October 2022 TBR Stack

As posted to Instagram (not the greatest photo...) the books I could potentially read in October (plus the five library books I checked out yesterday...four thriller/mysteries and a romance)   

The five on the bottom are for BOTM Ketchup-a-thon and what I "built my burger" with.  Long Bright River fit about five of the prompts so I guess I need to read that one first. 

Then after I made this pile, someone on Booktube (Audrey at Chapter and Converse) posted a 3 month reading challenge, which then made me rethink this entire stack...  

Then someone somewhere else mentioned Edgar Allan Poe, so I could throw that on here, and I know there's something else I've had the sudden urge to read, but I can't remember what it was at the moment... wait it was Jane Eyre, so throw that on there too.

Long story short, who knows what I will be reading in October.  It could be this pile, it could be everything but this pile.  My brain, and reading are kind of all over the place right now...

Book Snob Tag

Stolen from Booktube.   

Questions:

1. Adaptation Snob: Do you always read the book before you see the movie?

Nope. I am having a hard time wording my answer to this question. If I notice a book is being adapted it's because I've already read it, not the other way around. I'm not sure that makes sense. I'm not very up-to-date on my book to movie adaptations.

2. Format Snob: You can only choose 1 format in which to read books for the rest of your life. Which one do you choose: physical books, ebooks, or audiobooks?

Physical. I just can't seem to remember to use, my e-reader, or to keep it charged.

I have to be doing something super non-thinky to listen to audiobooks. 3. Ship Snob: Would you date or marry a non-reader?

The husband reads (more, or at least faster, than I do) but almost exclusively fantasy, only e-books, and mostly at work on his lunch break (when he didn't work from home.) He doesn't go to the library, geek out at bookstores, or do any book nerd things. Sometimes I forget he actually does read. it's a little annoying now that I think about it. The kids totally take after me though :)

If I'm ever thrown into the dating swamp again, it would be nice to have someone my age to share book stuff with...

4. Genre Snob: You have to ditch one genre - never to be read again for the rest of your life. Which one do you ditch?

Fantasy. At least high fantasy. Just not my thing, and I've tried. I even liked a few, but if I have two books and one has swords in it, I'll pick the swordless one every single time. Also, Why do they all have to be epically long series? Is there even such a thing as a stand alone fantasy? 5. Uber Genre Snob: You can only choose to read from one genre for the rest of your life. Which genre do you choose?

Really?  Mystery/thriller I guess.

6. Community Snob: Which genre do you think receives the most snobbery from the bookish community?

I was going to say Romance (don't get me started) but then I thought about it, and it's probably YA. YA is an age group, not a genre (trying not to go off on a rant here...) The current trends in the YA industry are not helping the situation. 7. Snobbery Recipient: Have you ever been snubbed for something that you have been reading or for reading in general?

Yes, reading in general. And I know I do the same thing with people who don't read, or know what a library is, so it goes both ways...

In conclusion, yes, I am a book snob. And proud of it. Is anyone really surprised?

Book #1 September

 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley.  Mystery/Thriller.  Adult.  315ish pages.

One sentence summary: a group of guests are invited to a very remote island for a wedding off the coast of Ireland, and then someone dies.

Thoughts: this was my car book, and now I have to pick a new one... 

 I enjoyed the story, it had fairly short chapters and a wedding is going to happen and you know something bad is going to happen at the wedding because it skipped back and forth from before to after.  

No one in here is very likable, they all had something they were hiding. I tend to like books where at least one character has some redeeming quality and this book was not that book. 

I now know how to pronounce Aoife, thanks Google, and to never get too close to a bog, yikes.  Remind me if I'm ever invited to a wedding on a remote island, only accessible by ferry, not to go.

I would read other books by this author, but I doubt I will keep this and reread it.

I gave it four stars.  

Happy Friday?

 

So far today, I have sent an email notifying my 3rd grader's teacher he will be walking home with his sister so I can go to a cross country meet at 3:00.  Then this happened:

I'm bringing snacks which I needed to buy at the store. 

Then the meet was canceled due to no bus driver (if this was football, there would be a bus driver!) so I didn't need to bring snacks.

Then it was uncanceled with 'all parents on deck,' to get 60 kids to the meet in our own cars.  So, yes I did need snacks and I also needed to clean it out my car so no teenagers roll their eyes too hard at having to be transported in my mom-mobile, and are too injured to run in the race.

Then they found a bus driver, but had to leave two hours earlier than planned. so I'm now bringing snacks, but no kids.  Good thing I never got around to cleaning out my car...

Meanwhile, all these emails and text canceling and uncancelings are coming in with a background noise that sounds kind of like Scuttle from The Little Mermaid warming up...  

I don't know what kind of bird my neighbors have on the other side of the hedge, but I hope it's not permanent.  If I have to keep my windows closed so I don't have to listen to some kind of chicken gagging for the rest of my life, I'm not going to be a very happy neighbor. 

I'd say, yay it's Friday, except I'm too busy Googling whatever is making that horrible noise to enjoy it.  

It's...been...a...week.  That's for sure.

Picture of me reading my book at the cross country meet in peace and quiet (I'm being sarcastic) coming soon.

Really, it sounds like a cross between a turkey, a cat being tortured, and someone yodeling.  

September Towering TBR

As posted on Instagram my September tbr.

 If I read even half of these books (plus three not pictured) it will be a good reading month.

