How has your week been? What have you been reading? I recently finished Winter Lost (Mercy Thompson #14), Patricia Briggs. This reads like a standalone novel, even though it’s the 14th in this urban fantasy series. I haven’t read any of the others, but I plan on it. Now, on to the 10+ things I bookmarked recently.
one+ 9 Readers Share Their Cozy Corners. What does yours look like? That place where you love to settle in and read a good book, or just relax. When I’m at home, it’s probably my bed, where I can get under the covers and just zone out and read until my eyes are so dry and my eyelids so heavy that I go get caffeine so I can stay up even longer and read some more.
two+ Have Book ARCs become a status symbol? “These books, hot in the hands of celebrities and Internet personalities alike, prove just how susceptible we are to clever marketing, and just how hungry people are to be in the know among the literary elite.” This is in response to how much buzz on social media the “advanced reader copies” of Intermezzo by Sally Rooney got. I’m not mad at it, but here’s another viewpoint – Why ARCs as Status Symbols Are Bad for Business. “… how big publishers earmark specific books as “big,” so those titles benefit from significant marketing and publicity budgets and campaigns … but What about the authors who have written excellent books but are left hanging because there is nothing in the budget for them?”
three+ This chart from LitHub on Which Big Fall Book of the Season you should read is a fun one. Since I chose, It’s Fall – bring on the comfort … and I find murder comforting (don’t judge me – this is fiction!), plus I’m sharing my pumpkin spice latte with old friends, then I should read Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout. Well done LitHub! Tell Me Everything is also Oprah’s Book Club’s 107th pick (Sep. 2024).
four+ I loved Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge and Olive Again which feature an older main character. I hadn’t noticed before then that I didn’t read many books with protagonists in their 60s and above. Here are 20 more Novels featuring seasoned protagonists for every reading mood. From this list, I can recommend Killers of A Certain Age, Deanna Raybourn.
five+ How many of the 60 Readers’ Top Books Published in the Past Five Years have you read? I’ve read 16, have a few more on my reading list to get to one day, and others on my will never read list.
six+ Which book do you refuse to get rid of? All of them? For me, it’s only 2 books right now – What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld (Illustrated by A.G. Ford and Ben Boos) … and Atomic Habits, James Clear.
seven+ While I know rationally that not everyone is going to reach for the dark & macabre type of books during October – which is in just a few days, I’m ready & here for the spooky tales this season! I’m currently reading A Haunting on the Hill, Elizabeth Hand which is one of the books on New Horror Reads That Riff on Classic Horror. Spoiler alert – it’s creepy AF.
eight+ I’ve been seeing the #54321challenge a lot lately on bookstagram. It’s 5 books you love, 4 books on your tbr (to be read list), 3 books you’ll always recommend, 2 recent 5 star reads and 1 book you’re currently reading. Don’t be surprised if you see a version of this here in the next few weeks.
nine+ The Booker Prize 2024 shortlist of 6 books has been announced. The only finalists’s work I’ve read is James, Percival Everett – loved it! The Booker Prize 2024 ceremony will take place on the evening of Tuesday, November 12 2024 and will be will be livestreamed on the Booker Prizes’ YouTube and Instagram channels. The ten contenders for the National Book Award for Fiction has also been announced. The Finalists in all five categories will be revealed on Tuesday, October 1 and Winners will be announced live at the 75th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.
ten+ Off the Books, What are you watching? I recently finished the tv series The Old Man. It was aaight. The acting was fantastic – it got me to believe (sometimes) that these old guys could beat up people 1/3rd their age.
In case you missed it, we recently published This is the Way the World Ends (in Books). Cheers to the weekend and week ahead!
