Something you thought you would love that turned out to be awful, or vice versa? A great plot twist that blew your mind?

What was the last book that surprised you in some way?

Anyone else have some spooky reads lined up for October? My bookclub is reading Frankenstein this month, which will be a nice change of pace from the usual fare. I’ve got Tender is the Flesh, Rouge, and Black Sheep lined up. I will probably get to The Haunting of Hill House as well, which I’m really excited to read! I just finished up Vampires of El Norte, which definitely needed more vampires!

I try to do what I can to make my local community better. I research and vote in every election, donate money to local nonprofits and also volunteer there when I can (heading to the food bank in a bit, yay!), and try to speak out and offer words of encouragement when I can.

But I live in a very socially, politically, and religiously conservative community. And I…am not. It constantly feels like any effort amounts to pissing in the wind, and yet also like I am not doing nearly enough at all. It makes me anxious a lot.

The latest iteration of this is local people trying to get “obscene” children’s and YA books in the public library moved to the adult section. And to be clear most of these books are not obscene they just acknowledge that, hey people who are LGBTQ+ (sorry if I got that initialization wrong!) exist and that racism is a real thing. I went to the public meeting and was mostly ineffective except I got to thank the library director for her work pushing back against this. I would love to write a Letter to the Editor of the local paper to speak out, but there is a risk of retaliation against my family members and their local businesses. And most of the community seems to be behind this which is absolutely bonkers to me. I don’t know what to do.

I don’t even know where I’m going with this. I think I just needed to say it. Anyone else deal with something similar- feeling like you need to do more but also feeling completely defeated about actually getting anything to change?

Some of these look really interesting! Definitely want to check out Silver Nitrate since I’ve enjoyed her work in the past. Anything catch your eye?

Do you set goals like reading a certain number of books in a year? Participate in reading challenges?

I don’t set goals around reading a certain number of books. Those have always seemed arbitrary and not helpful for my reading. I have done reading challenges in the past, though—the yearly Book Riot Read Harder Challenge, the yearly reading challenge from PopSugar, book bingo. I like those types of challenges for helping me to break out of my comfort zone and try new authors and genres! I’ve also made my own challenges. What are some of your favorite reading challenges?

Anyone else have a book (or books) that they want to read but just never seem to actually get around to reading? Any books you feel like you ought to read but never do?

Probably unpopular, but for me it’s classic Russian literature- War and Peace, Crime and Punishment and the like. I know they’re supposed to be amazing, but I just can’t work up the energy to read them. I think Anna Karenina soured me on Russian literature; the middle portion of that book with Levin on the farm was such a drag that I’m hesitant about the other books.

What about you?

Do you reread books or are you done with them once you’ve read them?

I like to reread books sometimes! Rereading is especially good if I’ve just finished something heavy or intense; I can follow that up with something that I’ve enjoyed before so it doesn’t take too much effort and I can have a bit of a break. I also don’t have the greatest retention for what I read, so even if I’ve read something before there’s no way I’ll remember everything. And there are certain books that are comforting and cozy and those are great to reread when I want that kind of mood.

Read any of these yet? How were they? Anything catch your eye to add to your TBR list?

I’ve read A Day of Fallen Night, which I really enjoyed! Lots of interesting characters with relationships that felt real, action, and dragons! I would definitely recommend reading Priory of the Orange Tree first though, just to get that background world building info.

I want to pick up The Ferryman, How to Sell a Haunted House, and A House with Good Bones since I’ve enjoyed previous works by those authors.

When you’re getting books do you prefer to get new ones or secondhand ones?

I really enjoy the “hunt” for used editions of books that I want, and browsing through stacks in used bookstores is fun and neat way to discover books that I might not ever run across otherwise! But I’m kind of picky about the condition of books I buy, so sometimes I just go the easy route and pick up a new copy. Or if it’s a book I don’t want to wait to read I’ll snag a new one!