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Hi all,
Sorry I disappeared again, this year has just...continued to be this year.

Was sick for a week, then had a 3 day power outage, and then had house guests all holiday weekend, so just haven't been able to think. Plus septic finally got put in, but now landscaping is delayed because Angie's List is terrible.

Anyway, I never managed the next book selection. There were only two options though. So I have made a poll here, but unlike normal I have allowed write-ins this time. I also have it set to go to the end of the year, since I'm so late getting this one going. I know I won't get to another before end of year. Sorry! I figure everyone will probably be pretty busy though, so we'll just make do, and get another one going in the new year. If anyone has a desire for more seasonal reads for fall/winter feel free to write them into the poll. /poll/invite...

So things I've read over the last few weeks:

The Goblin Emperor - I wasn't sure I was going to like this, since I usually don't like political type fantasy. One of the many reasons I don't really like Game of Thrones. But I liked it much more than expected. Probably because Maia was actually a good person being swept up into the political machine and was bending the politics to HIS will, rather than being bent by them. Not in a magic wand "and then every thing became better, the end" way, but in a "ok, he's at least slowly attempting to use his unwillingly being thrust into being emperor while being entirely unprepared to do what he can to TRY to make a difference instead of abdicating at the first chance he got and letting corrupt people take over"

The Personal Librarian - This is my books & brew book for September, discussing Tuesday. This was sadly kinda meh for me. The woman herself sounded fascinating, but this was historical fiction based on a real woman. Because she was a Black woman passing for white in a very dangerous time to be doing that, she burned all her personal correspondence. So the authors had to build her based on their idea of what
she would be like based on her professional correspondence, write ups in the paper, general historical context etc. The result was I just felt like I was reading historical fiction, not something about a real person that I could look up. I don't know if that makes sense. It just didn't come to life for me, felt a little flat or stilted or something.

Masques- library got this, i'd forgotten i had requested it. I must have though, since it came up! It was pretty good, pre-Mercy fantasy.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy - this was lovely, as expected. Becky Chambers hasn't let me down yet.

The Book Eaters - Went to an indie book store so this was my impulse buy to support the store. I'd been seeing it all over my social media, cover art was lovely, looked interesting. I'd say it was a decent debut novel, but not AMAZING. I wanted some more lore fleshed out, it was pretty short so I think there was room for some additional detailing. Lots of really fascinating ideas, but parts felt rushed/not fully explained. It also wasn't really clear if this was meant to be first in a series or not. If it's meant to be stand alone, I feel like there's a lot of things that were mentioned with no followthrough. If there's going to be more books, there'll be room to explore those ideas. That might not be entirely up to the author though, so maybe she was just trying to leave herself room if it did well.

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch - this my October books & brew, came up a lot faster than my hold indicated and i just went ahead and got it rather than trying to judge how long to pause the hold without pausing TOO long. (I've had holds where i just wanted to skip one place and be next in line and suddenly i had to wait 3 months to get it again due to the whole "some libraries get preferential treatment if it's their copy" deal). This was another meh one. I had heard good things about it, but I think it had maybe similar problems to the personal librarian. I didn't really realize it until it was done, but I guess this was also based on real people. The astrologer mentioned in the book was a real person, who did put his career on hold to advocate for his mother's release when she was accused of witchcraft, this book is the fictionalized account from her perspective. It just felt very lackluster to me. Like i guess her perspective was kind of funny, with her exasperation with the townspeople's transparent motives of acting against her. But it just kind of meandered all over the place and then the ending was extremely anti-climactic. And I guess that is kinda the problem with historical fiction based on real people/events. If you're trying to be true to the actual events, you can't just change things to make it more interesting, even if your account is fictionalized.

The Witness for the Dead - this is set in the same world as The Goblin Emperor, dealing with one of the minor characters from it. I was really distracted with everything going on so it took ages to get through even though it was short, but i did like it once I got going. I have a hold on the next book, dealing with the same character.

Currently reading:

Technically nothing because I just finished Witness for the dead this morning, and I just was reading a few single comic issues. But I think i'll start A Desolation Called Peace at lunch.

QOTW:

Do people's reading habits change as the end of year approaches?

I tend to find that as things get busier with end of year stuff, holiday prep and all of that, I often fall back on re-reading or sticking to authors I know and trust or favored genres. I'm less likely to seek out challenging nonfiction or breaking out of my comfort zone reads (unless something was on hold at the library for months and it just happened to come due right during that time and I'm stuck with it because I don't want to wait another six months for it). Come January and the worst of the stress is over, I'll be refreshed and ready to throw some curveballs back into my reading.

Glad to hear from you, Sheri - I'm sorry this year has been so utterly crappy for you! :(

I read The Goblin Emperor a few years ago, and loved it, but never got around to the sequels. Thanks for the reminder, I should get on that.

I'm still working on Cage of Souls. First week of school and all that - not much energy for reading. So far my new students seem pretty cool, although of course there's always a few that don't show their true colors right away...

I also finished reading 9 From the Nine Worlds to my son last week - fun spin-off stories from the Magnus Chase trilogy. We've just started Hogfather, which is one of my favorite Discworld books - I was reminded of it when we watched Rise of the Guardians for family movie night last week, and in some ways it has a similar premise, so I suggested it to the kiddo and he was all for it.

