A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
Started: 10/1/23
Finished: 10/31/23
A yearly tradition now! I really enjoy reading this in October, one chapter a day, following along with the story.
Month: October 2023
The Skull by Jon Klassen
Started: 10/30/23
Finished: 10/30/23
A strange retelling of a folktale about a kid and a castle and a talking skull. Definitely too much for Jack, but I enjoyed it.
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield
Started: 10/17/23
Finished: 10/22/23
Yay for main characters who are actually adults (and over 30!), but otherwise this was just okay. Enjoyable enough, not great, sometimes annoying. Writer for an SNL-like show tries not to fall in love with the hot musical guest man because he’s too famous, he’s too attractive – she’s too insecure. Whatever, they work it out, and if they make a movie out of it, I’ll see it.
I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
Started: 10/11/23
Finished: 10/19/23
A professor visits her old boarding school, runs a class about podcasting, and starts a podcast where she accuses just about everyone she knows of murdering her roommate 20 years before. It started out good and then got pretty tiresome.
From Blood and Ash, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, and The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Started: 9/15/23
Finished: 10/17/23
We don’t all have the same taste in books. Obviously. Sometimes I need the reminder. And it’s okay to quit even if a friend says you should read it.
Premise: pretty interesting. Plot: not terrible. Writing: acceptable EXCEPT that for reasons unknown to me (but I can’t imagine they would be convincing), she uses “vamprys” for vampires and “wolven” for werewolves. They are the SAME. THIS IS UNNECESSARY AND ANNOYING. And yet I stuck with it through three books. No more! The stakes are high, and that’s okay. The evil-doers are evil (pretty damn evil), and that’s okay. The main character has leveled up SO much and SO quickly and her upbringing was SO sheltered that this would be more interesting if she just had a total breakdown instead of rising to the occasion.
Also, I’m hesitant to take recommendations from the people who would recommend these. (I do not recommend these.) Not terrible, but not good.
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
Started: 9/29/23
Finished: 10/10/23
Pretty good story, pretty good narrator (for the audiobook, I mean), and the main character pretty much acted her age, which was a nice change. I mean, she still outsmarted lots of people and saved the day, but in a tolerable way. Magic and dangerous grimoires! And libraries!
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
Started: 9/24/23
Finished: 10/1/23
I like plenty of fantasy and SF where the heroes save the world, but sometimes it’s nice to read something cozy, with a smaller problem to solve. The full title is “Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes”. The main character is an orc who has retired from standard D&D adventuring to open a coffee shop in a small town. Friends are made, enemies are conquered, coffee is served. It’s a really nice satisfying small story.