In which I recap what went down in the last four weeks here and outside the blog.
September has come and gone and we’re a few sleeps closer to Stranger Things Season 2. Even more so with Turtles All the Way Down.
It was a cringe-worthy month on the reading front, but blogging in general was pretty steady. I joined my first blog tour and read a debut I’m most definitely looking forward to. I also went to see It and, damn, it was positively traumatizing. Y’all didn’t tell me about That Scene with Georgie! But thank the gods for Kingsman: The Golden Circle because I know everything will be all right. Send me all the Eggsy gifs thankyouverymuch.
But, question real quick: Who decided that October is the month of releasing all the books? I mean. This is my first recap where there are more than ten (10!) titles in Book Radar.
Books I Read
- Warcross by Marie Lu – This is my first Marie Lu and it delivers. Deeply immersive and compellingly readable, it is The Hunger Games meets online RPGs.
- The Wicker King by Kayla Ancrum – A debut that does an incredible and incredibly moving job of examining the friendship/bond between two teenage boys in this dark, muted, and at times weird narrative. And it totally works. It more than works; it’s heartachingly good.
Other Stuff I Posted
- Unmissable Weekly: September 3, 2017 – Just no to an all-female reboot of Lord of the Flies, a phrase I never would’ve guessed I’d use. Ever.
- 26 YA Books for Your Fall TBR List – From virtual realities and teen hackers to fairy courts and prodigious artists. From boys who fall for boys and boys who want revenge to girls who fight back against sexism. Whether it’s a debut or a new John Green title, you’ll find something in this season’s line up of new releases.
- Unmissable Weekly: September 10, 2017 – In which John Green read the first chapter of Turtles All the Way Down.
- Unmissable Weekly: September 17, 2017 – Accio everything from this PBteen Hogwarts collection! Also, the longlists for the 2017 National Book Awards were announced.
- Top Ten Books on My Fall TBR List – Which includes two of my most anticipated 2017 new releases, as well as a Snow White reimagining that operates as “the departure point for a cautionary tale on post-race ideology, racial limbos and the politics of passing,” a 2014 Stonewall Honor Book, and a handful of debut titles.
- Stacking the Shelves #4: The MIBF 2017 Edition – Wonder Woman: Warbringer y’all!
- Unmissable Weekly: September 24, 2017 – Hank Green is publishing a novel! What an absolutely delightful time to be a nerdfighter.
- Thirteen YA Books That Feature POC Leads Coming to You This 2018 – Bookworms consensus: GIVE US ALL THE DIVERSE BOOKS!
Book Birthdays
Happy book birthday to Feral Youth (Simon Pulse), Sing, Unburied, Sing (Scribner), They Both Die at the End (HarperTeen), Autoboyography (Simon and Schuster BFYR), Warcross (G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR), You Bring the Distant Near (Farrar, Straus and Giroux BFYR), Rebel Seoul (Tu Books), Moxie (Roaring Brook Press), The Victoria in My Head (Simon Pulse), An Enchantment of Ravens (Margaret K. McElderry Books), The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic (Imprint), and Starfish (Simon Pulse), which all found a place in the shelves last month!
Book Radar
October. New books Tons of new books. I am so here for Turtles All the Way Down (10th, Dutton BFYR), Dear Martin (17th, Crown BFYR), I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (17th, Knopf BFYR), and The Wicker King (31st, Imprint)! Akata Warrior (3rd, Viking BFYR), The Ship of the Dead (3rd, Disney Hyperion), We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy (3rd, One World), Wild Beauty (3rd, Feiwel and Friends), All the Crooked Saints (10th, Scholastic Press), Forest of a Thousand Lanterns (10th, Philomel Books), The Nowhere Girls (10th, Simon Pulse), Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me (17th, Skypony Press), A Line in the Dark (17th, Dutton BFYR), Long Way Down (24th, Caitlyn Dlouhy Books), and Beasts Made of Night (31st, Razorbill) are also all coming out this month.
Gold Star
The 38th Manila International Book Fair happened last September 13th to 17th and, even though the crowd was overwhelming this year, it still was all kinds of wonderful.
Almost all international titles were on 20% discount (yaaay!) with some local ones on 10% (twice yaaay!). Plus, I got to hang out with my people (yaaay all around!). Shout out to JM (Book Freak Revelations), Inah (The Bibliophile Confessions), Jem (The Bibliophile Confessions), Hazel (Stay Bookish), Kim (Divergent Gryffindor), Bianca (The Ultimate Fangirl), and Dani (The Hogsmeade Reader), all of whom I will probably never tire of. JM, Kim, and Dani did recaps—which y’all can check out here, here, and here, respectively—while Bianca shared her haul here.
Around the Interwebs
- “Once genre fiction stops shying away from sexuality, teens won’t have to stumble onto characters they only expect to find in contemporary novels. They’ll see they can be the heroes too.” The constantly articulate Adam Silvera on Not Just Finding Yourself in Books, but th`e Path to Becoming a Hero.
- Here are 11 literary destinations Bustle thinks every book-lover should visit in the fall. I’ve only been to The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, so I’m cosigning that. Although, I’m not quite certain how it is better to visit in the fall than in any other time of the year.
- Cait @ Paper Fury shared a list of 10 Non-Human Characters We All Aspire to be and I just about cracked up.
- Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books got deeply personal and expressed her thoughts On Belonging to a Community, Fear of Missing Out and Other Blogging Anxieties.
- THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Leigh Bardugo is writing a Nikolai Lantsov book. (!!!!)
- More announcements: Robyn Schneider’s next YA novel is Invisible Ghosts and it has Hamilton references and a Filipino love interest!
- Book Riot published (not a first but) a compelling argument regarding Nick Carraway’s queerness.
- Another from Book Riot: 16 Genre Recs Based on Your Myers-Briggs Type. Which I don’t necessarily think is accurate. Because if it’s any basis, then I’m more an ESFP? Or wait, is it the other way around?
- Mish @ Chasing Faerytales compiled a list of 14 Upcoming Desi MG/YA Releases to be Excited for.
- “In Noah, I’ve attempted to encapsulate a few of my own struggles as a teen, and while things were okay externally during those years, internally things were on fire. Which I think is true of so many kids during those years.” EW previews the cover for David Arnold’s The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik along with a conversation with Adam Silvera about writing their friendship into his next book.
- Someone edited footage from Game of Thrones so it appears like the characters are singing Taylor Swift’s ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ and it’s brilliant!
- A couple of press for Mark Oshiro’s Anger is a Gift: Paste revealed the cover and my new favorite Podcast of Color did an interview with the author, which straight out convinced me I’ll be talking about this novel. A lot.
- And in case you’re all about ugly crying, Epic Reads has your back.
Let’s talk! How had your September been? Any recently discovered gems? What was your last 5-star read(s)? Throw ’em music and film recommendations! Also, does Eggsy deserve all the heart-eyes emojis or DOES HE FREAKING DESERVE ALL THE HEART-EYES EMOJIS? And have you seen It? Time for some catching up!
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