We're creeping ever closer to September, which means Autumn - my favorite season - is nearly here! Maybe this will lead me to read a bit more? Maybe not? I dunno. What I do know is that I have a some catching up to do to keep up with my reading challenge this year, so I hope my concentration will return.
Since I'm working on downsizing and being a bit more intentional about how I spend money, I'm going to try to "shop" more frequently from the vast collection of books I have sitting on my shelves and ereader. It seems I absolutely LOVE collecting books, but then they kind of fade into the background of life and I forget to actually read them. So I'm hoping to start making a dent in that pile. Here's what I plan to read this month...
The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth WareIn this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…
To be completely honest, every Ware book I've read has left me mildly disappointed, but I still keep reading them! It's a very weird phenomenon, but I think it has to do with the fact that her prose is actually really lovely (the plots on the other hand...), and generally I listen to the audiobook versions, which are performed by the absolutely brilliant Imogene Church. They're easy, fun, digestible reads and I often turn to them when I'm in a reading slump, so...
I love Grady Hendrix, so I'm excited to read this new book by him! It sounds funny, but meaningful, in that way that Hendrix always is.
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for....
When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.
When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.
I'm still sloooooowly working my way through this one on audiobook. It's not that it's bad - it's actually fantastic! - but I find that it requires a lot of concentration for me to keep up, so I can only listen to it at certain moments. I read Dune maybe 20 years ago and only have faint memories of everything that happened, so it's thrilling to dive into that world all over again.
In this scintillating combination of critical race theory, social commentary, veganism, and gender analysis, media studies scholar Aph Ko offers a compelling vision of a reimagined social justice movement marked by a deconstruction of the conceptual framework that keeps activists silo-ed fighting their various oppressions―and one another. Through a subtle and extended examination of Jordan Peele’s hit 2017 movie Get Out, Ko shows the many ways that white supremacist notions of animality and race exist through the consumption and exploitation of flesh. She demonstrates how a critical historical and social understanding of anti-Blackness can provide the pathway to genuine liberation.
A friend gave this to me for Christmas, and I'm just now getting around to picking it up to read. I've read some of Ko's work before, and am fascinated by the ways that she talks about animality. I'm excited to read more about her theory.
Two Ware's in one month?!? Truth is, I need the boost! Ware's books are "easy" reading for me, and I'm behind on my reading challenge. So it's time to pull out the big guns!
As always, there's one "wild card" pick for book club!
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