From the top:

[virtual book club] library e-book: The Gown by Jennifer Robson?  I have no idea what it is about.

Swan Song by Robert McCammon.  I've been wanting to read this for decades, and I own a copy (it was hard to find too) I'm just going to put it on my tbr every month until I read the stupid thing.  It's about the end of the world as we know it, or something.  It's supposed to be as good, or better, than The Stand by Stephen King and The Stand is one of my favorite books...  I hate this copy, it's hideous, and the font is tiny and annoying...  I 'think' my library finally has a copy of this (as an e-book) which I might try instead.

[Series September]W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton.  I only have 3 books in this series to go...  I am assuming Kinsey is not wasted and does not get wasted since she manages to be in two books after this one.

[Series September] The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.  Virtual book club book for July that I started and got lost because it introduces so many characters in the first few chapters... I need to give it another chance.

[Series September, library book] Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter.  Not my first Karin Slaughter book. Read more Karin Slaughter was one of my 2022 goals.

[library book] The Island by Adrian McKinty.  Random library impulse check-out...  

[library book] Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton.  Another random library book.  This apparently is my year for autobiographies...

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.  The book has water damage, so I was reading it last summer while floating in the kids' pool... should probably get back to it.

The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon.  Another one of the author's I wanted to try this year/read more of, since I own two of her books.  There's a serial killer in it.

1776 by David McCullough.  I found this at a free little library a few years ago and I'm tired of looking at it.  

 In my car: The Guest List by Lucy Foley.  I've read about 2/3 so far, and am enjoying it.

On hold at the library: [Series September] The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley.  I have checked this book out three times and never actually read it, this time I am going to at least crack it open.  Also, because the author died, it is impossible to find a copy of this book for a reasonable price, hence the library again... 

[Series September] Wolfhunt Lake, Wolfpack Lake, Wolfbite Lake... something like that by Rachel Caine.  I've read the first two (of five) and would like to finish the series* The story about a woman who finds out she is married to a serial killer.  I was going to say something about the author dying recently, and then I realized there are four of those on this list, weird.  

And if you counted, that's 13 books on my tbr this month... like I said, I probably will not read even half of these.  I'm kind of into serial killers, brutal crimes, and all things murder recently and a lot of this list fits that mood so who knows...   

* Hi, I'm Brianna, I like to read the first book in a series and never read another book in the series.**  I have no idea why I do that... I can probably list off the series I have actually finished in my life, on one hand, it's kind of pathetic...

**Upon further introspection, I do this with authors too... Read one book, enjoy it, don't read their other books (but not quite to the extent I do with series.)  An author I like writes a new book, do I go out and buy it?  Nope, I let it age for 5-15 years first.  Wow, I'm annoying! Note to self: in 2023 maybe you should make it a goal or a challenge to repeat authors.

What I Read in August 2022

August, what happened?  I didn't read anything or finish anything until August 23rd...  I hope to make up for things in September...

Ground Zero by Alan Gratz.  Middle grade.

One sentence summary: A nine- year- old experiences 9/11 from inside one of the towers, there is also a 2nd timeline from Afghanistan where an eleven-year-old experiences the war on terror, or whatever it was called.

Thoughts: it was a quick read, and the reason I picked it up.  I haven't really read a lot about 9/11 or watched anything since I watched it happen on live TV in 2001 and I and should fix that...  

The book was a quick read, and while I wanted to yell at the kid for being stupid, it is middle grade.

I highly preferred the 9/11 chapters (they alternate) to the Afghanistan chapters, and while they do eventually connect, I kind of wish it would have just stuck to the one character... I gave this 4 stars.

I have another Alan Gratz book in the house, I will read at some point.

One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf.  Adult, thriller?

One sentence summary:  A mystery man takes an entire town's school (all the grades in one building) hostage.  

Thoughts: Heather Gudenkauf is one of my favorite authors, but this was not my favorite book of hers.  The actions of most of the characters had me wanting to club them over the head, and one POV was not needed (there were five.)   It was OK... 3.75 stars. 

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky.  Non-fiction.

One sentence summary: It's the history...of salt.

Thoughts: This was my 'fishing book' as in the book I took fishing last spring so I'd have something to read that I could pick up and not need to remember the plot.  Then we stopped going fishing so I stopped reading it.  

I finally just picked it back up and read the last 150 pages to get it off my pile and so I could say I read three books in August and not just two.  

It had some interesting parts here and there, then it would get boring, then it got a little interesting, but by the end I was done reading about salt and all it's forms. 

I did enjoy the punny chapter titles (an Odium of Sodium...) but I think I preferred the author's book on cod more.  I have Paper, also by the author somewhere in my house but I'm not ready to read it just yet.

I gave this book 3.75 salty stars.

Reading month summary: it was a [raspberry sounds] reading month.  I just did not want to read.  That's all I have to say about it.

There are several read-a-thons, challenges, and book club books, plus library holds arriving soon, on the agenda for September, plus I have about three or four books in progress so things can only go up in the reading department.   

Soccer practice (we finally have a coach!) three hours a week, cross country meets (3-4 hours each, at least once per week) and school parking waiting time, give me a lot of reading time in September.  Time to put on my RBF so no wants to talk to me during sporting events :P  It would also help if my 'hey squirrel!' attention span, and school-has-started exhaustion would take a hike. It could be a good reading month, it could be worse than August... no one will know until October 1st.