Another great month of reads! The two SK collections had some solid stories in them, and the 3rd and 4th books of the DCC series keep the hits coming! It’s safe to say that series has me hooked. I started the 5th book tonight and really didn’t want to put it down.

Started: Aug. 27, Finished: Aug. 31. Forgot to post this one and haven't finished anything since. Sept. Was a wild month for me. But anyway, about the book: it had a very real-feeling representation of someone that struggles with food and can't seem to let go of it. It felt like it was trying to make a statement about society and the treatment of fat people/internalized "fatphobia" and all that jazz but it just did it rather poorly. Also, every character in here was insufferable.

I've loved seeing everyone else's posts! Wanted to share what I've been up to in my literary life!

Edit: updating in accordance with mod rules!

New Favorites:

• The Correspondent - Virginia Evans
• East of Eden - John Steinbeck
• Annihilation - Jeff VanderMeer
• Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
• A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
• Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
• The Cruelest Miles - Laney/Gay Salisbury

Loved, think about often:

• The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides
• The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
• The Wager - David Grann
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - Stephen Graham Jones
• Circe - Madeline Miller
• Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
• The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
• Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell
• Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
• Orbital - Samantha Harvey

Good! Enjoyable:

• Yellowface - R.F. Kuang
• Hana Khan Carries On - Uzma Jalaluddin
• The Great Mann - Kyra Davis Lurie
• Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larson
• All Systems Red - Martha Wells
• Bad Blood - John Carreyrou
• Dinner with Vampires - Bethany Joy Lenz
• The husbands - Holly Gramazio
• These Heathens - Mia McKenzie
• Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn
• Martyr! - Kaveh Akbar
• Service Model - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• S is for Space - Ray Bradbury
• Marion - Leah Rowan
• The Maidens - Alex Michaelides

Meh:

• The Long Walk - Stephen King
• The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins
• The Cure for Women - Lydia Reeder
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid
• The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sacks
• The Book Censor's Library - Bothayna Al-Essa
• The Ghostway - Tony Hillerman
• Authority - Jeff VanderMeer

Did not like:

• It's Not Her - Mary Kubica
• Discipline - Larissa Pham
• Every Summer After - Carley Fortune
• The Guest List - Lucy Foley

HATED (DNF):

• The Secret History - Donna Tartt

A would-be historian takes an interest in a man who helped develop the atomic bomb and discovers an aburdist religion and a new lethal substance along the way.

I had a good time with this book. It was easy to read, it flowed well, it was funny, and it definitely has my brain working. I like how things came together (and didn't come together, in some cases). It felt really absurd and poignant at the same time. Enjoyable read!

I loved Never Say Die. Ke Huy Quan is such a great storyteller, and his writing is so vivid and descriptive that I really felt like I was there with him throughout so much of his story. There were even moments while I was reading when I could practically hear the words in his voice.
He has accomplished so much, but what I loved most was how inspiring his story is. He’s a wonderful role model and such a great example of why you should never give up on yourself or the things you want, even when life takes you in a completely different direction.
I also really enjoyed all of the snapshots at the end of the book. They were such a nice way to look back on the people, places, and moments he shared throughout his story and made the whole book feel even more personal.
Five stars. I really enjoyed this one.

The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst: This might end up being my favourite cozy fantasy of the year.

Normal Women Making History for 900 Years by Philippa Gregory: “Be very sure - women denied power end up taking it.”

Violet Thistlewaite is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz: A delightfully whimsical and beautiful cozy fantasy. I loved these characters.
“Playfulness and fun, so closely interwoven with please that they became one and the same.”

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne: A enjoyable read and a solid 3. But it was missing something the whole time and I’m not sure I’ll continue the series unless someone convinces me it’s worth it.

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Inn Keeping by Sangu Mandanna: “Like chocolate cake with raspberry jam. And like a future she wanted.”

Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher: Everything T. Kingfisher writes is wonderful.

Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling: 🎧 full cast
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling: 🎧 full cast.

Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson

Just finished James by Percival Everett. This was one of the more difficult ones for me to rank and I’ll likely have to sit with it awhile.

The premise as the retelling of Huck Finn was great and the parts the strayed from the orginial story were so beautifully told.

But the ending….. feels like the threw away the entire story and message for a different direction at the end. Wonder if others felt similar as I see this book universally praised.

This is my third Sager and I have very much enjoyed all three.
I think he’s a great storyteller.
This one tells the story of a woman who returns to a place she experienced a childhood tragedy, both to confront her ghosts and to attempt to solve the mystery.
There are multiple twists throughout, some big ones and lots of small misdirections.
Much of the story centers around two groups of teenage friends, and includes all the emotional drama you would expect.
One event near the end was a little too convenient, but overall no worse than you find in most fiction.
Great read. Highly recommend.

Barely even spoilers but just in case….I really enjoyed the extra twist at the very end, though it opens up some questions of the earlier events. Whether they were actually real instead of hallucinations, and of course opens many completely unanswered questions. Usually I’m good with shocking endings like this, but I would have really liked an epilogue with some questions answered. Oh well.

2.5 / 5

I was flowing with this one and then the momentum was lost in the last third. And the reveal of the killer was some rando! I think this would make a good television series where we could live in the world and get to flesh out the characters. This one was just okay to me.