Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Fall 2022 TBR

"Top Ten Tuesday" is a weekly bookish meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

Look at me, teasing you with a singular post in my promised Summer Wrap Up, and then immediately turning around and compiling a list of the books I'm actually looking forward to reading this Fall. To be fair, I'm going to be very much grappling with the resolving of my feelings for the season past, at a minimum, until October 1st - what did I even do for the last three months, other than hide from the roofers for a week, venture off to Oregon twice, and do my best to get out of every camping trip I could? - so those other two promised posts are still forthcoming. However, "Top Ten Tuesday" waits for no emotionally-beleaguered late-twenty-something, so it's about time to get with the times! 

Before I begin this post, I would also like to state, I almost never actually manage to follow through on my TBRs: for starters, I am a notoriously fickle mood reader - which is something that drives my reads-one-Brandon-Sanderson-book-after-the-other brother absolutely batty - and furthermore, I seem to constantly assess my personal reading levels at a rate that is much more consistent than how I was ten years ago than I am now. 

For instance, take everything I say I'm going to read in November with a significant sprinkle of salt: as much as I'd like to pretend that NaNoWriMo isn't so much a compulsion as a particularly gratifying and personally challenging pastime, I'm not exactly known for the idea that "I can stop any time that I want," either. In fact, I'm more of a "If I write 1,000 more words in the next hour, I can get well on my way for hitting tomorrow's chapter goal, and also maybe make it to bed at 1am" kind of gal. I will always be a high-strung straight-A kid at heart; meeting my daily word count is the only thing that brings the emotional high of nailing school projects in my English classes back into tangible reach again. Unsurprisingly, I read almost nothing during November. 

But enough about all of these back-to-school-themed feelings. Let's take a look at some of these seriously aspirational TBR reads: 

september: sewing up summer mid-finishes

using the remainder of the month to complete the remaining pages 

of some of Summer's halfway-theres

1. The Blacktongue Thief, Christopher Beuhlman

A man is compelled by his debts within the Taker's Guild to follow along with a mysterious fighter on a mission, combating strange enemies far from the land he knows, tangling with magic and beasts he has only heard of in legend. 

I got about halfway into this fun, creative Fantasy during the summer, mostly while stuck on a camping trip. Even though I was absolutely loving what I was reading - the majority of the main cast beyond our protagonist is female, for instance, and there are lots of made-up Fantasy swear words, which I love just as much as regular swearing - and while I fully intended to finish the novel, I just got caught up in other things, and never quite made it to the end. However, my resolve is still firmly in completing this novel before the end of the year.

2. Tempests and Slaughter (The Numair Chronicles #1), Tamora Pierce 

Long ago, the boy who would become mythical Tortallan mage Numair Salmalin was simply Arram Draper, a promising student within the Imperial University of Carthak. There, he befriends Ozorne, powerful burgeoning heir to the throne, and Varice, a social butterfly with more cleverness than meets the eye. 

This was technically my final read of the Summer, if we're playing by Summer Book Bingo rules, but I never actually managed to make it across the finish line of the last page. Again, I'm stuck somewhere around halfway through, where it just felt like things might have been lagging a bit. However, this is another that I am bound and determined to see to its completion, so it's only a matter of time. 

3. The Best Cook in the World: Tales from my Momma's Table, Rick Bragg

From stolen ham hocks to backyard squirrel meat and seriously just so many biscuits, Bragg's heartfelt and enthralling narrative of his family's cooking journey is told through humorous anecdotes about rural living and how a sparse kitchen can still make a feast. 

Despite the fact that this book lived on my coffee table with the rest of my TBR all through Summer, I never actually got around to finishing this cooking-and-family inspired memoir, which is absolutely wild, because Cooking Memoirs are one of my absolute favorite things to read. Again, I had really been loving the whole thing, but got stuck somewhere around the middle, due to various environmental factors and a general lack of reading motivation (I had a massive Slump this Spring, remember?). I know it's good, which is why I'll get back to it eventually... hopefully sooner rather than later. 

october: creepin' it real

embracing the spooky season by getting in tune 

with some atmospheric and bone-chilling reads

 

4. finishing Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice 

The iconic and enthralling adventures of Louis, a recently turned vampire, and Lestat, the mysterious and enrapturing vamp who turned him, told better than any '90s Brad Pitt movie. 

You'll maybe have noticed a bit of a trend with me by now, but you'll never guess where my bookmark is still stuck in this particular paperback. That's right, the middle! I had been really enjoying this particular spooky read this past year, when the clock ran out on the end of October without me having reached the end. I ended up getting subsumed with thoughts of NaNo, and it accidentally dropped out of my hands until I had time again in December... which is no time to be reading about vampires. I've been "saving" it - mentally, at least - until we came around to October again this year! (And just in time, too, as the trailer for the new television series just dropped!) 

5. Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A heartfelt plea from a newlywed family member sends a young woman to the Mexican countryside, where an imposing old house's even older lineage promises darker mysteries than she had bargained for. 

This has been a much-hyped title since its initial release in June 2020, and quickly thereafter found its way as an impulse purchase onto my Kindle after its price temporarily dipped below two dollars last year. I feel like the fervor has subsided enough that I can actually try my hand at reading it myself, without anyone else's opinion getting mixed up into it. 

6. Before the Devil Breaks You (The Diviners #3), Libba Bray

The Diviners face new enemies and old evils in a battle for not just the soul of New York City, but an America on the brink of change, while exploring the secrets of an asylum that houses more than just patients... 

I think this was the original series that taught my brother the lesson "When Savannah says 'soon,' she doesn't mean 'within three to five business days,' but really, 'eventually, hopefully before the sun burns out." He's been well and truly done with this series since the final installment - King of Crows (#4) - was released two years ago, and has since managed to even finish the Great and Terrible Beauty series beyond that, but I've been taking my sweet time enjoying these spooky installments. Besides, some of this stuff gets heavy, for YA. I'm just enjoying the ride. 

7. If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio

A passel of Shakespearean students find their off-stage dramatics overtaking their on-stage personas, in a play that leads to death. Ten years later, one of them is released from prison, serving time for a murder they may not have committed. 

I was recommended this novel by a fellow Shakespeare nerd back when it was released in 2017, and picked up a hardcover within the year. And then... promptly relegated it to the back of my shelf. I don't know if its the imposingness of its hardcover status or size or genre (I'm not a big fan of thrillers), or if its just its collegiate setting, but something about it has always felt easy to put off 'til the following Fall. Maybe I can break the cycle, and just tackle it this year? 

november: getting cozy with lit

a warm fireplace, hot chocolate, and throw blankets make 

for the ideal environment on a blustery November day

8. The Immortalists, Chloe Benjamin

Four siblings seek out a woman in their neighborhood who is rumored to predict when you will die, and over the next five decades, navigate their ways around fate and family while seeking their own fortunes. 

I picked this book up two years ago after hearing its praise on more than a few of my favorite bookstagram accounts, but still haven't managed to find a good time for it. Maybe it's the theme of family, or the Thanksgiving-welcome shades of brown on the cover, but this might be a really good one to get to this Fall. 

9. The Coward (Quest for Heroes #1), Stephen Aryan

Ten years after his heroic actions saved the land, a young hero is tired of hearing his name proclaimed in song. Even more unwelcome, however, is the new evil threatening the kingdom again, especially when it prompts the calls for him to return to the fray... and because he knows he only got lucky the first time. 

I picked this title up on a Barnes and Noble run with my brother over the Summer, and we were both drawn to the plot immediately for its sideways sort of description for its hero. I called dibs first, though, which means he's relegated to waiting for me to finish - the age-old story - before he can pick it up for himself. Or he'll just check out the audiobook from the library... that's a pretty common occurrence, too. 

10. Gingerbread, Helen Oyeyemi

A young woman struggles to untangle the mysteries of her gingerbread-loving mother - like her strange country of origin, and her enigmatic best friend - neither of which show any sign of existing any longer. 

I'm a huge fan of Oyeyemi's magical realism, especially books like Boy, Snow, Bird that serve the elements of adaptations from some of those folklore and fairy tale inspirations that still have a grip on our public consciousness. I've had this hardcover on my shelf for a while, which not only makes it a welcome cozy read, but a great way to get another book off of my TBR shelves.

What's in YOUR Top Ten? Let me know, in the comments below!

What I Read this Summer: My Summer Reading Challenges, Part One

Insert requisite "I can't believe Summer's over," blah blah blah. In fact, I can believe that Summer is over. The weather has turned, local schools are back in session, and my soul is plagued by a persistent itch to break out all of the Halloween decor early (Not until the 24th! We have it written down in the family calendar already). 

Besides, despite the fact that there are still plenty of tomatoes hanging out on the vines outside - Washington has had a miserable growing year for tomatoes - the seasons have officially begun to turn, from "Farmer's Market" to "Wildfire and Spiders." It's a more welcome transition than you might think. 

However, more importantly, the onset of September brings to a close yet another year's worth of Summer Reading Challenge Library Book Bingoes, and all of their affiliated distractions. 

