Thanks to @anassarhenisch and @bibliophilecats for the tags!
(Bookoween: Toil and Trouble)
1. “Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.” Recommend a book with a cat in it.
I’m sure I’m not the first to recommend it, but Sabriel by Garth Nix has Mogget and is therefore awesome.
2. “Harpier cries ‘Tis time, 'tis time.” What is the next book you plan to read?
As of right now, it’s All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, but we’ll see if another library hold pops up before.
3. “Round about the cauldron go” Recommend a book it took you a long time to read.
If audiobooks count, it would have to be The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I made it partway through the first act and hit a rut that led to a many-month hiatus. (It got better!)
4. “Eye of newt and toe of frog” Recommend a book from your childhood OR recommend a gross book.
Ooooh...Perdido Street Station by China Mieville is the epitome of a gross book. Not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. Some of the descriptions still haunt me >.>
Otherwise, Howl’s Moving Castle as a childhood favorite, because of course.
5. “Make the gruel thick and slab” Recommend a book over 400 pages.
For something sufficiently spooky and fun, I would recommend The Screaming Staircase by Jonathon Stroud. It’s a young adult novel, but still completely creeped me out in the best way.
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6. “Double, double toil and trouble/Fire burn and cauldron bubble” Recommend any book you like.
It’s not spooky in the slightest, but A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.
I tag @merbabe3, @amandacenterintrovertx, @carolinejay-blog, and @thepaige-turner for more fun!
So it's somehow the end of May? Not sure how that happened, even though I have been busy so of course the time has flown by! Things done this last month include hosting family multiple times, visiting my first cat café, visiting family, wedding reception, and baking my first rhubarb pie. Somehow I managed to fit 9 books and 2 DNFs in there, and was very good about not taking too many ARCs home. I didn't even buy anything!
Also, this is the first time I think I've ever underpacked physical books for a holiday. I thought for sure that the SF book I popped in my bag would last me at least three days but no, A History of What Comes Next was a fast read and lasted one. Thank goodness for Libby and my cache of T. Kingfisher e-novellas, is all I'm saying. Reading those back to back got my reading goal back on track for the year.
Novel is still progressing apace. Digger is still not shipped. It is reading outdoors weather but I've yet to do so. Nothing else to report.
And now without further ado, in order of enjoyment…
Magisteria - Nicholas Spencer
A history of the interactions between science and (Western) (mostly Christian) religion.
7.5/10
warning: discussions of racism, race science, eugenics, historical Islamophobia
After Villon - Roger Farr
Poetry written in conversation with a late medieval French criminal-poet.
🏳️🌈, 🇨🇦
The Sinister Booksellers of Bath - Garth Nix
Susan and Bath’s magical booksellers must rescue Merlin after he’s trapped in a map—which might mean taking on an unknown Sovereign.
6.5/10
🏳️🌈 secondary character (genderqueer), Afro-British secondary characters, Muslim secondary character
A History of What Comes Next - Sylvain Neuvel
A lineage of scientifically-minded women work behind the scenes with one goal: Get Them To The Stars Before Evil Kills Us All.
7/10
main characters consistently read as POC, 🏳️🌈 main character (sapphic), 🏳️🌈 secondary character (sapphic), Black-Russian secondary character, Chinese-American secondary character, 🇨🇦
Warning: attempted rape, early methods of conversion therapy
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers - Jesse Q. Sutanto
When Vera finds a body in her tea shop, she knows exactly what to do—call the police and then solve the murder herself.
Agent Fatma investigates a mass murder with possible ties to djinn magic.
7/10
largely Egyptian cast, Nubian secondary characters, 🏳️🌈 main character (lesbian), 🏳️🌈 secondary character (sapphic), largely Muslim cast, African-American author
warning: contains racists, colonial mindsets, and cultural appropriators
Kiss Her Once For Me - Alison Cochrun
Ellie agrees to a fake engagement and marriage over the Christmas holidays—only to find out her fiancé’s sister is the one-night stand she couldn’t get over.
