Some Things I Read in September
Some Things I Read in September
Rapid Fire Round
I miss writing multiple posts a week, though I’m still holding firm on not making this a regular occurrence because I have other writing work to do.
Because I have made my job Book™️, I can no longer avoid telling people what I read. I don’t do reviews, so instead, here’s a rapid fire recap of what I read in September.
By Sarah Beth Durst. I wrote something earlier this month about The Spellshop and the proliferation of cozy fantasy. Physical book, great for cozy fantasy lovers.
By Lex Croucher. A Libby library loan, read digitally. An updated take on the Arthurian legend, set about ~100 years after actual King Arthur. Very queer, very funny. The ending was a little unsatisfying, but at parts I was laughing out loud at how unhinged the writing was.
Taste of Love
By Einat Admony. Digital read. Everand has a series of Originals it releases monthly. I like them because they are short, which allows me to catch up on my reading goals. Admony is a well known chef, and she writes about her first marriage and its failure, youth and young adulthood in Israel, and how she ended up in Brooklyn married to her second husband. A quick and direct read.
By Carissa Broadbent. Physical read. I did not go through a Vampire phase as a teen because I resented Twilight’s ubiquity and mediocrity. So it stands to reason I’m going through my Vampire phase now. This was my book club read for October so of course I read it a month early for reasons. Now to wait for the November release of The Songbird and the Heart of Stone.1
A note: the version I have was the indie printed version. Now that Broadbent is being traditionally published, this will be republished in a hardcover format by Bramble, Tor’s Romantasy arm. I personally like this cover better, because I’m a degenerate and have questions about the horns.
Le Ciel Ouvert
By Nicolas Mathieu, Illustrations by Aline Zalko. Print, French. Despite helping me get back on track for my Reading Goals, I still cannot tell you what this book was about. Beautiful illustrations, unclear plot/story line. I wouldn’t seek out an English translation, just find a French one to look at the gorgeous art.
By Jennifer Romolini. Audio on Everand, read by the author. This was an insightful look into Romolini’s career, and descent into workaholism. She worked in big tech for years, so it was fun to try to guess who her former employers were. This also includes a look at the heydey of print/digital media in the early 2000s before everything collapsed.
By Ajiri Aki. Physical read. Coffee table book, too! Made me homesick for Paris and is filled with beautiful pictures. A quickish read that’s a great reminder that the Europeans do some things right when it comes to work/life balance, and that there’s so much joy to be found in just living.
By Jennifer Croft. I just wrote a thing about this. Also a digital library loan from Libby. Inching closer to that Library book goal.
Mes amis
By Emmanuel Bove. Print, French. Available in English as My Friends. When possible, I prefer the original versions of things. A modernist classic out of the 1920s that follows a disabled soldier post World War I who is searching for friends and who cannot quite connect with the world around him.
Am I back on track for my reading goals for 2024? Ha, that’s funny. This brought me to 72 books, which is still 3 behind where I should have been at the end of September. Here’s to lots of reading in October.
Have you read any of these? Let me know (and your thoughts!) in the comments.
NetGalley would not give me an ARC because they could 100% see through my flimsy reasons for wanting one which was: I want to read it before anyone else.