yellow jessamine

BOOKENDS: What I Read in November 2024

- Meg

Be Our Guest was for work, and it’s nothing exceptional. I hadn’t ready Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, but after watching the incredible film, I had to read it. The film is a faithful book adaptation, and I enjoyed both for their explorations of finding one’s place at the intersection of self and religion in the midst of so many other life changes. Harrow’s Starling House is an incredible exploration of what it means to be haunted. Chlorine was such an interesting take on mermaids and is being added to my fav weird girl lit shelf!! Frankenstein in Baghdad was part of my yearly challenge in 2024, and I think it had potential to be much more than it was for me. It was good, but not as good as I was expecting it to be. On Tyranny was a helpful reminder that is still too timely, and Barbie: The World Tour was a fun look back at the Barbie summer of 2023. Ending the month with Starling’s Yellow Jessamine was a great send off to spooky season, and I’ve enjoyed so much of Starling’s work and was happy to finally get to this novella!

WHAT I READ

💖 purchased/owned | 🌠 library/borrowed | 🔮 review copy | 💞 reread | 👻 dnf

🌠 Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service, by Theodore Kinni
💖 Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
💖 Starling House, by Alix E. Harrow
💖 Chlorine, by Jade Song
💖 Frankenstein in Baghdad, by Ahmed Saadawi
💖 On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder
💖 Barbie: The World Tour, by Margot Robbie and Andrew Mukamal
💖 Yellow Jessamine, by Caitlin Starling

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books on my Spring TBR

- Meg

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly discussion hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl (and formerly hosted by The Broke and the Bookish), and last week’s topic (that I’m doing this week instead) is “Books on my Spring TBR” and some of these have been on some form of a TBR at some point or another, and I’m going to read them by the time the spring season is over!! I read seven of the ten I chose for winter, and I’m currently in the middle of the eighth! The other two will be read eventually, but I am going to pursue this list as it’s something new and exciting!

  • Walk the Wild With Me by Rachel Atwood – This is a revisit to the mythology of Robin Hood, and I’ve been in the mood for these kinds of retellings, so when I saw this out on the shelves at my store, I immediately grabbed it and have kept my eye on it since. It feels like a spring read to me, so this is the perfect time to read it.
  • Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven – I want to read more fantasy and romance, especially after catching up completely on the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, and this feels right along the lines of what I’m wanting to read.
  • Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling – I loved her debut novel The Luminous Dead and this looks and feels very gothic fantasy.
  • Cherry by Nico Walker – This has been on my radar since its release, mostly because that cover is compelling, but now that it’s a movie with Tom Holland, it’s moved up my TBR a little bit.
  • The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso – The Chronicles of the Bitch Queen trilogy is complete this year, and now I can finally start it! I’ve heard so many good things about this book and its sequel, and for some series, I’m very weird and only like to read them if I can get my hands on the entire series…
  • The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning – This is a feminist retelling of The Princess Bride, and the second part of the duology releases this year, and I’m a super in the mood for fantasy everything.
  • Star Wars The High Republic: Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule – So many new Star Wars books have come out in the last year and I’ve bought so many of them, and I’ve been really excited for this next chapter in the Star Wars saga!
  • A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer – This trilogy is complete now, and the hardcovers all look beautiful, and again, I am in the mood for fantasy trilogies.
  • Persephone Station by Stina Leicht – I bought this on release day in January, and this is the only title I’m carrying over officially from the Winter TBR!
  • Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas – I don’t know why I’ve been putting off reading this, but after finishing A Court of Silver Flames I want to get caught up on everything she’s released so far because I’ve also not read the last three books in the Throne of Glass series!

What’s on your spring TBR?