Saturday, October 2, 2021

September reading wrap-up

 September went so fast, but I read a surprising amount of books for the month. 

My favorite book of the month was a lovely dark little book about a magical school where there are no teachers, and monsters are out to eat the students. A Deadly Education is about a girl at the school who is prophesied to become a dark wizard, and so everyone believes it's true. And so she hates everyone. This is the first book in what will be a series. I'm not sure how many books there will be, but I'm very much looking forward to seeing more about this world. Novik is definitely becoming a favorite author, and I can't wait to see what else she writes.

The runners-up for the month are a broad mix.

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers is a historical fantasy about a nunnery in Brittany that trains its girls to be assassins. They're told that their true god, now called a saint by the Christians, marks those who are guilty and in need of killing. The main character eventually learns, once she's sent on her first mission, that this is not exactly the truth. It's the first book of three. The second was equally lovely, and I can't wait to read the final book. I may have to look and see what else has been done.

The Golem and the the Jinni by Helene Wecker is also historical fantasy, but it's near-past (turn of the nineteenth to twentieth century or so), and takes place in New York City (mostly), so it has a very different feeling to it. The title characters are an ancient Jinni who wakes in New York City in a tinkerer's shop when the bottle he's in is given to the tinkerer to fix up. The Golem is created for a Jewish man who wants a wife he can be happy with in New York City, but then dies right after wakening her while they are still on the boat in New York Harbor. And that's just the beginning of the story, with a random Golem and a random Jinni let loose on New York City, immigrants just like anyone else in the neighborhoods they end up in. A fascinating story, and one I highly recommend.

The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers is Sci Fi, and the third and final book in the Wayfarers series. Anyone looking for a great sci fi that deals with the variations of other beings we might find out there in space, this one does an amazing job. Each race is very unique, and this book deals with several, and the issues with being those races. Because the races aren't human, there are lots of variations of sexuality in all its forms. I highly recommend the whole series. Each book deals with a different central character. The first is human, but the others are an android, and one of the alien races. All fascinating studies on what it is to be who you are, and being who you want to be.

The oldest book of the month was a reread: Dune by Frank Herbert, which came out in 1965. I'd actually only read half of this before, so with the new movie coming out this month, I wanted to see if listening to the audiobook would help. Definitely worth it. I highly recommend checking it out if you're curious. Certainly before you see the upcoming movie.

The newest book was a gay romance by one of my favorite authors of that genre: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian. The story is that the son of a nobleman discovers that his father married before his mother, and that he may not be the heir to his fortune, so he arranges to rob his father of a book that will prove that one way or the other. Historical of the Regency/Victorian type, and very lighthearted. I definitely recommend this one as well, if you like that kind of story.

Really had a lot of great reads this month. And lots of variety, as you can see. Now on to my stats.

I read a total of 27 books this month, which is much higher than in August's 23. Given that I was in training all month, I am kind of surprised it got that high. I suppose it has to do with the quality of the stories I was reading, which definitely kept me reading. I did DNF one book, which I'm rather sad I didn't enjoy, but I suppose you can't enjoy everything, right? I only finished one series, which isn't really surprising, given that I'm at the stage where I'd have to start a bunch of new series to finish any, so that number is just going to be small for the rest of the year, I think. I still have plenty of series to finish, but most are long-standing series, or the books are still to come, so I can't finish them this year.

In September, I read seven YA, three New Adult, and 17 Adult books. Twenty-one were Audio Books, five were E-Books, and only one was a physical book. Eleven were written by male authors, and 21 by female. Eighteen had male main characters, and fourteen had female main characters. A total of twelve of the books had LGBT major characters, and eight of them had non-white major characters. All in all, a good mix of characters and themes, though I definitely want to push more non-white characters next year.

As always, Romance and Fantasy were my top two genres, but my third surprised me: Contemporary. This is the second time it's ended up in the top three since I changed how I record genres. I probably should have been tracking this before now. And Fantasy probably would have been highest, but I've been dividing it into Fantasy and Urban Fantasy. Perhaps I should track both for those books, but I'd rather keep them separate for now. I have a feeling that this month, Supernatural will be one of my genres, as I plan to read a lot of vampire, witch, and werewolf stories for the season. Should be fun.

My current and future reading:

    Currently I am reading:

    My Current Libby list to read:
    I'm a huge Stephen King fan, so when I had the chance, I read his son's book, Horns, and quite enjoyed it. So since it's spooky month, I'm going to try NOS4A2. We'll see if it's too much. He definitely inherited his father's talent at spooky. As for Tale of the Body Thief, I'm really enjoying my reread of the series, and looking forward to getting to the books I have not gotten to reading.

    My Library Hold list next 5:
    Of those five, three definitely fit with the theme of the month. Scythe is about a future where death has been eradicated, so there are people who go out and kill those who have been designated to die. The Last Graduate is the sequel to A Deadly Education, so more monsters trying to eat students, I'm sure. And Blood Bound is the second in a series containing vampires and werewolves and shape shifters. I'm definitely looking forward to that one. Really, I'm looking forward to all three. It should be a great month.

    So what are you reading for the Fall/Halloween season? Anything fun? 

    Posted by Elf Flame at 12:12 PM
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