This Year in Books… So Far

What have you been reading? And of those, what would you recommend?

This is what I’ve read so far this year:

1. The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco
2. The Orphan Witch by Paige Crutcher
3. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
4. Batman: Three Jokers (comic)
5. The Haunted Bookstore 1 by Shinobumaru
6. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
7. The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow
8. The Dreaming Volume 3 (comic)
9. Orlando by Virgina Woolf
10. Lumberjanes Volume 1 (comic)
11. Clive Barker’s Next Testament (comic)
12. Paper Girls Volume 1) (comic)
13. The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco
14. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
15. Paper Girls Volume 2 (comic)
16. Paper Girls Volume 3 (comic)
17. The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco
18. Paper Girls Volume 4 (comic)
19. Paper Girls Volume 5 (comic)
20. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
21. Beautiful Chaos
22. The Ever Cruel Kingdom by Rin Chupeco
23. Locke and Key Volume 2 (comic)
24. Locke and Key Volume 3 (comic)
25. Locke and Key Volume 4 (comic)
26. Locke and Key Volume 5 (comic)
27. Locke and Key Volume 6 (comic)
28. The Death Cure by James Dashner
29. Beautiful Redemption
30. The Kill Order by James Dashner
31. The Fever Code by James Dashner
32. Redder Days by Sue Rainsford
33. Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut

There is still a lot of year left, and I’ll be reading more but not many more. I’m currently editing my own novel, and I tend not to read as much when I’m doing that, simply because of time. And, then November is when I don’t have time to read practically anything because I usually participate in NANOWRIMO.

This year I’ve tried to finish reading a few series that I started ages ago, and I’ve been reading more comics than normal because I discovered that my local library has a pretty great comic selection.

For the novels I’ve read this year, there have been a couple of highlights. Basically, anything by Rin Chupeco. I wrote about this recently: see my previous post about her: Why I Love Rin Chupeco.

The other two books that I would highly, highly recommend are The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow and Redder Days by Sue Rainsford. They’re both great, and if you don’t want to know why I think so, stop reading now, otherwise… SPOILER ALERT.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow

This book is brilliant. I loved every word. It’s historical fiction that incorporates witch lore and women’s rights issues. The use of familiar nursery rhymes and fairy tales interwoven into the storyline is fantastic. It’s so clever. It’s about three sister witches fighting against an ancient evil as well as trying to be non-traditional women in a time when they weren’t allowed to.

Redder Days by Sue Rainsford

I couldn’t put this down. I read it in one sitting. If you haven’t read Sue Rainsford first book, Follow Me to Ground, go read it too. Both of her books are weird in the best possible way. Redder Days is about two children, twins, born in a commune that formed when the world was ending. However, the world didn’t really end, and these two children are brain washed. Every character in this book is a little crazy. This book falls into my favorite category of Literature — The Weird Tale. I can’t explain what it is, but you’ll know it when you read it. This book holds up that standard. Let me also say this, every author hopes they write at least one story as great as the two novels by Sue Rainsford. I will be reading whatever she writes in the future.

Anywho, enough rambling for today. Get out there and have a great day!

Happy reading and writing today and every day!