Wytwavedarling's Thread of Pets and Reads

Well, I'm back again!

2022 was a rough year--especially these last few months. My hopes for 2023 mostly just involve less--less chaos, less grief, less stress. Heck, some of 2023 will still be spent cleaning up after 2022, considering we've still got a tarp on our roof from Hurricane Ian and are still without a fence for the dogs (also thanks to Ian).... so, all things considered, I'm just looking forward to putting 2022 behind us.

But all that said...2022 was a great year for reading. I'm on track to have read right around 100 books in 2022. It wasn't a bad year for writing, either. I'm currently reaching the halfway point on my first major ghostwriting contract, and on top of my work as an editor, that's kept me super-busy. I may not have had the emotional energy to write as much on my own work this year, but I did sell one of my short stories for the first time (I've only managed poetry sales in the past), and I'm still hoping to wrap up revisions on my current work-in-progress and get it off to my agent before we tick the calendar into 2023. They're still trying to sell my other book, as well, though we haven't had any news on that front in a while.

Considering all that, I'm going to organize this year's reading loosely like I organized last year. You'll see pictures of my pets, and plans I'm making to follow along with the following challenges: AlphaKit, SFFKit, ScaredyKit, RandomCat, GeoCat, and SeriesCat. I'll also have separate categories for: books I read with my HOWL book club (if you like Horror, check out HOWL Society's Discord!), favorite authors, poetry, and nonfiction. I'll plan to read 24 books in my HOWL category, and 12 books in the other categories.

There'll have to be a fair bit of overlap for all that to happen...but here's hoping it works out! I'm not sure yet whether I'll be completing my full challenge plans for 2022, but I'm close!

Planning 2023 Reads

I'm going to plan on participating in a bunch of challenges, so we'll see how my grand plans turn out. Especially since I also want to make sure to read 12 books by favorite authors, 12 poetry collections, and 12 nonfiction works. Right now, I'm as comfy with them as Charlie cuddled in her blanket...



February: Angel's Game (SeriesCat)
May: Wolves of Mount McKinley (GeoCat)
July: Powers of Horror (SeriesCat & 'P' AlphaKit)
October: Ancillary Justice (SFFKit)

Currently Reading: A Discovery of Witches, First Thrills, Victim Six, Moon of the Crusted Snow

Personally completing the alphabet via titles and authors...

Title Alphabet:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Author Alphabet:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Looking at Publication Dates for Books Read:

1952 (1)
1962 (1), 1964 (1), 1967 (1), 1968 (1)
1976 (1)
1987 (2)
1990 (1), 1991 (1), 1993 (1), 1996 (2)
2000 (1), 2001 (1), 2002 (1), 2003 (3), 2004 (1), 2005 (1), 2006 (2), 2007 (4), 2009 (3)
2010 (2), 2011 (1), 2012 (4), 2013 (4), 2014 (6), 2015 (3), 2016 (1), 2017 (3), 2018 (8), 2019 (4)
2020 (4), 2021 (12), 2022 (15), 2023 (12)

GIVEAWAYS TO BE READ:
A Darker Shade of Noir (LT)
Millard Salter's Last Day (LT)
The Crowns of Croswald (LT)
Learning to Cry (LT)
Acheron (GR)
The Pain Killers by John Avanzato (personal)

TO FINISH PERSONAL ALPHABET CHALLENGE:

+3 unlisted nonfiction works if I want to meet all challenge goals

AlphaKit Books:

I'm going to try to complete a book for each letter as the months go along. We'll see how it goes. I may be twisting myself into a Ziva pretzel to fit them all in.



1. Bound by Night by Larissa Ione (I) (4*)
2. Sphere by Michael Crichton (S) (4*)
3. The Starless Crown by James Rollins (S) (4*)
4. Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota by Amelia Gorman (F) (3*)
5. The Jackal by J.R. Ward (J) (2.5*)
6. The Invasion by K.A. Applegate (A) (5*)
7. The Warehouse by Rob Hart (W) (4*)
8. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (G) (3*)
9. Dead of Winter by Kealan Patrick Burke (D) (4*)
10. Unending Dialogue: Voices from an AIDS Poetry Workshop by Rachel Hadas (U) (3.5*)
11. Sacred Summer by Cassandra Rose Clarke (C) (2*)
12. Elevation by Stephen King (K) (3.5*)
13. The Big Finish by James W. Hall (B) (5*)
14. Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor (O) (5*)
15. Qualia Nous edited by Michael Bailey (Q) (2*)
16. Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann (V) (4*)
17. An Exorcism of Angels by Stephanie M. Wytovich (E) (3*)
18. Don't Cry, Tai Lake by Qiu Xiaolong (X) (3*)
19. The Route of Ice and Salt by Jose Luis Zarate (Z) (4*)
20. Mouse Trap by Caryn Larrinaga (M) (4*)
21. House of Drought by Dennis Mombauer (5*) (H)
22. Zoobiquity by Barbara Natterson-Horowiz and Kathryn Bowers (N)
23. Three Messages and a Warning (anthology) (4.5*) (T)
24. SuiPsalms by John Edward Lawson (L) (1*)
25. Witching Moon by Rebecca York (2*) (Y)
26. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice (4*) (R)

HOWL Books:

I'm part of the HOWL Society Discord, and the group of writers/readers there has come to mean the world to me. I try to participate in two reads with them per month. Even when the books scare me like thunderstorms scare my creatures...



1. The Resurrectionist by E.B. Hudspeth (2*)
2. Sphere by Michael Crichton (4*)
3. The Black Tongue by Marko Hautala (3*)
4. Can You Sign My Tentacle? by Brandon O'Brien (5*)
5. We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Paula D. Ashe (3*)
6. The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V (2*)
7. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (2*)
8. Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich (4.5*)
9. The Route of Ice & Salt by Jose Luis Zarate (4.5*)
10. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi (3*)
11. In That Endlessness, Our End by Gemma Files (4.5*)
12. The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe (4.5*)
13. The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder (5*)
14. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (2*)
15. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (3*)
16. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (5*)
17. Agony's Lodestone by Laura Keating (2*)
18. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (4*)
19. Cabin in the Woods by Tim Lebbon (2*)
20. Silver Nitrate by Silvia Garcia-Moreno (3*)
21. The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell (2*)
22. Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke (3*)
23. Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark (4.5*)
24. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice (4*)
25. Seed by Ania Ahlborn (3.5*)

The SFF Kit:

I always enjoy the way the SFFKit helps me make a little dent in my TBR mountain as the year goes by. With that in mind, here's Charlie wrestling an imaginary bear...



1. The Starless Crown by James Rollins (4*)
2. Long Black Curl by Alex Bledsoe (5*)
3. Hans Vogel is Dead: Volume 1 by Sierra Barnes (5*)
4. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (3*)
5. Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor (5*)
6. The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin (4*)
7. The Last Astronaut by David Wellington (5*)
8. Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann (4*)
9. Three Messages and a Warning (4.5*)
10. A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (3*)
11. Lure by Tim McGregor (4*)
12.

The ScaredyKit:

The ScaredyKit is another challenge that really helps with MountTBR. And it leaves me plenty to wonder about when Ziva starts staring into space again...



1. You Suck by Christopher Moore (3.5*)
2. A Flame in Byzantium by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (3*)
3. I Am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland (5*)
4. The Pain Eater by Kyle Muntz (4.5*)
5. Elevation by Stephen King (3.5*)
6. Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach by Ramsey Campbell (3.5*)
7. Widow's Point by Richard Chizmar and Billy Chizmar (5*)
8. Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward (2*)
9. Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan (5*)
10. Mouse Trap by Caryn Larrinaga (4.5*)
11. This World Belongs to Us (anthology) (5*)
12. The Ghost Sequences by A.C. Wise (4*)

Series Cat:

What better way to celebrate series than with a series of cats in balls? Hart and Ziva, in their favorite window spot:



1. Bound by Night by Larissa Ione (4*)
2. The Invasion by K.A. Applegate (5*)
3. Obsession by Jonathan Kellerman (3.5*)
4. Return to Roar by Jenny McLachlan (4.5*)
5. The Big Finish by James W. Hall (5*)
6. While the Clock Ticked by Franklin W. Dixon (4*)
7. The Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter (4*)
8. Don't Cry, Tai Lake by Qiu Xiaolong (3*)
9. Dominic by Elizabeth Amber (4.5*)
10. Faithful Place by Tana French (5*)
11.
12.

GeoCat:

Our cats are indoor cats, but Quinn climbs as high up as she can in her tree.



1. Mistress of Geese by Antonija Meznaric (5*)
2. Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota by Amelia Gorman (3*)
3. The Impossible Resurrection of Grief by Octavia Cade (5*)
4. Barbecued Husbands and Other Stories from the Amazon by Betty Mindlin (5*)
5. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (4*)
6. The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories by Franz Kafka (4*)
7. The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan (4*)
8. Elephant Destiny by Martin Meredith (4*)
9. After Dark by Haruki Murakami (5*)
10. Kiss Me by Andrew Pyper (4*)
11. Idanre and Other Poems by Wole Soyinka (4*)
12.

RandomCat:

I love the RandomCat. I'll never not love the RandomCat



1. You Suck by Christopher Moore (3.5*)
2. Uncovering You: Submission by Scarlet Edwards (2*)
3. The Same Deep Water as You by Chad Lutzke (3.5*)
4. Hans Vogel is Dead: Volume 1 by Sierra Barnes (5*)
5. Return to Roar by Jenny McLachlan (4.5*)
6. Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss (3*)
7. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (4*)
8. Gargantuana's Ghost by Patrick Barb (5*)
9. Teahouse of the Almighty by Patricia Smith (5*)
10. Zoobiquity by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers (5*)
11. Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison (4*)
12. Witching Moon by Rebecca York (2*)

Favorite Authors:

Sometimes I get so distracted by new-to-me authors and challenges, I forget to return to my old favorites. This corner of my challenge is to make sure I slow down and remember them this year.



1. The Starless Crown by James Rollins (4*)
2. You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore (3.5*)
3. Long Black Curl by Alex Bledsoe (5*)
4. Obsession by Jonathan Kellerman (3.5*)
5. Broken Dolls by Kitty Thomas (4*)
6. The Big Finish by James W. Hall (5*)
7. The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder (5*)
8. Elevation by Stephen King (3.5*)
9. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (4*)
10. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (5*)
11. The Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter (4*)
12. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (4*)
13. Kiss Me by Andrew Pyper (3*)

Poetry:

I miss taking time out to write poetry, I've been so focused on fiction, but I write more poetry when I read more poetry, and I've got tons of collections waiting patiently in my TBR for me to enjoy them. So, here's hoping I get to them this year.



1. Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota by Amelia Gorman (3*)
2. The Ghettobirds by Bryant O'Hara (3.5*)
3. I Am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland (5*)
4. Unending Dialogue: Voices from an AIDS Poetry Workshop by Rachel Hadas (3.5*)
5. Sacred Summer by Cassandra Rose Clarke (2*)
6. Travelers: Poems by David Michael Belczyk (1.5*)
7. Four in Hand by Alicia Mountain (3*)
8. Plenitude by Daniel Sarah Karasik (5*)
9. An Exorcism of Angels by Stephanie M. Wytovich (3*)
10. Goldbeater's Skin by G.C. Waldrep (3*)
11. Teahouse of the Almighty by Patricia Smith (5*)
12. X: Poems by James Galvin (2*)

Nonfiction

I actually went through and pruned my nonfiction shelves this year, getting rid of all of the books left over from my years in academia that, realistically speaking, I was just not that interested in reading anymore. Theoretically, that means I'm interested in reading all of the nonfiction on my shelves, right? So, I should probably start rather than just looking at them wide-eyed or hiding my face from them...



1. Unending Dialogue: Voices from an AIDS Poetry Workshop by Rachel Hadas (3.5*)
2. Barbecued Stories and Other Stories from the Amazon by Betty Mindlin (5*)
3. The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan (4*)
4. Elephant Destiny by Martin Meredith (4*)
5. Zoobiquity by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers (5*)
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Great pics of your fur babies. Good luck with your 2023 reading

Happy reading in 2023 and good luck with your work!

Best wishes for much less in 2023 - except reading! :)

Good luck for your 2023 reading!

I'm counting . . . two dogs and three cats? and cuties every one of them!

Love the dog and cat pics! Good luck with your 2023 reading plans!

Thanks for the messages, all :)

>17 NinieB:, it is indeed two dogs and three cats! We lost our oldest kitty this year--the fuzzball you'd have seen pictures of in my thread for 2022. I thought about including her picture here anyway, but then realized my instinct would be to include pictures of every animal I've lost over the years and just open up a floodgate of sadness... so, just the current household in the thread, this year at least.

>19 whitewavedarling: So sorry about the oldest kitty, but I agree that we do have to move on. That's what we're doing from the elderly kitty we lost in 2021.

Congrats on the short story sale and the amount of reading in 2022, and I hope 2023 is looking up in the other areas. I always get BBs from you, so I'm looking forward to your reading next year. (And my dog is Charley, too, although spelled slightly differently!)

>20 NinieB:, Definitely the hardest part of having fur-babies!

>21 sturlington:, I get BBs from you too, so I'm glad to hear it :) During the National Dog Show, they mentioned that Charlie (can't remember what spelling they used) is one of the top boy dog names in the US right now. It helped me understand why everyone assumes our baby is a boy, though I've known more girls who went by Charlie than guys!

>22 whitewavedarling: My Charley is also a girl but everyone calls her "he" as well!

>23 sturlington:, That makes me happy :)

Awwww so many cute photos, but I especially love the cozy cats curled up in a ball. Oh to be a cat and sleep all day!

Great set up and I am envious that you always have a choice of beautiful animals to cuddle with. :)

Nice photos of your pets. Looking forward to seeing what you read this year.

Love the pics of your pets! Happy reading in 2023!

Thank you, friends :)

And now, for my End-of-Year Meme...

Describe yourself: Head Full of Ghosts

Describe how you feel: Going Dark

Describe where you currently live: The Nest

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Elsewhere, Perhaps

Your favorite form of transportation is: The Time Traveler's Magic

Your favorite food is: The Cuckoo Song

Your favorite time of day is: Midnight Doorways

Your best friend is: Flesh

You and your friends are: We Could Be Heroes

What’s the weather like: Rain in the Trees

You fear: The Memory Thief

What is the best advice you have to give: We Need to Do Something

Thought for the day: My Heart is a Chainsaw

What is life for you: Bailey's Cafe

How you would like to die: In Between Dreams

Your soul’s present condition: An Artist of the Floating World

What was 2022 like for you? When the Reckoning Comes

What do you want from 2023? No Gods, No Monsters

The « go anywhere » answer is perfect!

>30 rabbitprincess:, I had a hard time with some, but that one was a gimme :)

Enjoyed all the cat pics! Have a great year of reading!

>32 thornton37814:, thank you :)

And, meanwhile, I succeeded in all of my 2022 challenges for the first time in ages! And, somehow, came in right at 100 books without trying to lol.

