October TBR

October 1, 2022 Ali@abookishlife6 Comments

Hello lovely people,

I can’t believe it’s October already, this year seems to be flying past (or maybe I’m just getting old). I always love this time of year, yes it seems to be permanently cold and dark outside but it’s the perfect season for curling up inside with a good book. The beginning of October also marks the start of spooky season and I’m really looking forward to some creepy reads this month.

First up I have some recent physical book purchases that I’m really excited about. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen is one that I’ve been seeing all over booktok in the last couple of months. I have a feeling it’s more of a romance than a spooky read despite one of the main characters working in an undertakers but it has all of the tropes I love. It sounds like a supernatural You’ve Got Mail and I need something a little bit light and fluffy.

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean actually came in last month’s Illumicrate box. I’ve already read a few pages from a library copy and really liked the writing style. It sounds very unique and I’ve heard a lot of good things about it. I’ve also heard a lot of good things about Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid although to be honest I’m a fan of historic gothic horror so will give any book in that genre a read.

I also have a few e-ARCs from NetGalley I’ve been saving for October (OK I haven’t been saving them I just haven’t gotten to them yet). I was a big fan of C.A. Fletcher’s A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World so as soon as I saw a new book from him, Dead Water, I couldn’t resist requesting. I have to admit CJ Cooke’s The Ghost Woods and The Butcher and the Wren by Alaina Urquhart were impulse requests.

I’m not sure it counts as a “spooky” read but it has the word spells in the title so I’m counting it. I loved Adrienne Young’s Fable duology so have high hopes for Spells For Forgetting. I also have probably too high expectations for Catherine Ryan Howard’s Run Time. I went on a bit of a Ryan Howard binge read last year so I’ve been not very patiently waiting on something new from her.

Stone Blind will be the first book I’ve read by Natalie Haynes despite the fact I already own more than one of her other books. There seem to be a whole lot of Greek mythology books around at the moment but I don’t think I’ve come across any that tell Medusa’s story. There was a brief mention of her in Ariadne which was enough to suggest that she is more than the monster she’s presented to be. I’m looking forward to reading her story.

Given my inability to stick to a TBR and how crazy I know work is going to be over the next couple of months I’m going to leave it at 9 books. There’s a strong possibility I’ll wander off or do some substitutions (my full TBR is out of control so I have lots of options) but hopefully I’ll manage the majority of them.

Have you read any of these? Are there any you’d recommend I move to the top of my list?

Let me know below

Autumn TBR

September 24, 2021 Ali@abookishlife5 Comments

Hello all,

I’m back. I apologise for being MIA yet again and I would promise I’m sticking around but I can’t honestly say I won’t disappear again. Working from home is really not conducive to blogging. The last thing I want to do after a long day/week sitting in my house in front of a laptop is spend my evenings/weekends sitting in my house in front of a laptop. I will however endeavour to post a bit more than once every three months.

Anyway, having failed miserably at both blogging and reading the books on my summer TBR (I read 4 of 16) I’m back to try yet again with an Autumn (Fall for those of you in the US) TBR. Autumn is my absolute favourite time of the year. I’m a big fan of jumpers, boots and keeping cosy indoors with a good book. I always look forward to October in particular and picking up those chilling and creepy novels I’ve been saving up for spooky season. Needless to say you can expect a few books with ghosts, witches and maybe the odd vampire in the list that follows.

Bookshelf books

I am unable to resist a pretty cover or a signed special edition so despite the huge number of books I own and have yet to read I’ve picked up quite a few new books in the last few weeks. It’s not my fault, they shouldn’t be releasing so many tempting books all at the same time although I have to admit my visit to Bloody Scotland last weekend and new signed fiction subscription at Bert’s Books probably haven’t helped.

Hyde by Craig Russell – Winner of Crime Book of the year at Bloody Scotland this is a book that I’ve been tempted to pick up for a while. I don’t typically go for historical fiction but I loved his previous book The Devil Aspect and I can never resist a book inspired by a classic or fairytale.
Horseman by Christina Henry – Another “inspired by” story, this time based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Henry is an autobuy author for me. If she writes it, I’ll read it. It’s also a very pretty book with red sprayed edges.
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff – I pre-ordered a copy of this months ago and am very excited/scared to get stuck in. It is mahoosive which is slightly off putting but early reviews have all been raving about it so I’ll probably dive in soon.
Five Minds by Guy Morpuss – This is the September book from Bert’s Books and while I hadn’t heard of it before it landed on my doormat I am very excited to read it (I think it’s going to be up first of all the books on this list). It’s a mix of science fiction and murder mystery with a really unique premise (and I love a unique premise) of five minds inhabiting one body.
Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber – Technically hasn’t arrived yet but I pre-ordered a few months ago so should be here soon. I was a big fan of the author’s Caraval series and this seems to be set in the same world so has been one of my most anticipated books

ARCS

I still have rather a lot of ARCs sitting waiting to read, some of which are not exactly ARCs anymore as the book has been out for a while.

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney – I really should have read this by now. I’m a big fan of Feeney’s books and it sounds like a great story.
The Doll by Yrsa Sigurdardottir – This will be my first venture into this author’s work. I can never resist a creepy doll story so I’m hoping this lives up to expectations
The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynne Barnes – I really liked The Inheritance Games, it did have the obligatory love triangle but the mystery side of it was great, so I’ve been keeping an eye out for the sequel.
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles – I have somewhat mixed feelings on this one. I loved A Gentleman in Moscow but it was very character driven and slow. I suspect this may be similar so I’ll probably need to be in the right mood for it.
Opal Country by Chris Hammer – This will also be a new author to me but I’ve heard a lot of great things about his books and have loved the other Australian crime fiction I’ve read so I’m looking forward to it.

