September 2021 Monthly Wrap-Up

September was a far above average reading month. I don’t know how or why, but I entered full reading machine mode and finished 9, with one DNF. I also have a massive preorder of 11 books coming between October and December, which I’m very much looking forward to.

I also finally reviewed She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan!

Read:

• The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones: Badass gravedigger heroine who fights the undead with her axe, cinnamon roll mapmaker hero with chronic pain. Very small scope. And there is a goat.
• The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang: A super adorable graphic novel about a prince who wants to wear dresses sometimes (read genderqueer to me?) and a dressmaker who helps him do that.
• The Light Between Worlds by Laura Weymouth: Quiet, melancholic, beautiful. One of my faves this year.
• Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace: Didn’t vibe with that one at all. I think I initially TBR’d it because YA book with no romance, but the atmosphere, the world, the plot…meh.
• Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots: So much fun. Supervillains, spreadsheets, and monsterfucking undertones.
• A Curse of Roses by Diana Pinguicha: Started off very interesting, but poor pacing and questionable plot choices ruined it, especially in the second half.
• Les Orangers de Versailles by Annie Pietri: FIRST BOOK IN FRENCH. Adorable, really liked it. Attempt at a review in French here.
• Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford: As expected from Mitford, very gossipy and entertaining. But man I got tired of nobility’s shit.
• A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (DNF): Yeah no, not for me. Didn’t appreciate the infodumpy stream of consciousness style and the dynamic between the two MCs was exhausting.
• Jean d’Alembert by Ronald Grimsley: Precisely the type of biography I hate the most – that is, non-chronological, with not much about the man’s actual life (shamelessly skipped all the bits on maths and physics and so on), but it still gave me some precious bits of info and at least a general sense of who d’Alembert was and what was he about.

Currently reading:

• The Diviners by Libba Bray: Very good, excellent 1920s atmosphere, creepy undertones…but a little overlong.
• Vermilion by Molly Tanzer: Got it a while ago and planned to use it for Bingo, but not sure I’ll finish this one. Not really feeling it.
• Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo: Alright so far, but I actually need to sit down with it without distractions.
• Voltaire and the Century of Light by A. Owen Aldridge: Yep, still picking at it. Still good. 

Books read in 2021: 47 (+ 5? rereads)
r/Fantasy Bingo Challenge progress: 20/25 (80%)