At this new year moment, I'm currently still reading: A Discovery of Witches, Burning Girls and Other Stories, and First Thrills (and I'm not really in a hurry to finish any of them, really. I need a break from Discovery, and the other two are short story collections I'm kind of wandering through)

For January, I'm planning on reading:

The Resurrectionist by E.B. Hudspeth (HOWL Read 1)
Sphere by Michael Crichton (HOWL Read 2)
Starless Crown by James Rollins (SFFKit & 'S' AlphaKit)
You Suck by Christopher Moore (ScaredyKit & RandomCat)
Bound by Night by Larissa Ione (SeriesCat & 'I' AlphaKit)
Mistress of Geese by Antonija Meznaric (GeoCat)
Slewfoot by Brom (bonus HOWL read)

Love the pics of your pets. They're lovely. Good luck with 2023, in all things.

Congratulations on the short-story sale, and I hope 2023 is a great year for you, in all respects!

Best wishes for an easier 2023. Happy reading!

Thank you, all!

1. The Resurrectionist by E.B. Hudspeth (2*)

There's no doubt that this book is fantastically put together. It's a gorgeous, high-quality book with impressive art and impeccable detail. Hudspeth's talent as an artist is on full display, as is Quirk Books' commitment to interesting, out-of-the-box books that require a different type of commitment from mainstream fiction. (I've loved every Quirk Books book I've picked up by the way...until...uh...this one.) So.

The thing is, this book reads and feels like more of an experiment than a novel or fully grown story by the end. It's as if the biography--the written part of the text--is just an excuse to show off the gorgeous drawings of Hudspeth, but the problem is that it reads like a biography, and leaves so many threads unanswered/unfollowed that, in the end, the book feels like an experiment vs a completed experience with real power and follow-through/impact. Part of me thinks that, put simply, the book needed a third part where some of those early threads could have been followed, but realistically, I'm not sure that would be possible. Because, looking back on the whole read, it does feel as if the biography is simply a way to justify putting all of the art into play without dealing with the burden of creating a full narrative that would really develop any sort of character and/or story arcs that could deliver emotional impact on top of more detached horror.

And perhaps the book was never meant to deliver a fuller story--it certainly reads as more of an art display, justified by lengthy text to develop horror behind the art--but at least for this reader, I ended up feeling less-than-satisfied with the book as a whole. It's possible I should be thankful for the brevity of the biography, though--if I hadn't flipped pages forward to know that the art was coming, and to know that there was very little biography left, I'd likely have given up on the book. The writing is fine, and interesting, but the story itself is so anchored into the tone of being a biography, and so summary-based and often vague, without the details of character to make the characters come to life in moments of non-horror, I had trouble getting through it, particularly at the end.

I'm not sure who I'd recommend this book to, beyond readers who want a non-traditional horror read.

2. Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes (3*)

I ended up taking a break from this book for quite a while, mostly because the stories were all hitting the same note for me. There was nothing particularly wrong with them, and the writing is lovely (if a little, er, academic and detached), but they were all striking the same tone, with similar messages and turns that, after a while, began to feel repetitive. Some few also felt overly academic/forced, as if they were trying too hard to do something different or take an experimental approach, and those put me off enough that they brought down the collection as a whole.

There were a few stand-outs here--"Ballroom Blitz", "Among the Thorns", and the title story "Burning Girls" did all strike similar notes/tones for me, like the others, but they stood out for me as carrying a bit more emotional impact and transcending their messages/reflections from source material. I also enjoyed "How to Bring Someone Back from the Dead", despite it being more experimental, as it was clearer and more focused in form, and didn't feel as if it was trying too hard to be different (trying too hard to get its message across, though, perhaps...).

I'm honestly not sure I'd try more of Schanoes' work. They felt like fiction written by an academic who understands fiction and can write it with a lovely hand, but whose focus is so much on message and what 'work' she sees the stories doing that the stories themselves don't have enough life or breathing room. Many of them were tough to get through simply because they felt weighted with message and history more so than story, and I couldn't quite enjoy them.

3. Bound by Night by Larissa Ione (4*)

Although there were moments when the writing got a little heavy-handed, this was a nice, fun escape, and exactly what I'm looking for when I pick up paranormal romance. The story-telling had enough darkness and stakes that I couldn't stop turning pages when I picked the book up--especially once the story got going--and the romance hit all the right beats you'd expect.

In the end, I enjoyed it enough that I was disappointed to learn that there are only a very few books in the series, unlike the author's other series, but I'll certainly be picking up more of Ione's work at some point.

4. Mistress of Geese by Antonija Meznaric

Mistress of Geese will end up being one of my favorite books of 2023--there's no doubt in my mind. This collection of five novellas packs far more power than the slim volume would suggest, and each story brings a whole world to life with tightly written scenes and characters who feel so real that the horror involved very nearly becomes painful to witness. The back of the book labels it as "5 tales of queer horror isolation, loneliness and hungry nature"...and sinking into these themes, as a reader, is akin to entering a dark fairy tale and being forced to wonder where the real intersects with the fantasy, despite wishing the question weren't so pressing.

Truly, I read the first novella in this collection and thought to myself, "Well, even if the rest are less than, just that one was worth the price of admission"--and, right away, I started raving about the book to my friends. And then I read the next, and the next, and each novella built upon the last's themes to create a whole new dark experience. I coudn't now tell you which of these five novellas is my favorite, but there is no least favorite--the whole collection is solid, fantastic and dark, and there's no doubt in my mind that I'll now read anything else Antonija Meznaric writes.

Absolutely recommended to anyone who wants a dark read. And if you're not already a fan of novellas--I admit, I generally find them hit or miss, with more misses than hits--still give them a try. This little book speaks to the best of them and the power they're capable of.

>41 whitewavedarling: - A great review for a book that is not my type of read. ;-)

>42 lkernagh:, thank you lol.

5. Sphere by Michael Crichton

On the whole, this is a fun, fast-paced blend of science fiction and suspense that speaks to exactly how Crichton grew such a reputation as he did. Although there are some dated attitudes and moments which leak into the story--particularly characterization--and may make a contemporary reader cringe, they don't overtake the story or diminish the fascinating bend of the tale as it unfolds. This isn't my favorite of the Crichton books I've read, but it read more quickly than some others and I did enjoy it.

I'd absolutely recommend it to readers who want an undersea adventure or a blend of science fiction and suspense to serve up a grand escape.

6. The Starless Crown by James Rollins

I've long been a fan of James Rollins, and I love long, multi-POV fantasies, so I looked forward to seeing what he'd do in the genre as soon as I heard this book was coming. In the end, though, I'm not entirely sure how I feel.

I absolutely loved the world-building and fantasy elements, and it was those things which really kept me turning pages, along with Rollins' always fascinating twists in storytelling. Where I was left thrown-off was with the characters. The character who gets the vast majority of page-space is the young woman among the group, still a teenager/girl, and something about her voice never caught me--in fact, in the first half of the book, I found her incredibly off-putting, and I think it was my lack of interest in her and her personal stakes/position that caused me to take so long to finish the book. Every time I'd see her name at the start of the next chapter, I'd say to myself, "Oh, it's Nyx again. Maybe I'll stop here for the night." Later on in the book, I got to the point where I didn't find her so off-putting, though I still didn't care so much as her for others, but initially, having her be such a prominent POV in the book was a big obstacle for me to really engage and keep going. Obviously, a character's interest in different characters/storylines changes as a book progresses, and that happened for me here, but always seemed to hold true was that I was most interested in the POVs who were getting less page-time and attention. Early on, I wanted more time with the theif, and got very little. Later on, I wanted more time with the prince, and again got very little. I've never had my engagement with character trajectories and storylines be so diametrically opposed to the directions a book was taking, and honestly, I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, but for the fact that I know it affected my engagement from chapter to chapter.

I'll certainly read the second book in the series, but it will be more for story and world-building and concept than character, which is a tricky thing with such long books. I'll just have to hope the same thing doesn't happen in the next book, particularly given the length, or I may end up sticking to Rollins' suspense in the future rather than following him into fantasy.

7. You Suck by Christopher Moore

Moore's been a favorite of mine ever since I discovered The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, but it took me a long time to get around to this one. For some reason, the first book in this series--Bloodsucking Fiends--didn't hit me in the same vein (okay, Moore got to me, I can't help punning...) as his others. This second in his vampiric series was no different. His irreverent, bizarre, hilariously strange characters and jokes and twists are as present in this book as others, but there's just an extra twist of non-PC dark that I don't enjoy so much as I do in his other books, despite the fact that I love horror.

So, in the end, this was a fun read, but probably not a book I'll come back to. It's certainly not the one I'd recommend for someone trying Moore for the first time--leave that to Lamb or A Dirty Job or the book I mentioned above, Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cover. Because while there's nothing particularly wrong with his vampire books, they just don't seem to have the same level of fun life that his others do, one way or another.

Now that my January reads are finished, here are my plans for February...

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Black Tongue by Marko Hautala
The Jackal by J.R. Ward
Long Black Curl by Alex Bledsoe
Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota: Poems by Amelia Gorman

and, something to work for the ScaredyKit, in the way of historical horror...either:
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling OR A Flame in Byzantium by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

In terms of what I'm reading now...

I'm still reading both First Thrills and A Discovery of Witches, but haven't touched either in a while. I also got a head-start on Ward's The Jackal, but I have to admit I'm not much enjoying it so far. It's reading fast, but I'm so far unimpressed, much as I've heard good things about the author.

8. Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota by Amelia Gorman

There are some lovely poems here, especially in the second half of the collection (which felt to me quite a bit clearer and more engaging than the first). At the same time, I'm left with mixed feelings. Many of the poems felt like they needed just a touch more--more clarity, more meaning beyond image, just more in general in some cases--and this was especially the case as I read the first half. The long author's note at the end felt as if it offered me a bit more understanding of the larger project and what the writer was aiming for, but so many of those early poems still left me wanting, and not in a good way. On the other hand, later poems in the collection felt far more complete and impactful, leaving me a far different impression of later pieces.

So, in the end, I've got mixed reactions to this one. I'd certainly pick up another of Amelia Gorman's collections, though, so that alone says something. I think readers coming to the collection anew might also consider reading that late author's note first, before the poems.

9. The Jackal by J.R. Ward

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of good to say here. I'd looked forward to trying Ward's writing, but lots of little annoyances I had with this book led me to feeling less than satisfied with it in the end. There's no one big issue, and it's a fast read, but I can't actually say I enjoyed it.

The largest issue is Nyx, the heroine. She's painted in an unsympathetic light from the beginning, at least to my way of thinking, and it took a long time for me to have any attachment at all to her. If the whole book had focused on her vs. switching over to the male lead, as well, I never would have managed to finish the book. Beyond her, though, it was just a case of many little annoyances adding up to me growing less and less engaged. Lots of little style issues (including awkward world-building-related terminology and endless rhetorical questions that ended in periods rather than question marks, which drove me bonkers), repetitive scenes and writing, and a wandering plot that somehow still managed to be predictable. Part of the problem is undoubtedly that the book tried to balance between suspense and paranormal romance, and when push came to shove, it didn't lean quite far enough in either direction when it came to plotting, so that a reader didn't get enough of either feel to be truly satisfied. Rather, the book didn't itself seem to know what it wanted or needed to be, beyond wanting to be longer than necessary.

This was a bit of a rant, but to be honest, I just don't have much that's good to say about the book. The plot, on a story level, sounds interesting even as I think about it, but the whole thing was just dragged out and presented in such a way that the promise it held via concept kind of got lost along the way for me.

I'd heard this series wasn't as good as Ward's others, but the concept appealed to me so much that I thought I'd give it a try anyway. I've got more of her books now because I was overconfident I'd enjoy them when I visited a used bookstore, so I'll likely at least try the next to see if the series gets better and/or the characters are at least likeable vs. so awkward, or in Nyx's case, flat-out unsympathetic. Or maybe I'll just jump to a different series...

Obviously, this book just wasn't for me, and it didn't satisfy either my taste for paranormal suspense or paranormal romance, so I can't recommend it.

>48 whitewavedarling: I don't think I will pick up this book, but I did enjoy reading your "bit of a rant"! :)

10. A Flame in Byzantium by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

The cover/packaging of this book make it look like a historical horror novel. But the blurb on the back accidentally gives note to what this really is when mentioning it's "a skillful blend of history and fiction, given added spice by the fact that its heroine happens to be a vampire..." Because that's the crux of it: the heroine just happens to be a vampire, but aside from that fact, the book is simply historical fiction.

You might be raising your eyebrow, wondering why I'd say this is just a historical fiction novel when at the same time admitting it's about a vampire. Before I'd read the book, I probably would have been doing the same thing. But it's the truth. The fact is, every bit of this book's plot/story could have remained the same if the heroine hadn't been a vampire. You'd take out the few references to her being five centuries old (they don't add anything but backstory, truly), change the few bits that seem to suggest her 'true death' wouldn't be the average person's death, and presto...it would simply be a historical fiction novel.

I'm really not sure what vampirism adds to the book, in all honesty. Perhaps it makes the heroine's confidence and awareness of the world slightly more believable(?), and her friendships more long-lasting, but all of the plotting and tension in the book comes from political and social affairs. I kept waiting for it to really matter that the heroine was a vampire--and perhaps some would argue that it did matter a bit in the end, just for that scene, though I'm not one of them--but as far as I can tell, Yarbro simply wanted to write historical fiction, and because she was known for horror, the book had to be given a horror spin. And 'vampires' mean 'horror'...right? Well, at least in this case, not so much. And all that's fine, but I wish the book didn't present itself as a historical horror, as I imagine it draws in plenty of readers who get knee-deep in it before realizing that it isn't nearly what they meant to sign up for.

If you want to read a historical fiction novel full of political intrigue in the time of the Byzantine Empire, around Year 545, by all means pick up this book. If you're looking for horror or vampires, however, I'd suggest steering clear.

11. The Ghettobirds by Bryant O'Hara

The Ghettobirds is a vibrantly rhythmic collection of speculative poetry, showcasing cybernetic imaginings in an Afrofuturist explosion of life. Each poem relies on a rhythmic undercurrent of music, taking inspiration from the blues, rap, r&b, and the electronic in order to make the poems echo from one piece to the next. I'd find that even reading a few pieces, and then putting the collection down, would lead to my thoughts pitter-pattering in rhythm as if I were speaking poetry rather than thinking an average day's thoughts, and I can only imagine that so many of these poems would be even more powerful if spoken out loud from a stage, spoken word at its best.

I do think these poems work best as a collection, and some stood out more than others. There were some that demanded to be read and re-read immediately, with others feeling like they were just a little bit out of reach, and needed a touch more in order to be at all clear for the reader, but the gems in the collection made it well worth the read.

It's not a collection for all poetry readers, not quite as accessible as even I'd like, but it's a fun one.

12. Long Black Curl by Alex Bledsoe

Alex Bledsoe's Tufa series has entranced me from the start, and this installment was no different. His spectacular writing, too-real characters, and magic-tinted Appalachia are musical and affecting in every way, and each book leaves me wanting more. The haunting quality of this story will, I think, stay with me even longer than the others, he used music to such marvelous effect.

