october book haul

books I've acquired as of late

The other day I noted I bought some books. If you’re one of my parents reading this, I lied. Click off this post. I haven’t bought anymore, I swear! Please go read one of my other posts!

I’ll be kind. You don’t have to search for it. Just click on it above. Love you!

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Now they’re gone. I feel safe to admit I bought four books and have acquired some more since.

Here is the list!

Without further or do, here are the books I have obtained over the past week or so!

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Books I Purchased

Neuromancer — William Gibson

Case was the sharpest data thief in the Matrix, until an ex-employer crippled his nervous system. Now a new employer has recruited him for a last-chance run against an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence. With a mirror-eyed girl street-samurai riding shotgun, he's ready for the silicon-quick, bleakly prophetic adventure that upped the ante on an entire genre of fiction.

I am enjoying this one so far! I really like the often oxymornic descriptions: “gunmetal silk” remains in my mind. Is this material supposed to be hard? Soft? It’s like this throughout the 60 pages I have read so far.

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A Darker Shade of Magic — V. E. Schwab

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

I have always been deterred from this simply because I didn’t think I would like it. I have finally decided to pick this up because I am curious to see how Schwab worldbuilds and creates lore.

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Fragile Threads of Power — V. E. Schwab

Seven years have passed since the doors between the worlds were sealed. Seven years since Kell, Lila and Holland stood against Osaron, a desperate battle that saved the worlds of Red, Grey and White London. Seven years since Kell’s magic was shattered, and Holland lost his life.

Now Rhy Maresh rules Red London with his new family – his queen, Nadiya, their daughter Ren, and his consort, Alucard. But his city boils with conspiracy and rebellion, fuelled by rumours he is causing magic to fade from the word.

Now Kosika, a child Antari, sits on the throne of White London. The new queen leads her people in new rituals of sacrifice and blood in devotion to the altar of Holland Vosijk, summoning vast power she may not be able to control.

Now Lila and Kell, living free on the waves, are charged by the captain of the Floating Market to retrieve an immensely powerful artefact, stolen by secretive forces.

Now Tes, a young woman with a knack for fixing broken things, is thrust into the affairs of Antari and kings, traitors and thieves. And only her unique powers can weave the threads of power together.

It was signed! How could I not?

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Yumi and the Nightmare Painter — Brandon Sanderson

Yumi comes from a land of gardens, meditation, and spirits, while Painter lives in a world of darkness, technology, and nightmares. When their lives suddenly become intertwined in strange ways, can they put aside their differences and work together to uncover the mysteries of their situation and save each other’s communities from certain disaster?

I didn’t realise this was part of The Cosmere series; I thought this was a new series he had published. Luckily, this can be read as a standalone.

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Roadside Picnic — Arkady & Boris Strugatsky

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he’ll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems.

I am REALLY enjoying this one! Significantly more than I thought I would. I love how the authors tell you about The Zone by telling you everything it isn’t and what it doesn’t have. So far (I’m currently 52 pages in) this is looking like a favourite of the year.

Thank you to my partner for recommending this to me!

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Books I Received

The Bone Diver — Angie Spoto

A gothic tale of family, the legend of the selkies - shapeshifting mythological creatures - and a young woman who is offered an impossible choice.

The only daughter in a family of Scottish seal-hunters, Kier Sealgair is becoming a burden. She cannot kill, and the family are facing hard times now that her father is ailing. On the neighbouring cliffs stands Erskine Manor, home to a mysterious and wealthy family. Servants arrive in town to buy supplies, but the family is never
seen, and waves of rumour spread in the struggling small-town community.

Then, one day, after a chance encounter, Lady Erskine finds Kier and offers her a bargain that could save Kier's father and change the town's impending fate. But questions remain. Who lives in the five towers of the manor? Is the Lord of the house alive? And are the children of the manor even human, or are the tales of spine-toothed monsters who roam the grounds true?

I’ve been searching for a selkie fantasy lately! I cannot wait to start this one! Thank you to Black and White Publishing for sending this to me!

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I Am the Dark That Answers When You Call — Jamison Shea

Monsters and mortals, rejoice! Acheron is back . . .Though Laure has tried to close the lid on her ballet shoes and the feelings she once held for dance since the Palais Garnier incident two months ago, Laure is spinning out. Between partying, drinking, and avoiding anything and, well, everyone, she has no time to be anything but a monster. But when Laure stumbles across a mysterious dead body during one of her nights out, she’s forced to notice the cracks stretching beyond herself.Below the streets of Paris, Elysium is dying, and Acheron and Lethe’s influence is spilling into the streets like a blight. Laure isn’t the only of Elysium’s beasts to rise from the ruins of Palais Garnier, and someone is mobilizing an army of monsters with plans greater than Laure, Andor, and Keturah could have ever guessed. While Laure is warring between her wants and Acheron’s ever-demanding appetite, she and her circle of monsters are left to reckon with a not-so-simple how do you save yourself from oblivion?

