I usually am not super into book covers with photographs of people on them, but Killing November has a bunch of Slytherin-looking kids with weapons, so how could I say no?
I am an incredibly lucky teacher in that I have the distinct pleasure of teaching some students who are just as nerdy as I am. And, because they periodically Google search their teachers, one of them found out about my Women of the World writing project here.
Sometimes I’m all about buying new books with reckless abandon. Other times, ShopDisney has wicked seasonal sales, and I have to make a choice: a stack of new books or a bag full of sweet Disney merch. When I choose the latter, I actually have to read those aforementioned books, instead of just hoarding them like it’s my day job.
Which brings us to the subject of this column: S.J. Watson’s Before I Go To Sleep, a backlist novel I’ve been meaning to read for an embarrassing amount of time.
I’ve grown up on Stephen King’s writing. It all started with a book report. As a lonely kid with no real friends at first, I felt pretty lost in life. I didn’t have a favorite band, never read a single issue of Tiger Beat, and fashion was a foreign language to me (I wore sweatshirts with kittens in hot air balloons on them until middle school). I can’t remember how old I was when my teacher assigned me my first book report, but I know I was young. Young enough that when I went to my mother’s bookshelf and grabbed a book at random, I didn’t know what I was in for. My mother loved to read horror and I distinctly remember her paperbacks from Stephen King and H. P. Lovecraft. The book I had chosen to read and write up was Stephen King’s Thinner.
I got some interesting looks from my teacher that year.
Westside by W.M. Akers would best be described as a fantastical mystery. It has elements of both fantasy and mystery, and draws you in to a world both familiar and strange.
Another month, another bit of rule-bending.
Over the summer, I listened to All Things Considered’s portrait of the newly appointed U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo, the first Native American to ever hold the position. And, last month, the arrival of her first book of poetry as Poet Laureate returned her to the spotlight.
I’ve recently become obsessed with anything and everything author V.E. Schwab writes and am on an excessive binge read of all her books.
I read One of Us is Lying quite some time ago, and while I not-so-patiently wait on the sequel to come out (One of Us is Next is expected in early 2020), I picked up Two Can Keep a Secret. I loved the well-crafted mystery of One of Us is Lying, so seeing Two Can Keep a Secret while at Barnes & Noble felt like a sign.
I’m always down to listen to what the book shelves suggest.
For August’s Women of the World book, I specifically wanted to find a Latina author. Last month, I realized that though I’d done a pretty good job of finding female authors from far away places, I hadn’t found any from countries closer to home. Given the continuing immigrant crisis at the US southern border, I figured it was about time that I put more energy into finding an author that would represent the voices that our country seems so ready to reject.
Thank you to Meerkat Press for sending us a finished copy of Wild Horse in exchange for an honest review!