If August was a month of distractions, September has just been damn hard work as I juggled clients and deadlines in meatspace. I’ve enjoyed pushing my boundaries and I’ve been rewarded by the spectacularly good reading squeezed in around the edges (somehow finishing more books than in August, even though the only weekend I had off I was too sick to do anything). Can you say VERY GOOD BOOKS?

Sadly work knocked out any chance of participating in the Raksura Read-along, but it’s been a delight to get back to the Temeraire Tweet-along (starting Victory of Eagles this weekend if you’d care to join in). In between, I continued to get on top of my ARCs and oh my word what a good month it turned out to be.

Reading round-up 

• Children of the Different – S C Flynn   
• Certain Dark Things – Silvia Moreno-Garcia     
• Translucid – Zen di Pietro     
• False Hearts – Laura Lam       (review to follow)
• Empire of Ivory – Naomi Novik      
• Savant – Nik Abnet [DNF]
• We Are All Completely Fine – Daryl Gregory     

In an unusual step, I’m opting not to review We Are All Completely Fine. It was… fine, but having failed to write a review immediately, I find it hasn’t stayed with me at all. Would read again, but not yet!

Bite-size book reviews

I keep promising to get my focus back to bitesize, and I’m finally getting back to it. I’m also feeling spoilt – I’ve got very lucky in my short story selections, as I’ve been bowled over by practically every one. I feel a little odd including Tremontaine as it is episodic rather than stand-alone bites. I might have to add a Tremontaine round-up in future months!

• Iron Ladies, Iron Tigers – Sunny Moraine    
• An Ocean the Colour of Bruises – Isabel Yap    
• Tales by Trees – Iiro Küttner & Ville Tietäväinen    
• Tremontaine: Convocation – Ellen Kushner     

Stacking the shelves

After splurging in August, I’ve intended to keep my head down in September, but then I got led astray by VERY EXCITING ARCs. I’d barely recovered my balance when the GollanczFest sale made a sneak attack, and before I knew it I was out for the count because Den Patrick and Justina Robson have been on my wishlist for months. And yes, I bought ebooks of 2 books I already own. I can’t help myself when they’re on offer for 99p, as it means I can get to my books anywhere, any time.

Conscious demographics

My challenge to myself is to read diversely and to love every book. This tracker is intended to help me stay mindful of how I’m doing with that.

• 23 male (43%) / 26 female (48%) / 3 trans, non-binary or genderfluid (6%) + 2 anthologies
• 9 (17%) – by people of colour
• 7 (13%) – by LGBTQIA people / 12 (22%) featuring LGBTQIA protagonists

Actual challenges

• 54 / 75 books (excl. this month’s bite-size reads as so short and any DNFs)
• 20 (37%) – towards the Backlist Challenge (excl. re-reads)