I absolutely adored I Feed Her to the Beast last year and I have been waiting (im)patiently for its sequel! And it’s finally here!

Thank you to Henry Holt and Co. for sending me a copy!

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Feast While You Can — Mikaella Clements & Onjuli Datta

For readers of Nightbitch and We Ride Upon Sticks, this strange and sexy novel of queer love in a small town is an unsettling reminder that the horrors of modern life are monsters ready to possess us all.

In the valley at the intersection of three towering mountains sits Cadenze, an ugly, remote town with little to its name. It's filled with tourists in the summer and dead the rest of the year, when most of its residents surrender to a sleepier existence. Except, that is, for whatever is lurking in the caves…

Angelina Sicco was born and raised in Cadenze, and for many generations, so was every member of her family. Determined to be content with her lot in life, she walks her mongrel dog, attends her brother's heavy metal concerts, holds court in the local dive bar, and does everything she can to bait hot, queer women to her sleepy, conservative hometown. But on the night of a family party much like every other, Angelina runs into Patrick's ex, the sternly handsome Jagvi, who's back in town for a spell. Perhaps enticed by Jagvi’s arrival, an ancient evil lying dormant in those caves is awakened, and soon Angelina’s small, contained world begins to shatter.

As the monstrous force grows bolder, it infiltrates Angelina’s life. It talks with her dog’s mouth; it guzzles on her memories; it controls Angelina from the inside. Only Jagvi’s touch repels it — the final trigger for a secret, passionate romance. But this monster feasts on all the passion, heartbreak, and mess that makes up a life, and Angelina Sicco’s life has never looked tastier. What will Angelina do to protect her future? And what will it cost her?

I requested this one on a whim and received it! These authors are a first time for me; they have previously published one other book together. The cover, premise and the promise of queer love and monsters drew me in.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for sending me a copy!

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Hungerstone — Kat Dunn

For what do you hunger . . .?

Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but ten years into their marriage the relationship has soured, and no child has arrived to fill the distance growing between them. Henry's ambitions take them from London to Sheffield, and with his success hinged on a hunt, an old tradition looms over the home; the hunt is a time to settle old scores. If a bullet finds a human home, then it is only that they were foolish to become prey. In the weeks leading up to the hunt, a carriage accident near their remote home brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore's life. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night, Carmilla who will not eat meals with the family, Carmilla who stirs up a hunger deep within Lenore. Soon girls from local villages begin to fall sick before being consumed by a terrible hunger . . .

Set against the violent wilderness of the Peaks and the uncontrolled appetite of the industrial revolution HUNGERSTONE is a compulsive feminist reworking of CARMILLA, the book that inspired a captivating story of appetite and desire.

Retelling of Carmilla? Sign me up! Can’t wait to see how Dunn spins this tale.

Thank you to Manilla Press for sending me a copy!

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Behind the Painting — Siburapha

One of Thailand’s best-known and most highly regarded novels, portraying the romance of a young Thai man and a married older woman.

‘In that tranquil and apparently very ordinary picture, I see everything unfolding. Every scene, every part, from the beginning to the final act’.

Nopporn, a Thai student studying in Japan, is tasked with hosting a distinguished old family friend and his new wife, the beautiful, aristocratic Kirati. Despite their difference in age and status, and the social constraints of the day, Nopporn and Kirati are inexorably drawn to each other, and love starts to bloom. A stirring portrayal of youthful romantic obsession, and later attempts to come to terms with the frailty of passionate feelings, Behind the Painting also shows the constrained lives of many women of the time. First published in 1937, it is one of Thailand’s best-known and most beloved novels.

I have been searching for more Thai literature recently and wondered what older, classic texts I could find. Thank you to Penguin Random House for sending me a copy. I’m so excited to start this!

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.Currents:

• Reading: Roadside Picnic, Neuromancer and Wuthering Heights

• Watching: Conan the Barbarian (1982), Alien (1979) and Reggie Watts skits (particularly his TED Talk and his performance at Google).

Love from,

Hannah

(ig, spotify, goodreads, letterboxd)