This month, I’m gearing up for the second annual Witch Week. I hope you’ll join us in some fashion…and please be sure to cast your vote in the readalong poll.
I’m also pleased to be joining in with Nicole’s Monthly Wrap-up Round-up as a giveaway host! Please visit the link-up to check out all the participating blogs, and then come back here on October 6 for the giveaway post. I’m excited to be offering what I think is one of the best ways out there to “wrap up” your books, and there will be not one but three winners. Do have a go at it.
You’ll notice that I didn’t read quite as many books as usual this month. I attribute that in part to the fact that I spent many hours scaling one of the peaks of world literature, which I hereby name my first Book of the Month (see below). It was long, but worth it; further thoughts to come.
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Book of the Month: Anna Karenina
Reviews
- I looked at three new releases from top authors for children and young adults.
- Girl Waits with Gun was a highly entertaining historical fiction debut from nonfiction writer Amy Stewart.
- Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything turned out to be a fascinating read for language lovers.
Other Books Read
- Symphony for the City of the Dead by MT Anderson – Review to come
- The Stolen Lake and Dangerous Games by Joan Aiken – Ongoing reread of the Wolves Chronicles, review to come
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – Review to come
- The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken – Review to come in Shiny New Books
- The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse by Piu Marie Eatwell – Review to come
Other Features and Events
- I’m joining in the R.I.P. (Readers Imbibing Peril) challenge for the first time. So far I’ve enjoyed Girl Waits With Gun and The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse. How about you?
- The Nonfiction Book Club this month is reading The Sixth Extinction. I got a late start and have just dipped into it, but the discussion is very interesting (not to mention sobering).
Favorite Posts from Other Bloggers
I’ve moved this topic to my new monthly “Link Love” post. Here I hope to highlight some of the great bookish links I’ve come across lately, as well as my favorite blog posts. Check it out!
Shared in the Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and the Monthly Wrap-up Round-up hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction
The Emerald City Book Review Archive 
I loved Anna Karenina, so I’m excited to hear what you think about it, even if you didn’t love it too 🙂 I’m glad you found the Sixth Extinction discussion interesting and really appreciate you joining in!
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Errr, I have yet to really dive into The Sixth Extinction. It scares the pants off me, to be honest. But I’m reading the discussion and thinking I need to know this stuff, so I’ll get around to it eventually.
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Haha, no worries! Sometimes I’m behind on my own events, so I certainly don’t mind if everyone else jumps in as they can 🙂
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Ooh I’d love to read Anna Karenina but it’s so intimidating!
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That’s what I thought, but really it wasn’t.
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I am looking forward to reading your thoughts on Anna Karenina.
I read a bunch of really long books earlier in the year and it really slowed my reading down.
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I have to pace my reading of long books. Usually I like to complement them with a bunch of short ones.
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Sounds like a good month, especially as you’ve tackled the epic Anna Karenina too! I am glad you have enjoyed your R.I.P reading so far. I am particularly interested to hear your thoughts on The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse. So far for R.I.P I have read The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle and The Raven’s Head by Karen Maitland. Happy reading in October 🙂
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The Dead Duke (etc.) sounds so intriguing, doesn’t it? You have to love that title.
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I tried to read Tolstoy when I was younger but could never get in to it and ended up on George Orwell instead. I’ll look forward to your review, his books are ones I feel I should try to read as an adult.
Have a good week!
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I did enjoy Anna Karenina, and now I’m reading some of his fables. I’d like to tackle War and Peace at some point, but not right now! George Orwell, hm…I never got past 1984 and Animal Farm, but maybe I should give him another try.
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Omg I LOVE how you said “scaling one of the peaks of world literature”….ha ha, that is brilliant and congrats on getting through it! It is so huge, omg.
Thanks for stopping by @ Paper Fury!
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I stole that phrase from an article by the translator… it’s so true!
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Wow Anna Karenina. The size alone scare me! Good for you! Hope you have a wonderful October!
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Thank you, Grace! I hope you do too.
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Anna Karenina is one of the books that I want to read before I die. It’s just so giant and intimidating. I’m still recovering from reading Atlas Shrugged. That giant book took me months to read.
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I hope you do read it before too long — life is uncertain! In my experience, it didn’t take as long as I expected. It’s comparable to reading a trilogy of normal-length books, so don’t be intimidated.
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Anna Karenina is one of those books that has been on my TBR forever, but I still haven’t read it. I am so glad you enjoyed it!
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I think it’s on a lot of people lists, and for good reason.
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I feel like I had a slow month too. But I managed to sneak in a couple of good classics: Green Mansions by WH Hudson and Seven for a Secret by Mary Webb.
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I’ve not read either of those, but they sound appealing from your descriptions.
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