7/10
🏳️🌈 main character (bi), main character with anxiety disorder, 🏳️🌈 secondary characters (lesbian, trans, nonbinary, multisexual), Korean-American secondary characters, Latinx secondary character, Filipina secondary character, secondary character with ADHD
warning: depiction of anxiety and panic attacks, toxic parent-child relationship
Minor Mage - T. Kingfisher
Twelve-year-old Oliver is sent away from his village on a quest to bring back rain. He knows three spells, and one is to repel armadillo dander.
6.5/10
Mortal Follies - Alexis Hall
Maelys Micklemore has been cursed, a terrible thing for a young Regency woman. Her best hope of breaking the spell is the mannish Lady Georgiana, who might be a witch. Out in June.
6.5/10
🏳️🌈 protagonist (sapphic), 🏳️🌈 secondary characters (sapphic, gay, trans woman), Black British secondary character, Afro-British secondary character
Picture Books
The Octopus Escapes - Maile Meloy with Felicia Salter (illustrator)
An octopus is brought to an aquarium. Being captive is great—at first.
DNF
The Last Heir to Blackwood Library - Hester Fox
Ivy inherits an estate in Yorkshire, with a magnificent library, recalcitrant servants, a ghost, and a curse.
The Absolute Book - Elizabeth Knox
A woman who lost her sister to violence finds herself drawn into another world with bearings on her family history.
Currently reading:
Shadowlands - Matthew Green
Short histories of lost settlements from across the UK.
The Gifts - Liz Hyder
In 1840s England, a woman grows wings.
Stats
Monthly total: 9+1
Yearly total: 53/140
Queer books: 5
Authors of colour: 2
Books by women: 3
Authors outside the binary: 0
Canadian authors: 2
Off the TBR shelves: 2
Books hauled: 0
ARCs acquired: 3
ARCs unhauled: 2
DNFs: 2
So, June was a month! Felt like several, but apparently still just the one. Usually I measure the length of a month in books read—more books equals a “faster” month, fewer books equals a “slower” one—but that doesn’t work this time. I read nine books, so about my average. I think the number of “this was fine” books skewed things, as did The Hands of the Emperor which was excellent, but also very long.
And yes, I’ve finally read The Hands of the Emperor! It was everything I expected it to be and more, and just lovely and charming and cozy and all of things. I am bummed that my library doesn’t have the sequel, not that I’d be launching into it right off anyway. It’s the principle of the thing. The only reason it didn’t get my Review of the Month is because it’s hard to take photos of ebook covers….
On the opposite end of the spectrum, my TBR shelf book this month was a last-minute scramble and I opted for something short as a result. (And a classic, because I hadn’t read one of those in a while.) Tortilla Flat really hasn’t aged well, folks. Let’s all hope my next classic is better.
The other last-minute addition to this post is DIGGER IS HERE! I got the notice that it shipped late last week but didn’t think it would be coming to my door quite so soon. It has bookmarks, plural, you guys! I would be jumping into it next except that I’ve barely finished Shubeik Lubeik and I need to put space between excellent graphic novels.
Next up, though? One of the ARCs I hauled this month is The Frugal Wizard’s Guide to Surviving Medieval England. I’m going to be starting it today.
(Episode Thirteen is my other hauled book this month. I’d forgotten I’d requested a copy from a book rep.)
Other life events? I finally saw The Importance of Being Earnest performed! Another last-minute thing, that. I heard about it near the end of May and dithered about getting a ticket because the theatre was a bit of a trek, and then went, well, when else am I going to see it… Worth it, and that’s one thing off my bucket list.
Hopefully July has a lot of good books to make up for the kind of average reading month I’ve just had. Wish me luck!
And now without further ado, in order of enjoyment…
The Hands of the Emperor - Victoria Goddard
Cliopher, Secretary to His Radiancy, the Last Emperor of Astandalas, invites his lord on a beach vacation. He has no idea how this will change the world—or his life.
