It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 2, 2023)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup.

Want to See What I Added to My Stack? links to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality.

Other Than Reading...

With the baseball regular season ending today (Sunday), I'll be switching into playoff mode for however long my Atlanta Braves manage to keep winning. Hopefully, all the way to the World Series. 

Our weather remains cool, rainy and foggy. We got 10.36 inches of rain officially this past month which is far above our usual 3.48 inches. We did have some flooding in town but not in my neighborhood. My brother had to find alternate routes to get to Target one day since roads were closed due to flooding right by Target. Here's a link to the news coverage. The road closures only lasted one day before the streams and storm sewers managed to catch up and drain the water away. 

We are starting to see some of the trees change color in my neighborhood too. 

This week should be a quiet one. I don't have any appointments on my calendar. 

I've been busy planning my November reading, writing my monthly State of the Stack post, and tallying up the month on my Google spreadsheet and at LibraryThing. This was a big week for adding books to the TBR mountain. I got emails letting me know that I was approved for four books at NetGalley that I had requested earlier and looked around for anything else that might catch my eye when I went to download them. I do still have 16 pending requests that I'm still hoping will be approved. 

Amazon also had some deals to get double Kindle Rewards points this week. I did some shopping and added a few books. Among them were a couple more in the Andy Carpenter series. I came to this series late and want to catch up on the earlier books that I missed.

I also decided that I would rather listen to True Fiction than read it and added-on the Whispersync version for $3.18. I also looked through the Audible Plus catalog for more books by Dick Francis after enjoying my revisit to Enquiry - one of his books that I read years ago. I also decided to use some of my banked Audible Credits to get a couple of favorites that weren't in the Audible Plus catalog. Now, if only I can find an Audible copy of Hot Money which is one of my all-time favorites, I'll be a happy reader.

September Report

By reading late into the night on September 30, I managed to reach my goal of 30 books read this month. I read a total of 10947 pages and listened for 7514 minutes. I read 13 of my own books including 9 audiobooks and 17 review books. Eight of my audiobooks were rereads of books I own and read years ago. 

I added 54 books to my LibraryThing account in September. Twenty-one of the new additions to my account were Review books from NetGalley. Of my 10 new audiobooks, three were from Chirp, two used Audible Credits, and two were from the Audible Plus Catalog. Five of the new audiobooks are for reread as I already have print copies in my collection. 

Twenty-five of my new books were Kindle copies. I used Kindle Rewards credits to lower the cost of 6 of them and another 6 were free. None of them were replacements for print books I already own this month although a few are by authors I know I've read in the past and I might have read a couple of them but didn't keep the print book. 

Fifty of my new additions are still on TBR mountain which is a whopping 2121 books tall. Only two of the books I read this month came from the TBR stack of books I've owned unread for more than a year. 

Read Last Week

If you can't wait until the review shows up on my blog, reviews are posted to LibraryThing and Goodreads as soon as I write them (usually right after I finish reading a book.)

• The Last Close Call by Laura Griffin (Review; October 24) -- A forensic genealogist helps an obsessed police detective track down a serial rapist turned murderer. My review will be posted on October 21.
• Seeing a Large Cat by Elizabeth Peters (Audiobook Reread) -- 1903. The Emersons have to deal with searching for a tomb that isn't supposed to exist, helping an old friend whose husband has fallen into the clutches of a spiritualist, and protecting a spoiled young lady who has set her sights on Ramses from an unknown enemy. My review will be posted on October 31.
• Vicious Circle by Linda Robertson (Mine since August 5, 2009) -- Urban fantasy/paranormal romance. Entertaining and first in a series. My review will be posted on October 24.

• The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry (Audible Plus) -- First in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt historical mystery series. My review will be posted on October 28.
• The Engagement Party by Finley Turner (Review; November 7) -- Psychological thriller where a young woman goes to meet her fiancé's family and finds herself in the middle of a murder. My review will be posted on October 25.
• Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie (Review; October 31) -- Cherokee archaeologist Syd Walker needs to go back home to investigate when a skull is found with one of her old IDs in its teeth. She finds lots of secrets from her past. My review will be posted on October 26.

• Enquiry by Dick Francis (Audible Plus) -- This was a reread of a mystery by a favorite author. Kelley Hughes has to find out who has framed him for cheating in order to get his license as a steeplechase jockey back. My review will be posted on November 2.
• Forgotten Trail by Claire Kells (Review; November 7) -- Third in a series about mysteries inside National Parks. This time a man is found murdered in his suite at a newly opened hotel which leads back to a cold case that happened years earlier. My review will be posted on October 26.
• Slay by Laurell K. Hamilton (Review; November 7) -- Latest in the Anita Blake series (Number 30) has Anita's family visiting to meet Jean-Claude and a vampire named Deimos causing havoc since he wants Anita and Jean-Claude's job. My review will be posted on November 1.

Currently

• True Fiction by Lee Goldberg (Mine; Kindle & Audiobook)
• Calico by Lee Goldberg (Review; November 7)

Next Week

• Starter Villain by John Scalzi (Mine)
• Trotting Into Trouble by Amber Camp (Review; November 14)
• Murder Checks Out by Victoria Gilbert (Review; November 14)

• Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord by Celeste Connally (Review; November 14)
• Perfect Shot by Steve Urszenyi (Review; November 14)
• The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters (Audible Plus; Reread)

Reviews Posted

• Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters (Audiobook reread)
• The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths (Audiobook)
• Overdue or Die by Allison Brook (Review book)

• Caught on the Book by Laura Gail Black (Review book)
• A Cold Highland Wind by Tasha Alexander (Review book)
• A Traitor in Whitehall by Julia Kelly (Review book)

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Review:

• Slay by Laurell K. Hamilton (November 7)
• Road Queens by MaryJanice Davidson (November 28)
• The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes (January 9)

• At the River by Kendra Elliot (February 13)
• Leave No Trace by A. J. Landau (February 27)

• The Unquiet Bones by Loreth Anne White (March 5)
• A Grave Robbery by Deanna Raybourn (March 12)
• Black Wolf by Juan Gomez-Jurado (March 12)

• A Midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian (March 19)
• The Mayfair Dagger by Ava January (April 23)

Bought:

• By a Silver Thread by Rachel Aaron (Kindle)
• The Killing Game by Kate Bold (BookBub; Free)
• Blood from a Stone by Laura Anne Gilman (Kindle)

• Murder at Cambridge by Q. Patrick (BookBub; $.99)
• Outfoxed by David Rosenfelt (Kindle)
• Collared by David Rosenfelt (Kindle)

• Archibald Lox and the Bridge Between Worlds by Darren Shan (BookBub; Free)
• Thornyhold by Mary Stewart (Kindle)

Audiobooks:

• Banker by Dick Francis (Audible Plus)
• Reflex by Dick Francis (Audible Credit)

• Straight by Dick Francis (Audible Credit)
• Enquiry by Dick Francis (Audible Plus)
• True Fiction by Lee Goldberg (Audible Add-On; $3.18)

• Dancers in the Dark by Charlaine Harris (Kindle & Chirp Audiobook; each was $2.99)
• Thornyhold by Mary Stewart (Kindle & Chirp Audiobook)

What was your week like?