Needed some post-election comfort, so chose to visit with several beloved characters via a reread of The House in the Cerulean Sea (on audio this time) …and then devoured the recently released sequel to stay with them a little longer.

The second book struggles a little with pace (and too much monologuing?), but it more than makes up for its technical or editorial misses with its big beautiful heart.

Hope to spend more time in Marsyas soon.

Finished this earlier in the week as a leftover from October.

It edges past a so-so mostly because I find Grann‘s writing to be consistently compelling, but I definitely prefer a long-form deep dive over this collection of independent (and previously published) articles that just happen to have the common thread of humanity‘s darkness.

#HauntedShelf total was 2616

I‘m relieved I did a bit better in the back half… though, at close of every October, I think I will always wish I‘d managed to squeeze in just a bit more spooky.

Thanks @OriginalCyn620 for leading Team #DeadSerious!

And thanks @PuddleJumper for organizing a month of fun!

Oooh I was so spoiled — and by a fellow Buffy fan at that!!

Thanks so much @Lauranahe (from me AND my pups), it was like opening up a box of pure and spooktacular joy!!

And thanks @wanderinglynn for organizing the fun!
#HHS #HauntedHollowSwap #HHS24

Book Scavenger Hunt: Pumpkin ✔️

#HauntedShelf
Team #DeadSerious

Book Scavenger Hunt: Cold ✔️

#HauntedShelf
Team #DeadSerious

Book Scavenger Hunt: Night Sky ✔️

#HauntedShelf
Team #DeadSerious

Largely set in a haunted bookstore, the actual ghost is but a fraction of what looms over and around Tookie… addiction, incarceration, “rehabilitation” vs isolation; generational traumas both cultural and personal; the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd.

It‘s a lot to unpack.

But worth the emotional time and effort.

I really loved this one.

Four octogenarians (or thereabouts) kill time and stay sharp through amateur* sleuthing. The result is solved crimes, unlikely friendships, and boundless charm.

(The amateur descriptor is perhaps misleading…even if it is by hobby rather than trade, they are certainly effective detectives!)

Amidst the historic play-by-play, Roach takes the time to really focus on 6 specific women of the trials: How did they each come to be living in Salem, 1692 (indisputably a WRONG place & WRONG time)? What fears, hopes, misunderstandings could‘ve led innocent women to confess? What traumas & biases, left to fester, could have brought about such hysteria?

This book doesn‘t pretend to have all the answers. But it‘s important to ask the questions.

Shipping out my #HauntedHollowSwap package!
#hhs #hhs24

Ended up at 728 for the first two weeks. I am pretty bummed that I didn‘t even break a thousand — but I am going to ramp things up for the back half!

#HauntedShelf
Team #DeadSerious

A haunted tale set 30 years after Ichabod disappeared from Sleepy Hollow.

It took an interesting angle on Brom Bones. While I think Irving‘s original legend left a lot of room for interpretation regarding the characters, most adaptations I‘ve encountered limit Brom to a brawn-over-brains bully. In this story, centered on his grandchild, he‘s far smarter & better-natured than most his neighbors. It makes for a fresh ride through a familiar wood.

I really love Harrow‘s writing — and her growing list of sharp, feral, magical characters.

(I also appreciate, as a fellow Kentuckian, how well she captures the feeling of simultaneously judging (harshly) and loving (deeply) the place you call home.)

Book Scavenger Hunt: Baked Treat ✔️

#HauntedShelf
Team #DeadSerious

As it alternates between three women‘s stories — women of separate times but shared blood — the novel shows each at their lowest, most desperate moments…and then follows their ascents, each also rising up to find their strength and embrace their power (witchy and otherwise).

Something wonderful arrived today!!!

(I always want spooky season to last forever, but now I‘m also looking forward to the end of the month…)

#HHS
#HHS24
#HauntedHollowSwap

Book Scavenger Hunt: Hot Drink ✔️

I spy a litttle teapot!

But honestly, it was much harder than expected to find a qualifying cover in my sizable home library. Especially considering the volume of British literature (and therefore references to tea) it includes.

#HauntedShelf
Team #DeadSerious

Book Scavenger Hunt: Autumn or Fall ✔️

(I want to live in this cover, lounging on a bright autumn day with Anne and Diana, gazing at coppery leaves in the distance… le sigh.)