8.5/10
Pacific Islander-coded protagonist, cast contains a range of ethnicities and skin tones, 🇨🇦
Shubeik Lubeik - Deena Mohamed
A Cairo kiosk owner tries to sell off three wishes. It doesn’t quite go as planned.
9/10
Egyptian cast, largely Muslim cast, Egyptian author, #ownvoices for Egyptian
warning: depression, suicidal ideation, death of a child
Shadowlands - Matthew Green
Short histories of lost settlements from across the UK.
7/10
The Golem of Brooklyn - Adam Mansbach
Len creates a golem while stoned. This is only his first poor decision of the week. Road trip, anyone? Out in September
The Dress Diary of Mrs. Anne Sykes - Kate Strasdin
A history of Victorian fashion through the lens of a fabric scrapbook.
7/10
The Gifts - Liz Hyder
In 1840s England, a woman grows wings, a storyteller comes to London, a wife grows unsatisfied, and a doctor gets ambitious.
7/10
Black British POV character, 🏳️🌈 secondary character (gay)
warning: racism, misogyny, animal death, medical content
The Road to Roswell - Connie Willis
Francie travels to Roswell to save her college roommate from a misguided marriage, and promptly finds herself on an involuntary road trip with an alien.
6.5/10
Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck
A group of friends ramble around old-time Monterey.
3.5/10
multiracial protagonists, largely BIPOC cast
warning: racism, misogyny, alcohol, racial slurs
The Gay Best Friend - Nicolas DiDomizio
Dom’s best friends are getting married! Which is great, except he’s having to keep secrets for both of them and maybe he needs to think a bit about expectations and authenticity.
5/10
🏳️🌈 protagonist (gay), 🏳️🌈 secondary character (gay), 🏳️🌈 author, #ownvoices
Currently reading:
Nothing! I start July with a clean slate.
Stats
Monthly total: 10
Yearly total: 62/140
Queer books: 2
Authors of colour: 1
Books by women: 6
Authors outside the binary: 0
Canadian authors: 1
Off the TBR shelves: 1
Books hauled: 2
ARCs acquired: 5
ARCs unhauled: 4
DNFs: 0
As in Spotify Wrapped, but it’s books! It feels kind of weird to be doing this while I still have a month of reading left, but I guess it’s no weirder than Goodreads choosing the best books of the year in November, and it’s a tag meme so whatever. Long-time followers will notice I slipped an unfinished book into the mix. Sometimes you can just tell.
Tagged by @petrareads. Template by @_readbyrach on Instagram. (You do need a Canva account though.)
Tagging @lizziethereader @franticvampirereads @howlsmovinglibrary @thelivebookproject @magnetarmadda @the-forest-library @sixofravens-reads @bibliophilecats @therefugeofbooks but please do this regardless and tag me!
Tagged by @stefito0o, thank you! I know I'm severely belated getting this up but all of these authors are double-stacked on my shelves and hauling them out and reassembling my shelves is something I haven't had the energy for until lately. (Also, these aren't entirely accurate stacks because I only went for "read and owned" and didn't trawl the TBR shelves.)
Terry Pratchett - This should surprise nobody who's met me! I discovered him while working in a library during high school and have never looked back. I'm working on collecting an edition of everything he's written and I'm very nearly there. It was hard getting everything into the same shot here, let me tell you.
Seanan McGuire - Also probably not a surprise to many followers! She's another one of my auto-buys, after Pratchett, and I can count on her books to be either entertaining or heartbreaking, and often both at the same time. …And I've just realized I didn't include her books as Mira Grant. Whoops. Oh well. Assume you see the Newsflesh trilogy here too!
Lois McMaster Bujold - A friend in my early 20s said I had to read the Vorkosigan books and they were right! At the time, like with Pratchett, the easiest/best way for me to read everything was to hit up used bookstores whenever possible, hence the varying print runs. Then I padded out the set with omnibus editions and started in on her fantasy works. I don't know if I'll buy more of the World of Five Gods novels than what I have, because I like her SF a little more, but I have a few and no regrets there.
