Sorry for the unannounced blog silence, but y’all the end of August and the entire month of September. Were. The. Dooziest. of Doozies.
For those of you who don’t know me IRL and just follow my blog, here’s a brief synopsis of my life since my last post: Hurricane Ida fucked up South Louisiana, my house suffered minor damage (thank goodness, but still), we were without power for 11 days and had to live at my in-laws for 10 of them, school was canceled for 7 days, I was in a wedding in Wisconsin (the bright spot of a five-week dumpster fire), I tried to go to Brewers/Cubs game by myself in Milwaukee but had to leave immediately after the national anthem because I needed to eat and couldn’t find anything in the stadium that my stomach could handle, I caught the strepiest of strep throat this week and missed two more days of school, I hit a garbage can with my car and destroyed the passenger side in two different places, I got an email from parent that made me cry three days ago (and not in the-you’re-doing-such-a-good-job-thank-you-for-all-you’re-doing-for-my-child kind of happy crying way but more of the I-don’t-like-you-and-you-know-nothing kind of you’re-terrible-at-your-job devastated-make-me-want-to-quit-my-job crying way)–so. Yep. That’s why I’ve been ghosting you.
I’ve also been ghosting books and not because it’s finally spooky season and ghosting is appropriate (not) during the month of October (mental note find spooky season appropriate books to scare the hell out of myself this month), but because–did you see my comma-spliced ramble above? Normally I can use reading as an escape, but I’ve been so mentally drained by everything that I’ve had a hard time cracking open a book.
ANYWHO,
Here’s what I read during August and September sans book reviews because my bandwidth is thinner than a band that’s two members short.
At least I rated them? And remembered that I do have a blog and that I normally post once a week and that I should get back to that?
An Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi–published 2021–256 pages–YA/historical fiction.
Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley–published 2021–368 pages YA/LGBTQ+ fantasy.
China Room by Sunjeev Sahota–published 2021–256 pages–historical fiction.
The Hunting Wives by May Cobb-published 2021–368 pages–thriller.
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides–published 2021–352 pages–thriller.
The Husbands by Chandler Baker–published 2021–352 pages–thriller.
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia–published 2021–289 pages–historical fiction/mystery.
Love People Use Things: Because the Opposite Never Works by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus–published 2021–336 pages–nonfiction.
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller–published 2021–289 pages–literary fiction.
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange–published 2021–288 pages–contemporary fiction.
Daughter of the Pirate King (Daughter of the Pirate King #1) by Tricia Levenseller–published 2017–311 pages–YA fantasy.
Dreamfever (Fever #4) by Karen Marie Moning–published 2009–386 pages–urban fantasy.
Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau–published 2021–320 pages–historical fiction.
Daughter of the Siren Queen (Daughter of the Pirate King #2) by Tricia Levenseller–published 2018–341 pages–YA fantasy.
The Storm is Upon Us: How Qanon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything by Mike Rothschild–published 2021–(no data for how many pages this book is because Goodreads has failed me–political nonfiction.
And sorry Stephen King, but I DNF’d your newest. I feel like the worst fangirl (I stan hard for 11/22/63, The Stand, and Insomnia) on the planet. I trudged through your last one, which I didn’t like very much, and just couldn’t hang with Billy Summers because even though I kind of liked what I read, I felt like I couldn’t make any progress with it at all.
Which one of these would I most blanket recommend to people? We Are The Brennans for sure. But I loved Unsettled Ground–it’s a bit more on the literary side and vibes Rebecca. And if you’re looking for something FUN, look into Daughter of the Pirate King.
What did you read while I was being overwhelmed by the universe?
And as always, discussion is welcome.
(All cover artwork taken from Goodreads.)
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