“The blood beneath Ben's bare feet is too fresh to be sticky.“

#FirstLineFridays

My #readingbracket2025 as of March 2025. Still battling a reading slump, so this post is very late.

I really liked the worldbuilding in The Vanished Birds. The prose was evocative and immersive. Not perfect, but a story I was quickly invested in. The ending may not be up to everyone's liking; it's kinda bittersweet.

A quick read full of vivid imagery and gallows humor. The narrator is Winifred Notty, basically a 19th century woman version of Patrick Bateman, whose psychopathy is kinda relatable. lol Classism, sexism, child abandonment, child abuse, child murder, using an outhouse in winter and having to wipe with newspaper, would drive anyone mad, right? Right?! 😉😈

CW: graphic descriptions of violence and murder of animals, babies and children.

Picked up Victorian Psycho from the library and just started reading it - I‘m a sucker for a governess in a creepy setting - and I observed there are black-and-white illustrations included, but no credit for their source. Anyone know where to find those if not on the copyright page or on the inside of the back jacket?

Started re-reading Interview with the Vampire last night. Sometimes a re-read is the reset my brain needs to get out of a slump. I haven‘t read this in 20-ish years so I‘m curious how it‘s gonna hold up. Especially now that the TV series (a masterpiece) exists and improves on (while simultaneously respecting) the book. Who knows, maybe book Louis won‘t annoy me as much this time.😉 #CurrentlyReading

“The award-winning author of The Leavers offers a visionary novel of friendship, art, and ambition that asks: What is the value of a meaningful life?”

#CurrentlyReading

Doing my best to read like my old self BD (Before Depression) and I'm hoping fun little challenges like #readingbracket2025 and #offmyshelf bingo will help. Spent a few hours making this bracket, which, it turns out, is a fun way to deal with anxiety. 🙃

The tagged book was my favorite of 4 reads in January 2025. For context, pre-2020, I used to read 12-15 books a month. Not gonna shame myself though. At least I'm reading.

All the books in the Wayward Children series are go-to comfort reads, but In An Absent Dream is my favorite. I love Lundy so much. Reading the story, I feel seen. Like I‘m connecting with a kindred spirit. Plus, the Goblin Market is one of my favorite fantasy settings.

#SundayFunday

This cozy fantasy oozes comfort and kindness. I‘ll admit I bought this book for its gorgeous cover and the escapism, but my immersion in the story was interrupted by several continuity errors, and there was A LOT of repetition. Overall, I enjoyed my time in The Spellshop. Now, to fulfill this craving for raspberry jam and/or cinnamon rolls…

#OffMyShelf (newest book)

From the Acknowledgements page, “We've all been through a lot over the past few years. This book is my gift to anyone who wants to escape and sink into a world filled with kindness and enchantment.”

With cozies, I like to read the Acknowledgments first because, often, I find a little backstory or context, which adds to the vibes while reading the story.

#currentlyreading
#OffMyShelf (newest book)

I thought it being about a young woman searching for her missing friend (and the 2020 PEN/Hemingway winner), this book would be right up my alley. But I've been reading, what would normally take me a few days, for three weeks now. Not giving up. Just have to accept this one's gonna take me a while. #currentlyreading

Claustrophobic gated community. Overly friendly neighbors. Creepy kids. Putrid smells. Sleep paralysis. And trees that maybe aren't only trees.

Psychological and mysterious. There are clues dropped throughout as to what's really going on - some subtle, others not so much - and when it's finally confirmed, the story wraps up pretty quickly, in a way I wasn't totally satisfied with, but I'm still glad I read the book.

I was not expecting THAT from the author of A Princess in Theory. 😂

The pace worked for me; it‘s a psychological thriller after all. The tension is palpable from the get-go. You want Sydney to get out, but then you remember, where's she gonna go?! I never could fully trust Theo, so the romance was the iffy bit for me.

A solid thriller.

I will definitely check out One of Us Knows in the very near future.

🎆 Happy New Year! 🎆 🥳

“The cracks the storyteller in me required weren‘t there. It was because of and after the Breaking and my subsequent journey that I acquired this part of my self.”

“If one word can mean so many things at the same time then I don‘t see why I can‘t.”

“They are all wrong. There‘s a reason why we have no word for it. You don‘t get to keep the feelings for someone you once loved. Once you‘ve washed your hands of that person, all those feelings, all that dirty water is washed out to sea. There is no word for that dirty water.”

