I don’t know why, but November went by like it was nothing, in stark contrast to an October that felt especially long—probably in part because of how many books I wound up reading. I tried to show a little more restraint this month, especially as the holiday started to loom on the horizon, but I found myself tempted more than once into buying myself some brand new books. The impulses won.
Still, it was a fairly modest month. Let’s see what I did pick up.Read More »
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino is a novel adaptation of the author’s 2019 film of the same name. Set in Hollywood in 1969, it tells the story of Rick Dalton, a washed-up TV actor who used to be a big star on a Western series from the late 1950s to the early 60s called Bounty Law. After a brief stint in movies, where he tried to elevate his career from TV star to movie star, Dalton is now relegated to playing guest spots as the “heavy” in different shows, where the next big faces in TV get to look good by defeating a recognizable has-been hero. As an opportunity to travel abroad and star in Italian Westerns is presented to him, Dalton must come to terms with where he is in his career and what he wants out of the future. Inter-cut with his story is a colourful, sometimes sinister, cast of characters who have all carved out their own little worlds in Hollywood and strive to make their own dreams a reality—or simply make do with what they’ve got.Read More »
Every year, I try to hand-pick a selection of books to read in celebration of the Halloween season. Previously, I have participated in Frighteningly Good Reads, hosted over at the blog Silver Button Books. Unfortunately, she did not run that this year. So, with no outlet to participate in to talk about what I read, I just wanted to do a brief rundown on the books I got through on my Halloween reading list for this year, especially since I’ve been less motivated to write full reviews as of late.
I hope everybody else had a spooktacular Halloween! 🎃Read More »
In contrast to last month, I managed to show a modicum of restraint in October and didn’t pick up very many books, though it honestly wasn’t from lack of trying. Thrift stores can be a dice roll; sometimes you make great finds, and other times their selection is disappointing. Strangely, I’ve been seeing a deluge of the novels Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. Not sure what’s up with that, but I digress. I visited thrift stores several times in October but found nothing worth picking up, with one small exception. So it goes. I also went to a library book sale and walked away empty handed. I really tried to buy books even though I’m running out of space. What am I doing?
Let’s see what I did pick up.Read More »
I thought September was going to be another low-key month for a while there, but I wound up having a surprise opportunity to hit up some bookstores I don’t normally get to, and that led me to get a little carried away with picking up some new ones. It made for a great outing, however, and I picked up some books I’ve been trying to hunt down for a while.
Let’s see what I picked up.Read More »
A Closed and Common Orbit is the second novel in the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers. During the events of the first book, the spaceship the Wayfarer suffered damage after an attack, compromising the ship’s AI. The crew failed to reboot her with her memories intact, so “Lovey” effectively died, leaving only Lovelace, the AI operating at factory settings. Lovey’s crew, alongside her human lover Jenks, were too grief-stricken to keep Lovelace with them, so they uploaded her into the android kit they had illegally intended for Lovey to use, and she left under the care of a close friend of the crew. Lovelace, giving herself the new moniker of Sidra, must now navigate living incognito as a human being, an existence far outside of the remits of her programming (and comfort) and one actively dangerous for herself and her new friends, should her true nature be uncovered.Read More »
August was almost a month of significant note, as it was very close to becoming the first month since January 2018 that I hadn’t bought a single new book. This is on the heals of having gone to Fan Expo again this year, a destination that used to be a guarantee of buying new comics but sadly is hardly worth it for that anymore. However, at a moment of feeling low, late into the month, I found myself browsing a bookstore. During my browse, I found something I’d been looking for, and me with a bit of Expo spending money left over. So, the streak continues.
Let’s see what I picked up.Read More »
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic really stood out to me, as I feel like I have a number of hefty tomes that intimidate me away from reading them, despite having them on my shelf. I decided to mix things up a little, splitting it between big books I’ve managed to finish and big books I’ve yet to start. For me, big is anything approaching or above 700 pages in length. Maybe that’s high, maybe that’s low, I don’t know, pick your poison; 700 is just when a book starts looking especially long to me.Read More »
I’ve gotten really bad at writing these on time, I’m afraid. I want to blame the heat and workload at my jobs, which definitely are factors, but lately I’ve just lacked the motivation, and I’m sorry for that. At any rate, I acquired some nice new books in July, some of which I’d been looking for for a while.
Let’s see what I a managed to pick up.Read More »
Goodness me, I’ve let it happen again: I’ve waited far too long into the next month to post one of these, but I feel like I’ve got a decent excuse this time. You see, the first week of July I was fairly busy with work, and then all of last week I was on vacation. So, this was left to languish, but I was at a cottage! Surely you can understand. I’ve had some last minute remembrances of what I bought, so it’s one of those months, but I believe I’ve got them all remembered properly now.
Let’s see what I picked up.
Muse with Me 