Autumn and Winter Book Round-Up

Book Review of 6 Books

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I haven’t done a lot of reading lately, and I haven’t done a book list post in a while. I figured I’d catch y’all up with the fluff I have been reading.

November is when I stopped reading as much. Nothing was holding my attention, and I was on strike trying to keep the fires of my soul going. I got through A Throne of Glass, but honestly, I don’t remember it at all, and it was a struggle for me to get through. I enjoyed the last 2-3 books of ACOTAR, but Maas is truly a one trick pony for me. She writes the same thing each time. If you’re into fantasy with a steamier twist (truly, after you’ve read fanfic, this is pretty tame), you’ll enjoy these series. They’re fluffy reads, and that definitely has its ups, especially when you’re reading for escapism.

After ATOG, I started this super goofy, super fluffy mystery series. My favorite cozy mystery series is the Maisie Dobbs series. I inhaled all 17 books in less than a year. As soon as the 18th came out, I was inhaling that one as well. They were so good. I loved the psychology aspect behind it, the move between class, the empathy, and the spirituality. We start out pre-WWI and end post WWII. I bawled more than once listening to this series. I’ve been chasing that high ever since.

I decided to give the Daisy Dalrymple series a try, and honestly, it’s fluff. It’s pure fluff. I was able to guess the person, and I am the worst at keeping track of clues.

Have I read 4 of them though? Absolutely! Will I continue to read more as I move in and out of reading ruts? Yes. Yes, I will. They’re fluffy. They’re cozy. They’re a good escape for me. I am actually quite invested in the love interest because it’s the 1920s, and she’s locked in with a single father. I’m curious as to where this will go. The mysteries are just a vehicle for this relationship at this point.

Back in 2023, I fell in love with The House in the Cerulean Sea, and I have a tendency to just follow authors if I love a book they’ve written. I then read Under the Whispering Door, which again, I loved. I decided to try ALL of his books. I gave up on Wolfsong, not because it’s bad, but because it’s just too far out of my sphere right now, and I may have been trying to read it outside of my natural reading season. I have seasons for different genres. I do want to try it again. I am over halfway through. I remember a lot of it so I must have been intrigued at some point.

Finally, I tried In the Lives of Puppets. I got about 40 minutes in, and I couldn’t get into it. Like, it quickly left me with the icks. If you’re into like sci-fi and fantasy and just general off the wall storytelling, you’ll like this. So, I am giving TJ Klune a break for now. I found the 2 books of his I like, and I am going to stay there.

This is probably my favorite fictional book I’ve read recently. The story spans across 3 generations of Vietnamese women, 2 of whom grew up in the US. Banyan Moon jumps between the 3 women and the 3 different timelines of their lives. There is growth. There is healing. There is trauma. There is hurt. There is love. I really enjoyed this book, and I loved the integration of cultural and spiritual practices into the story, and how Ann and Huơng come back to their cultural roots. It was a really well written book.

Plums for Months is a collection of essays written Zaji Cox. This book explores what it was like to be neurodivergent as a kid. A topic that struck a chord with me was how she mentions that people must not experience the world like she does, with all of the smells and tastes. I am very sensory sensitive to smells and tastes. Most places have a smell. Please don’t bring a bell pepper around me. They’re vile, and they ruin everything. The taste, the smell, the everything. I can smell that shit while it’s boxed up and before you open your food. YUCK! Most people don’t have such strong sensory input for their senses of smell and taste, but I do. I know I am getting a migraine because I get smell auras where the entire world smells like sewage. Listening to someone else experience the world at a significantly higher sensory input was very affirming, and I always find it interesting. I may not be able to hear the lights, but I can smell the rot from the boys’ bathroom 6 doors down.

At any rate, I enjoyed this book. I listened to it in December. I wish I remembered more from it, but I don’t. I really just had it on as sensory input and a way to focus my energy. If you are interested in learning what it is like to live a neurodivergent life, this book is an easy and accessible place to start.

I finally decided to pick up The House of the Spirits. It has been on my list forever. It is wild how differently people write these days. This book isn’t that old. It was written in 1982. There is certainly a cultural story-telling difference, but even so, that 42 years has made a lot of difference in the speediness of media and literature.

I haven’t finished this book. I know that I am close, but my library loan ran out so I have it on hold. I didn’t realize how violent this book is, and it should come with a few TWs (SA, misogyny, religious abuse). It is quite intense. I am glad I never read this in high school like I was told I should. It is a lot. This is a book that I will finish because, despite the above where I DNF’d a couple of books, I am actually bad at not finishing books.

I think what is holding my interest is that this story is spanning across generations. If I remember correctly, in the hard copy, there’s a family tree because the family dynamics are long and confusing. They aren’t that important to me so if I get confused, I just wait it out or continue to forget that character, haha. I wish that this book went into more detail about the hobbies of the characters, especially Blanca. She does tarot and fortune telling. She astral projects. Everything is just glossed over though, and I wish that there was less focus on the disgusting Esteban and more focus on the beauty that is the women of this book.

I chose Gifts because it was a short listen, and I loved Catwings and The Left Hand of Darkness by Le Guin. Let me tell you the ways that this 6 hour read took me TWO MONTHS. It’s not that it’s bad, but it’s fantasy/sci-fi, and it was written in that long, drawn out old-fashioned way. My ADHD can’t do it. I need action and a fast paced book. It was not bad. It just was not my thing. I got through it though, and I am proud of the main character for standing up for himself and his values at the end.

As mentioned in a couple posts back, I have been reading Awakening Artemis. It is really good. It is now on my wishlist to own so I can highlight and take notes. I am back into my nonfiction era of winter. Winter is my favorite time to explore nonfiction. This is also written in a very poetic way so it is also checking my boxes for poetry in February.

These are the books that I’ve been reading. None of them are bad books. Some just aren’t for me, and that’s ok. What have YOU been reading? What’s been fueling your spark and motivation? I’d love to hear some recommendations!

Wishing you well this week! May your life offer what you need in this moment.

With love,

Aventurine ✨