1- It‘s a tie between my fave as kid and my fave as adult: ‘Salem‘s Lot and Let the Right One In, respectively

2- What We Do in the Shadows, not only my fave vampire movie, but also in top 10 fave movies of all time

3- Obviously both in 1 above, but also The Gilda Stories as well as Slade House

#spookysaturday @TheNeverendingTBR

1- Nope, not yet. But there‘s an old cold case of a missing woman that I think should be a book set here.

2- A complex cave system in the mountains inhabited by dragons and their princesses. #DealingWithDragons

3- The Weasleys came to mind first.

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

“He doesn‘t seem very impressed,” Cimorene commented in some amusement.

“Why should he be?” Kazul said.

“Well, you‘re a dragon,” Cimorene answered, a little taken aback.

“What difference does that make to a cat?”

“Yes, yes, but that has nothing to do with it,” Kazul said a little testily. “‘King‘ is the name of the job. It doesn‘t matter who holds it.”

Cimorene stopped and thought for a moment. “You mean that dragons don‘t care whether their king is male or female; the title is the same no matter who the ruler is.”

“That‘s right...”

One by One is a fast-paced, winter-themed thriller set in a French chalet in a ski resort cut off from the rest of the mountain by an avalanche AND a blizzard. Inhabitants dropping off one by one. Told from two alternating POVs, of which one or both may be unreliable. Written in such a way that you *have* to keep turning the pages. 👇

*please do picture me on my knees with arms stretched toward the heavens, screaming this with deepest despair* why, dear author, why?!! That ending!!

My poor heart had to spend a few days in recovery after that final twist.

For me, McMahon writes childhood / adolescent experiences like nobody else in the thriller / horror genre... except maybe early Stephen King. She just plain gets kids/ tweens/ teens.

Latest #bookoutlet #bookhaul 🤓 Look forward to digging into this stack soon!

My #library #bookhaul now that my library is open and doing ILL again🥳🎉🤩🥳 #joy #thesimplethings

1️⃣ The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

2️⃣ A Spell for Trouble by Esme Addison

3️⃣ Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

4️⃣ Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

Sooo I went a little crazy with this #bookhaul during the double rewards promo on #BookOutlet 🤣🥳🙃😎

I ❤️ #bookmail

#2020 #FebruaryReads #ReadingGoals = 10 books

Not too shabby for having to work against client tax deadlines in January AND deal with vertigo attack the last week-ish. 🤷‍♀️

#JanuaryWrapUp #JanuaryReads #JanuaryStats

Total Reads: 8
By Women Authors: 7
BY WOC Authors: 4
LGBTQ+ Reads: 2
Non-Fiction: 1
#ReadWomen: 2/24 #WIT #WomenInTranslation
#IntoTheForest: 0/12
#LitsyAtoZ: 3/26 title ; 3/26 WOC authors and Indigenous women authors

I'm way behind on posting my #WeeklyForecast Thankfully, after this week, my work should slow back down to its usual pace until the end-ish of February. 🤞

I'm aiming pretty high with finishing 3 books this week. However, on Sunday, reading and laundry are my only to-do items. 🤓

P.S. If you haven't read Victor LaValle yet, and you enjoy a masculine sense of humor mixed with horror-ish elements on top of social commentary, READ HIM!!!

#19in2019 better late than never...right? 🙃

And, for anyone interested, my Top 5 reads of 2019 along with top 8 honorable mentions on my blog https://leahsaylorabney.com/11796/top-5-books-read-in-2019/

1. Most recent is a Xmas giftt from my daughter: party sign. And an absolute favorite is this mug, which my daughter gifted me for Xmas 2018. What can I say, she gets me. ❣

2. I rarely listen to audiobooks -- maybe 3 or 4 a year. Most recent was Tiffany Haddish's The Last Black Unicorn. Listening to her read it 😂🤣😂🤣

3. @booklover3258 @Balibee146 @ocdIrene @KendallHershey

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

“When the voice that links the body to the soul vanishes, there is no way to put into words one's feelings or will. I am reduced to pieces in no time at all.“

#TheMemoryPolice #YokoOgawa #dystopia #memory #thesoul

“The sky will fall. A star will rise.“

#CoverCrush #CoverLove

Releases 06/23/2020

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374313098

Well, I finished The Memory Police and Dear Girls last week. Both excellent!!

I'm just gonna move forward the other 2 from last week's #WeeklyForecast to this week. Another busy work week ahead, so hopefully I can read at least these 2 between now and Sunday. 😺

Relaxin and browsin the interwebs and found this #Ravenpuff patch, now the newest member of my #BookishWishlist Hinted to family it'd make an excellent bday gift 🤓

https://www.etsy.com/listing/702436582/ravenpuff-patch

This week's gonna be wicked busy with getting out W2s/1099s and other Jan 31st tax deadlines, but I promise myself I will take time to relax and read. These are the 4 books I hope to finish this week. 🤞

#WeeklyForecast

I scored 5: I haven‘t ever done the first 4 nor have I ever lost a book. 🤓

A footnote from Part 3 in which we get the scholar‘s (Aba from Part 1 and Part 3) analysis of the “manuscript” author‘s choice of title.

