This is going to be a short update. If it wasn’t it wouldn’t get poste for another two weeks. October went by quick with an apple orchard visit early in the month, a trip to NC to spend time with family in the middle of the month and a flurry of knitting to end the month. November has kicked off even faster and I’m just crossing my fingers I’ll be able to keep reading over the next two months!
Tag: North Carolina
Book 835: Legendborn (Legendborn Cycle #1) – Tracy Deonn
I was on hold at the library for months to get this one! I vaguely remember it being released, but didn’t realize it’s connection to UNC Chapel Hill (my undergrad) until I saw the cover and Deonn in one of the alumni newsletters and then of course immediately had to read it, but was stifled by the long hold times :’-(
I wasn’t only drawn to it because of the UNC connection, but also because of the modern retelling of Arthurian legends. I knew this was going to be a fascinating take on them with a Black protagonist, southern history, secret societies, and the first public university in the country, how couldn’t it be!
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Book 819: Kill Switch – Adam Jentleson
I heard about this book on NPR’s Fresh Air, and didn’t know quite a few of the facts they shared so immediately reached out to the publisher.*
Jentleson was very open that he had a bias, being a former aide to Democratic majority leader Harry Reid, but I felt he presented all the facts and stories without too much bias. Honestly, I was impressed with how balanced Jentleson was able to talk about everything and ultimately explain Democrats were forced to play the game the southern white supremacist senators have created just to get things done. And it’s irrefutable the line he’s drawn from the slave holders to the January 6th insurrection.
Book 797: My Drowning – Jim Grimsley
Jim Grimsley is probably one of the most depressing writers I’ve ever read, and yet I keep going back to him every 5-10 years. Depressing may not be the correct descriptor, he just writes such desolate books and truly embraces the southern gothic style and maybe that’s what draws me to him?
This was my first time reading My Drowning and it was very different from Winter Birds and Dream Boy but at the same time very similar (mostly through that southern gothic style). In addition to the style, he really excels at writing children’s voices.
Book 758: Better Not Pout – Annabeth Albert
I grabbed this a few months ago when it went on sale and saved it for the holidays. I had every intention of waiting until December, but Thanksgiving happened and Lifetime/Hallmark movies started showing and I wanted more LGBT+ characters (I know there are a few this year but I haven’t had the chance to see them) and I remembered I had this one already so here we are.
The story starts off slower than many of Albert’s other works, but the characters are just as well written and the plot works for what it is. Nick, a beefy retiring military man, is cornered into volunteering with a local charity and meets Teddy, an over the top do-gooder, and fireworks don’t fly right away, but they slowly build until the grand finale.
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