#hauntedshelf
Team #DeadSerious

Book Scavenger Hunt: Orange ✔️

#HauntedShelf
Team #DeadSerious

Several trigger warnings apply to this one.

It is DARK. As much from magic-less men wielding societal power & privilege to prey on others, as it is from supernatural monsters or the nefarious rites & spells.

But Alex Stern comes out swinging, against the world‘s darkness & her own, & that‘s one of my favorite kind of protagonists. The ones that aren‘t sure they can win, but plan to put up a helluva fight all the same.

I‘m tragically indecisive, but I‘ll try…

1. Vampires
2. Love both, but “Thriller” wins for the video/dance
3. Pumpkin Spice
4. Funny Costume, particularly those that rely on word play
5. Chocolate wins by 0.01%
6. Pumpkin Patch
7. Both. I will not choose. You cannot make me. #cozyclothesforever
8. Hayride for sure
9. Handing out candy

#HauntedShelf
Team #DeadSerious

Read this early in September as part of my “dark academia” theme for the month and highly recommend it for folks who like historical fiction AND thrillers. The final reveal truly caught me off guard, which is actually pretty rare anymore.

(The fact that one of the main characters happens to be an imagined version of Edgar Allan Poe during his West Point years is a very cool bonus.)

#HauntedShelf
Team #DeadSerious

My October TBR (plus the tagged book via audio) for #HauntedShelf.

Team #DeadSerious

There are great, even illuminating points & themes in here, but the intertwining narratives felt flat.

Despite engaging characters, & the absolutely fascinating context (the first female healer in an indigenous community that saw the role as a man‘s), it read like the recap of what would have been a compelling story.

Absolutely loved the pictured quote though.

Word-nerds are rarely depicted as fervent rebels, or at least not the kind who might believe the sword is mightier…

But it makes sense here, as a multi-national cohort at a fictional Institute of Translation reckon with the ways they (and the global population at large) are manipulated and exploited by the seekers of empire. But their refusal to participate in the status quo (as always) has consequences.

Totally absorbing.

I wish I could have talked Shakespeare with these characters, unabashedly pretentious as they were. (Before the murder part, of course).

It was dark — showing rage & fear & envy taken to the extremes, plus the consequences of such. But was also still so much a story about love & devotion & the desire to protect what we hold most dear.

Highly recommend to any fans of Shakespeare, Dark Academia, or emotional mysteries.

I‘ve started this book on 4 separate occasions, but this week it finally took…& I devoured it.

Similar to Caleb Carr‘s The Alienist, it mixes real persons of the past (Edgar Allan Poe & several West Point officers) with created characters to solve (and/or be suspected of) mercifully fictional crimes.

The result was a dark & twisty mystery with enough historical nuggets to keep me bouncing between the story & a research rabbit hole.

My last read of #AustenianAugust & the perfect non-fiction follow-up to the novel Miss Austen. It provided historical context & clarification around Jane & Cassandra‘s lives, temperaments, & unbreakable bond.

Examining Jane‘s life specifically through the lens of her various residences & her want for a sense of “home,” this also had me itching to reread Austen‘s works to look for that longing reflected in her heroines. A project for next August.

McBride writes the “7-layer dip” of novels. At first “bite,” you just get interesting characters, maybe the hint of a mystery. Next scoop starts to give a little social commentary, or the specific taste of a time & place. But once you‘ve dug a little deeper — maybe 150 pages or so — it all starts to come together. The layers all blend into something more distinct & complex & satisfying.

In imagining what might have been contained in the letters famously destroyed by Jane Austen‘s sister Cassandra, this novel is truly a tribute to sisterly love and devotion.

It‘s incredibly rare to have a story that allows a platonic (and non-parental) relationship to be the most treasured and important to a character. Especially while also showing unmarried women who have full and contented lives. This was worth reading for that alone.

Kicked off my annual celebration of #AustenianAugust with the latest addition to Claudia Gray‘s Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney mystery series. I loved that this one featured several side characters from Pride & Prejudice.

A would-be-murder mystery, Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney are summoned to discover who is attempting to take Lady Catherine‘s life (because such things will not be borne).

After rereading Beartown & Us Against You over the last few months, I was finally ready to find out if Backman stuck the landing of his hockey town saga.

He did.

I could not read this book fast enough. & while I was repeatedly (if unsurprisingly) wrecked as the story unfolded, I cherished every word on every page because it made me think & feel so damn much.

I will carry these characters with me for a long, long time.

