I started the dog days of August as a grizzly old timer with much growling and then switched track to happy dappy Labrador thanks to a wonderful first Worldcon. My reading has been dented, but my enthusiasm for genre and books is on fire!
Worldcon was a delight. A con can be an overwhelming experience, but somehow in Dublin I kept bumping into people I know and love.
A huge and grateful shout out to my long-time partner-in-flailing Lisa for being my con buddy. It was pure delight being food motivated with the Noodlecon gang (and thank you Olli for accidentally introducing me to the Library Bards). Love always to my Subjective Chaos crew: may the shortlists be long and the longlists be exciting. HOORAY for getting to hang out with and hug long-time online friends Nikki the Bibliophibian, Jane the Unicorn, Flimflammery Jamie, Graculus, Avery, Peter, and Timy. Last but not least, a huge thank you to Ellen Kushner, Melissa Caruso and Gareth L Powell for making time for a fangirl and being excellent tea buddies.
Also, there were panels and awards and so on. I should blog about it, but instead just imagine me jumping up and down waving my arms around excitedly whilst being barely coherent. Yep, that good.
Reading Round-up
It has been a slow reading month in between all that there fun I was off having, but a very satisfying one.
- Once Upon A River – Diane Setterfield ★★★☆
- Darksoul – Anna Stephens ★★★
- Turning Darkness Into Light – Marie Brennan ★★★★☆
- Brightfall – Jaime Lee Moyer ★★★☆
No DNFs, although I’ve been in such a tizz about how far behind I’ve got on reviews that I’ve failed to settle into several books and have a stack next to my bedside to finish. But they’re not DNFs, they’re just on pause until I come back to them.
Review Round-up
Well I got one of last month’s outstanding reviews written:
- Bite-size Books: The Survival of Molly Southbourne – Tade Thompson ★★★☆
Stacking the shelves
OH LOOK, I went to Worldcon. I can’t imagine what happened, but frankly I was restrained.
Reading statistics
My goal – always – is to read diversely and to love every book. This year, I’m determined to read more books I own, but I am taking it one book at a time.
Books read: 46 / 75 | Game of Books: 245 / 400
- 6 / 22 off the shelf (i.e. not bought in 2019)
- 15 ARCs / Hugo packet
- 13 bite-size (excl. short stories)
Authors: 13 male (28%) / 30 female (65%) / 2 trans, non-binary or genderfluid (4%) and 1 collaboration
- Authors of colour: 9 (20%)
- LGBTQIA authors: 12 (26%)
- Non-US / UK based authors: 3 (7%)
13/20 Books of Summer
As expected, August was all ARCs, but rather fewer of them than intended so I’m not even on track for 15 of my 20 books of summer with a handful of days to go. But that’s okay – I love this challenge for being aspirational as much as anything.
What else has been going on?
We announced the winners of the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards!
Marie Brennan delighted me forever by writing a guest post as Audrey Camherst (what, you haven’t met Lady Trent? Don’t worry, you’ll love her granddaughter – although yes, Turning Darkness Into Light is full of spoilers for the Memoirs).
Next up: we are planning to finish our Winnowing Flame read-along by tackling The Poison Song in September – will you join us? Pop by the Goodreads organisation thread for full details.
Last but by no means least! Spooktastic Reads will be back for the last 13 days of October (no sign up required), and SciFiMonth will be back in November. As usual, sign up for SciFiMonth to get in on the Sign-up Giveaway.
onemore.org 