I'd absolutely recommend this series to any readers of contemporary fantasy, though the term doesn't do the Tufa novels justice.

13. Uncovering You: Submission by Scarlet Edwards

Full Transparency: I bought the first three books in this series with a misguided confidence that I'd love them, and then I was severely frustrated by the first book. I wasn't even sure I'd come back to the second one, but eventually I did...and remembered all of my frustrations.

I want to first say that, in my opinion, the 'books' in this series are not complete books. They are, by my best educated guess, what should have been a single or perhaps a couple of books, which the author split into multiple (five, I believe) volumes and labeled a series of books. To my mind, she can only have done this in order to make a larger profit by selling five short books instead of one or two longer ones. I also want to point out that the author clearly knows this. Why do I say this? She proclaims ahead of Book 2's beginning the following: "Each volume is a fully-contained sic book with a climax and a conclusion."

All due respect, but how many books do you know that have felt the need to claim, in the beginning, that they are actually books? I actually can't think of any at all, outside of this series.

Length and definition aside, this book leaves a lot to be desired. Minor plot/character holes are an issue, but lack of development is an even more serious issue. If the story had been fully developed, with real care given to psychology, description, and the progression of plot and emotion, then perhaps this could have been a full book. As is, it's so bare bones that what the reader gets sometimes feels more like an outline than a fully developed novel, and while the characters are hitting the high points of a dark romance, those high points are the only thing given time on the page. When you add in repetition, there's not much to admire here beyond the bare-bones outline of what might have had the potential to be a powerful dark romance if given real attention and development.

As it was, not so much.

I may or may or may not read the third volume since it's already on my shelf. I certainly won't be purchasing more of the series, or anything else written by the author, and I wouldn't recommend others do so.

14. The Black Tongue by Marko Hautala

Hautala has written some fantastically creepy scenes here, along with some tantalizing connections, terrifying atmosphere, and tremendously horrific images that themselves deserve notice.

And yet...I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. There's no doubt that the beginning and ending were stronger and carried more inertia than the middle of the book. And while I can also see while he chose to structure it as he did, and pull things together as he did, I can't help feeling that the larger impression, while creepy, is also full of chaos. And I'm not sure how much of that chaos is productive vs. accidental.

I'd probably have to read the book again to get a real feel for how well I feel it's been put together, and how much of that chaos serves a purpose, but the truth is that none of the characters are sympathetic enough to come close to demanding the book be offered the time for that second read. And when I add in the fact that so much of the on-the-page sex and violence felt as if it was delivered with an eye toward shock value vs. expanding on the story...well, I'm not even sure I really want to explore more of Hautala's work.

Perhaps I'll have clearer feelings on the book later and be able to revisit this review. Until then, I'm left thinking there's a lot to admire here, but so much chaos that the book is an experience just so much as a narrative which will have any lasting impact for me, or bring me back to the author for more.

With March begun, I have to admit I didn't meet my February goals. The Historian is only about halfway read, and to be honest, I've kind of stalled out on it, though I haven't given up. And as for Angel's Game...well I haven't even begun it!

I'm also currently reading Palm Springs Noir (which I hadn't planned on) and Discovery of Witches, which I've been stalled out on since January.

Still, my plans for March inclue...

Can You Sign My Tentacle? (HOWL Read 1)
We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (HOWL Read 2)
Gideon the Ninth (SFFKit & 'G' AlphaKit)
Someone to Share My Nightmares (ScaredyKit)
The Invasion (SeriesCat & 'A' AlphaKit)
The Reasons I Won't Be Coming (GeoCat)
and
The Same Deep Water as You (RandomCat)

Most of these are relatively short books, so we'll see what happens!

15. The Same Deep Water as You by Chad Lutzke

I read this in one sitting--and suspect it benefited from that single-sitting reading--but I'm still not sure how I feel about it. In a lot of ways, this feels like a quieter, younger version of Jesus' Son, which I adore, but the almost casual nature of the narrative left me sometimes feeling as if the whole thing was dragging on, or being weighed down with a few too many characters. On the other hand, that's also part of the beauty of what makes it feel weirdly nostalgic and real, at least for me. It was, admittedly, predictable in terms of the final chapters, and that's the biggest drawback of the book for me.

I'll try more of Lutzke's work at some point, though I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I suspect it will either be forgotten fast, or stay with me a very long time, and I'm not quite sure which.

16. Palm Springs Noir edited by Barbar DeMarco-Barrett

This was another fantastic installment in the Akashic Noir series, and probably one of my favorites in the series so far. It offered up a number of new authors whose work I'm going to enjoy looking up in the future, as well, which is always a sign of a great anthology (in my opinion, at least). My standout favorites were "A Cold Girl" by Kelly Shire, "Everything Drains and Disappears" by Rob Bowman, "A Career Spent Disappointing People" by Tod Goldberg, "Octagon Girl" by Chris J. Bahnsen, and "The Salt Calls Us Back" by Alex Espinoza.

As always, the book left me looking forward to more collections in the Akashic Noir series.

17. I Am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland

There's a deceptive power to this book.

I admit, I hesitated to pick it up. The marketing--from the cover to the title to the description on back--made me fear it would be more like an experiment than a powerful poetry collection in its own right. I also worried that I didn't know all of the referenced movies well enough to really enjoy it or 'get it', and so I held off on reading it even after I'd bought it. And then when I picked it up, I discovered, very simply, that I'd been wrong.

From the moment I read the author's short note at the beginning, the voice of the book grabbed me, and I ended up reading it in one sitting, only pausing to re-read particular poems and lines as they struck me. I've no doubt I'll read it again, but not because I did'nt 'get it'. True, there are some movies referenced via titles that I haven't seen, but the vast majority of the poems here transcend the concept that sets the book apart and broadcast such a vulnerable, intelligent anger--alongside powerful, gorgeous language--that not knowing the immediate source material isn't an issue. The themes, emotions, and language all speaks for itself, making for a powerful book which has far more resonance and weight than the slim volume and pop-culture packaging would suggest.

There were moments of language and meaning here which left me breathless and forced me to re-read, and others which forced me to smile even after what had been, admittedly, a horrible day. I put off dinner in order to keep reading, and I suspect I'll do the same with anything else Claire C. Holland writes.

This book is fantastic, worth reading and sharing and reading again. It is manifesto-made-poetry from a horror-lover's soul, and I adored every minute.

Catching up on your thread and loving all the fur babies.

>59 VictoriaPL:, Thank you for coming by!

18. Can You Sign My Tentacle? by Brandon O'Brien

The rhythm and power in this collection has a ferocity which all but bleeds off the page, and although it's not the most accessible collection (even for a poetry-lover like myself), part of the beauty of it is that readers can take what they will from it in terms of moments and full pieces, putting in work as they can, and then come back to it. There are so many gorgeous, powerful moments and stanzas and sentences and phrases. So much meaning to be collected. And as a result, it can't all be taken in in one solid sitting. The pieces beg to be read, savored, and revisited for level after level of meaning.

Some of my favorite moments:

From "The Metaphysics of a Wine, in Theory and Practice":

"the music did hit me
and your body did catch me
and somewhere in the centre
of those competing gravities
was the cosmos in its own waistline motion"

And, from "Young Poet Just Misses Getting MF Doom's Autograph":

"I just wanted to ask about the mask.
I just wanted to ask about having a spare self,
a decoy for before worries."

There is so much to adore in this collection, and learn from and benefit from, and the author's essay/note at the back is a powerful writing in all itself, which adds full other layers to the WORK behind the poetry and in the poetry.

I'd absolutely recommend this work to poetry lovers and horror lovers alike, and really to any reader willing to fall into the work and the rhythm of the poems and their pains, and swallow them down.

19. The Invasion by K.A. Applegate

I was a little too old for these when they first came out, so although they drew my eye because of the animal element, I never got around to them. Finally, a few decades later, I decided to give them a try...and I'm so glad I did. More than standing up to time, this first book in the series is a fun, action-packed, animal-centric adventure that I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm sure I would have loved these as an elementary-schooler, but as an adult who's picky about children's reads, I'm still diving in and loving them. When my nieces get old enough, I can't wait to gift these reads to them, but meanwhile, I'm going to keep going with the series and enjoy every moment.

Absolutely recommended.

20. We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Paula D. Ashe

In some ways, I feel this collection simply wasn't for me. I have friends who really enjoyed it, and there were a lot of moments where I could appreciate the ferocity of Ashe's imagery and story-telling, but in general, much of the work here put me off--to the extent that, at the end of the day, I feel like this collection just wasn't necessarily ready for publication.

The first third of the book presents loosely connected material which, while not always coming through in what I'd call finished stories, comes together to make something larger and more complete. Because of that, the early part of the book grew on me as it unfolded, and I was looking forward to seeing how the collection would continue in that vein. I thought perhaps I'd been in the wrong mindset to take in more of a collage or collection that built meaning from many parts becoming one, vs. a traditional collection. Unfortunately, the interconnectedness seemed to end there, with none of the later stories coming back to build on that early meaning and promise. As a result, that first third itself felt like something other and unfinished, and I still didn't know what to make of the larger collection.

The stories from that point on too often felt like scenes to me, vs completely developed stories, and so I remained fairly underwhelmed. Much as I could often appreciate the imagery, I often needed a bit more material/content for meaning to be clear, and the 'stories' were so light on character and plot that I didn't find myself emotionall invested or affected, even when I felt as if I should be.

By the time I got to the end of the book, I was annoyed to find that the final 'story' was more of a novella which only looked shorter because formatting was changed to make more words fit on a page than had been the case in earlier pieces. That was an odd choice, but since I'd planned to read it, I did. (Note that if it had been formatted like the rest of the book, it probably would have taken up the second half of a printed edition, in which case I don't think I would have pushed forward.) Here, there was more to dive into, but I was also left feeling as if I didn't have enough to fully understand plot and character at various points, as if the author were playing tricks with the reader instead of simply telling a story.

The author's final after-note does make me think that her goals as a writer of this collection where, very simply, at odds with what I come to a book hoping for. I often want darkness--I love horror, after all--but I also want fully developed stories, characters, and meaning, vs. scenes that feel more like snapshots in a larger horror, and that's where the collection fell short for me.

I will say that I thought the most successful piece in the collection (for me) was "Bereft"--if I'd read that one in an anthology or journal, it very well might have made me look up more of Ashe's work, which is something the other pieces wouldn't have accomplished.

And although I want it to be a side note vs. the heart of the review, I do have to mention that the lack of editing in this book was a serious distraction for me. Regular comma errors that interfered with meaning and/or disrupted flow, as well as typos and an absence of expected hyphens, made the book feel more like a proof/ARC than a polished work, to the extent that I'd probably not pick up another book from the 'press'.

21. The Adventurists by Richard Butner

From the very beginning of this strange collection, I was enchanted.

There's an adorable awkwardness, and confident frailty, to many of Butner's characters here, and even when I began a story with one eyebrow raised or feeling a bit skeptical of where things were going, the turns and choices and progressions in nearly every story pulled me in to the individual world and reality...to the extent that I simply wanted the collection to keep right on going. The way Butner interweaves his own versions of reality and fantasy with characters who seem so real that we could know them is truly something wonderful, and it's easy to see why some of these stories were published in top magazines. But importantly, even the stories which were unpublished prior to this collection stand up to the standards set by others.

In the end, I'm left anxious to read more of his work, because even though some of these stories didn't quite make me fall in love with them like others did, even those that left me less than entralled showed such creativity and life that I didn't mind having read them. Some of my favorites from the collection are: "Scenes from the Renaissance", "Ash City Stomp", "Circa", "Delta Function", "Give Up", and "Sunnyside".

Absolutely recommended for lovers of weird fiction and SFF in short form.

22. Saint: A Shelter Harbor Novel by Aubrey Irons

I admit that I thought this book would be quite a bit darker than it was, and that was likely my biggest disappointment. It sounds dark from the blurb, and looks dark, but it's kind of all bark and no bite. There's plenty of steam, but the characters do a bit more insisting that they're dark than actually showing it, and in the end, I kind of felt more like it was a contemporary romance dressed up with mafia trimmings, just based on the characters and the ease of the plot development. It wasn't a bad diversion, though, so for someone simply wanting a romance that threatens darkness more so than it delivers it, and proceeds pretty easily and at a fast pace, it's worth a read.

I have no idea if I'll read more work from the author--the romance here worked, and there was plenty of steam. The writing wasn't bad, if sometimes a bit repetitive and forced. I just wanted the darkness of the characters/plot to live up to genre and blurb promise and advertising a bit more.

23. The Impossible Resurrection of Grief by Octavia Cade

The weight of this slim novella sends a riptide of vision into the reader within the first few pages, and Cade's powerful prose and storytelling never let up from there. As the story unfolds, becoming all too real a something that I could envision for our struggling world, what begins as horror and sorrow moves forward into a terrain of wonderfully careful suspense and revelation which, in the end, comes full circle to the emotions Cade pushed on the reader to begin with. Despite wanting to look away, I read the second half of this novella in one sitting, and the weight of it will stay with me for some time.

Absolutely recommended.

Well, March went pretty well. I kept up with all of my planned challenges except the SFFKit, for which I'm still reading Gideon the Ninth. I made it a little further into The Historian, but am still totally stalled out on Discovery of Witches. I expect to finish The Many Deaths of Laila Starr tonight, though.

But we'll see how things go. I've got a new car and a new dog(!!!)--pictures coming soon!--so you can imagine the distractions around here and why my reading goals didn't *quite* get met.

Nevertheless, my plans for April include:
The Route of Ice and Salt (HOWL Read 1)
Future Home of the Living God (HOWL Read 2)
Warehouse (AlphaKit "W")
Hans Vogel is Dead (SFFKit & RandomCat (soldier))
Dead of Winter (D AlphaKit)
Pain Eater (ScaredyKit)
Obsession (SeriesCat)
Barbecued Husbands (GeoCat & MAYBE randomcat)

and Stuck Rubber Baby (RandomCat) especially/mostly if one of those books above doesn't quite end up being a good randomcat fit.

I've already started Kellerman's Obsession, and also hope to finish March's read of Gideon the Ninth this month. We'll see what happens--I've got a trip mid-month which will either add a lot of reading time or steal it away!

24. The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V

There's a lot to admire in this book. The colors are gorgeous, and many of the illustrations are touched with the most fascinating choices of detail. The whole thing is, overall, completed with such care and grace, that there's little to complain about simply because it's clear the writers'/artists' vision came together so beautifully, and with the concepts being so crisp.

At the same time, I have to admit that, in the end, this just wasn't something I enjoyed. There were moments where I thought it was taking a turn toward something that would become a favorite for me, particularly around the middle issue in the collection, and then it went in a direction that, for lack of any other way to put it, left me far less than interested. Perhaps if I'd gone into it expecting a meditation on grief and moving on, I'd feel different, but I'm not someone who seeks out books on grief. In fact, I generally avoid them. And when that is combined with the fact that I didn't particularly find a way to like Laila, and was incredibly frustrated by a choice made about leaving a question unresolved toward the end of the book...well, I'm leaving the book with less than positive feelings.