Backlist books

I have a ridiculous number of books sitting on my kindle unread so I decided to move some into an Autumn TBR folder in the hope it’d be less overwhelming. I ended up with 40 books!! Even I am not delusional enough to think I’m going to read 40 books in the next couple of months (I average 1 or 2 books a week) so these are the ones I think are the most likely.

The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir – I bought this on a bit of a whim. It sounded quite creepy and I like translated fiction so fingers crossed.
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver – Everyone seems to rave over this book so I think it’s finally time to read it and see if it lives up to the hype.
My Best Friends Exorcism by Grady Hendrix – I read The Final Girl’s Support Group a month or so ago and really enjoyed it so I’m planning to work through the author’s backlist starting with this one. I’m a child of the 80s so I love books set in that time period, am looking forward to lots of references.
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland – I bought this a while back and, like many of the books I’ve bought, have been meaning to read it for a while. It’s been picked as a book of the month in one of my Goodreads groups though so that should give me the push I’ve been needing to finally read it.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Another book I bought a while back based on all of the rave reviews. I do love a bit of a gothic horror and this sounds very similar to another book I read last year and really loved.
Perfectly Preventable Deaths by Deirdre Sullivan – An author I follow on Twitter was raving about this book so I bought it (it really doesn’t take much to convince me to buy a book). I do absolutely love the cover and I believe there’s a sequel coming out soon so…

Audiobooks

Finally, I have a few audio books lined up on audible.

The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary – This was actually on my Summer TBR but I have now downloaded it onto my phone so it’s absolutely definitely (well maybe) going to be up soon
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming – This is a bit of a cheat as I’m around halfway through it already. It’s a little bit dated (the portrayal of women is not great) but David Tennant narrates so that’s making up for any shortfalls in the story.
Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell – I had quite a few audible credits so used them to pick up the first three books in this series on the recommendation of someone on Goodreads. I’ve heard the narrator is excellent so here’s hoping the series is too.

I suspect I’m being a little overly optimistic with this list and I can pretty much guarantee I’ll wander off (it’s a little light on romance) but I am hoping I can read the majority of the books on this list (or at least do better than I did with my summer TBR). Hopefully I’ll also manage to get caught up on some reviews and manage to blog a bit more frequently.

Have you read any of these? Any recommendations on where I should start? Let me know in the comments.

Happy Reading

Ax

11 Books on my Fall TBR

September 22, 2017September 22, 2017 Ali@abookishlife17 Comments

Despite a little bit of sunshine this afternoon I think it’s safe to say that Autumn has arrived. It’s wet and windy (although you get that in Summer here) and there’s a touch of frost in the morning. While I’m not looking forward to having to scrape my windscreen in the morning or venturing up to the stables in the pitch black I am looking forward to warm jumpers, new boots and cozy evenings spent reading some of the books coming out over the next couple of months.

So I don’t get too distracted and confused by all of the pretty covers I thought it might be a good idea to do a TBR list with the books I really want to read before the end of November. These are mostly ARCs and new releases but I’m leaving myself a little bit of room to try and get to some of the older books lurking on my shelves and kindle.

ARCs

I’ve been making great progress with my ARCs until very recently so I want to keep up momentum by knocking another six off my list (and trying really hard not to request any more). These are all out over the next couple of months and are either from NetGalley or Readers First.

Invictus by Ryan Graudin – I think this is going to be my next read. I was so lucky to get a copy of this from NetGalley and have been really looking forward to it. I’ve just been waiting for the right time so I can relax and enjoy.
The Break by Marian Keyes – Technically no longer an ARC as it was released a week or so ago but still one I want to get to. Keyes is one of my all time favourite writers so I have high hopes.
Moonlight over Manhattan by Sarah Morgan – Yay a Sarah Morgan Christmas romance. Perfect for getting into the holiday spirit even if it’s only September. There are mince pies in the supermarket already so the countdown has begun.
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman – Another I’ve been looking forward to. A prequel to Practical Magic, and ok I’ve only seen the film but I’ve read some other Hoffman books and loved so can’t wait for this.
Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn – Honestly this had the word fairy tale in the blurb so I hit that request button like mad.
My Side of the Diamond by Sally Gardner – I previously read An Almond for a Parrot by Sally Gardner and loved it’s weird mix of genres. I get the impression this will be kind of similar but YA.

New(ish) Releases

There have been a lot of new releases over the last few weeks and even more coming over the next month or so that I can’t wait to read. I do however really need to instigate a bit of a book buying ban so I’m limiting this to books I already own or have pre ordered.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo – I have the most beautiful copy of this sitting on my bookshelf and I haven’t had a chance to read it. I don’t think I’ll be able to resist for long.
Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas – Another book sitting on my shelf I haven’t had a chance to read as yet. I think Empire of Storms put me off Maas a bit and this book is huge so I’ve been a little wary.
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig – I picked this up from the local supermarket a few weeks ago and haven’t had a chance to read yet (are you seeing a pattern here).
The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo – I know for a fact that this is in October’s FairyLoot box and you can bet I’ll be reading it the second it arrives.
The Empress by S.J. Kincaid – I love, love, loved the Diabolic so am really looking forward to this it’s sequel

Other Books

By my calculations there are around 10 weeks until the end of November so I think I can squeeze in a few more but I want to leave it open. Looking at the list above I am thinking it’s a little heavy on fantasy and sci fi and drastically in need of some crime and horror (Halloween is coming after all) so if you have any rec’s that are worth breaking my ban for let me know.

So that’s my list. Have you read any of these? Any you’d particularly recommend or have doubts about? Are there any books on your Fall TBR that you really think should be on mine? Have you bought any mince pies yet?