So here’s September come and gone already (pretty much). It’s been another lowkey sort of month for new books—not sure the last time that’s happened—but I suppose it’s a welcome change for the moment. I keep feeling like I bought more, but it’s only because I meant to if they were in the shop, but they weren’t, so I didn’t. You follow?

Enough meandering. On to the books!

New Books

I think this may be the first time I’ve technically read all of the books I bought by the time I’m posting about them here.

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh was a rather late preorder that I placed toward the end of August after realizing that the book was finally coming out. I don’t know how it took me so long to realize it finally had a release date. I’ve since read through it and loved it. I should have a review up soon.

Fangs by Sarah Andersen collects a webcomic that I’d actually read a lot of online before learning it was getting a physical book. I decided to wait for that on account of how lovely the hardcover it. Look at it! It’s about a vampire and a werewolf in a relationship, from more of an adult perspective rather than teen romance.

Prey Slaughtered is a small art book by Steve Panton of Bloc Illustration, the creation of which I backed on Kickstarter earlier in the summer. It’s a collection of postcards by the author, each depicting a different boss from the video game Bloodborne in his unique art style. It can be enjoyed as a little art book, or each piece can be removed and framed. I want to remove some, but I’m terrified of ruining it. The back of each postcard has a quote from the game related to their respective boss. Quite thrilling!

Novel Discoveries

The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan is a novel I heard about in another blog’s WWW post, though I cannot quite remember where. It paints the picture of rural life in India, seen through the eyes of a helpless young animal. It sounded like it had a fable-like quality to it that I’d enjoy while providing a perspective new to me.

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden is a graphic novel I also heard about through WWW posts. The art style was quite eye-catching, and the premise of a spaceship crew tasked with rebuilding beautiful yet broken down structures sounded really interesting to me.

A Pre-Columbian Bestiary by Ilan Stavans and Eko is a book that hasn’t even come out yet, but I saw on yet another WWW post. I’m a sucker for a good bestiary and the art looks outstanding, which is enough for me to want to at least give it a look.

To be Taught, if Fortunate by Becky Chambers I shelved simply because of Chambers. It’s another science fiction novella by the author, by all appearances not related to The Wayfarers series, but that’s still enough to pique my interest.

Lastly, I recently learned that The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View is coming out this year, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of that classic film. I really enjoyed the first From a Certain Point of View anthology about the original Star Wars film, so I’m excited to pick this up and give it a read. I’m just sad it’ll probably have to wait so I can stay on top of my to-read list though.

Closing Thoughts

With October rearing its head so soon on the horizon, the only pertinent question to ask is: what are you planning to read for the Halloween season this year? I know real life can be a little more harrowing than normal right now, but what better way to cathartically deal with the horrors of reality than to confront more abstract fears on the page? I’m going to give another Alien book a look, as well as an ARC I received a review request for called The Night Will Find Us by Matthew Lyons.

Until next time, thank you for reading.