Earl Grey Books

Well, I guess it’s time today to look over how I did with my Autumn TBR since I’ll be sharing my list for Winter tomorrow. To be quite honest, this wasn’t my best attempt at this—I had a couple of meh books on this list and then just wasn’t really feeling any of them. But, let’s talk about that…

What I Read

Mathilda by Mary Shelley

This was the first one I picked up out of these and I ultimately decided not to finish it. I did read the title story and thought it was alright. I also read a number of the other stories included and made it about 150 pages into my 400-page copy, but I was just struggling too much with the stories to continue. I found many of them similar in terms of themes, most of them were also set in Italy which was interesting, especially knowing the time Mary and Percy Shelley spent there before his death. It was also really interesting to see how her writing differed from Frankenstein, which I mentioned in the original book is one of my all-time favourites. Many of these stories often felt quite Gothic and focused on the ideas of love, family and tragedy which are all definitely found in Frankenstein too. I usually get rid of the books I don’t finish, but I think I’m going to keep this one for a time when this is a little more aligned with the sort of things I want to read. Plus, I’ve got myself quite the nice little Mary Shelley collection going and it looks nice with those.

Cinders and Sparrows by Stefan Bachmann

There was about three weeks in which I did not think about this TBR for even a moment. So it was early May before I ended up actually picking up something else and that happened to be Cinders and Sparrows. This one worked out kind of perfectly as I ended up using it as my book for Switzerland for Eurovisionathon and it helped me mark off a book for that. I also ended up really, really enjoying this. It’s a kind of sweet middle-grade fantasy, though it’s also kind of dark? It has a bit of mystery to it, it’s about witches and it has a creepy, atmospheric setting so kind of dark, but also kind of lovely in that way that middle-grade fantasies are sometimes. To be quite honest, I was kind of blown away by how much I enjoyed it—I didn’t really know whether I would or not especially since I bought this book on a complete whim and I’ve never heard anyone talk about it since. It was definitely the kind of read I need at that moment.

The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier

This has been on so many of my TBRs in the past and I finally admitted defeat. This was the oldest book on my TBR, I’d bought it in 2013 and it was only one left from that year. I kind of hated just having that one left on there, so I made a conscious effort to try and read it this Autumn. I’ve tried to read it multiple times and never got very far but this time I finally decided enough was enough and that it was time to unhaul it. The characters in here are just extremely pretentious and downright awful, and there’s a weird sort of relationship between the two of the three siblings that made me very uncomfortable. I just wasn’t prepared to dedicate any more time to reading this or leaving it to sit on my shelves anymore. But now it’s off my TBR and I honestly feel great about that.

Slippery Creatures by K.J Charles

You might have seen my review of this just the other day, but I managed to squeeze this one in just in time and I’m so glad I did. I loved every moment of this one—I thought it was absolutely fantastic and now I’m hoping to make my way through the rest of KJ Charles’ books as soon as I can. If you like a good mystery or m/m romance filled with complex characters and somewhat grumpy booksellers then this is an absolute treat and I highly recommend it! I don’t want to just rehash my entire review here, so definitely go have a look at that if you’re interested. You’re probably going to hear me talk about this one at length from now on, so I’ll at least save you from that today.

What I Didn’t

Let Me Hear A Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson

I probably should’ve known I wouldn’t get to this one in time. Tiffany D Jackson is one of those authors for me that I needed to be mentally prepared for. Her books always completely destroy me and I just wasn’t in the mental space for that these last few months. As soon as I’m feeling like I’m ready for this, I’ll be picking it up.

A Rogue’s Proposal by Stephanie Laurens

I’ve honestly had so many other things to read for different videos and posts lately that I haven’t been reading much historical romance at all. I did a post about my next few romance reads a few weeks back, so I’ll be working on those and hopefully eventually getting around to this one.

Disability Visibility edited by Alice Wong

Okay, this one I did manage to at least start. I’ve read 100 pages but it’s definitely one that deserves to be read slowly, so I’ll be continuing with this one over the next few weeks.

Fathoms: The World In A Whale by Rebecca Giggs

I picked this one originally because I thought it would be pretty much a given that I’d read it. It was nominated for the 2021 Stella Prize so I knew I’d be reading it, and then I just didn’t? Okay, so I did start it. I read the first few pages and wasn’t overly impressed by it. It starts with the beaching of a whale and goes into some pretty graphic detail about what happens to whales bodies when they die. I wasn’t into that. It’s still on my shelf, but I don’t know if it’s one I’ll be ever come back to or whether I should just pass it on already. I guess I’ll be taking some time to decide on that in the next little bit.

Eyes Turned Skyward by Rebecca Yarros

So I didn’t get to either of my non-physical picks, but it’s not so bad. I’ll be trying to pick this one up next month as part of a readathon instead so I’m not too disappointed in not getting to this one.

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

As for this one, I knew I wouldn’t finish it just because of how bad I am at listening to audiobooks. I did make it another 10% of the way through, so I’m now at 25%. I’m not sure whether I’m really enjoying it or not so I’ll listen to a little more and then make a decision.

So that’s how I did with my Autumn TBR! Remember to check back tomorrow if you’re interested in seeing what I’ve picked out for Winter.