This is a book that will bring a lot of readers great wonder and thought. It's also a book that, to be truthful, I'd just as soon not have read. Both can be true, but I'll leave it up to readers to decide whether or not a speculative and thoughtful examination of the place of grief and moving on, on a grand scale, is something they want to explore. The book is more thematic and vignette-focused, as well, which surely matters, but I suspect it wouldn't have mattered much for me, given the end result of the dialogue on grief and acceptance.

25. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

I loved Kostova's second novel, The Swan Thieves--something about the voice sucked me in immediately, and I just adored it. Because of that, I was excited to finally sit down and settle in for The Historian...but unfortunately, I ended up having nearly the opposite experience. Kostova's prose is lovely, but the truth is that I'm not sure I've ever read a book with less tension, and I mostly finished it because of my love for Kostova's other novel. The characters, story, and concept were all engaging in and of themselves, but it really was the slow build, the lack of tension, and the structure that killed the book for me. The reader pretty much knew what would happen, and what the book would cover, right from the beginning, and although there were some mysteries to be solved, they were more of the normal-life-drama sort than the horror/suspense sort. The Swan Thieves was a long, non-horror book, but the suspense and the voice carried it along so that it didn't feel nearly as long as it was. Here, however, the focus on an epistolary style, various voices that the reader didn't quite have time or reason to get attached to--despite the length!--and a devotion to giving the reader every detail even when it came to an academic conference of all things...well, the truth is that I rarely sat down with the book without becoming bored within a few chapters, and there were points in the second half where I finally just had to give in and skim, because I'd come so far and loved Kostova's other novel so much that I did want to say I'd finished it...but I also had no attachment to the book or story. And particularly since the characters seemed to 'just happen to run into' people they needed to know in order for the plot to progress, and coincidences mounted upon coincidences...well, I was just thoroughly unimpressed. The book was well-written for what it was, just in terms of sentence/paragraph-level prose vs. structure and style, but I fear that's about all I can say, which amounts to damning praise.

In the end, I have to say that the structure Kostova used for the novel just kind of ruined it for me, and the style she adopted too often left me feeling like I was reading a run-of-the-mill diary or travelogue vs. what I'd hoped would be a powerful story. I've often loved epistolary fiction, but in this case, I feel like Kostova did her concept an incredible disservice by choosing to go about telling the story in the fashion she did. I'm only glad this wasn't my first read from her, or I'd likely never even have considered picking up another.

I'm afraid I cannot recommend this book. I know some folks who adore it, but even after a lengthy book discussion, I still can't quite figure out the attraction beyond its attention to history and geographical/European cities' details...but all in all, I just keep coming back to the fact that I never really felt any narrative tension, attachment to character, or surprise at what came to pass.

26. Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

This novel is a heavy read, but particularly now, it's also incredibly necessary and timely. The despair that echoes off the pages, and the impending grief, makes for a difficult read that feels all too true and real. And despite comparisons to A Handmaid's Tale, this work takes an unflinching look at colonialism and very real history that has already tortured peoples who only wished to live their lives. Using that history, working forward from it, then means that this book is all the more powerful. Ripe with Erdrich's gorgeous writing, the story goes where it must and can only go while still surprising readers.

The reality of this book is heartbreaking, and well worth reading.

Absolutely recommended.

27. The Route of Ice & Salt by Jose Luis Zarate

Zarate's language is atmospheric and delivered with such a perfect cadence that it offers a sort of false security in the beginning of the novella, mirroring the lull of a ship's rocking or the calm before a storm. Because of that, the turns Zarate takes later in the narrative are all the more deceptive, with the language gaining power just as the story becomes more action-focused.

There are a lot of surprises in this little novella, but the opening material and afterword deliver extra context that makes the book all the more striking. I don't want to ruin the read for anyone, but suffice it to say that if you begin reading and push yourself through the deceptively quiet and unnerving opening section, you'll be rewarded with a payoff that brings the whole of the book together in a satisfying and utterly striking fashion.

Absolutely recommended, but do note that this is an adult read with explicit material, and there are some serious CWs to be taken into account if that's something you'd normally look up.

28. Obsession by Jonathan Kellerman

I've enjoyed the Alex Delaware series for years. Great characters, fast-paced and surprisingly twisting plots, with plenty of intrigue, banter, and intelligence, as well as a healthy dose of criminal psychology. I think most of the ones I've read have been 4-4.5 star reads for me. This one, in comparison, fell a little bit below Kellerman's standard. It was fine as thrillers go, and his characters were just as engaging as always. The plot just felt a bit more scattered and messy, the case overall a little bit less urgent and immediate. As an escape read, it was just fine, but I suspect it's one that will be seen as lower than the normal bar when it comes to this series.

29. Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo

Visceral and smart, this is a novella full of wonder and pain which practically vibrates with need. It is difficult if not impossible to put down once begun, and carries such a dangerous inertia that it must be read to be believed. Mandelo's prose carries such gorgeous weight, and such difficult themes which beg for thought and are at the same time so universal as to be utterly familiar.

I was in love with the book when I began it, and sobbing when I finished, and I can only thank the author for the experience and hold this book close.

Absolutely recommended.

30. Sisters of the Crimson Vine by P.L. McMillan

In the beginning, there's such a calm to this book that it feels somewhat out of time, but as McMillan begins building a darker and ever-more-unique path forward, there's simply no turning back. The story takes turns which cannot be predicted while holding the reader in thrall to a dangerous inertia that builds ever forward.

McMillan's work is perfectly paced and gorgeously written, and it will stay in my mind for some time.

Absolutely recommended.

31. Broken Dolls by Kitty Thomas

I adore Thomas' writing, and this work of hers kept me up late finishing it (just like her books usually do!). I will say that I'm not sure it lived up to the others I've read from her--I love the darkness in her stories, and the deep-dives into character psyche, and it felt like this particular book rushed some of those moments and/or left a few opportunities for real development off the page. As a result, I really did enjoy it, but also wished it had been just a bit longer.

That said--I hold her to a higher standard than any other dark romance writer because I so love her work, so there's still no question that this book stands heads and shoulders above most dark romance I've read or will read in the future, and I'd absolutely recommend it for anyone who loves the dark and this subgenre as much as I do.

32. The Warehouse by Rob Hart

This was a rollercoaster of a read for me, but it's made me a fan of Hart going forward.

The truth is, I probably wouldn't have picked this up if I hadn't attended an (online) talk Hart gave about writing and publishing. Amazon's big and nefarious enough, the future Hart paints here is too easy for me to imagine--a case where a dystopian feels a touch too close to the current reality for me to be comfortable or really want to read it. BUT, Hart's talk was dynamic, so I picked it up anyway, and was quickly hooked.

The first third or so was tough to read. As I said, and as I'd suspected might be the case, it felt too close to the reality of our possible future for me to read the story here without getting mired down in thinking about reality and being depressed by it. And when I read fiction, I generally want to escape from all that, so I'd put the book down and feel a tiny bit of trepidation for when I'd pick it up again, if I did. But when I got to some point between the third and the halfway mark (probably closer to the halfway mark if I'm being honest, considering how long it took me to read the book), all of a sudden, the characters became bigger than the dystopia. (In a good way.) Finally, I got totally wrapped up in the dystopia for what it was--warning as much as prediction, story as much as reality.

In the last 75 pages or so, I couldn't put the book down, and I'm left now with such a mix of emotions that this novel feels more like a journey than many. It'll stick with me for a long time, and as I said at first, I suspect I'll be among the first in line to read anything else Hart writes.

Recommended.

33. Hans Vogel is Dead: Volume 1 by Sierra Barnes

This first volume of Hans Vogel is Dead has such gorgeous illustrations, such smart and careful storytelling, it's a masterpiece in telling a story through pictures. Barnes' gorgeous illustrations and powerful storytelling make for a dark experience, but it's wonderful. Billed as an 'anti-fascist fairy tale about the power of narratives, the question of individual responsibility in a totalitarian regime, and the struggle to become a better person,' the story is rightfully uncomfortable and dark, but with such moments of sweetness and humor that it never becomes too much.

I sped through this, savoring so many of the rich illustrations along the way, and I can't wait for the next volume.

34. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

I'd heard such mixed things about this book as I headed into it, I wasn't sure what to expect. Now, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it...but I don't expect to continue with the series, and I guess that says everything.

It took me a long time to read this one--I was sometimes engaged by the characters, but more often than not, it felt like world-building and terminology were so heavy-handed and present as to be getting in the way of what might have been a fantastic story. Similarly, there were so many characters coming and going, but without enough of an attempt to allow the reader to get to know who they were. I love long books, and I don't mind huge casts of characters, but in this case, I found it hard to follow who was who and how they related to the main characters. When I got to the end and found all of the world-building extras that the author wanted included in the book, that pretty much cemented my feeling that the book was just over-written and in need of a more tempered eye for editing rather than being bogged down in so many non-story details.

The writing and characters were at times enjoyable, but the book as a whole didn't suck me in for long stretches or make me have any desire to read more from the author. I finished out of a sense of curiosity about Gideon's character, but by the time I got to the end pages, I was just ready to be done.

35. Dead of Winter by Kealan Patrick Burke

This was my first experience reading Burke, but it won't be my last. The shorter stories among these were my favorites, but even the longer ones packed in such fantastic characters and atmosphere, I couldn't put them down. It was also refreshing to read such a clearly themed single-author collection that never managed to get repetitive or settle for too long in a single theme or emotion. Instead, each new story felt like a newly built world, and many of them kept me guessing till the end.

If there's any criticism, it might be that I simply would have liked the collection to be longer, but that's a small thing. I'll look forward to reading more of Burke's work in the future.

36. Return to Roar by Jenny McLachlan

A absolutely adored this second book in the Roar trilogy. Maybe even more than the first, this book brought together all of the magic, humor, creativity, and outright spark that makes for the best middle-grade fantasy. And when you add in the gorgeously playful illustrations, there's everything to love here.

I'd never hesitate to recommend this trilogy--it's got just the right amount of danger and seriousness, and I adore it.

37. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

Saadawi's layering of the beginning makes for a slow dive into the traumatized city of Baghdad and its struggling inhabitants, but in a fashion that lures the reader deeper and deeper into what feels like the set-up for a realistic horror novel. When things go the way of Frankenstein, turning sideways into a puzzle of characters, bodies, and victimhood, the picture becomes both clearer and more labyrinthine. Paying homage to classics such as Frankenstein and Dracula also add further layers for the readers who've read the classics, and while this may be a slow horror read in comparison to other contemporary horror novels, I'm glad to have made my way through it.

38. The Pain Eater by Kyle Muntz

What a strange, disarming novel. The beginning is so quiet, I wasn't sure whether to believe I was stepping into more of a fable or a terror. And the characters...nearly from the beginning, I didn't know whether I wanted to love them or throttle them. At times, both--especially when the horror came on, and kept coming on.

There were moments in the beginning where, I admit, I wasn't sure whether or not I cared to continue--things felt too quiet, and like the dark might be going in a direction, where it occurred, that I didn't much care to follow. But at some point, there was no more choice left. Much like how I imagine the characters felt.

For horror readers, I absolutely recommend this.

39. In that Endlessness, Our End by Gemma Files

From the very first story, this collection had me hooked and speeding forward. Gemma File's gorgeous descriptions combined with her haunting concepts makes for a collection which feels far more rich than the average short story collection. Most of the stories here are on the longer side, and deservedly so--I loved sinking into each concept and world, and feeling the reality she brought to each new horror. In a few cases, I finished a story only to want to immediately re-read and re-experience it.

I'd absolutely recommend this to horror lovers.

40. Barbecued Husbands and Other Stories from the Amazon by Betty Mindlin

Mindlin's exploration of Amazonian myths, particularly as they surround love/relationships, is a fascinating journey into oral storytelling and myth-building. With the author/collector having worked to retrieve the myths firsthand as told orally, from translators fluent in each given tribe's language as well as English (to the extent possible), the collection has an authenticity which comes through in each section and in the varied styles of story. Separated by the different tribes, the stories offer up unique perspectives from pockets of the Amazon and the peoples who've called it home for centuries, with a delivery of themes and tails that is as powerful as it is entrancing.

Throughout the book, there is extremely adult and potential triggering material. Most of the stories are short, so the individual plot points are generally short and less than graphic (though there is absolutely graphic material here, both in the way of sex and violence), but readers will want to beware that a number of the stories deal with cannibalism, incest, rape, violent murder, and mutilation.

Nevertheless, I'd absolutely recommend this book to anyone who's remotely interested. I'm glad to have read it, and I've got no doubt that the myths here would appeal to readers of weird fiction as well as those interested myth, anthropology, and the Amazon.

41. Unending Dialogue: Voices from an AIDS Poetry Workshop by Rachel Hadas

This is a difficult review to write simply because, at the end of the day, this read was so incredibly up and down for me. The opening material is interesting and worthwhile. The poems that make up the center of the book (loosely half the book's length) are incredibly powerful, and a five-star read in and of themselves--though featuring the same voices over and over again, which did surprise me, they offer so much variety of expression, power, and gorgeous language that I read many of them repeatedly before moving on to the next. They are, without question, worth discovering and sharing, and far more polished and powerful than what you might expect from the more casual title of the book.

The truth is, if the whole book had been composed only of the intro and these poems, whether with added poems or not, this undoubtedly would have been a five-star read for me.

And yet. The last third (loosely) of the book is made up of poems and related explications of those poems, all of this written by the author who put together the collection. But even with my interest opened up to her by the opening essay, I still found it incredibly difficult to get through this section. The poems felt needlessly belabored, and often more like cut-up prose than poetry. The explications were...well...I felt like they wandered between being painfully academic and self-congratulatory. They made me dislike the author and her voice, to be honest, and I had to keep reminding myself what the first two thirds of the book had felt and looked like in order to push myself forward.

So, where does that leave me? I would absolutely recommend the first two portions of this book, the opening material and then the actual poems from the workshop. I cannot recommend what comes after them, but even so, those first two pieces--loosely a hundred pages, and more poetry than makes up many contemporary collections--are more than worth the time/effort of searching out this little-known book.

Just reviewing your cute animal photos again. They made my day!

I'm so glad, >85 LadyoftheLodge:!

And meanwhile, I haven't had as much reading time as I'd like, but I did catch up on one review...

42. Sacred Summer by Cassandra Rose Clarke

I really enjoyed some other work from this series, so I had high hopes for this one. And I did love the idea of the story, and many of the images. In a lot of the poems, though, this work felt more like a undeveloped prose work that had been split up into poems, versus poems that actually felt like poems. I love poetry, and I love prose, but poetry isn't just prose broken up into many lines, and that's too often what seemed to be happening here. I'd be curious to read some of the author's fiction, but I don't think I'd pick up another of her poetic works. The form too often felt more like a distraction or an excuse for vague brevity here, and I'm afraid I just didn't end up enjoying the work at all as a result.