The official close of the Seattle Public Library and Seattle Arts and Lectures series Adult Summer Reading Book Bingo was on September 6th, and I can't say that I didn't breathe a sigh of relief. Not because I wanted it to be over, necessarily, but because I actually managed to up last year's miserable performance, and get three individual Bingoes across my card! 

Out of the 25 possible squares, I successfully filled up THIRTEEN squares with the titles of books I read this summer. (There are also an additional five romance novels that I completed that didn't necessarily manage to work into the list, but you've already heard about two of them here.) Due to the nature of this online space supposedly being a Book Blog, and because I've managed very little else by way of updates over the course of this summer, I thought you might like to see what I've been busy reading, and why. 

JUNE

Square: A Book with a Blue Cover

Book: The Nest, Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

I started off the Summer with the best of intentions of also tackling one of my other longstanding reading challenges: chipping away at the towering TBR stack lurking over my reading nook. So, when given such a deliberately ambiguous prompt, I selected one of the titles that has been sitting here the longest, purchased in hardcover in the Spring of my senior year of college. 

Unfortunately, I really, really didn't like it. 

The Nest follows a family of upper-class New Yorkians, specifically, a family of four siblings and their various spouses and children. The four were promised shares of a large nest egg, bequeathed by their late, wealthy father, that would become available to them all when the youngest was old enough to spend it responsibly... unfortunately, they never get the chance, as their oldest brother's indiscretions and legal trouble have scrubbed the whole thing clean right before they can legally access it. Now, they're forced to grapple with the various ways they've been banking on that money - to shore up failing businesses, to pay for college, to smooth the wrinkled edges of an expensive lifestyle - while contending with their own fragile family relationships. 

To break the entire cast of characters down to their bare essentials, everyone in The Nest falls into the following criteria: absurdly horny, morally repugnant, worthy of pity, and positively delusional. And yes, there are absolutely people who fit all four categories at once. 

Obviously book characters don't have to be good people. In fact, it's often more fun when they're not! But from a moral / ethical standpoint, these people were all over the place, and it's not fun reading a book where a good 70% of the total cast are making decisions that warrant a response of "What the hell are you thinking?" while shaking the book like you've got a hold on their shoulders. 

And then, even in the other characters, you get shades of xenophobia, racism, sexism, etc. For a book that includes two different major queer relationships, some of the other subtext of the book oriented around it carries this weird, mid-'00s flavors of homophobia. I'm sure these kinds of shading were included to round things out, make the entire world of the novel feel more real, but honestly, the overall impact was just really kind of sideways-preachy, like the author was presenting them in a way that made sure no one would accuse the author herself of being racist or homophobic. It was just what the characters were doing. 

Also, what the hell was that ending?? I won't detail the specifics, given the nature of spoilers and their associated social no-nos, but seriously? Come on. 

It was not an auspicious way to start the Summer's reading. 

Square: First Book by an Author (partnered with another square, "Most Recent Book by Same Author")

Book: Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness #1), Tamora Pierce

Okay, don't get on me about this. I'm not a fake fan, I'm just someone whose first Tamora Pierce book was Trickster's Choice, and I've read pretty much every series since out of sequential order. And I've dragged my feet SO LONG over reading the Lioness Quartet. Strictly speaking, I have attempted this book multiple times before - including a format change, on audiobook - and I even had a copy of it that I ended up giving away a couple of years ago, absolutely determined that these books were just the Tamora Pierce novels I wouldn't read. 

However, my younger brother, equally set on me meeting him at his level, was so motivated at changing my mind that he ended up purchasing me a boxed set - one that matches my Daine boxed set - with the insistence that I give it another go. 

Then, he sat beside me as I read, and listened to all my mutterings and exclamations, in real time. Unbeknownst to me, he was also running the Stopwatch app on his phone as we were taking our time, only pausing it once when I got up to use the restroom. At the halfway mark, he boasted about what good time I was making; once I'd finished, he proudly showed me the score: two hours, sixteen minutes, and 42 seconds. 

Alanna: the First Adventure, is the first novel of the first series legendary YA Fantasy author Tamora Pierce first wrote back in 1983. Since then, her multiple series set in the world of Tortall have only served to continue to develop the rich, immersive landscape her many characters occupy. Alanna, a young noblewoman desperate to become a knight, switches places with her brother in order to be allowed to learn... along the way, she makes friends with a Rogue and a future King, squares up against school bullies, and proves her own merit against dark forces. And that's just the first book! 

