October Reading List

[unicornduke]

Read

• Bluebeard's Wife by T Kingfisher https://firesidefiction.com/bluebeards-wife
• Uncanny Magazine Issue 41 - library e-book
• The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith - delightful concept with only some theology (and not in an annoying way) thrown in despite the premise. library e-book
• The Spirit Bares Its Teeth - holy shit was this good and horrifying. I felt this in my soul. People doing what they can in horrible circumstances. library e-book
• Handwoven Magazine Issue something - library e-magazine
• In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens - Delightful adventure fantasy setting, fun characters and good ending. library e-book
• The Archive of the Forgotten by A.J. Hackwith - not as good as first in the series, more bemoaning their feelings and not communicating with each other which I find irritating. picks up well at the end though. Library e-book
• The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas - first in a series and ends on a cliffhanger unfortunately. Great setting, definitely YA writing vibes. Library e-book
• The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold - I exclaimed over this elsewhere but my goodness, what a great book! Intrigue, adventure, suffering, gods, magic! So good, I held onto it for another day so I could re-read the last couple of chapters again. Library e-book.
• Vanishing Fleece by Clara Parkes - a decent non-fiction look at the medium scale fiber industry still going in the United States. Felt more doomy than I think the author intended, I'm not sure if we were supposed to have read the blog she wrote or what but the ending was kinda anticlimactic. Would have been better with pictures to be honest. Library e-book
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas - great YA book with a great concept and story. There was a lot of teenagers wandering in circles and having angst but sometimes that's how that goes. library e-book
• Rule of the Aurora King by Nisha J. Tuli - second in the series, not as good as the first book, irritating amounts of wanting to have hate sex with another character. Ignoring that, the story was great and I can't wait for the third (and maybe final) book. library e-book
• The Sharing Knife Series (four books, Beguilement, Legacy, Passage, Horizon) - I read all four books so I'll put them in as a set since they technically were one thing then split. A delight! Nothing better than a adventure romance about breaking down cultural barriers while there's mortal danger all around. Fun, silly and serious. Delightfully good and thoroughly enjoyable. Physical library books
• Shattered Pillars by Elizabeth Bear - only sequel I read this month that felt like it raised the stakes and the characters grew with the stakes. More danger, more disasters and clearly the second act where much feels hopeless but the heroes press on because they must. Very good, did enjoy a lot. I have the third one already so that's next to read. Physical library book
• Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold - these are such delightful little books. Very fun. Physical library book
• Penric's Fox by Lois McMaster Bujold - same as above, fun and some mysteries to solve. Physical library book
• Masquerade in Lodi by Lois McMaster Bujold - hilarious misadventures of losing everyone in your party and then finding them all again in danger. Physical library book

Re-read

• The Twelve Points of Caleb Canto by copperbadge - I re-read this fanfiction a lot because I understand Caleb Canto on a very deep level and relate so hard to him in so many ways. It's also a delightful story. https://archiveofourown.org/works/44042602?view_full_work=true

DNF

• Four Thousand Weeks buy Oliver Burkeman - my god this guy loves an extended sentence. I don't know if I've ever read another book with so many commas, semicolons, colons and em-dashes because he could never fit a single thought into a normal length sentence. I mostly agree with his ideas on choosing things and some other stuff but honestly, this could have been a five thousand word essay or something. I just got tired of his stupid sentences and quit the book so I don't actually know what his bringing together thesis was. library e-book