BOOKENDS: September, October, November, & December

I am an irregular blogger, and I accept this about myself. Without further delay, here is what I read last four months of 2021! January’s wrap-up is in the works!


FINISHED READING

Each month is separated!

I read six books in September! This was the shortest reading month of the year, partially due to a start of a new semester at work that ate away at my brain space and being in a reading slump. My favorite of the month was The Hacienda, and my least favorite of the month was And Then There Were None. I think I may enjoy watching Agatha Christie adaptations more than reading them.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread
⌛️ Act of Service – Lillian Fishman
📚The Ghost Bride – Yangsze Choo
⌛️The Hacienda – Isabel Cañas
📚💞 Twenty-Five Books That Shaped America – Thomas C. Foster
📚 And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
🎧💞 Lirael – Garth Nix, read by Tim Curry

 

I read eleven books in October, a lot of manga to try to catch up on my reading goal for the year! This was a solid reading month with no real duds for me!

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

📚 I’m Glad My Mom Died – Jennette McCurdy
⌛️ Small Favors – Erin A. Craig
📚 The Year of the Witching – Alexis Henderson
📱 Duke Gone Rogue – Christy Carlyle (Thank you, Avon!)
📱 Tsubaki-Chou Lonely Planet, vol 1 – Mika Yamamori (Thank you, Yen Press!)
📚 Foreigner – C.J. Cherryh
⌛️ The Savior’s Book Cafe Story in Another World, vol 1 – Kyouka Izumi, Oumiya, Reiko Sakurada
⌛️ The Savior’s Book Cafe Story in Another World, vol 2 – Kyouka Izumi, Oumiya, Reiko Sakurada
⌛️ Practical Magic – Alice Hoffman
📚 Nights With a Cat, vol 1 – KyuryuZ
📚 Nights With a Cat, vol 2 – KyuryuZ

 

I read thirteen books in November. A lot of them were novellas, but I still count them! I also enjoyed the experience of listening to all of the novellas in the Into Shadow collection.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

📚 Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured – Kathryn Harrison
📱 Happy Place – Emily Henry (thank you, Berkley!)
🎧 The Six Deaths of the Saint – Alix E. Harrow
📚 Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor – Xiran Jay Zhao
⌛️ The Savior’s Book Cafe Story in Another World – Kyouka Izumi, Oumiya, Reiko Sakurada
🎧 The Garden – Tomi Adeymei
🎧 The Candles are Burning – Veronica G. Henry
🎧 Persephone – Lev Grossman
🎧 What the Dead Know – Nghi Vo
⌛️ Castles in Their Bones – Laura Sebastian
📚 No Longer Human – Osamu Dozai
🎧 Out of the Mirror, Darkness – Garth Nix
📱 Maeve Fly – C.J. Leede (thank you, Tor Nightfire!)

 

I read eight books in December! The Book of Gothel was a great fictional historical history of the Rapunzel fairy tale from the mother’s point of view. Undercover only made me want to read more by Tamsyn Muir and revisit The Locked Tomb series. I liked The Queen of the Tearling but I hadn’t realized when I started it that it’s set in the FUTURE, yet it feels very… traditional fantasy sort of thing. I’m interested to see where the rest of the trilogy goes.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

⌛️ The Book of Gothel – Mary McMyne
🎧 Undercover – Tamsyn Muir
📚 Star Wars X-Wing: Rogue Squadron – Michael A. Stackpole
📱 Burning Roses – S.L. Huang (Thank you, tordotcom!)
⌛️ How to Keep House While Drowning – K.C. Davis
⌛️ The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman
📓 Egypt’s Golden Couple – John Darnell and Colleen Darnell (Thank you, St. Martin’s Press!)

 


CLOSING OUT

2022 was a weird reading year. I wasn’t motivated to read certain things I’d picked out for myself, for review and for myself, and I came to the conclusion that I’m going to be focusing less on chasing review copies and more about reading for myself and going back to what it was like when I started this blog. I was reading and posting stuff for me, not for obligation and internet points or whatever. I want to maintain the relationships I currently have with a few publishers and contacts, and I still will request things if they come through my inbox, and I’m able to get to them in a timely manner. I also have Edelweiss and Netgalley at my leisure. Posts will be likely infrequent and sporadic, with a few changes here and there in formatting and approach, but I think having less external pressure to have things submitted and put up and done will help with the pressure I put on myself, too.