Friday Reads 8.9.24

Hello to another Friday! I hope this finds you well, not too bedraggled by another weeks of BREAKING alerts. We got through Debby, and wrapped our summer retreat, and made it home safe and sound. It was a good break—a working vacation. Sadly, more work than vacation, but once I turned in the book, I did take an ENTIRE week off. I did not touch work in any way, shape, or form, physically or mentally. My laptop stayed closed, my iPad was open to my reading apps, and I spent a LOT of time on my Kindle. It was… so nice. Like, I need another few weeks of that, so nice.

But it’s not meant to be. I’m home. The mail has been sorted, my office is (sort of) tamed, and I’m heavy into the planning of all the things that are coming up over the next few months. There’s so much, as a matter of fact, that I’m looking at what I can conceivably cut. I have a hellaciously busy 4th quarter, and looking at it all, I know there’s simply no way to do everything I need to and stay healthy and sane. I’ve already come to the realization that 2025 is going to look VERY different for me. My priorities are shifting, and that’s going to benefit everyone. My No Gnome is going to get a lot of consultation.

I’m a big fan of getting all the projects and To Dos out of my head and onto paper, and when I do, sometimes it feels so overwhelming that I want to run screaming. So instead I’m here, writing my weekly post, because consistency and routine are the only way to manage all of this. I think I’ll do a post on all the projects I’ve found myself facing down, how I got here, and how I plan to get myself out of it, but that’s not for today. Today is for books!

I’ve gotten deep into Deborah Harkness’s BLACK BIRD ORACLE, the 5th book in her Discovery of Magic series. I love these books. I love Diana Bishop. I love Matthew de Clermont. I love the life they’ve built together, breaking all the conventions for a true star-crossed lovers romance. I love how smart and chock full of history and science and magic these books are. I even love the adaptation, with Teresa Palmer and Matthew Goode in the titular roles. The show was especially fun because of the way adaptation can broaden a story and we can see the machinations of other characters. Anyway, the book is great, and I’m really enjoying it.

I’m also still reading EDEN UNDONE by Abbott Kahler. Just an amazing, bonkers story, so incredibly well done.

And that’s the end of my “pleasure” reading for a while. I’m shifting back to “work” reads for the forseeable future. Not that all reading isn’t fun reading, of course it is, but some books I read for different purposes, and they take a different kind of attention. It takes a bit of planning, too, to intersperse the work books with the work projects. Essentially, all I do every day is put words on a page, and read them, and read other people’s words. It’s not such a bad gig. But it can pile up, and prioritizing is key.

I spent yesterday building out my fall TBR list. We’re gearing up for AWOW season 10 (actually having that planning meeting today) which means a whole bunch of books coming down the pike. And I have my own books that I’m working on reading, too. (oh, man, here I go again… cue the panic.)

So how to manage the busting TBR? I am going to use this column to plan my reading for the coming week. It’s the only way to stay in control.

So! My next up are Alyssa Cole’s WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING, which I’m including on a PR listicle I’m writing, and Rachel Howzell Hall’s WHAT FIRE BRINGS, for an upcoming interview. I’m super excited to read both!

In other book news:

A big shoutout to Emma Dues, whose debut novel RETURN TO MIDNIGHT is coming out in a couple of weeks! It has a very Idaho murders vibe, and is super creepy.

A finished copy of A STRANGER AT THE WEDDING, a debut by A.E. Gauntlett, was waiting in the mail when I got home. Y’all. I loved this book so much. It comes out next week.

And also in my mail call was an ARC of Paige Crutcher’s newest, A CIRCLE OF UNCOMMON WITCHES, which comes out in February. Yay - 2025 books already!

So tell me, how are you faring this lovely Friday? How do you manage your TBR list???

I’d love to hear what you’re reading this weekend! Any recommendations?