Not So Well Read | Weekly Wrap Up – 1.13-1.19

Weekly Wrap Up – 1.13-1.19

This Week in the Book World:

RIP Booktok. I was hoping you and I would get to know one another a bit better this year, but looks like fate had different ideas for us. Seriously though, the last 24 hours have been a propaganda fueled nightmare and I would like to wake up.

Neil Gaiman. What is that quote about living long enough to see your heroes become villains? Well, that one hit real hard this week. I read half of the Vulture article, immediately wanted to throw up, and then mourned for several days. Please, please take care of yourself if you decide to read this article.

Onyx Storm. I'm going to say it. Some of y'all need to chill the f duck out. It's literally a book. If you go into a target and swap the dust jacket on a book, that's theft. If you're digging through boxes that are unopened on the floor and causing a headache for underpaid retail workers, you're the asshole. If you're complaining about how a small business (who probably got their books on Friday) can't compete with one of the largest supply chains in the world, you're buying local for a pat on the back, not because you actually want to support local. I know someone is going to be a jerk to me this week about their book and I am going to lose it.

Also, low key am glad that B&N finally got fined for breaking the rules, which they've been doing for YEARS.

Also, also, people started preordering this book in like March, so watch me cackling at these videos of people crying about how they can't get a deluxe edition now. Like, friends... really?

This week's publishing news:

So many great gothic books announced this week! Here are some favs:

• Necrogenesis by Ashia Monet's which is a dark academia gothic fantasy about a true crime fan who "resurrects a victim of a massacre to uncover what claimed the lives of six necromancy students at a secluded manor in the '70s"
• Bloody Mother by Kim Bohyun (translated by Archana Madhavan) about a mother-turned-vampire "fated to a lifetime of man-killing time-travel to avenge her daughter's brutal death"
• A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon by Hannah Reynolds's which was pitched as a "YA cozy romantasy" where a magic academy student tells suitors by telling she's engaged to a demon "only to return home and find a demon waiting for her, insisting she honor the engagement"
• Two books from Kawai Strong Washburn's (Sharks in the Time of Saviors)–The Names of the New World, a literary ecothriller in 4 acts; and The Horizon Thief, a "Polynesian retelling of Lord of the Flies"
• The Halls of the Dead by S.M. Hallow, described as "a queer, gothic romance set in Victorian London, in which a woman who has dedicated her life to protecting the necromantic secrets held in sentient grimoires bound with human skin" resurrects her murdered partner

This week's new releases:

• Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Adult, fantasy)
• Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (Adult, sci-fi)
• The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill (Adult, fiction)

What I read this week:

• Elatsoe (78%)
  This has been such a fun middle-grade/teen read. I'm almost finished with the audiobook and I have LOVED the asexual representation in this one. This one is fully focused on family and friendship, which has been so refreshing. I can't wait to finish it.

• Fagin the Thief (62%)
  I had to pause on this one this week to read my Underbrush fantasy book club pick–The Will of the Many.

• The Will of the Many (31%)
  Not going to lie, I was super intimidated by this one, but was up for the challenge when we chose it as our book club pick. I am thrilled to say that this one is actually super easy to get into. I started this one on a 7:30am flight and was almost immediately invested, which is saying a lot because I am NOT a morning person. I need to get to the halfway point of this one before meeting tomorrow, so excuse me while I read this for the rest of the evening.

What I bought/shelved

I've already posted two posts about new books in my collections, so I won't bore you with those again. If you're interested you can see my Indianapolis book haul here and my extremely exciting publisher book mail here.

Other musings:

Honestly, I'm tired. Like really tired. So, I don't really have any other thoughts. I'm sending all of you all so much love as we head into tomorrow. It's going to be an emotional rollercoaster, but we will get through it.

See you on the other side. Take care of yourselves.