43. The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe

This was one of my first journeys into Japanese literature, and it's still one of the most memorable--never more so after a recent re-read. Abe's careful dissection of the human condition, entrapment, and the roller coaster of related emotions is a masterwork of subtlety and understated progression. What feels on the surface like a simple story is a torturous journey, and one which feels all the more powerful if you allow yourself to sink into it and consider the psychology developing on the page. Every detail Abe considers and unfolds acts as an additional weight of pressure, and it is fantastically dark and engrossing.

This won't be a read for everyone--the more thought one gives it, the more disturbing and existential it becomes--but it is a work to pick up and attempt.

Absolutely recommended.

44. Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

This book wasn't at all what I expected, and I still believe that the blurb on back is intentionally misleading when it comes right down to it. As such, I'm probably less inclined to be generous in a review, but the fact remains that while I can admire what the author does here, this book wasn't for me. It's fine as a short piece of literary fiction with a simple story at its heart, but it's neither ghostly nor particularly haunting or striking, lovely as some of the language is. I doubt I'll try another work by the author, and the misleading nature of the blurb may well lead me to think more carefully about picking up books from this imprint in the future.

45. Elevation by Stephen King

An easy, fast read, this reminded me of King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and I flew through it quickly. It's perhaps the least-horrific--and calmest--work I've read from King, but I did enjoy slipping my way through it.

Recommended for a calm, easy escape on a day when something less than horror is warranted.

46. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

Journeying through this novel was a weird and wonderfully humorous escape. In many ways, it took me back to when I fell in love with The Phantom Tollbooth, much as this may be more geared towards adults and that one wasn't. The humor here was so bubbling and natural to the story, the comparison was automatic, and many of Rushdie's images from this one will stay with me for years to come. I can't say it lived up to the longer works I've loved from him, but that's a high high bar, and I'm still very much looking forward to delving into the next work in this series.

Recommended.

47. The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder

I first read this book nearly twenty years ago, soon after its initial release. I rarely reread books at all, but in this case, the book stayed with me and I couldn't resist eventually coming back to it. Just like the first time, this dark, immersive read pulled me in and became a haunting presence as I journeyed back through it. There's no denying that the book won't be for everyone--especially because of its graphic imagery and its roots in actual history, particularly as related to war atrocities--but this book cemented Mo Hayder as a writer I'd want to read everything from. I can't think of a more powerful, compulsive suspense novel that also draws from history, and Hayder's writing and characters are perfectly dark.

It wouldn't surprise me if I read this book again some time in the future.

Absolutely recommended.

48. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Halfway through reading this book, I joked that it felt like romance readers were being lured into a horror novel. Now that I've read it, I rather feel the opposite--as if SFF/Horror readers were lured into a tragic romance. And I wish I'd been right the first time.

The truth is, there's a lot to this book that's gorgeous--images, concept, writing, and even the subtlety to the characters' relationship. But the choices made in style and structure lead to a fair amount of repetition and what feels like 'filler' while also tamping down tension and suspense over and over again, to the extent that it feels like a literary drama with just a touch of SFF. Maybe the book just wasn't for me, but personally, I can't help feeling like the whole concept was just wasted on a book that I enjoyed moments of, but was largely glad to be done with, especially as the inevitable end became clearer and clearer, and I became less and less engaged in what the author had clearly bent herself to exploring.

Some readers will love this book. Personally, I didn't, and I don't see myself exploring more work from the author.

49. The Big Finish by James W. Hall

There's a lot of recapping in the early pages of this one, but after those early bits, the story takes off and lives up to the best books in the Thorn series. With Hall's ever-so-detailed attention to character and action and nature, the book spirals forward in a story that's as heartbreaking as it is timely, and I absolutely loved it. Hall also outdid himself in making a memorable villain, albeit that's one of his hallmarks, and coming back to this story and Thorn was a trip into remembering why I fell in love with this series way back when it began.

I loved it.

50. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

I'm glad to have finally gotten around to reading this, it's such a classic and so enmeshed in pop culture, but as much as it was a fast read, I'm not sure I can say I enjoyed it. I had issues with the characterization, and although the creeping dread and gaslighting was incredibly done, the book as a whole didn't have much impact on me. Maybe this was the characterization, or maybe I simply knew too much going into it, but I really can't be sure. I'd certainly recommend it to horror lovers if only because it is such a staple of the genre and of pop culture, and it is a fast read.

51. Travelers: Poems by David Michael Belczyk

Impressionistic, roaming, ambitious, conceptual, personal...these are just some of the adjectives used on the back of the book, and they give a foretelling of what the book entails. The collection roams from place to place, but as much in theory as geography since the poems are generally so abstract as to be unanchored. In many cases, one wouldn't know the various poems were about cities or specific locales if not for the poem titles, and I doubt many (if any) of the locations could be recognized by the poems themselves, given how conceptual they are.

From piece to piece, I admit I wanted more. I'm sure each of these pieces rings true to the poet's experience of the place involved--or, at least, I'm assuming each one does, assuming he's been to each location--but for a reader who doesn't know him personally or have additional insight into his experience with the cities, the poems feel so personal and abstract as to belong to a journal more so than to a collection that an unfamiliar reader can enjoy. There's no concrete anchoring in them, and very little of a 'way in' for a reader who doesn't know him. Even in the cases where I'd been to the cities the poems were focused on, I admit I felt more frustrated than anything by the time I got to the end of the piece.

I'm afraid this probably isn't a collection I'd recommend. There are some gorgeous lines, but in large part, this felt more like an unedited diary of poems based on personal, abstract perception, without having the additional work put in to make them finished enough for an outside reader to gain real meaning and appreciation for what the poet was going for.

52. Four in Hand by Alicia Mountain

I read less formal poetry than I used to, but after reading a snippet of one of Mountain's heroic crowns, I was excited to dig into this collection of four long poems, especially since I do adore longer poems and they're somewhat harder to find in today's world. The four poems here are incredibly different, which is what makes this a difficult review. "Initial Descent" was, without doubt, my favorite--it uses the form to perform a gorgeous reveal of meaning that aligns Mountain's powerful use of language with social justice, meaning-making, and personal experience. There are some beautiful moments in the poem, and as soon as I finished it, I went back to the start and read it again. My second-favorite was the opening heroic crown, "Train Town Howl", which is another stellar example of the form even if there were moments where I felt the form dictated a bit more than was necessary and made for some rougher moments than there might have been otherwise (which had, admittedly, also been the case in the previous poem I mentioned, but to a lesser extent).

And yet, the other two poems felt as if they were included only because of their form. I could appreciate "Sparingly" to some extent, though it was too minimalist for my taste. Then, I have to admit that the ending heroic crown, "MyMerrill", feels more like a weird experiment than a finished piece. I actually got only a few stanzas into it before I had to flip to the back of the book to find any notes that might explain what I was reading. The notes did explain, but unfortunately, they made it even clearer that the poem was more of an experiment/challenge than anything. I read a bit more of it, but eventually had to give up on it, and it's hard for me to understand why a seasoned poet would feel the need to include it alongside such powerful poems as the ones that came before it. If not for this poem, the book would probably have been a 4/4.5* read for me, but as is, that last big piece of the book left me just a bit short of annoyed, more than anything, as it seemed like such wasted space/time.

I'd recommend this to readers who want to explore more contemporary form poetry, though it's unlikely that it will lead me to go out of my way to look for more form poetry or more work from Mountain, much as I really did enjoy "Initial Descent."

53. The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories by Franz Kafka

I'd read some of the works collected here before--most notably "The Hunger Artist" and "The Metamorphosis"--and rereading them was a clear reminder of why and how they've stuck with me all these years. Kafka's sideways examination of the human condition, and social contracts and understandings, is as powerful and striking as ever, smartly written and driven forward with such intention as to be near other-worldly. Somehow, it's still "The Hunger Artist" that draws me back again and again as a heartbreaking and yet ever-meaningful story. But on this read, going through the whole of the collection, I also was left speechless by a number of other stories of Kakfa's which I'd not gotten around to reading before--especially "The Stoker", "A Report for an Academy", and "First Sorrow." I'm sure I'll be returning to this collection.

54. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

A haunting journey of a book, The Sentence takes place over the first year of the pandemic, and carries the reader back to those horrors and uncertainties with incredible nuance. Erdrich's writing is, as ever, something to sink into and enjoy at every turn, and her care with the details of character and space make this book something special. There's also a real weight to it, because of that care--with covid, with social justice, with colonization all coming together against both real and metaphorical hauntings and the strongest of human emotions--and there's no question in my mind that I'd read anything from Erdrich after this.

I'd absolutely recommend it to anyone.

55. Plenitude by Daniel Sarah Karasik

This is one of those rare collections where the poems are not only powerful on the page, but beg to be spoken aloud, there's such clear extra power in the rhythms. Spoken word poetry often doesn't translate well to the page, but although the poems here were clearly built to be spoken, the emotion, nuance, and power all come through via reading. From a space of activism, and with particular focus to trans rights, this collection is a phenomenal example of poetry can do and be. Karasik's voice rings out from every page, bringing new nuance and care to every discussion they enter.

I loved this collection, and I'm sure I'll revisit many of the poems here over and over again, as well as search out any other collections Karasik puts out.

56. Brother & Sister Enter the Forest by Richard Mirabella

Mirabella's masterful writing of a broken family, and his incredible nuance with even the quietest moments, gave this book a life that went far beyond the pages. It's sometimes a difficult read, the dynamics here are so carefully written and so relatable, but as literary fiction goes, it's one of the most compelling novels I've read in some time. It's also worth noting that where a lot of novels lose tension in different storylines when an author weaves together the past and the present (or at least that's been my experience with similar storylines lately), Mirabella has crafted this work so beautifully that the movement between times only adds to the tension and the reader's understanding of the characters.

I'd absolutely recommend this to lit fic readers, and I'll be on the lookout for more work by Mirabella.

>100 whitewavedarling: Sounds compelling - added to my to read list.

>101 JayneCM:, I'm glad to hear it!

Meanwhile, I'm behind on reviews, but here we go with at least one I'll fit in tonight...

57. Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach by Ramsey Campbell

I had an incredibly hard time getting into this one, in large part due to the sheer number of characters. The first chapter sucked me in with the elderly couple at the center of the book, but then seven new characters (their newly arrived family) all arrive on the page at once. It was, to be honest, near the halfway point of the book when I was absolutely clear on who everyone was in relation to the others (who was whose father/mother/wife/husband/son/daughter), and while some few of the additional family members had distinct personalities, they were for the most part only defined by age and relationships. This made it tough to get a handle on any of them and keep track or engage with the story at large as it moved forward since, in most scenes, a majority of the main characters were on the page. The elderly couple stayed distinct throughout, although the woman and the other women in the book got very little attention by way of development. Thus, it was left to the plot to pull me along...and by the halfway point, it did, but when I think about the book as a whole, the end result is that this work just wasn't as engaging as the other works I've read for Campbell. I think it could have done with a lot more editing and/or a smaller cast of characters.

Not a bad book, but definitely not one I'd recommend to readers who aren't already fans of Campbell unless they're looking for a very specific sort of read.

58. Arboreality by Rebecca Campbell

Stelliform Press has become a favorite press of mine, and this was another gorgeous, thoughtful book. Campbell's prose is so gentle and intricate, there's a fascinating interplay with the minimalism of her dialogue, the careful nuance of her progressions and structure, and the near-violent presentation of the future that we're so rashly building for ourselves (and have been building for ourselves for centuries). Although there were moments here where I desperately wanted to linger longer with particular characters and times--especially in the very first section of the book, before I realized what I'd walked into, and in the middle section of the book that it seems this book stemmed from (based on the Acknowledgements)--I soon understood what Campbell was doing and could only admire her for it.

This is a smart and in some magnificent ways subversive book, and I'm so glad to have stumbled across it and given it a chance. It's yet another proof that everything from Stelliform is worth paying attention to.

>102 whitewavedarling: Relieved to see another person who has trouble remembering crowds of characters. Sometimes I wish that I'd made a list, instead of mixing everyone up and forgetting who they are. Same with series: unless I read the books in a row, I forget who everyone is until half-way through the book.

>104 pamelad:, Absolutely! I'm the same with series even more than stand-alone books that feature a bunch of characters. I rarely read multiple books in a series all in a row. Sometimes if the characters are super-distinct, I'm okay, but I love it when fantasy authors do a sort-of recap up front. I'm reading Akata Warrior now, and I'm enjoying it so much more than I would have solely because the author took the time to open up the book with a re-introduction of characters and 'what's happened so far' type of thing.

59. Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor

Even more than the first, this book moves with the influence of Wole Soyinka coming more and more alive, but mixed with vibrant contemporary fantasy. I loved the first book in the series, but this second installment in the series was a book I couldn't have put down if I'd tried, and Okorafor's storytelling was ever more dynamic as the book progressed.

Truly, I'm going to let this one sink in and then dive into the next book when I can spare a whole few days to lose to it.

Absolutely recommended.

60. The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

As much as I appreciated Book 1 in the series, I'm not sure I could say I enjoyed it--it was compulsive reading and a fascinating story, but I felt detached enough from the characters that I never quite crossed that territory into really enjoying the read. With this book, I did. For some reason, even though it took me some time to get back into the story, the characters felt closer in this second book, and it felt like I had more room to fully understand their decisions--even going back into the first book's actions. There were still times where I felt like the world-building overtook the story-telling, and times where I felt like the book was a bit over-burdened with terminology and world-building, but all told, I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the third book in the series.

61. The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due

I've long been a fan of Due's novels, but this collection of her short fiction was fantastic. Each story immerses the reader in new territory that first entrances, and then horrifies. My favorites were, I think, "The Wishing Pool", "Migration", and "Shopping Day", but this is really one of those rare collections where each story stands up to the others and only adds another layer of meaning and horror to those that came before.

Absolutely recommended.

62. Qualia Nous edited by Michael Bailey

While I truly enjoyed a few of these stories, the truth is that most of this collection is just fine, but not great, and there are some few of the stories which really needed some more work--either because they ran on for far too long and could/should have been a lot tighter or because there were clarity/plot issues. Most of the time, I was reading along without feeling any strong impulse to continue on to the next stories or even finish the one I was on, and that hasn't happened with an anthology in a long, long time. A few of these authors are ones I now know to keep an eye on or who I already enjoyed, but I doubt I'll pick up another anthology from this editor, and I can't see myself recommending this work.

63. Mouse Trap by Caryn Larrinaga

This little tale creeps up on you and holds on, as gothic and weird as it is compulsively readable. I read it in one sitting, and while I gladly would have been swept away for far longer, this was the perfect novella to keep me occupied and on the edge of my seat during a plane ride, and I adored it. I'll absolutely be on the lookout for Larrinaga's next work.

64. The Beyond by Ken Brosky

This is a fantastically creepy novel, and I couldn't help devouring it once I'd begun. Fantastic writing, compelling story-telling and characters, and all of the atmosphere and horror to keep every page turning. I've already picked up another book by Brosky, I enjoyed this so much!

Absolutely recommended.

