Books Read in October

Ah, it's that time of the month again.

No, not that time of the month. I mean the time where I post about all the books I've read.

I didn't manage to read too many books this month. I was busy with assignments during the first two weeks on October, and then I was fretting about NaNo.

While I didn't read as many books as I'd have liked to, I still managed to hit a few jackpots, which balances things out, I guess.

As always, * indicates a fave, and ~ indicates a graphic novel or manga.

1. Night Beach - Kirsty Eagar *
2. Friday Brown - Vikki Wakefield
3.  A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami
4. Bayou Moon (The Edge, #2) - Ilona Andrews
5. Holier than Thou - Laura Buzo
6. Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades, #3) - E.L. James
7. Fall for Anything - Courtney Summers
8. The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (Zelda, #10) - Akira Himekawa ~
9. Tiger's Destiny (The Tiger Saga, #4) - Colleen Houck
10. The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2) - Stephen King
11. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami
12. Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy, #1) - Wendy Higgins
13. Seraphina (Seraphina, #1) - Rachel Hartman *
14. Death at Victoria Dock (Phryne Fisher, #4) -Kerry Greenwood
15. The Audition (Seraphina, #0.5) - Rachel Hartman
16. Zombies vs. Unicorns -edited by Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier

Of the selection, two really stood out: Night Beach and Seraphina. If you remember in my last monthly book recap, I posted a picture of Night Beach as a currently reading picture. It's a book that I can't help but love. It is subtly scary, has gorgeous prose, and well-thought out imagery and metaphors. And I am all about themes, imagery, and metaphors. I loved it so much I even wrote a review of it for a Non-Fiction assignment.

Seraphina caters to the love of a high-fantasy world with dragons that my younger self used to harbour.   Hartman writes with such fluidity that it's hard not to be enchanted. Coupled with Seraphina's strangeness and the garden inside her head (oh, the garden! Definitely my favourite part of the book), it created a world that I never wanted to leave. I'm greatly anticipating the next book. I don't think I can handle waiting till next year.

Other notable books include both of the Murakami books I'd read this month, A Wild Sheep Chase, and What I Talk ABout When I Talk About Running. Sheep was just amazing. I wasn't quite expecting such a mind-fuck of a book. It felt so surreal, much like a dream, which I've heard is Murakami's usual style, so that makes me super excited to read more of his stuff. Running is a memoir about his life as a marathon runner, though he draws heavily on his writing career, as well. He uses running as an analogy to writing, giving lots of great tips that apply to both. It really perked me up for NaNo.

Book Rec : Kate Daniels series

Book the first.

Okay, so very recently, I finished reading the third book of the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews.
Oh. My. God.

It is wonderful.

Now, I'm not such a huge fan of urban fantasy. Most of the books I've read in that genre seem to be pretty meh for me. The only other UF that I'd read and loved was the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning, and after Shadowfever, I'd been pining away for a great, new series to fill the void. I read the first books of countless series, all of them leaving me bored. Until now.

Basically, this series has everything I hope for.

Kate Daniels is a kick ass heroine. She has a freaking sword and cuts people apart, and when she meets the Beast Lord for the first time, she calls out, "Here, kitty, kitty", knowing that he could rip her apart if he so wished. How epic is that? She doesn't take shit from anyone, and that's the kind of strong heroine I like to read about, yet she still knows her flaws, and works around them to get what she wants.

Next, there's the romance. It is definitely not insta-love. The romance develops over several books (which spans at least half a year), starting with cute flirtation, finally moving on to full on steamy scenes that had me drooling and wanting more. There's that feeling of anticipation that grows, and Andrews uses that anticipation so well, far better than most romances I've read.

There's a whole range of characters, and none of them are two-dimensional. They all seem to be living, breathing, ass-kicking people, and I love each and every one of them. They grow steadily, and all have flaws that make them real. Damn, it's so hard to find real characters lately. But man, Andrews makes it work.

Finally, I have to talk about the plot. The plots for these books gets better and better. You can see Andrews becoming a better writer with each book, and that sort of growth in writing is something I admire a lot.

Seriously, if you haven't read it yet, I urge you to go and get your hands on them now.