At any given moment, my book collection is either the most organized part of my home or the most out of control. There are just so, so many of them. I love being surrounded by books, but if I’m not careful, I’m tripping over them just as often as I’m reading them.
All my bookshelves have a specific purpose. For example, most of my nonfiction belongs on the large metal bookshelf in the office. Library books and other borrowed books share a shelf with music collection in my bedroom so that they don’t get mixed in with the books I own. Fiction, memoir, cookbooks, short stories, and poetry – all my beloved genres have a specific place they belong.
The challenge is getting the books to where they belong, especially when they’re new. While I’m really going for a home library that is full of anticipated books, some of which I recognize I may never read, the decision to keep a book is not automatic. I have monthly subscriptions at a couple of independent bookstores (specifically, Deep Vellum in Dallas and Fantastic Strangelings through Nowhere in San Antonio), and I frequent library book sales and yard sales where I 100% judge books by their covers, so it’s anyone’s guess as to what I will actually bring home. I always seem to be obtaining books, and not all of them are ultimately meant to remain in my personal collection.
Of course, this means that they’re already in my home before I vet them and decide they need a permanent place there. The shelf by my reading chair in the living room is devoted to this purpose. It houses new-to-me books that I’m not sure I’m keeping yet. It also keeps the books that I’m planning to read next stacked in a neat little pile for my convenience.
This month’s TBR is loosely inspired by that shelf.
Aside from my book club reads, many of the books listed below are hanging out on this shelf – in limbo, awaiting a decision on their final destination. Hopefully, my reading this month can make a dent in deciding which ones to keep and which ones to pass on to someone else.
[Disclaimer – I am a Bookshop.org affiliate – I get a cut of the sales from most of the links below.]
Book Clubs
- The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon
- The Secret Courtesan by Kerry Chaput
- Bones and All by Camille DeAngelis
- You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson
- This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham, or Dead People Suck by Laurie Kilmartin, or Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, or Loved One by Aisha Muharrar (whichever hold is filled at the library first)
- Whatever Tome Talkers decides we are reading for October – we meant to meet last week, but none of us had finished Heretical Fishing yet, so we’re meeting tomorrow instead to talk about it and choose October’s book
- The book for Crafty Chapter hasn’t been chosen yet either, but right now, Ann Patchett’s Whistler has the most votes, so *fingers crossed*
Cozy(ish) October Vibes
Cozy horror is an odd category. I’m drawn to it. In fact, it may be quickly becoming one of my favorite genres.
Most genre-ists define it with elements of gentle supernatural components, low stakes, lovable/misunderstood monsters/creatures, and maybe a quirky, small-town environment with a smattering of snarky talking animals. It is likely to heavily feature a coffee shop, bakery, or niche store that caters to a granny hobby.
I do love books that fall into that definition of cozy horror, and my definition certainly includes them, but it is also broader than that.
I define the genre as horror…but make it funny. Many of the descriptions of the books I place in this category contain phrases like “darkly humorous” or “charmingly gruesome.” The ending may not be happy in the traditional, sunshine-y sense, but it will probably be satisfying, and that’s just as good.
October’s an especially great month for cozy horror. Or dragons. Or both.
- When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
- Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison
- The Mad Wife by Meagan Church
- Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
- The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories by Angela Carter
- Rouge by Mona Awad
- Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
- Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake
- The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell
Reading Challenges
I’m not actively working toward my reading challenges that I have left, I’m finding at least one prompt that fits almost every book I finish. So I have another one that lacks one more prompt and a few more that I anticipate chipping away at this month.
- Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas – Not only to finish this series and put it behind me but also to finish up the Overeducated Women With Cats challenge with the prompt “set in a fully invented world.”
- “A book about books” is the October prompt for Read Your Bookshelf. I have so many; it shouldn’t be hard to find one. Possibly even on that shelf of to-be-curated books.
- The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas – Originally planned for January/February, this satisfies the prompts “a diacritical mark on the cover” and “gothic fiction written in the last 10 years.” Gothic fiction often intersects with cozy horror, so it’s at least theme adjacent.
Where do your books live in your home?
I’m writing about keeping house for 31 days. Click here to see the topic list!
Leave a comment