65. Agony's Lodestone by Laura Keating

The premise of this little novella is fantastic, but in the end, I can't help feeling like this is the equivalent of an early draft of what could have been an absolutely stellar work, and instead falls short. Editing is a big issue from beginning to end--I'm not talking about typos, as the text is clean, but about small inconsistencies and things which simply don't make sense on a character portrayal and storytelling level. (For clarification, I'm not talking about the 'weird'...I'm literally talking about believability when it comes to basic human behavior/activity.) Little story issues that should have been caught in editing left me rolling my eyes early on, and similar issues never let up, much as I hate to say that.

As the book got deeper in and more interesting, there was also an impulse to over-explain/over-tell and lean into repetition, which again felt like an editing issue. (Do I need to be told what cynicism is? Nope, I don't...) The story itself WAS interesting, and I wished I could simply get lost in it, but the simple truth is that there were just too many distractions, over and over again, including issues with characterization and believability that had nothing to do with the weirdness/horror at hand and could easily have been fixed in the course of another draft or two. Some of the writing was also lovely, especially when it came to descriptions of the weird, which leaves me feeling like I'd gladly read more work from the author, but likely not from this press, and maybe not in novella form since it felt like some of the heavy-handedness which took me out of the story came from the author feeling rushed to deliver meaningful characterization.

Overall, I fear I can't recommend this one.

66. The Last Astronaut by David Wellington

Blending science fiction and horror in the best ways possible, The Last Astronaut is a compulsive read with gorgeous writing. The believability of the characters and the nuance with which Wellington writes make it impossible to put the book down, even when it threatens nightmares. I'm so glad to have stumbled upon this read, and from here on out, I'll be reading everything Wellington writes--I can't wait to look up his other publications.

Absolutely recommended.

67. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (re-read)

On this re-read with my book club, I admit the book got to feeling a little bit overly slow in the middle, but I still enjoyed it and was sucked back in by the end. Full review written from some years ago when I read it in grad school.

68. The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan

As much a biography of nations as two families, while still as focused on character and individuals as on history, this is a careful and fascinating work. Built from massive amounts of research and interviews, the work still manages to read like a story and quickly becomes impossible to put down even as it progresses with ever more nuance.

I'm glad to have finally gotten around to reading it, and feel like I've got a far better handle on the intricacies surrounding the controversy surrounding this part of the Middle East.

Recommended.

69. The Cabin in the Woods by Tim Lebbon

This book is, to be blunt, something of a sexist mess. Without actually answering any of the questions opened up by the movie or adding real depth, the book manages to make the characters unlikable and, generally speaking, do an incredible disservice to the movie. It piles on sexism and racism wherever such attitudes can be shoe-horned in, and offers so many eyeroll-inducing moments that I never would have made it through if not for the fact that I'd been reading it with my book club and we were all eyerolling together. On top of that, it's overwritten to an extreme, often becoming repetitive or using four sentences when one would serve to better effect.

70. Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

There were moments here where I fell in love with Moreno-Garcia's writing, but in the end, I have to admit that this book felt incredibly uneven for me. Even with a fascinating concept and some great writing, there were just too many issues to make it more than a middle-of-the-road read. First came the slow start--lots of info-dumping and backstory and repetition, without the story barely getting started. Then, in the middle, the repetition continued even as the plot picked up, and suddenly everything was happening at once. It was refreshing to have things happening...but it also drew even more attention to how uneven the pacing was. And then came the ending, which took the book down a few notches because so much was thrown in that was incredibly unearned. I can't go into the issues without offering up real spoilers, but suffice it to say that there were various elements to the ending that quite literally made me cringe, they felt so out of the blue and contradictory to what Moreno-Garcia had already put on the page.

I will read more of her work, I've heard such good things, but I hate that this was my introduction to her work. It's probably not a book I'd recommend to anyone.

>117 whitewavedarling: My impression of Moreno-Garcia's work is that all her books are really different from each other, so maybe you'll have better luck with another title. I've read Velvet Was the Night (not my wheelhouse but loved it!) and The Beautiful Ones (in my wheelhouse but only liked it). Sounds like I should avoid Silver Nitrate though!

>118 christina_reads:, My book club read this one, and a lot of folks were saying that lol. I've got her Signal to Noise (which I've heard great things about!) and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau both on my tbr, so I'm hoping for better luck there. I'll put these two you've mentioned on my radar now, as well!

71. Widow's Point by Richard Chizmar and Billy Chizmar

I ended up reading this little book in one sitting last night, and I absolutely adored it. Found footage, isolationist horror, illustrations, and hauntings...what more could you ask for in a gorgeously put together novella that even comes with illustrations? Not to mention the fantastic way the creepiness builds...

All told, I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but once it hooked me in the first ten pages or so, I couldn't put it down--not even when the mounting creepiness made me wonder if I SHOULD put it down because I was getting so close to bed-time. There was no choice but to sit and read it in one sitting, enjoying every moment.

I'd absolutely recommend this one, and will look for anything else to come from these authors.

72. Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoet

A gorgeously illustrated book, this tale wraps around and circles both its characters and its readers. It's easy to fall into and devour in one sitting, and the creepy moments are so incredibly tantalizing, it's hard for a horror-lover like me not to fall in love with this book. All that said, I admit I have a hard time slowing down enough to really focus on the way graphic novels tell so much story through illustrations vs words, and require readers to put together so many pieces to connect the dots. Here, I lost the story thread a few times, and I suspect this is one of those books that may require a few reads in order for everything to be clear. I do wish it had been a bit clearer, in how everything fell together, but the book is such an experience and has such wonderful art, it's hard to complain.

I suspect I'll wander through this one again in the near future and potentially update my review then.

73. An Exorcism of Angels by Stephanie M. Wytovich

One caveat: I think I should mention first that I'd probably consider this a hybrid collection more so than a collection of poetry. The vast majority of the short prose works in the collection read, to me, more as flash fiction or as excerpts of longer fiction works, bridging the poems, and for the most part don't feel like poetry to me. The distinction is somewhat in the eye of the beholder, but in this case, the difference is stark enough that I have to mention it, especially since those pieces feel a lot less finished if I try to look at them through the lens of poetry vs flash fiction.

All that said....while there are some absolutely powerhouse poems in here, both short and on the longer side relative to the collection, the book as a whole does feel pretty uneven to me. At 150 pages, there's no doubt it's long for a poetry collection, and it feels a bit like the writer included every poem she'd written or drafted on the subject vs. choosing only the best of the works on the theme. And while I think I understood the project as a whole, the reading experience was brought down because of that uneven nature, with some poems and works of prose feeling far more polished and original than others, and some simply feeling like filler or repetitive. I'm left feeling like I absolutely want to read more of Wytovich's work, but in hopes that I'll find shorter, more tailored collections.

74. While the Clock Ticked by Franklin W. Dixon

I read a lot of the Hardy Boys books as a kid--mostly around kindergarten through second grade--and with some of the classic hardbacks still in my possession, I thought it would be fun to dive back in and see how they held up to my adult eye. Honestly, it was a lot of fun in a nostalgic way, and I'll probably revisit the others on my shelves. I was surprised by how Scooby-Doo-ish the story felt and the number of coincidences in this one, so I'm curious if that will carry over to other books. I know I felt as a kid that the 'casefile' books were far more exciting than the originals too, so comparing at this much later date will be interesting.

All told, though, I can see why/how these books had (have?) such a following, and this one was certainly easy to devour!

>123 whitewavedarling: I was also a Hardy Boys fan as a kid! Nancy Drew, too...I still have a few of those on my shelves for sentimental reasons. Maybe it's time to see what I'd think of them as an adult!

>124 christina_reads:, You should, for nostalgia's sake if nothing else :) This held up a LOT better than the Boxcar Children book I read a year or so ago and found utterly miserable, for many reasons. Of course, I'd never been as big a fan of those to begin with, but it made me nervous for this one. I'm glad I got around to it, though!

75. The Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter

As always, I really enjoyed Showalter's characters and romance, and her blend of paranormal romance and action feels a lot more engaging to me than much of what's available in the genre--there's just more outside story to go along with the romance in some ways, and nothing is given short shrift because she puts so much detail into all of her characters and world-building. That said, I can't say I enjoyed this one quite as much as the first three in the series; I love longer books, but this one was weighted down with what felt like too many outside POV characters, re-introduction, and simply overwriting that sometimes got to feeling repetitive. I hadn't read anything in the series for some time, and still the world-building/backstory got to be cumbersome, to my eye.

I'll certainly go on with the series, but I'm hoping there's a bit more focus on the primary couple in the upcoming books rather than so much jumping around and re-introduction of others.

76. Split Scream Volume One by Carson Winter and Scott J. Moses

I loved the concept of the Split Scream series as soon as I heard about it, and now that I've finally gotten a chance to dive in, I'm so glad I did. The two novellas in this little book are fast-moving doses of dread with fantastic images and characters. I admit that, for me, Carson Winter's was the standout simply because I fell into the world so completely, and couldn't have put the book down if I'd wanted to. In a small amount of space, he brought an entire world and cast of characters to life without it ever feeling as if an image or a moment were being given less than its full worth of attention, and I loved every minute. The blend of horror and noir only made me want more work in the same style, and only made me more of a fan of Winter's work.

On the other hand...I have to admit that there were a lot of moments where I found it hard to determine exactly what Moses was going for, meaning-wise, and the feeling of wanting more was based in confusion as much as engagement, so the second novella in the book was a much tougher read for me. I suspect reading it again would make it a lot clearer, but I'm just not sure I was engaged enough to really sit down for that, though I'd certainly give Moses' work another try.

All told, I had a great time settling into this little book, and I'm excited for the next Split Scream volume on my shelf.

I've been falling hopelessly behind on reading plans as well as reviews lately, but as an update:

I'm most of the way through Elephant Destiny (avoiding reading it at night has been slowing me down), about halfway through A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (not being particularly invested and getting distracted by other reading has been slowing me down), and maybe a third of the way into All the Pretty Horses, which I just started a few days ago. I'm also about two-thirds through Another Little Piece, which I started last week and am really enjoying.

Theoretically, my plans for October include (gulp):

The Whispering Muse, Sour Candy, and 2001: A Space Odyssey for my book club, HOWLS.
No Gods for Drowning for the N AlphaKit
Ancillary Justice for the SFFKit
Looking Glass Sound for the ScaredyKit
Don't Cry, Tai Lake for the SeriesCat
Waste for the GeoCat
Zoobiquity for the RandomCat
and...
The House of Drought for the H AlphaKit

77. Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

This is one of those books that I first noticed because of the cover, but the blurb was so abstract, I couldn't help being curious about exactly what the book would hold...and I'm so glad I gave in to my curiosity. This is a fun, twisted tale of paranormal suspense that gets stranger and stranger until all of the threads are finally pulled together, and each time I picked it up, I had trouble putting it back down. Young adult works have been hit and miss for me lately, but this one ensured I'll pick up more work by the author, and I'd absolutely recommend it to anyone who wants a dark, twisty YA tale complete with surprises, heartfelt character work, and a fair share of darkness.

78. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

I've long been a fan of McCarthy's stand-alones, so it felt like past time that I get around to his most well-known work. I'm not normally a reader of westerns, but McCarthy's language is so distinctive, his descriptions so gorgeous, that this one still pulled me in quickly. And as someone who loves horses and has spent a fair amount of time around them, I enjoyed the care he took with talking about and writing them. I probably will go on and read the second book in the trilogy, though this one felt complete enough by itself that it might take me some time to get around to it. I can't say that this lived up to his darker, stand-alones that I've read, but for those interested, I'd still recommend it.

79. The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell

I admit I became skeptical of this one when I saw the language which the publisher attached to the title--"the most spellbinding gothic novel of the year, packed with passion and suspense"--but I went ahead with it anyway because it was my book club's pick. And...I'm going to have to learn to better trust my instincts, is what it comes down to.

First of all, this is more historical fiction than gothic. Unless you consider an old theater to be the only requirement of a gothic novel, it's a big push to call this gothic. And to be honest, I'm also not sure where the "passion" in that "subtitle" is coming from either. But, descriptors aside, I was engaged enough early in this book, and really through the first half. The characterizations felt heavy-handed even while the characters themselves felt pretty flat, but the shades of creepiness and the story kept me involved enough that I was happy to keep reading.

And then, around the midpoint, as the main character began to feel a bit more real, I at the same time began to lose sympathy for her. Other readers in my book club found her unlikable from the start. I hadn't necessarily liked her, but I also hadn't actively disliked her. She'd been just sympathetic enough, however flat, to keep me involved. That might not have been a serious issue if the plot had kept holding me to the book, but suddenly it felt like those great moments of creepiness we'd gotten in the first half were simply being repeated rather than developed. Add to that some scenes that felt built for shock value, and I'd probably have DNF'd the book if I'd been earlier on or it had been longer.

I did finish, but the ending was such a mess of unraveling threads and questions, I'm almost sorry I did. I'm afraid I can't recommend this book as a result, and I'll very likely avoid the author in the future.

80. Goldbeater's Skin by G.C. Waldrep

This collection has some fantastic moments and lines, but it's also incredibly dense and sometimes all but inaccessible in meaning. I'd say it's more academic than enjoyable in a lot of ways, because as much as I don't mind sitting with and parsing through difficult poems, I need to have something more holding me to them--and, ideally, not an entire collection that requires such determined focus. I'm sure studying this book and reading and rereading it repeatedly would shed clarity on the meaning and lead to more appreciation, but I can't see myself doing so.

Not recommended for casual poetry readers, for sure.

81. Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke

This is a fun, fast horror novella that I sped through in one sitting. The images are creepy, the story is engaging, and there's just enough build-up to make the final climax and pay-off all the more powerful. And yet... all that said, I have to admit that I've enjoyed Burke's short stories quite a bit more than I enjoyed this novella. Part of it was feeling like it was too clear where the book was going, because of its set-up--to the extent that even once I realized there was more to it, enough of the tension had been lessened that I still wasn't all that surprised.

Novellas are a tricky beast, and I used to avoid them because I always ended up feeling as if they were either over-extended short stories that would have been better off shorter, or else under-developed novels that would have been better off as novels. More than once, I've felt that a novella could have been better off as either a novel or a short, but ended up in some no-man's-land where it almost worked for me, but didn't quite. Since avoiding novellas for this reason, I've been pulled back in and discovered quite a few that I love... Unfortunately, though, this novella reminded me of why I used to avoid them. I could see arguments for this being much shorter or much longer...but as is, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to, especially after already being a fan of the author from other works.

Finally caught up on reviews, with these upcoming two of books I absolutely fell in love with. Looking for a wildly original and touching ghost story? Read on...

82. Gargantuana's Ghost by Patrick Barb

When I read the premise of this little book, it seemed so off-kilter that I thought the book itself would be funny, weird, and more strange than horrific. I wasn’t remotely prepared for the heartfelt and haunting story Barb creates here, but I devoured it in one sitting and found myself crying over the pages.

With such careful awareness of varied points of view that his work here is utterly genius, Barb manages to tell a story which cannot be denied its power. Moments which would be comical in another writer’s hands become dangerously tender while remaining true to the tale and the voices at the heart of the story. And just as he brings the subway and the contemporary world into violent existence on the pages, so too do moments of levity and connection between characters make this story all the more real. It shouldn’t seem real—it shouldn’t feel real—and yet, it is so carefully delivered that it gains a heft and reality which I wouldn’t have believed possible in such a short, strange work that haunts me still.

