October TBR 🎃

It’s officially spooky season!!! It’s also Gothtober season (hosted by the amazing Hannah), and it’s my birthday month!! (13th October, just saying). So this is always a super busy and hectic month for me… at least I’m not moving, starting a new job, and doing a video every single day like last year!! 🤣

I also wanted to try and theme my tbr around Kari this month, with her birthday being on the 15th October and with us adoring the same books. It seemed appropriate and also like it would set me up for some fantastic reads! Matching up “Kari reads” along with the Gothtober prompts wasn’t exactly easy, but I think I’ve done an okay job 😂

I’m also not doing the tbr jar this month, instead I’ve got a huge stack of “Kari reads” that I’ll delve into if I finish up my main tbr.

To get my prompts for Gothtober I had to play a game 😈 no really, Hannah’s brother Ciaran made a game for us to generate different prompt lists for everyone! I just ran it one time and decided to make the the prompts work damn it!

The first prompt is a gothic mood read and of course that could just be a random book I pick up, but I’m going to match The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean to this prompt. Because I’m always in the mood for dark, book themed reads! This is also the September Illumicrate book, so I’ve gotta squeeze it in somewhere.

Next is a book that completes you and for this I’m going with Foundation by Mercedes Lackey. This was gifted to me by my uncle but it’s also an author that Kari absolutely adores, and given it’s a YA high fantasy (the type of book we match most on) it’s a pretty sure bet I’m gunna love this one!

A beautiful book could be so many that are on my shelves, but I’m putting my Goldsboro GSFF book in here and that’s Mindwalker by Kate Dylan with it’s stunning bright pink cover with hexagons and a woman holding a gun? Gimme. All I know about this one is it’s a sci-fi soooooo, I’m excited!

Then for the prompts that everyone gets, because of course. These are books by a BIPOC/BAME author, an LGBTQ+ book, and a book with disability representation. I love to try and combine these all into one, and I actually found out (through the Gothtober twitter account) that The Book Eaters would count for this. But instead I’m going to be reading Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon because I adore everything I’ve read by them and I need an excuse to pick this up!

For a book that I forgot I had I’m going with Dracula by Bram Stoker, because how the hell did I forget about this classic? And it’s SO gothic that it’s just the absolute perfect choice rn. Give me bats! 🦇

The next prompt is a murder mystery read and that fits in fantastically well with How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie which Hannah challenged me to read this October. All about a woman who’s jailed for murder, and she is a murderer, but she didn’t do this one and she’ll be damned if she goes down for someone elses crime!

A heavy book could have a few meanings, but I’m going with a big book and that’s The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I’m buddy reading this with Kari throughout October, and whilst I don’t think it actually is, it gives me dark academia vibes so I’m here for it being an October read.

My final prompt is a book that features a training montage and this is the perfect excuse to pick up The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna. This has been sat on my tbr for too damn long and I’m excited to pick it up!

Then I’ve only (not including the Kari books) got one book left on my tbr, which isn’t linked to Gothtober, and that’s The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen, an Earth Science non-fiction. Because it’s my birthday month and I wanna read it 😇.

I’m hoping that this TBR is pretty manageable, and even slightly too easy, cause I want to get to some more of the Kari stack! But October is also going to be a really busy month for me. Lots of live streams, catching up with family, and even a trip to London for my birthday! (my amazing partner got us tickets for the Eng vs USA football game ⚽). I’m also getting a new phone, finally. I’ve had mine since 2014…. 😶 and so I imagine I’m gunna be pretty glued to that. Let’s hope I can still squeeze the reading in!

What are you wanting to read in October? And are you joining in Gothtober? I hope so! Have a great month folks!

My May tbr

The fact we’re already so far into the year is panicking me a little, but let’s focus on all the books I’m hoping on reading this month!

I’m back on my BookTube Bullshit (TM) this month so if you’d like to see my tbr in video form instead then click below!

To the books!!

First up we have This Vicious Cure by Emily Suvada which is the third book in the This Mortal Coil series. This is all about a disease which causes people to explode, and is set in a world where people can manipulate their DNA. A Sci-Fi YA and I have *adored* the first two books so I’m super excited to delve into this final one!

Rebel Heart by Moira Young means I’m continuing in another series, but this time with the second book in the trilogy of Blood Red Road. Set in a Dystopian future in the continental US and following a young woman who, in the first book, sets out to find her brother after he was kidnapped by the Tonton.

Then I want to read Illumicrate’s book for last month, Portrait of a Thief by Grace D Li which is set around five Chinese American teens/young adults “stealing” back artefacts from Western museums which were originally stolen from China. The concept is amazing and I’m really looking forward to delving in.