The story of a young woman‘s fight for survival against devastating hunger, the dangers of a foreign wilderness, disease, despair, and unfathomable loneliness.

I savored this story of a life well lived, told in a series of delicious morsels over the course of 30+ years.

In the making of friends, and family, and in the mastering of one‘s circumstances, The Count is a delight and an inspiration. For some limitations are no match for an open heart.

Judging this book by its cover worked out fine — the tale was as fun and epic as the artwork suggests. Retired pirate and single-mother is forced to get her ol‘ band back together for a rescue mission across the sea (or Indian Ocean more specifically). Real magic and ancient legends are both help and hindrance. It was a wild ride (sail?) and I could practically feel and taste the salt water spray…

I know what this book is supposed to be about.
Or at least, what the reviews and interviews claim.

But the “point” didn‘t really land for me.

Absolutely gripping. Nearly un-put-down-able even, my reading fueled by rage and frustration…and the prevailing hope for some sliver of justice.

I‘m sorry I didn‘t read it sooner. And I have now put the rest of Grann‘s works on my TBR.

Apparently I only have the stomach for the ultra-wealthy, old money types if they are the Crawley family of Downton Abbey.

This book will break your heart while it opens your eyes.

These books are just so fun.

In what has to be a meta moment, Finlay‘s agent Sylvia remarks that the plots of her books are outlandish but that “the characters are just so real.” Both points are what make this series so charming for me — I cackle at the increasingly ludicrous situations, but I also feel like Finn and Vero are true friends of mine.

I‘m so glad to hear that a fifth novel is in the works.

Enjoyed this book more than the first, even though it goes hard on one of my least favorite Romantasy tropes. (I don‘t dig predestined/fated/bonded mates — thought it was romantic as a teen, but now I‘m like, “You know what‘s romantic? Two people choosing each other over and over again while continuously putting in the effort to make it work.” But I digress…) Will continue the series at some point, as much for the revenge plot as the love stories.

Dark, bizarre, sad. But hopeful. Maybe.

In the decaying remains of a post-industrial Midwestern town, in a low-rent apartment building known as The Rabbit Hutch, a collection of neighbors and strangers stumble toward / upon an explosive act of violence. And possibly, a wake-up call.

Backman has been my favorite (living) author since Beartown knocked my socks off in 2017.

I just fall in love with his characters. Even the ones I don‘t like very much.

He writes about the plight of being human with sharp humor & blunt observation. But more importantly, with astonishing grace.

Even while weaving together plots as absurd as those in this book, Backman reminds how powerful, & necessary, empathy is.

It‘s a gift.

I was more into the backcountry hiking trip and wilderness aspect than the romance, but still enjoyed it all.

Not as revelatory as I was hoping, but still provided a sound case for the need to address the stress as well as the stressor. I‘ve often wondered why I didn‘t feel the relief when a stressful situation passed…now I know why. And will be looking for my personal hows for reliably completing the stress cycle going forward.

It‘s a pick for the right reader. There‘s a valuable message about inherent worthiness and the moral neutrality of a tidy home (no “cleanliness is next to godliness” here). Plus, some practical tips for how to start, or even just tackle the most crucial things, when overwhelmed. But it wasn‘t exactly what I needed, at least not beyond the reminder of how much work I need to do in shedding my perfectionism and separating my motivation from shame.

This translated collection of a Palestinian author/poet‘s work was only available to me in fragments. Some of the imagery, many of the references, & the backdrop — or sometimes the front-facing focus — of a life surrounded by war…are things I can only loosely grasp & I no doubt missed much that was buried in subtext within her lines. But it made me feel & consider, & as I read I tried to “listen” hard.

This one wrecked me. It‘s small in scope, but the ache it planted in my chest was big & deep & lingering. Mother/daughter relationships can be hard. So can those with ex-in-laws or new friends. But for Sunday, the novel‘s neurodivergent protagonist, they‘re further complicated by the canyon between who she is & who others want/expect her to be. The hurts & hardships caused by this gully - some accidental, some not - were enough to break my heart.

After reading (and enjoying) several of Ms. Haynes fiction works, I decided to give her non-fiction a try and was riveted start to finish. As she discusses the various depictions and interpretations, ancient or otherwise, of several of Greek mythology‘s female characters, the author educates and entertains, and illuminates the complex natures of these women who have too often been diminished or demeaned by storytellers, playwrights, and academics.