I loved this little book, and I can’t wait to read more from Patrick Barb.

And now this next review catches me up. I'm not exaggerating when I say this may be my new favorite book. If you like horror, ecohorror, or even simply ecofiction, you should get your hands on this immediately.... It is fantastic.

83. The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan

The promise of progress has been tantalizing dreamers for centuries, often to their ruin, and it’s the tug-and-pull of progress, greed, and ruin which Sullivan manages to explore and subvert in this gorgeous work of eco-horror.

From the very opening of The Marigold, there’s an awareness of nature being encroached upon by humanity’s search for what comes next, to the extent that that ‘next’ enslaves their every waking hour. But here, with a breathless feeling of both dread and triumph—well, triumph for those of us who often root for Nature finding a way—the reader sees Nature fighting back with a vengeance for its own progress. And there’s something utterly wonderful about this, both in the horror which Sullivan delivers alongside this movement and also when it comes to the attention he gives to the naturalness of it all. Alongside the more artificial progress made by humanity’s greed, where everything is quickly shown to be a tower of cards, the give-and-take of Nature’s very different understanding of life and death is impossible to deny...and beautifully delivered with every word of rot, horror, and ruin.

As with some of Sullivan’s short stories, entrapment is an aching theme throughout the work, but by showing it in such different terms, he manages to give a nod to the “real world” we know and fear while elevating the horror at the heart of this novel. On one hand, it’s entrapment through progress, through greed, and through foresight. And, on the other hand, it’s the very physical entrapment of a strained, unnatural cityscape imploding with the force of all it’s held off.

But while all this sounds really bleak, no small part of the beauty in this novel comes from the pure joy with which Sullivan delivers the horror and the ruin. Terrifying as the book may be, it is also fun, oddly pure, and masterful in its every scene. The small grotesqueries and the constant tributes to the natural world—and the weird, sweet, elegance of even the gooiest parts of nature—are given such careful attention that fungi all but bleed off the page for the reader, just as is the case for characters. Admittedly, I fell in love with even the most dangerous organisms in this book, and they’re no small part of what makes this book’s contribution to eco-horror so undeniable.

I’ll be rereading and recommending this book for a long time to come. Whether you come to it through the lens of eco-fiction or horror, you’ll find something here to fall into, and be horrified and mesmerized by.

84. Elephant Destiny by Martin Meredith

This was a tough book to read, as I knew it would be--there's a reason it took me years and years after buying it to finally get around to reading it, and a reason it took me a while to finish once I did open it up. That said, I'm glad to have read it and gotten more insight into the long history of humans and elephants. I knew bits and pieces of it, of course, but understanding the fuller progression and the full dynamic of socio-economic factors is worth the heartache of reading this book. I'd hoped there'd be more chapters on conservation/study and the scientific understanding we have of the elephants and their behavior--those chapters were a joy to read, for the most part--but that's absolutely not the focus of this work. The focus is on history and how things have progressed over time, much of it being difficult to read in terms of heartache, smooth as Meredith's writing is.

I'm not sure I can simply recommend this to people who love elephants--it is a painful, dark read. But for readers who want a larger understanding of how humanity came to workshop, work with, and abuse elephants, and an understanding of how our history has progressed with them in terms of both abuse and conservation, as well as scientific awareness, it's a worthwhile read.

85. Don't Cry, Tai Lake by Qiu Xiaolong

I loved the early books in this series, but the last few have felt a touch too casual for me. Like the crime element is nearly unimportant compared to the other themes Xiaolong wishes to explore. Here, I would have loved a heightened sense of urgency in terms of the environmental concern or even the relationship concern if not the crime, but instead it feels as if the slow, red-tape-type concerns of the bureaucracy above the detective leak into everything else and affect a lack of urgency.

The writing was still lovely, the case and the characters still interesting, but it all felt so casual that I just didn't enjoy it as much as I'd like to. It was fine...but so far, it's probably my least favorite of the series.

86. Kiss Me by Andrew Pyper

I'm a huge fan of Pyper's novels, so I wanted to give this collection a try. And it's...fine? Pyper's writing is gorgeous, and there are moments where the prose itself shines so much that I'm glad to have read the book. The stories themselves are slice-of-life literary pieces that read fairly unevenly, with a few stand-outs rising above the others. (My favorites were "Breaking and Entering", "Kiss Me", and "Magnificent".) This is one of those collections where the themes running through the stories are so similar that the tone and feel becomes repetitive after a while, so I would say that this is one of those collections which is better read in small bites every once in a while rather than straight through (which is how I normally read collections). It's also worth noting that it feels like sex/sexual situations comes into play for shock value as much as anything at various points in this collection, eventually leading me to feel like the writing here just isn't as mature as Pyper's more recent fiction, which of course would make sense.

I'd absolutely recommend Pyper's fiction to anyone who loves fiction on the darker or stranger side of the map, but I probably won't find cause to recommend this little collection.

87. Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

I fell completely in love with The Last House on Needless Street, and devoured it from cover to cover. That being the case, I couldn't wait to dive into another Catriona Ward book...but I fear this one was a big disappointment. Where TLHONS was as engaging as it was complex, and made for compulsive reading, this book was rather the opposite for me. It started off slow, which I didn't particularly mind since it then picked up and pulled me in (though more in a quiet suspense or lit fic vein than I would have expected), only to devolve into something that became more and more complicated while also somehow feeling repetitive.

There's an argument to be made that Ward played games with her readers in TLHONS, and I'm often a critic of books that put gaming readers above storytelling, but when it works, it works. There, it works beautifully, and the story is smartly told. Here, the book eventually ended up feeling more like an experiment or a game on the reader than anything, and the only phrase that now comes to mind when I look at it is "Needlessly Complicated".

I'm glad this wasn't the first Ward book I read, or it would absolutely be my last, and I really did love TLHONS. I fear I wouldn't recommend this particular work, though.

88. The House of Drought by Dennis Mombauer

Stelliform Press has yet to disappoint me, and this tale of a "haunted house for the climate change era" lived up to what I've come to expect from the stories it represents. The work is complex, tightly told, and gorgeously written. As a novella, it unfolds a full world that you wouldn't expect to come through in so few pages, and does so in a manner that demands a reader's full attention and care. Mombauer's style is so visual and offered in such a collage-like style that there's no way to read without picturing the setting and the mansion at the heart of this book, and although it was sometimes a slightly slower work than I'd expected, I loved every moment. Haunting and creepy and perfectly timed, this is a novella worth finding.

I'm not going to be finishing another book before the end of the month, so I'll go ahead and give my update now!

I got behind in October, but for a good reason. I ended up not doing a smidge of reading while on vacation--there was just too much to do and see in Memphis, and I loved every second. I didn't know I could feel so at home in a city, but I absolutely adored it. Being on Beale Street and listening to live blues music each night we were there was a dream come true, but better than I could have imagined.

So, I haven't even begun Ancillary Justice (which I'd planned on reading for the SFFKit), and I've barely begun Zoobiquity, my RandomCat and Alpha-N read. My November plans DO include at least finishing Zoobiquity, though! And also...

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark (a HOWLS book club read)
Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic (SFFKit & 'T' AlphaKit)
This World Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Horror Stories About Bugs (ScaredyKit)
Dominic by Elizabeth Amber (SeriesCat)
After Dark by Haruki Murakami (GeoCat)
Into the Light by Nicole Cooley (RandomCat)
SuiPsalms by John Edward Lawson (L AlphaKit)

We'll see how it goes. A few of these are pretty short, and none but Zoobiquity are particularly long....

>141 whitewavedarling: Glad you had a good time in Memphis!

89. After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Murakami's prose is entrancing, and this short novel showcases it beautifully. The book spans only a few hours, but moves between characters as if through a dream, and bridges a clear glimpse of reality with what seems almost spectral. As always, though, it is the moments that stand out here, and Murakami's distinct way of presenting what seems utterly casual in a fashion that suggests everything rests on it.

I couldn't put down this book almost from the second I picked it up, and loved sinking into Murakami's words again.

Recommended.

90. Teahouse of the Almighty by Patricia Smith

Patricia Smith has long been a favorite poet of mine, and this is another collection that demands attention. Engaging with the Blues and with Smith's gorgeous language, this collection practically sings. There are poems here which made me catch my breath, and which I had to read and re-read three or four times before I could make myself move on. And I'm sure I'll be coming back to it.

If you're new to Patricia Smith, this probably isn't the collection I'd recommend only because it is a little less accessible than some, and I'd say that there are others where every single poem included is an absolute stand-out that deserves to be read and re-read and shared. This one didn't quite live up to that absurdly high standard for me, but it is a fabulous collection that I loved living within.

Recommended.

91. Zoobiquity by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers

This is a fascinating, smartly written book that bridges psychology, medicine, science, and veterinary and (human) medical practices and treatment. With extensive research backing it up, the book shows how meaningful it can be for human doctors to communicate with veterinary doctors (and vice versa) when it comes to treating patients and tackling disease. The stories in the book come from across the globe and across history, making for an utterly entrancing reading of a book that, as filled as it is with facts, is also compulsively readable.

I'd recommend this book to anyone, and feel sure that most readers will even learn something about themselves in diving into it with an open mind.

>143 whitewavedarling: - I've been saying I want to read some Murakami for a while now having seen him mentioned a number of times. I'm going to go put him on my list for next year.

>146 dudes22:, Definitely do! Everything I've read from him has been at least a four-star read for me, his prose is so gorgeous. My favorite is probably Kafka on the Shore, it's so strange, but this one and Norwegian Wood are totally different and on the quiet side. Whatever appeals to you most, I hope you enjoy it!

92. Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic edited by Eduardo Jimenez Mayo and Chris N. Brown

In the tradition of the Fantastic and magical realism, this short story collection presents a collection of primarily new voices that deliver fresh, haunting stories. They're not what a Western reader would recognize immediately as Horror or SFF--rather, they're closer to 'weird fiction' or 'magical realism' and bring to mind such writers as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino. Often quiet and unassuming (until they are not), the stories offer up a Mexico and a literature that is as gorgeous and deep as it is unfamiliar. In most of the stories, the prose is luscious and careful, whether in the flash fiction or the longer stories, and the collection has introduced me to a number of names that I can't wait to look up.

Absolutely recommended.

93. SuiPsalms by John Edward Lawson

I picked this work up at StokerCon, where it was recommended to me as worthwhile if I wanted to check out more horror poetry. While it came with some trigger warnings, none of those warnings are ones which normally affect me, so I looked forward to digging in. And, well...I finally did.

The truth is, I don't understand why or how this could have been recommended. I've got wide-ranging tastes in poetry, but I couldn't force myself to get through most of the longer poems, and in general, this simply felt incredibly underwhelming. Many of the poems felt like they were still in rough-draft form and weren't publication ready, and so many moments felt as if they'd been built only for shock value, I had a hard time enjoying any of the works here. There were some moments and lines that struck me as powerful, but unfortunately, they only seemed to make it clearer that a lot of the poems weren't living up to their full potential or had been rushed to publication. Or maybe the final result here is the absolute intention, shock value above all, but if that's the case, it's just not for me. I've read some horror poetry I loved, but I'm afraid I can't really find anything here to speak highly of, much as it pains me to say that.

94. Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

This historical horror was somehow a complete surprise to me even though I've read Clark's other novels/novellas, but one thing came as no surprise: I loved it. Clark's fast-paced story-telling combined with his talent for living, breathing characters and intricate world-building came through on every page. Admittedly, I wouldn't have minded more spots slowing down so that I could live in the story with the characters a bit more, but this was a gorgeous thrill of a ride that ran at the seams with history.

I'd recommend it to any horror lover, and even to historical fiction lovers who simply want to dip into horror to see what's there.

95. Dominic by Elizabeth Amber

From the covers of this series, you wouldn't actually expect more than sex...but you'd be wrong. In the Lords of Satyr series, Elizabeth Amber has created an intricate world built of two realms, with nineteenth century Italy as its backdrop in one of those realms. The attention to historical detail and customs/culture as well as to character-building and story-telling is paramount, and while sex is certainly a serious part of the story, the larger canvas of world-building and story-telling has never been so apparent as it was in this fourth installment of the series, which actually contains two full tales rather than one (each previous book in the series has one story and romance per book).

Bridging paranormal romance and historical romance, this series has delved into the world-building more and more with each book, but the characters brought to life on the pages could carry the series by themselves. My only complaint here is that as much as I loved the first story in the book, which ran about 205 of the 315 pages, I was even more engrossed in the second story, and I wish each story had been given a full volume to itself (or else that the book had been longer so that we'd have had more time with the second one).

Regardless, though, I'd absolutely recommend this series to anyone interested.

96. Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison

I don't normally pay much attention to blurbs, but a blurb from Ursula K. Le Guin, on top of the publication being from an imprint of Small Beer Press, made this little book irresistible even when the cover copy left me less than sure it would be for me. In the end, though, I'm so glad I stumbled upon it.

This short fairy-tale-esque novel sprawls over so many different territories, and with such a unique coming-of-age story. I was enchanted from the very beginning, and am somewhat shocked I hadn't heard of the author before now. What began as a sweetly amusing fairy tale turned into something deeper and more meaningful as the world and the character progressed, and left me in a bit of wonder.

I'd absolutely recommend it.

>152 whitewavedarling: Hmm, I have this book waiting to be read. Time to move it towards the top of the pile!

>153 NinieB:, I hope you do! It was a relaxing read and perfect for this busy time of the year :)

97. This World Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Horror Stories About Bugs

The best horror anthology I've read for a while, This World Belongs to Us is packed with unique stories that celebrate the incredible variety which horror can offer, and doing so while working hard (in the best way possible) to make readers' skins crawl. From the opening story on, I was superbly aware that I shouldn't be reading this book at night--or even outside in the Florida fall where the simplest of bugs could relate to the book and set off my imagination.

What makes this anthology so strong, though, isn't just the writing, which is superb. The variety of approaches these authors took to their subject matter, and the way each story added another layer of horror and bugginess, made me anxious to turn forward to each new story. Too often, anthologies have so many stories of the same tone or with similar themes, so that after a while things become repetitive even if the stories themselves would have shined on their own. Here, there's so much fun to be had in exploring the various bugs, themes, tones, and approaches, I absolutely adored the book, and I'm going to look forward to reading more anthologies from From Beyond Press. Additionally, although I enjoyed this whole work far too much to name favorite stories, this little anthology has given me quite a few new authors to look out for!

Absolutely recommended to horror lovers.

98. The Devil's Detective by Simon Kurt Unsworth

Unsworth has created an intricate and gorgeously detailed portrait of hell and its inhabitants in this book, but that's truly nothing compared to his character work and storytelling. Thomas Fool, one of Hell's so-called Information Men, is a character that one can't help but be entranced by. He's sympathetic and engaging while being helplessly stuck in a job that's as important as it is chaotic and difficult. More than that, he's utterly believable. And the story itself, intricate and fast-paced, is all the more powerful because of Unsworth's talent for otherworldly detail and twists.

