familial bonds, she could in good conscience go along when Miles gives her the opportunity because she can blame it all on him and he won’t care. I think in the end she will be perfectly happy if she does get disowned.
Pausing now to read the original novel for KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE which has recently been translated into English for the first time. KIKI has always been my favorite Ghibli (although recently supplanted by SPIRITED AWAY) and while the book is very different, I can see where the various elements were repurposed and moved around to create a more cohesive movie. This is definitely an elementary level book so if any of you have third or fourth graders around (or even advanced second graders) this would make a terrific holiday gift.
Also on the subject of anime, I highly recommend the new CGI version of LUPIN III. They’ve taken a lot of the perviness out of the character (he throws one off-color comment at Mine but it’s clear they both consider it a joke), added a very David Tennant vibe, and it’s more like an Indiana Jones movie than a heist. The animation stays very true to the 2D character designs while also being so luscious it makes even Goemon look hot, instead of just a hot mess. No on-screen gore or horror so very suitable for a PG audience. I saw the subtitled version in the theater but the dubbed version will begin streaming I believe on December 1.
@Arijo – Ugh! I’m sorry to hear that it has a similar number of POVs! It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested in some of the characters in Tamiko. I found it frustrating and jarring to be continually jerked out of one POV and dropped into another. Maybe if they’d all been following the same plot line it would’ve worked, but since there were 3+ meshing plots I found it too distracting. I wanted to find out what happened not jump across town into another story. It was like three different short stories intertwined because the characters lived in the same town. I actual DNF’d it. I may try the new one, but I don’t have much hope I’ll be able to read it.
I’m late, but that’s because I can’t take time off from listening to read email. Only 6 days left of Audible’s Escape package, and I’ve sped up to between 1.8 and 2.0 in an attempt to get through as many titles as possible. Trying to finish all the Virgin Rivers, several Suzanne Brockmanns, Emma Scotts, and a variety of single titles. Yikes! I’ll be up for rational comment again for the next Watcha Reading. Stay safe, and may we all still be sane on Nov 4.
@Arijo I thought I was the only person who got knotted up when people say they’re going to read a book I’ve recommended (but what if they HATE it? I will have led them astray!)
@DiscoDollyDeb – yes, that’s what I was trying (less succinctly) to say.
I just finished Rebel by Beverly Jenkins which was utterly delightful. I’m getting ready to start Plain Bad Heroine.
Elyse, I know you said you don’t have the emotional bandwidth for creepy stuff. Have you read Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand? I think you might like this. It’s creep lite. It also has a little romance, female friendships and empowerment and even asexual representation. I highly recommend if you want something spookyish.
I just finished the first book of Jenny Holiday’s Mermaid Inn series, and I enjoyed it (an added bonus was that it is set here in Ontario, which I don’t see too often). One of the things I liked about it was that at one point character A tells something in confidence to character B and asks B not to tell anyone, and B doesn’t. It doesn’t slip out accidentally, and B doesn’t decide to tell someone for A’s own good. B just keeps the confidence until A is ready to share it. I was mentally bracing for a reveal that didn’t respect A’s personal timeline but that didn’t happen and I was SO PLEASED.
Twice a month for at least two months, I have meant to share with you all what I have been reading. Because I have been reading some. Each time, I have not managed to share due to stress, situational depression, and the inability to do anything that is not extremely urgent. However, I am getting better and I am determined to share at least some of what I have read. Because I love this feature.
What I read that I loved the most was Courtney Milan’s The Duke who Didn’t. I enjoyed the story and I really loved the Author’s Note which I read a couple of times.
N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became is different to her other books which I loved and I loved this one, too. New York is sentient, you guys. It has avatars. It was great.
There were others that were good. There were some that were bad. There were a few DNFs. And why the heck do people write stories about medical persons when they know poop-all about how hospitals work, medical training works, etc.
I’ve been reading After Midnight, by Teresa Medeiros…and I absolutely LOVE it! I would say to those who were disappointed in Breath Of Magic in that one post a few weeks back, to give this novel a try.
It’s like Sense & Sensibility, meets Northanger Abbey, meets gothic novel tropes, with a dash of humor. And it is ALL the catnip I could ask for right now. I’ve barely gotten over the half-way mark, and I’ve already ordered the sequel. (Even though I’m supposed to be on a book buying ban until next month.)
@Kareni, yes I did see all those parallels between Anne Cleeland’s historicals and her contemporary mystery series. In addition, she is always inside the heroine’s head, almost never the hero; the hero is a black box. Cleeland does have a formula and she sticks with it. You will find her other historicals to be similar. And the plot twists get really crazy. I’m never sure if it was too complicated for me to grasp, or if the plot was a hot mess.
I was so late getting to this post that I was going to skip commenting, but since I’m here, I read Grace Callaway’s “Return of the Duke”, so far the best of her Game of Dukes series, cross-class MOC with a ridiculous fairytale ending. But overall I did not like this series as much as her previous one, Heart of Enquiry.
I read 3 of Julia Quinn’s Rokesby series(they are prequels to her Bridgerton books) and was underwhelmed. I read the last one first, “First Comes Scandal”, and liked it the best. Again an MOC, a trope I can’t resist. “The Girl With The Make-Believe Husband” had a “While You Were Sleeping” plot, so I was hoping for great things, but it was just OK. And “The Other Miss Bridgerton” I almost DNF’d out of boredom, but the action did pick up in the last quarter of the book.
Right now I’m reading “Treacherous is the Night”, a post-World War I mystery by Anna Lee Huber, 2nd of a series. Huber’s Lady Darcy books have an undercurrent of darkness and depression, especially the first few, and this series has that same tone. The MCs are married from the series beginning, but their marriage is in trouble, and they both have PTSD. Yet I am finding it to be a great world to sink into and escape from real life.
@Karin, thanks for your comment. I’ll happily read more of Anne Cleeland’s historical romances, but it’s good to know that they tend to follow the same pattern.
That Anna Lee Huber series does sound enticing!
I’m working my way through Meljean Brooks’ backlist, I’m loving her Iron Seas series. I highly recommend The Kraken King. It’s so great to find a good romance author who actually writes believable steampunk. The world building is excellent and the romance well thought out.