September was a bit of a bombshell month. I found out that I needed to change jobs, and went into a whirlwind of an interview process (three Zoom meetings in as many days). Thankfully, all of those interviews went well and I start a new job here in October! The stress of the job change got to me a bit and I fell into a reading slump toward the end of the month. I finished 17 books this month and am sufficiently impressed with myself. I already highlighted my favorites in my Quick Lit post earlier this month, so here is a nice list for you. * denotes a five star read of which sadly there were only two.
- Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
- The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare
- A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee*
- You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria
- The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare
- Pride by Ibi Zoboi
- Darius The Great is not Okay by Adib Khorram
- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
- Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
- The Boys’ Club by Erica Katz
- Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 1-3 by Hiromu Arakawa*
- The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas
- Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey
- Who Thought This Was A Good Idea? by Alyssa Mastromonaco
- The Witches of New York by Ami McKay
- Storm Front by Jim Butcher
- Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
Quite obviously, I have been reading a lot of Sarah J. Maas. This is because I am in a book club that is currently reading through all of her books. We are speeding through them, and I am not sure what we are going to do when we run out of them! We give ourselves a three week deadline for each book (closer to a traditional book club) but end up reading them in about one and a half. The last books are her longest, so hopefully we don’t get done with them too quickly.
I am starting to incline my reading toward ‘spooky season’, as the youth say. Storm Front definitely fit the bill, and everyone says that Jim Butcher’s later books are even better. With an opening like Storm Front, I am excited to see where the series goes next. You can tell that the book was written in 2000, as it is a bit misogynistic, but not in an overt way and I think that Harry’s positive qualities make up for the other comments throughout the book. I will keep going with the series, but I’m also in the middle of about 5 other series, so it may not be anytime soon.
As for October and more spooky reads…here is a brief to be read list that I am not committed to in the slightest.
- Ninth House and Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
- Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
- A Gathering of Shadows and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
- House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin Craig
- Uprooted and A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
- When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
- The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
SJP Books 