I mean, not only was it worth it to finally get my brother a quarter of the way off my chest about it, but the book itself was quite good. Despite the decades she's been writing across, Tamora Pierce's voice rings incredibly consistent throughout the years, her stories are populated with compelling characters and incredible feats, and she is equal parts sentimental and light-hearted, which is a great juggling act for an author for teenagers. I love the realm of Tortall, and reading this after getting to know Beka, Kel, Daine and Ali already almost makes it feel like a prequel. I especially love seeing how much Alanna's story in turn shapes Kel's, who will always be one of my favorites. 

And yes, I'm genuinely excited to read the next in the series. Hopefully my little brother will help inspire the same kind of motivation from the other side of the state once he returns to college. 

Square: Debut Author

Book: Trail of Lightning (Sixth World #1), Rebecca Roanhorse 

I actually had attempted to read this book for the first time the previous summer, amidst a period of frustrating mental health and a near-desperate urge to pretend I was anywhere but Earth. Needless to say, a post-apocalyptic world of near-constant violence was not the right sandbox for my fragile mind to shovel knee-deep into, and I DNF'd within the first thirteen pages. 

The second attempt was actually made in the same location (Sunriver, OR), but in a more positive frame of mind: instead of the End-of-August Scaries (which are kind of like the Sunday Scaries, but with the Pavlovian instillation of back-to-school dread that hangs around from childhood far into your adult years), the only thing I was dealing with was still shaking off the ooze of a Springtime slump, and trying to work my way into a Summer Reading mindset. Because I really wanted to get this novel off of my TBR, I decided that instead of allowing myself to be overwhelmed by the violence, I was just going to push through it until it gave way to plot. And I found it! Also plus more violence. 

Trail of Lightning - the first in the Sixth World series - is set in Dinetah, the protected remnants of the Navajo reservation, left after a great flood and the appearance of mystical boundary walls wipes out access to the rest of the world. Maggie, whose monster-killing powers come as a byproduct of her powerful lineage, collects bounties on the heads of strange and terrifying creatures in order to get by. After she teams up with a confusing bigger-city medicine man at the behest of her mentor, the two track a developing evil causing mysterious disappearances, while it quickly becomes clear that someone has it out for her, too. 

My feelings on this book are a little confused. It belongs to one of my more rapidly-expanding least favorite genres (Post-Apocalyptic fiction, mainly due to last year's Water Knife, by Paolo Bacigalupi, which still makes me grimace every time I think about it, and which I hated so much I never pushed 'publish' on the blogpost I wrote about it because I was just so sick of thinking about it). Trail of Lightning really does manage to be both extremely violent and angry - with a lot of that violence and anger perpetrated against the female main character - and really freakin' grim in places. But... the mythology and world-building really IS THAT GOOD, just like pretty much everyone has been saying this entire time. 

There just aren't a lot of people out there that are this uniquely adept at translating Native American mythology into such a tangible and enthralling genre landscape. Fantasy names have long held the stereotype of being some keysmash abomination with a few extra Zs, Xs, and apostrophes thrown in, but in Roanhorse's book, she utilizes real Navajo; instead of the familiar and long-utilized Greek and Roman Gods, trotted out of their Pantheon every once in a while for accessible popular effect, she utilizes familiar characters from ancient and American folklore, like the trickster Coyote.

In fact, I've been so completely taken in by the actual world itself, that in the past two trips to Barnes and Noble, I've very nearly picked up the second in the series, Storm of Locusts. Maybe I will, when my stomach is strong enough. 

(Oh, and in case you were wondering, while tackling three of the longstanding books on my TBR was absolutely the move and a source of personal pride, I almost immediately added a total of NINE back onto my shelves the same month, thanks to a gift from a family member, a vacation impulse purchase, and a Book Outlet order. Then I bought a ton of books in July for my Bloggoversary and because I love thrifting, and more in August because I went on vacation again. You win some, you lose some, you never learn some.) 

JULY (Part One!)

Square: Recommended by Library Staff / Peak Pick

Book: Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid

Maybe a stiff and uncomfortable camp chair, in the middle of a lush, green forest, wasn't the right environment to be reading a book about the dry, hot sand of a California beach... but then again, I finished it in very nearly one sitting, so what do I know?

In Malibu Rising, the annual party thrown by the Riva family - helmed by eldest sister Nina, almost-twin brothers Jay and Hud, and overshadowed youngest Kit - is the stuff of Malibu legend, and this year, it promises to be even more over-the-top than ever before. Over the course of one eventful day, each of the sibling's lives will be changed forever, as relationships are forged and broken, secrets are revealed, and ugly truths are confronted. By the end of the night, the party will end in a whirl of police sirens and flames.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is a pro at making her novels evoke a sense of time, style, and memory. Daisy Jones and the Six held fast to the magic of the '60s and '70s music scene of Downtown LA and California sun-soaked rock. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo centered a complex narrative around the glow of Old Hollywood soundstage lights, and a whirling catalogue of fake movie stars. She attempts the same here, by bringing the readers to the beaches of the '80s surf scene in Malibu, where the burgeoning glitterati of media glory intersect with modern perspectives on feminism and family. 