For a fun book I’ve went with The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde which is a companion series to Thursday Next and follows nursery rhyme characters inside their book world. British humour at its most ridiculous is what I’m expecting!

Graceling by Kristin Cashore is a “classic” YA fantasy that Kar-ing for Books and Veronica’s Shelf are super excited for me to read, and given that I bought the four books currently out in Feb? Well I felt like I should get going!

My non-fiction pick for the month is Living Planet by David Attenborough which is a republishing (with significant edits apparently) from the original in the 80s. I adore all things Earth Science and Ecology so I am 100% here for this.

I’d love to get to The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde this month. It’s only a short classic and I’ve heard amazing things about Wilde’s writing!

Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May came in my Goldsboro box and I like to try and read those and keep on top of them so I’m definitely diving into this one. All I know about it is that it’s a Historical Fantasy set during the 1920s!

And last but never least, my audiobook for the month is The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein, and yes it’s shameful I’ve not read it yet. There’s a free audiobook available on Spotify and I’m really excited to delve into this beloved fantasy world!

And that’s it! Just a short tbr this month as I get back into the swing of things. Have you read any of these? Tell me what you thought of them! And have you picked out your May TBR? Let me know what you’re excited to read this month!!

Goodreads Monday! #5

Goodreads Monday is hosted by Lauren’s Page Turners and all you need to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re excited to read!

Native by Akala

This is a book I’ve had on my tbr for just over a year now. It discusses racism in a squeamish Britain that prefers to deny its history. This sounds like such an important book and I’m so excited to add it to my shelves (it’s on my Amazon wishlist and I just might have to treat myself for my birthday in October!) Check out the synopsis below:

From the first time he was stopped and searched as a child, to the day he realised his mum was white, to his first encounters with racist teachers – race and class have shaped Akala’s life and outlook. In this unique book he takes his own experiences and widens them out to look at the social, historical and political factors that have left us where we are today.

Covering everything from the police, education and identity to politics, sexual objectification and the far right, Natives speaks directly to British denial and squeamishness when it comes to confronting issues of race and class that are at the heart of the legacy of Britain’s racialised empire.

This sounds absolutely fantastic and the focus on British denial is one that is sorely needed. As a Brit I can confirm half of the country likes to be very proud of our past, the other half like to pretend it never happens. Neither attitude helps us move forward. I’m hoping this will make me think a lot more about my life!

Non Fiction Books on my TBR

Non fiction isn’t talked about much on the bookternet, and truthfully I don’t know why! There are some absolutely wonderful non fiction texts across so many subjects, and they range from textbooks to stories! So I thought today I would put the spotlight onto non fiction and mention 5 books that I’m really wanting to read!

Ace by Angela Chen is a book all about asexuality that I really want to pick up! As a demisexual (on the ace spectrum) this is something super interesting to me and I would love to learn more. And it totally doesn’t hurt that the cover is absolutely gorgeous. This one is sitting on my Amazon wishlist, waiting for the day that I’ll treat myself!

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold tells us about the lives of five women killed by Jack the Ripper. Whilst he became infamous these women faded into obscurity. Historian Rubenhold brings their stories back to the forefront where we can focus on Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary-Jane and the lives they lived. This on I was able to find on a supermarket shelf for quite cheap and I couldn’t resist! So it’s currently sitting on my tbr and I’m having to use all of my willpower not to read it at once!

Fake Law by The Secret Barrister is one that I regret not picking up when it was published in hardback, and I really need to get a hardback edition! (another one sitting on my Amazon wishlist) This is the second book published by “The Secret Barrister”, a practicing barrister in the UK who remains annonymous in order to provide real life insight into our laws and court systems. Their first book was so interesting and definitely an easy read (so don’t worry if you’re not keen on legalese) so I’m excited for this one.

Chavs by Owen Jones is one I spotted whilst sat in a bookshop one day for a job interview (I didn’t get it 💔) and ever since I’ve wanted to read it! Classism is a big thing here in the UK, and I have feet in both ends given my unusual upbringing (don’t ask, it was a total mess) so this is something that I would love to learn more about and I think it’ll be such an interesting and enlightening read! One day I’ll buy it from my wishlist haha.

Natives by Akala is last but not least. As I mentioned above classism is a big thing here, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have racism as an issue too. This is another book on my Amazon wishlist (there seems to be a bit of a theme here, I need to buy the books on my wishlist!) and it sounds as though this is going to directly face the issues in a very non-British way that I am totally here for and I can’t wait to get stuck in!

And those are the non fiction books I’m most excited to read! I’m kinda mad that I only own one of these!! Please give me some recommendations down below and add more non fictions to my tbr! I’m always interested in learning more, and as you can kinda see from this list (a little) I have very varying interests! So shout out your fave and I’ll see if it’s up my street!!