I wish I would‘ve snapped pic where the scholar herself remarks on the overshare of information; she even mentions the editor (who is really the reader) being bored by the info dump. 🤣😩🙃

One of the only passages I bookmarked in Baba Yaga Laid an Egg:

“Our whole life is a search for love... Our search is frustrated by numerous snares that lie in wait for us on our journey. One of the most dangerous snares is time. We need only be one second late and we will have lost our chance of happiness.“

This was a tedious read. I think mostly because of how it was structured. That Part 3, wooboy! I had to slog my way through it to arrive at a fun last coupla pages. I also enjoyed the older women characters, but again, too much work for my current mindset. Maybe if I wasn't already familiar with the Baba Yaga myth it wouldn't have felt like so much info dump??

#WomenInTranslation #Myths

I was concerned, having watched Miyazaki's film adaptation twice, the book would suffer by comparison. But I was worried for no reason: the book and movie complement each other perfectly! It was easy and fun to lose myself in the book's story, and fall in love all over again with Sophie and Calcifer and, yes, even Howl. (The scarecrow creeped me out just as much on the page too!!) I look forward to re-reading Howl's Moving Castle in the future.

A page-turner, yet I wasn't blown away. (Penance by Kanae Minato set a really high bar for all other thrillers I read.) Maybe it's the Kill Club plot 💉🎴 (there be holes), & the number of times Jazz was passive, got the crap beat outta her, & then other times she'd be a warrior, don't take no sh*t from anyone. Not sure if that's meant to show we can be strong in certain moments, weak in others?? 🤔

I'd definitely read another by Heard, though.

There would be no way I could read all the 📚 I do if not for our public library. I cannot fully express how grateful I am. 🤗

#LibraryLove #Gratitude

#2020 #JanuaryReads #ReadingGoals = 10 books

Here's my plan for January.

Now, as is the case with most plans, it's flexible to allow for group reads yet to be announced on Goodreads #IntoTheForest and #ReadWomen as well as to allow for #moodreading and/or library holds coming in sooner than expected.

Not sure if I'll read #ComeTumblingDown as soon as it's in my hands or if I'll save it till February... decisions, decisions. 🤓

#2020 #ReadingGoals

53 books = #2020 #ReadingChallenge ; at least one book per week, though I'll likely end up between 75-100

90% of total books read = #ReadWomen ; e.g., 48 of 53

90% of total books by women = #DiverseReads #DiverseBooks by women of color authors and/or Indigenous women authors and/or LGBTQ reads ; e.g., 43 of 48

12 books = #IntoTheForest group challenge on Goodreads

26 books = #LitsyAtoZ

#2019 #ReadingChallenge

Total Reads: 105
By Women Authors: 62
BY WOC Authors: 26
#LGBTQ Reads: 6
Non-Fiction: 19
#IntoTheForest: 12/12
#LitsyAtoZ: 26/26 title ; 25/26 women authors

#2019WrapUp #2019Reads #2019Stats

🎆🎉 Only 5 more days till release day 🎉🎆

https://publishing.tor.com/cometumblingdown-seananmcguire/9780765399311/

#WaywardChildren #ComeTumblingDown #SeananMcGuire

Where did December go??!

Happy I managed to finish up all 4 of my #2019 #ReadingChallenge even when I couldn't stop myself binge-watching The Witcher. Though I now have “Toss a coin to your witcher“ on a seemingly endless loop in my head. 😋

#DecemberWrapUp #DecemberReads #DecemberStats

Total: 7
Female Author: 7
POC Author: 5
Non Fiction: 3
#LitsyAtoZ 1 (26/26 done)
2019 Reading 105/52

Just signed up for the #2020 #LitsyAtoZ #ReadingChallenge with a required track (title) and an optional challenge of all titles by women of color authors and/or Indigenous women authors.

Interested? Guidelines and sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSex7AJyjI7PptZofazZtUX2T7L_FddNrEBxFVls...

@BookishMarginalia

Completed: #2019 #LitsyAtoZ #ReadingChallenge

I completed the required track (title) but missed the optional challenge (all women authors) by 1 book. Shoulda stuck with my original plan to read Grafton's X for #X ... oh well, there's always next time.

@BookishMarginalia