We are closing out September! Can you believe it?
October is busy busy (for me at least), but hopefully we can all squeeze in some quality reading time.
Sarah: I’m currently reading Payback’s a Witch ( A | BN | K ) and oh wow am I enjoying it so freaking much. Chasing and clever and beautiful bits of writing.
Carrie: I just finished reading Praying With Jane Eyre( A | BN | K ) which I found to be transformative – truly one of those books that makes you look at everything differently. By Vanessa Zoltan.
Elyse: I’ve been dealing with anxiety/tired brain so I’ve been going through my knitting pattern books to relax, mostly 52 Weeks of Socks and 52 Weeks of Shawls by Laine
Shana: I’ve been having trouble settling into another book since I finished The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers. Nothing is hitting that same comforting spot. I’m seriously considering just rereading it.
EllenM: I recently read and really enjoyed The Bright and Breaking Sea by Chloe Neill, a swashbuckling alternative history sea adventure with a hefty scoop of romance. After that I decided to start Neill’s urban fantasy series, the Chicagoland Vampires. I’m about 3 books in and they are pretty fun so far–light, sexy, sorta silly (in a good way).
Sneezy: My Irresistible Ex recently got its official translation on Line Webtoon!!!! (There’s a section on the app, so I assume the site too, for fan translations, though I have trouble navigating it on the app.) It’s a second chance romance with Mysterious reason for breaking up, celebrities, albeit sly but straight forward ex pining for their ex wife in their ex wife’s face, a woman who knows what she wants being pretty great at boundaries, her best friend (who I’m already calling as the second fem lead) serving up great hair, competence porn as the main character’s agent and PR person.
And also really pretty art!
It’s only just started though. I’ve high hopes for it, so fingers crossed!
Tara: I’ve started listening to Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) which is excellent and I definitely recommend in audio.
On my Kindle, I’ve been reading Match to Love by Johana Gavez, which is a VERY cute f/f romance (at least, very cute so far). It has a professional tennis player and a law student meeting through fanfic.
Susan: I’m in the middle of moving house, but I took a break from the box mines when I found the second volume of Letters for Lucardo. ( A ) It’s an m/m vampire romance, where the young-looking vampire is smitten with a scrivener in his 50s-60s. Volume 2 is all about trying to negotiate class differences and family drama, which is obviously aggravated by the whole vampire politics thing
EllenM: I have both volumes but I haven’t read them yet!!!
What have you been reading? Tell us in the comments below!
:::dances in, jazz hands and everything, to Hamilton, because I’m seeing it next weekend:::
Taking the daughter and we are STOKED.
Let’s see. I jumped things off with Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco. It had some stuff I really liked, like the Italian setting, the interplay and conflict between the main character and the sexy demon she accidentally traps into a betrothal pact, and the mythology around the Italian witches (streghe, as the book called them). I also liked the fact that the main character didn’t just magically (heh) turn into a skilled witch overnight. She had skills, but she also had huge holes in her knowledge and there was information that had been kept from her, and she had some fairly significant cock-ups as a result. All that said, there were some pacing issues, and also it was A LOT of plot, and I think it could have benefited from some editing. Then I moved on to They’ll Never Catch Us by Jessica Goodman. This book followed two extremely competitive and gifted sisters that are runners on a cross-country team. One of them is struggling after an incident in which another runner was injured that gets her branded as violent and unstable, and sent to a summer running camp that also doubles as a mental health retreat, and the other has a fairly disastrous summer romance. A new girl, also a gifted runner, comes in, appears to be befriending both sisters. The new girl disappears while on a morning run, and one of the sisters falls under suspicion in her disappearance. REALLY enjoyed this one. If you like Karen MacManus, this will hit the happy switch in your brain (I actually heard about it from MacManus on the Twitters, and was like “Well, that sounds like my shit”). It had a nice mystery, some of which I was able to figure out, and some of which reminded me that you have to pay attention to everyone (cue Randy in Scream “EVERYBODY’S A SUSPECT!!!!”), and had a lot to say about how we treat girls, especially ones that are perceived as difficult or “extra”, how girls treat each other, especially in competition, and how we treat our bodies. Which brings us to now, in which I have started The Grendel Affair by Lisa Shearin. It’s been a long time since I read an urban fantasy. It was one of the favorite genres for awhile, but they got kind of same-y after a bit, and also fell out of trend. That said, I like the concept of this one so far, and the main character’s voice is sly and amusing. Until next time, folks. Don’t throw away your shot, and be willing to wait for it.