QOTW: This right now is the time of year when I'm really lacking energy for reading. September and also June when the year is wrapping up!

Glad to see you, Sheri! I'm sorry this year's been so bad for you, but here's hoping things get better soon!

I have had The Goblin Emperor on my list forever. Maybe I'll bump it up after this current crop of library holds.

I have one finish since last check-in:
Into the Broken Lands - this is a very old-school feeling fantasy, which makes sense since Tanya Huff has been a favorite since the 90s. It's the kind of book that throws you in and you have to pick up a lot of the worldbuilding through inference. I enjoyed it a lot.

I'm currently reading The Sunbearer Trials, which is sort of like a queer Percy Jackson mixed with the Hunger Games - a group of young demigods competing in ritual trials to help keep their world safe from evil gods. I'm really enjoying it so far. The characters are fantastic.

QOTW: I tend to drop of my reading a little in November, between NaNoWriMo and work stuff. In mid-to-late December, when I usually have more time off from work, that's when things pick up more for me. I do tend toward easier reads this time of the year, too.

Good to see you here Sheri! I am sorry this year has continually been so bad for you. I really hope it changes for the better for you soon.

This week I only have one finish The Psychology of Money. I really enjoyed this. It is short and fast. It was recommended by a former colleague (and GR friend) whom I respect a lot who gave it 5 stars. I also did. The chapters are short and the book is easy to read.

I am listening to Zoe's Tale. So far it is pretty good. The teen snarky can be slightly annoying. But I'm enjoying it overall.

Next week I'm on vacation and reading my next neighborhood book club book, The Eighty-Year-Old Sorority Girls.

QOTW: I definitely read slower or less as the holidays approach and life gets busier. But I don't change what I'm reading too much. Usually I half-struggle to finish whatever the neighborhood book club read is so that is often my focus.

Oh by the way, Jen, I listened to In Strange Woods, and I’m on season four of The Bright Sessions :) I’m enjoying! I’ll probably do life with leo(h) after I finish this up.

Sheri wrote: "Oh by the way, Jen, I listened to In Strange Woods, and I’m on season four of The Bright Sessions :) I’m enjoying! I’ll probably do life with leo(h) after I finish this up."

I'm glad you're enjoying them! :)

Happy to see you here, Sheri!

Two books done since my last post, but away for a long weekend with lots of reading time while my husband does triathlon stuff, so going to make some progress on my yearly goals. The first book was A Memory Called Empire, which I really enjoyed. Coincidentally with what others are reading this week, it reminded me of A Goblin Emperor, but set in space. Not quite, but it's about a newly appointed ambassador to an empire where things aren't going like they are supposed to. While I was reading it, the author Arkady Martine won the Hugo for the second in the series, so looking forward to reading that.
My other finish was The Rosie Project, which is something I picked to meet the set in Australia prompt for Book Nerds. I shelved it as a romance. Main character is a genetics professor searching for a wife. It was cute, but the character was on the autism spectrum who didn't seem to acknowledge that he was, and I'm not sure I liked how that was handled.
QOTW: My reading is primarily based on when my requests come in from the library. I have a very satisying stack of library books on my nightstand right now. However, I have found myself reading more children's books in November and December to have short things to finish my yearly goals :). I am at 69/110 books for the year, so slightly behind target. For book nerds, I've covered 90 prompts so far, and have plans for 4 more. Hoping my remaining reading will get me down to 1 book per prompt.
BTW, if you need a book with a 5 letter title, last year I enjoyed Finna.

I agree with Sheri on the "fictional biography" thing; I swore off Marie Benedict after The Other Einstein. If you're at the point of "well this could have happened", just write a novel with different character names and give us an "inspired by a true story" blurb or something.

Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America - This was fairly dry, but my main issue with it is that I think it's outdated. It's based on two survey/interview studies from 1997 and 1998, and while I don't necessarily think the central premise has been overturned, one inevitably wonders what has changed in the last 25 years. I read the 5th edition, in which the author addresses events up through the 2016 election, but that chapter turned out to be mostly his analysis of the correctness of his predictions about the failures of the Obama administration, and not really much to do with the central thesis of the book. I don't see a compelling reason to read this over other, newer works. (I forget why I did, exactly, although it was partly "school spirit".)

QOTW: We're approaching peak theme read season, first attempting to find "spoopy" reads and then going through my list of Golden Age mysteries to find the ones that I was saving for Christmas, but other than that I don't expect a lot to change.

My favorite spoopy read, if you haven't read it already, is A Night in the Lonesome October. Just tossing that out there :)

I have heard much praise for that one, but the library doesn't have it, and I haven't yet overcome my reluctance to spend a money. Someday.
I think this year will be finally getting around to Mexican Gothic. Hopefully it will not be too actually-scary.

I read Mexican gothic, I don’t think it’s very scary, more creepy.

Sheri wrote: "I read Mexican gothic, I don’t think it’s very scary, more creepy."

Agreed. It's creepy and atmospheric, but not nightmare-inducing. Unless you're especially sensitive to that sort of thing, but I don't think you'd be looking for spoopy books if you were :)

That said, it's really worth looking up A Night in the Lonesome October and reading a chapter a day (it's divided into 31 chapters, one for each day of the month)! The early chapters are very short but they get more interesting as the month goes on :)