Unfortunately, unlike with her previous two books, I feel like Malibu Rising's attempt at a nostalgic, idealized form of time travel fell flat. With so much focus being placed on bringing forth a specific cultural timestamp, she wastes attention on establishing retro collateral - emphasizing how everyone does their hair, what they're wearing, who they're listening to - without making more concrete moves to build out her characters, instead. As a result, plenty of the cast feels shallow and insubstantial, lacking any kind of dimension. 

Again, I don't want to dispense any spoilers here; on the other hand, I don't really know if spoilers would altogether change any part of your reading experience... because while each of the Riva siblings does, in fact, find what they've been looking for or deserving, the expectations of them are established so completely obviously within the first 50 pages that their bestowal is less of a revelation than an eventuality. Attempts at foreshadowing are done so ham-handedly it's like Reid doesn't trust her audience to catch any kind of nuance, so she feels the need to hand it to them on a platter instead. 

And like I said, I read this in essentially one sitting, as my chronic insomnia and hatred of camping combined to perch me in a folding chair on a well-lit morning at 6am, and have the whole book finished before breakfast. If a bleary, uncomfortable camper can still manage to find your book overly simple while running on four hours of hard-ground sleep with no coffee, then maybe it could have used some more character development. 

Yes, I will be reading Carrie Soto Is Back anyways. I don't even know why you felt the need to ask. 

Square: Out of your Comfort Zone

Book: Ariel: the Restored Edition, Sylvia Plath

Two things that are totally true: one, I really, seriously do not get Poetry, and two, I have been going through a major Poetry period recently that I can't quite figure out how to explain. And no, I do not mean "poetry" in the overly-Instagram-friendly kind of way, I mean it in the way that I am a big fan of both abstract metaphors and occasional rhyming and this is a quick and convenient way to get access both of those things. Also, I like it when books are short. 

I've also been having a major Sylvia Plath fixation recently - in a "published journals and letters" kind of way, not in a "rereading The Bell Jar yet again" kind of way - so I figured that this would be a knockout way to get both a bookshelf-sitting collection of poetry and a difficult Bingo square out of the way at the same time. 

Unfortunately, I still seem to be one of those boring people who more enjoys Sylvia's fiction and journals, rather than her poetry. 

As always, she uses beautiful, evocative language, words that call to mind carefully assembled visuals and characters. Making heads or tails of them is kind of like constructing a puzzle very carefully, and in my case, required reading a couple of times over to get the clearest picture, like how we used to slowly tune my grandmother's old TV to sort through the static, in order to get to PBS after the younger cousins had cranked the knob out of focus.

Some of them were really quite lovely, while others felt more jumbled or deliberately inscrutable. Some included antiquated language that made it very obvious what time period Plath wrote in (in a "you definitely can't use those words anymore" kind of way), which I understand, but was still sensitive to in reading. 

Common themes included motherhood, with frequent uses of the word "baby," and dual usage of black-red color juxtaposition. Her feminist perspectives are definitely in full-force here, especially in poems like "Lady Lazarus" and "Lesbos." 

One particularly notable element of the collection that I read, was the inclusion of Frieda Hughes - Sylvia's daughter, and last living child with Ted Hughes - who wrote both the introduction as well as bonus material in the back. She served as a sobering relative force, who provided a necessary recontextualizing of Plath as a human and mother first, and an artist second; however, by the end of her materials it more appeared that she was foremost motivated by the defense of her father, and promotion of her own artistic views. 

I'm still not a Poetry kind of person. But I'm glad I was able to take an afternoon in a hammock to sort and sift through the words and images Plath constructed, almost like a kind of meditational practice. I'll be back to my Wendy Cope soon enough, but sometimes it's nice to riddle things out for yourself a bit. 

Square: LGBT Love Story

Book: So This Is Ever After, T. J. Lukens

I've actually already written a review for this one! You can check it out in my "So, You Accidentally Read Three Novels That Were Basically Fanfiction" post from back in July. 

With a total of eight books, July will probably go down as one of my greatest reading months out of the entire year, no doubt thanks to a couple of heartily welcome romance novels and two of my favorite childhood middle grade series ever. Hence, this blog post will be divided into several more portions: next up, the second half of July and all of August, and after, the rest of the Romance novels I read! 

Did you undertake any reading challenges this summer? What was the hottest read of the hottest months, for you? Let me know, in the comments below!