I finished Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley and it was exactly what I needed. Enjoyed it thoroughly.
My oldest is in grad school for a master’s in education. One of his classes involves YA reading. He recommended Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina, so I’m just starting that — so far, I really like it.
For my offbeat selection, Quarks, Elephants & Pierogi: Poland in 100 Words, which is a delightful selection of 100 Polish words with interesting backgrounds and which each shed a little light on Polish culture/history. I’m really interested in language and have been tracing my Polish genealogy for a while now so this is fascinating for me.
I just finished a beautifully written book by a new author, Annabelle McCormack, called WINDSWEPT. It’s a romantic suspense that kept me spellbound about a British nurse in the Middle East in the WWI. It’s subtitled Book One, but there’s no cliffhanger. It wrings you out with the tension moving faster and faster but then wraps up in a most satisfying ending.
I was so-so on a couple of books everyone else loved: MALIBU RISING and LIZZIE & DANTE but did enjoy a romcom DASH & THE MOONGLOW MYSTIC by Pru Warren. And contrarily, I think I tolerated–and even enjoyed, Beth O’Leary’s THE ROAD TRIP more than most other people did.
I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction lately. Highlights include:
Word by Word: The secret life of dictionaries, by Kory Stamper, about working as a Merriam Webster lexicographer. Fascinating and funny.
Eager: the surprising secret life of beavers and why they matter, by Ben Goldfarb. Biology, environmental science, history, interesting people.
Weapons of Math Destruction: how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy, by Cathy O’Neill. Informative & disturbing, did notice however that when she discusses fixing algorithms to target people of color & poor people for assistance, not exploitation, she didn’t seem to plan to invite those targeted into the revision discussions.
Not a lot of romance lately. Tried to read Love at First, but couldn’t get past the short term rental aspect of the plot. I’m a renter– short term rentals make an already sparse and expensive rental market even worse. They are selfish and destructive.
Enjoyed The Tangleroot Palace, a collection of Marjorie Liu’s short stories.
Currently re-reading Any Duchess Will Do, by Tessa Dare. It hasn’t been a great reading year for me. Plus being a news/political junkie, this book is sooo what my soul needs right about now.
Also, Blackthorne, by Ruth Langan. It’s one of those Harlequin historical romances I got in the mail back in the 90’s and just never got around to. It’s somewhat like Jane Eyre, with some elements of The Secret Garden and A Little Princess sprinkled in, but with a definite gothic-romance feel to it.
I flew out to see my daughter for the first time in two years to celebrate my big birthday (70). And everyone on the flights was great – we all had little packets of disinfecting wipes! To be sure I had enough reading for the trip, I spent the money and got two omnibuses of the Psy-Changling series. So that is what I have been reading. I would not say they are perfect but they do suck you in and keep you reading. As in, “Mom, we are in the art museum with Picasso over there and Manet here and, look, Gaugin. Can you put the kindle away please?” In my defense, my legs were tired and it was only a short break. And if you want to go to a really great art museum, the Wadworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT is well worth it.
The only other book I read was That Weekend by Kara Thomas and I really enjoyed it. I would totally recommend. Three best friends sneak away to a vacation cabin on a lake instead of going to prom. Our heroine is found two days later, injured and amnesic. Her friends have disappeared. Her community is not necessarily supportive as in, did she kill her friends? Initially, she is trying to survive, trying to remember, trying to then move on. Then she starts investigating. CW for harrassment, attempted assault, attempted and actual murder. But well done.
@Vicki – OH MY! Just looked up That Weekend, and it looks much too scary for me. I think I’ll wait for the Sparksnotes version!
A PORTRAIT OF A SCOTSMAN by Evie Dunmore. I was impressed by the growth of both characters, realizing the heroine is young (by our standards), and questioning, trying different things (what you should be doing in your early 20’s) was really nice to see. It does have a HEA (no shocker there) but also that being in love doesn’t mean trumps everything.
All I want to read at the moment is middlegrade horror (preferably with ghosts). I recently finished “Dark Waters” by Katherine Arden, “The Haunting of Aveline Jones” by Phil Hickes and “Scritch Scratch” by Lindsay Currie and they were all excellent. I’m also listening to “The Vampire Knitting Club” (paranormal cosy mystery with hints of romance) on audiobook on my way home from work. ‘Tis the season.
I just finished reading the In death series. It was really good. And now I have thoughts and feelings. Also, I guess that I need to find another series to read. Preferably one I already own. *eyes TBR pile*