All told, I fell into this book and loved it, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series. I could not tell you what genre it is, but in all sincerity, it doesn't matter. This is a fun, gorgeous ride of a book that doesn't shy away from real meaning and big questions, and it's absolutely worth reading.

Recommended.

I don't think I'll be finishing another book before December, so it's time to lay out my end of year plans! Currently, I'm reading Noire: Temple Maze 1 by Anna Fury and I'm back into A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I'm not in love with either, but engaged enough with both that I plan to finish.

For December after that, I'm definitely planning on:

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice (AlphaKit "R" & my HOWLS read)
Witching Moon by Rebecca York (AlphaKit "Y" & RandomCat)
Lure by Tim McGregor (SFFKit)
The Ghost Sequences by A.C. Wise (ScaredyKit)
Faithful Place by Tana French (SeriesCat)
Idanre and Other Poems by Wole Soyinka (GeoCat)

A few of those are pretty short, so I've got my fingers crossed I can play catch-up and read some of the books I meant to read earlier this year in order to finish challenges, but I guess we'll see what happens as the month unfolds...

99. Noire: Temple Maze Level One by Anna Fury

The concept and characters of this work sucked me in immediately, and I thought I might have found a new favorite romance series. And then...I got further into the book. Unfortunately, as much as the story and the characters held my attention, the writing of the characters and emotions was such a distraction that it's hard for me to imagine picking up another book by the series.

Put simply, as much as 'show don't tell' has become a writing advice cliche, this book is just the sort that proves the saying needs to be understood. Sure, there's a place for telling. But readers need to feel connected to characters and story. Here, everything related to feeling and emotion and goals/motivation was, to be blunt, 'told'--and it was 'told' repeatedly, each point hammered home without any real nuance. So, while the action scenes were really well-written, and the overall plotting was solid, no emotion ever came through the characters. You knew they were sad only because they were suddenly crying, or in pain because you suddenly told they cried out in pain. None of the emotions or feelings were shown in a way that engaged the reader or made the characters feel real because attention was put on repetition rather than real depth when it came to what characters experienced. So, even though the story was interesting and well-constructed, the characters felt more cardboard than real, and it was difficult to engage throughout.

I wanted to love this book. I want to be excited to go on to the next book in the series. Unfortunately, the writing around characters' experiences was so rushed, and so unengaging, neither is true. The book simply needed more time/development to carry any real emotional impact.

Not recommended, I'm afraid.

100. A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

This is a tough one to review, but I'm ultimately calling it a three-star, middle-of-the-road read for me.

First of all, the characters, writing, and world-building are fantastic. There's so much to love here, and Chambers did a stellar job of bringing a whole uniquely strange and various cast of characters to life, along with their world. Her writing is also fantastic.

So, what's the problem? Well, let me say that it took me about five months to finish this book. I binge-read the last half over a week, but up until the halfway point, I found picking up the book to be a struggle. Simply put, there's just not much plot; the larger plot is super-simple, and while that's fine, part of the problem is that we get a lot of scenes that don't seem to relate to that plot in any fashion, and are just about character/world-building (lots and lots of world/species-building). The story moves forward based on characterization and the day-to-day lives of the characters, and in some cases I wouldn't complain about that, but here there were so many points of view, and so many scenes that felt more like digressions than anything, that I felt like the book was simply wandering along. I kept reading partly because I was curious and partly because a number of folks I respected had recommended the book to me, but getting through the first half was a slow and not necessarily enjoyable process.

Looking back from a point of having finished, I can understand why Chambers wanted to include all of the points of view she did. I can even understand, to some extent, why some of the less-related scenes are felt to be so necessary. But while I can find justification for every scene if I look, the problem comes back to the fact that Chambers treated every character like a main character with an important POV...and that made for a long book with not a lot happening in the first half.

So, would I read more Chambers? Maybe probably? I don't see myself continuing with this series, but I know for sure that if she at some point writes some single-POV works I'll read them. I do plan, at the very least, on trying her A Psalm for the Wild-Built, but I admit that would be a harder decision if it were a longer book.

All told, I guess I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I enjoyed the last half quite a bit, but considering how often I thought about not finishing, I'm just not sure where that lands me.

101. Idanre and Other Poems by Wole Soyinka

This immersive collection of Soyinka's early poetry is powerful and engrossing, densely packed with an appreciation for Nigerian culture and history, the natural world, and the difficulties inherent in a long-established culture suddenly being pulled all at once into the twentieth century and all that came with it. Soyinka's language is, as ever, tense and demanding, but full of such images and moments as make any collection shine.

This isn't an easy collection, but I was glad to immerse myself in it, and plan to revisit it at length. I'd recommend it for those interested in Soyinka's early work or African poetry. Soyinka was the first African writer to ever be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and it's clear why.

>159 whitewavedarling: That was my issue with the Chambers book also -- not enough stakes, not enough plot. I did like A Psalm for the Wild-Built more -- not much plot in that one either, but it's a shorter read, easy to finish in one go.

>161 christina_reads:, Ah, good to know. I realized the other book was a lot shorter...otherwise, I'm not sure I'd be willing to try it, though I'll still probably wait quite a while in between.

102. Lure by Tim McGregor

I for some reason expected this to have more of an eco-horror flavor vs a folk horror flavor, but I did very much enjoy it. McGregor does a fabulous job of building dread, and this short work moves at a steady, building pace that kept me engaged from the very beginning on through the end. Kelly Williams' illustrations also add a gorgeous flavor to the text, and in the end, I was left wanting to seek out more work by both her and McGregor.

Recommended for fans of folk horror and horror novellas.

103. Faithful Place by Tana French

This is the third Dublin Murder Squad book, and it absolutely lives up to the books before it. French's writing is gorgeous, and the characters brought to life here feel as real as if they were living their stories next door rather than in the pages of a book. With family at the forefront in a different fashion than in the last two books, this one sometimes feels more like a drama than a thriller, but as everything builds together and moves toward the finale, every moment of every page proves itself to have counted. I will say that I found this one a touch more predictable than the last two, but I still loved every page and can't wait to read the next installment in the series.

>164 whitewavedarling: I've only read the first three books in the series, but I thought each was better than the last! I'm hoping subsequent books will live up to Faithful Place.

>165 christina_reads:, One of my good friends says that Books #2 and #4 are his favorite in the series, but that they're all really wonderful and stand up to the standards set by the early ones :)

And, now, for a far more disappointing read...

104. Witching Moon by Rebecca York

Although I enjoyed the first two books in this series, this one didn't nearly live up to them. Simply put, it had issues the others didn't, and they got more and more apparent as the book moved forward. Whether or not I read more in the series will likely depend on any given book's premise, which I'll explain below.

While insta-love was kind of in play with the first two books, it was far worse here. This was more obvious and problematic partly because the book got such a slow start, putting the 'insta-love' even more front-and-center because the characters spent so little time together and knew so little of each other (beyond appearance). Even once they theoretically got to know each other, though, the romance was so focused on physical beauty and that automatic lust the characters had felt, the love never really became real for the reader. It just "was" and we were expected to believe it. Add that issue with the romance to the book generally taking on too many characters, making things over-complicated, and trying to do so much that most of the elements got short-shrift, and you don't have a recipe for a great book. But then there's the thing that really bothered me...

This book was published in 2003. However, the dated, race-charged town in the South which the author paints feels painfully out of date and stereotyped. I can't say whether or not the author has spent time in the South or near where this book was placed, but this feels, from start to finish, like an outsider's stereotypical picture of the South. Maybe she visited for a week or two and this is what she saw--I don't know--but as someone who has lived in the South for most of her life and spent real time near where this book is theoretically located, I can tell you that it feels incredibly inaccurate and stereotyped, written in the way of how northerners joke about and think about the South vs what the South actually is (certainly since before 2003). Part of this, and adding to the problem, is her depiction of Black characters and the unintentionally racist descriptions and positioning. Combined with the town, the book ends up feeling more and more racially charged with outdated attitudes as you get further and further in, the Black characters who show up being little more than stereotypes that, I think, are meant to make the town feel real, and end up doing the exact opposite because of how they're written and positioned. Again, all of this comes down to inherited stereotypes, and I suspect that they were employed, in large part, because the author has an outdated and/or inaccurate view of Southern culture and towns. At least that's how it felt to this reader.

So, yes, in the end, whether or not I read another book in the series may well come down to setting. If the future books in the series are also set in the South, I'll skip them. If they're not, I may delve in. But without doubt, I'd suggest that even readers who enjoyed the first two books in the series as easy, escapist fun just skip this installment in the series. I didn't even cover the fact that some story/character issues pop up late in the book, that issue so pales in comparison to the depiction of the South and the romance which leaves so much to be desired.

105. X: Poems by James Galvin

This is the first collection I've read from Galvin, but unfortunately, I think it will also probably be my last. While there's some lovely language and imagery here, it feels like a majority of the poems prioritize "sound" over "sense", and while further read-throughs might make them more clearer, there's nothing there really pulling me to put the work in. In other cases, the poems here are perfectly clear, but just not particularly striking. In a few cases, I started out truly enjoying a piece, only to find that the ending fell so flat as to mostly ruin it for me. And in other cases, even where form is clearly in play, it feels like the poems are nothing more than broken up prose, and the truth is that I didn't feel much engagement or emotional impact at any point in the collection.

Not one I'd recommend, I'm afraid.

106. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

Rice's writing is absolutely gorgeous, and this post-apocalyptic novel rates with the best of them. Reminiscent of Pat Franks' Alas, Babylon (which I adored), this offers a wonderful slow-burn entrance that brings readers close to the characters and offers insight into an insulated First Nations community's day-to-day live. Moving slowly into the story as the dread and the suspense built, I completely fell in love with this book, and it will remain towards the top of my favorite post-apoc novels alongside Alas, Babylon and McCarthy's The Road.

That said, there is undoubtedly a formula to this very distinct genre, and readers who've read quite a number of them (as I have) will recognize it once events really begin unfolding. Admittedly, I stopped enjoying the book quite so much at that point because it did fit so smoothly into the formula (minus the very important cultural factor, which is a big part of this book, and one of the most distinguishing factors). I also didn't love the ending, and have some gripes there, but I can't get into those without offering spoilers, so I'll leave it at that.

In conclusion, I just have to say that Rice does a masterful job of integrating non-English words in a way that feels both natural and accessible, so that the words' meanings are clear even to someone who doesn't know the language, and that takes incredible talent. The book has absolutely made me a fan of his writing, and although I don't see myself picking up the sequel to this one simply because of the genre focus, I'll absolutely seek out more of his work, and I'd recommend this one to anyone interested.

>169 whitewavedarling: - I really loved this story too although I'm not sure I knew there was going to be a sequel when I read it. I could really see this kind of thing happening especially reading it so soon after the pandemic.

>170 dudes22:, Apparently there was no plan for a sequel lol.

I'm not sure where he talked about it (I learned about it through my book club), but the author didn't have any plans for one. But then readers started asking for one, and it came up so often that Rice finally decided it made sense.

My understanding is that the sequel's already available in Canada, and will be released in the US in February.

107. Victim Six by Gregg Olsen

Olsen's works are fast reads, and I read one of the later books in this series before I realized it was a series. This one was slower to bring me in, but a fast read overall, and I did enjoy it. The writing of the detective's family was a little heavy-handed and vague in a way that I didn't love, but the mystery/suspense which the book was fully built around kept me fully engaged from start to finish. Readers should be warned that there should be a blaring CW for sexual assault on the cover and back of this book--and maybe if it had been published more recently, there would be--and there's certainly an argument to be made that the writer went for shock value in some scenes, but not to the point where things weren't believable.

Recommended for readers of the genre.

108. Seed by Ania Ahlborn

This was my first taste of Ahlborn, and I'll undoubtedly look out for more of her books. Her nuance when it came to writing the character and their relationships in Seed was brilliant, and made it easy to keep turning pages. The book was fairly predictable, admittedly, but the characters were so vibrant and real that that didn't particularly bother me, particularly given that one might expect a book in this subgenre to follow a fairly predictable path.

The big weakness for me, and what brought it from a 4.5* read down to a 3.5* read, is a particular pet peeve of mine, no pun intended. I can't stand it when writers give their characters pets, but don't do so in a believable fashion. I've read so many books where a dog owner just up and left town for a weekend without any mention of dog care, despite the short notice trip, or where cats or dogs simply didn't behave believably. I love animals, but if an author is going to include them, they have to do the work to include them in a believable manner, acknowledging that dogs have to be walked or go outside to use a bathroom just like all animals need to be fed regularly, cared for, etc. That's not to say I need to see a cat owner cleaning out the litter box, but I need to believe one exists. In the case of Seed, Ahlborn gave her family a dog, but it was only present when convenient to the story. It lived inside, so there was no question of it always being out of the house, but it only showed up when the story required it. Otherwise, it was as if the dog didn't exist, and because of the way she described the characters' relationships with the dog, there was no way to believe it wouldn't have been reacting and underfoot in a lot of plot moments. But, instead, it seems she only wanted it in for two convenient plot moments...and to be honest, that put a huge damper on the book for me. It shot through the believability of the family and the situation, and a scene that she meant to have a huge emotional impact ended up feeling more predicted and annoying, in large part as a result of this oversight.

You might be thinking this shouldn't be such a big problem, but in a book where the larger plot is fairly predictable, engagement with characters and their believability means everything. And so when what's supposedly a big part of a family's home life is a problem that can't be ignored, that ends up being a fairly serious weakness--at least in my opinion.

I'll absolutely read more of Ahlborn's work, but I'll likely avoid any where there's a family pet if I can figure out which books that might be based on CWs and book reviews.

And, I finished my last book of the year last night!

109. The Ghost Sequences by A.C. Wise

This is a fantastically varied and haunting collection. With a fair number of long stories, untraditionally formatted stories, and shorter works, there's something here for every lover of ghost stories and horror stories. I normally prefer more traditional works, but even so, some of the more experimental forms here made me fall in love with their stories, which I never would have expected. I think my favorites ended up being "How the Trick is Done," "The Last Sailing of the 'Henry Charles Morgan' in Six Pieces of Scrimshaw', "How to Host a Haunted House Murder Mystery Party," "Exhalation #10," "The Nag Bride," and "The Ghost Sequences"--but in all truth, I really did enjoy this whole collection. A number of the stories here (some mentioned as my favorites) felt like whole worlds, and could easily be novels in themselves if Wise wanted to extend them.

Either way, she created such a complete world in each of these stories, and there was so much variety, I simply fell in love with this book. I look forward to reading more of her work, and would recommend this one to any lover of horror stories or ghost stories.

End Wrap-Up:

Well, I managed to meet all of my personal challenges with the exception of reading 12 nonfiction books this year (I fell far short of that).

As far as the group challenges I participated in: I finished/completed the ScaredyKit and the RandomCat!

With the others... I was one book shy of meeting the AlphaKit, one book shy of finishing the SFFKit, two books shy of finishing the SeriesCat, one book shy of finishing the GeoCat.

So...close, but not quite. Hopefully I'll do better in 2024, especially since I wasn't so tempted by the Cats and am only doing one plus the Kits I did this year....