No, no, nothing has gone wrong – it’s just Hallowe’en! I finished work at the start of the month, so I had a couple of weeks quietly freaking out over all the life admin I haven’t done in two years until I realised: it’s been two years. It can take a bit longer, right? RIGHT. So the past two weeks have been much more fun: a bread-making course, Bristolcon and now I’m on holiday in Italy drinking excellent hot chocolate. Feeling pampered? You bet.
Reading Round-up
Lots of short, fast, fun reads for me this month, mostly centred around Spooktastic Reads – I bounced off a few chewier tomes, so decided to keep it light (or dark) and pacy. But with SciFiMonth just around the corner, that naturally means my mind has been turning to the skies and the future – I couldn’t resist getting an early start!
- Soulbinder – Sebastien de Castell ★★★★☆
- Wychwood – George Mann ★★★☆
- Hallowdene – George Mann ★★★☆
- Lioness Rampant – Tamora Pierce ★★☆
- Into the Drowning Deep – Mira Grant ★★★☆
- Do You Dream of Terra-Two? – Temi Oh ★★★
- Bitesize Books: In the Vanisher’s Palace – Aliette de Bodard ★★★★
- Tremontaine: The Final Season – Ellen Kushner et al
- A World of Change – Karen Lord
- The Turning of the Tide – Joel Derfner & Liz Duffy Adams
- What Light in the Houses Beneath the Earth? – Tessa Gratton
Review Round-up
- Persepolis Rising – James S A Corey ★★★★☆
- Throwback Thursday: City of Stairs – Robert Jackson Bennett ★★★★
- Throwback Thursday: The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters ★★★★★
Stacking the shelves
After September’s book buying blow-out, I took myself in hand so I could do all the reading and reviewing instead of all the acquiring. It, err, didn’t work. There was temptation. I’ll do more reading, okay?
Reading statistics
My goal – as always – is to read diversely and to love every book. I’ve put no targets on my reading this year beyond a number of books, but I’m tracking some stats for my own interest.
- 71 / 75 books or novellas + 3 DNFs
- 23 male (32%) / 41 female (58%) / 5 trans, non-binary or genderfluid (7%) + 1 group effort
- 23 (32%) – by authors of colour
- 8 (11%) – by LGBTQIA authors
- 19 ARCs / 10 off the shelf (it doesn’t count if I bought them to read them straight away)
- Game of Books score: 373 / 400
SciFi Month
IT’S HEEEEEEERE – well, it will be tomorrow! Join us for a month of geekery, reading, watching, quoting and flailing our way through space, science and all things speculative. Sign up before midnight tonight (PST) and post something – anything – in honour of SciFi Month before midnight on November 7th to be entered into our SciFi Month Mystery Giveaway: a SF debut from our goodie bag! Missed the deadline? Join us anyway – you can find Lisa and I in residence at @SciFiMonth retweeting all your enthusiasm and boosting the signal for all things SF.
How has your month been?
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