Clare L. Deming

I often struggle with reading in September because I have an annual conference this month that takes up a solid week of my time. But this year I managed to stay focused and was determined to keep a consistent reading schedule, completing four books for the month.

If you’d like to pick up any of these books and support my blog at the same time you can click on the book links in this post. You can also find my list of recommended reads (in different categories) over at Bookshop.org.

Books I read in September (2,001 pages):

• A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is a stand-alone retold fairy tale that featured both young and elderly heroines in a deadly game of courtship – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden is a historical fantasy novel that reimagines the story of Anne of Brittany in the 1400s as she cleverly navigates political intrigues and discovers a touch of magic – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Tapestry of Fate by Channon Chakraborty is the second book in The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi series and takes the retired pirate out to sea once more in a semi-historical Arabic setting – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Written in my Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon is the 8th book in the Outlander series and sees me nearing the end of this epic story – ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Reading now:

• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon is a historical fiction novel set in Maine in the late 1700s that a friend recommended to me. I’m more than halfway done with this one already and I’ve been completely drawn in to the mystery.
• Murmuration by T.J. Klune is an older book by this author that is being re-released this fall, so I’m reading it for review courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. I’m about a third of the way into it.
• Blacklight Born by Alexander Darwin is the third and final book in The Combat Codes series that I’m listening to on audio. I’m only a short ways into this one and you can find my review of the first book in the series here.

Other books I had hoped to get to in September:

• A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett is the second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series and I’ll get to this one soon enough, just not in September.
• Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab is a gorgeous Fairy Loot edition hardcover that has been taunting me for months, but there are not enough hours to read everything I want to.

Books I’m planning to read in October:

• The Eleventh Gate by Nancy Kress is a stand-alone space opera novel that was picked for an upcoming book club selection.
• Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo is the third and final book in the Ninth House series and is one of my most anticipated reads of 2026.
• Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher is a fantasy romance novel and a loose sequel to Swordheart which I read early in 2026.
• Infinite Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver is the sequel to Artificial Wisdom (review here) which was a phenomenal near-future science fiction book except for the ending. I’m hopeful that this sequel will fix that and I was eager to accept this from Net Galley for review.
• Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue will be my bonus book for the month if I’m doing exceptionally well with my reading.
• The Best of All Possible Planets by Alex Shvartsman will be my bonus audiobook, depending on how long it takes me to get through Blacklight Born.

New books acquired in September (2 allowed):

• Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher was purchased because I already have the first book in hardcover and they’re both so pretty.
• Immortal Rose by Alexandra Bracken was this month’s Fairy Loot pick and looks like a stand-alone romantasy pick.

Looks like I’m back on track with resisting the need to bring excessive numbers of new books home, at least for one month!

What books are you still hoping to read before the end of the year? Do you plan out your reading like I do or pick up a book based on your current mood or some other factor? Let me know in the comments!

Wow, I have fallen so behind on my book blogging and reviews here, but it’s not too late to look back at what I read in the past few months (is it?). I was excited to get to a classic science fiction book that has been on my shelves for several years. I had one book (novella) to read for a book club, and if I had to pick an inadvertent theme for May, it would have been detectives in science fiction and fantasy.

My problems began in June and I’m not sure what happened, other than travel plans and escalating summer chaos at work. I still made progress for June with another book club read and then a new book courtesy of Net Galley.

If you’d like to pick up any of these books and support my blog at the same time you can click on any of the book links in this post.

Books I read in May (1,450 pages):

• Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight by Don Bassingthwaite was received as a gift and is a short story collection of detective-esque fiction all involving fantasy and horror tropes – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury is that classic science fiction book I mentioned above – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older was the book club pick and was a science fiction detective story – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Seveneves by Neal Stephenson is an exceedingly long science fiction novel that took me too long to finish – ⭐⭐⭐

Books I read in June (759 pages):

• The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst is a follow-up to The Spellshop (review here), but does not require one to have read the previous book – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon by Annie Mare is an odd mashup of dating and quantum physics ⭐⭐⭐

Normally I’d follow this section with a list of the books I’m currently reading. However, since I’m writing this in August, I have already finished those books and will have those in my next post.

Other books I had hoped to get to recently:

• Quicksilver by Callie Hart keeps popping up on my list of books-to-read. I carried it around on a trip (in case my Kindle died), but didn’t start it.
• Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue sounds like something I should love, but I didn’t have enough time to get to it.
• Alchemised by SenLinYu will keep recurring on my list until I have time one month. This one is really long, but some friends have loved it.
• The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty is the latest in The Adventures of Anima El-Sirafi series. This author is one who qualifies for my buy immediately short list, so I had to pick up a special edition of it.

New books acquired in May (4 allowed):

• Infinite Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver is the much-needed sequel to Artifical Wisdom which I reviewed here. This one was also given to me by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
• The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older was a novella I had to pick up for a book club discussion.
• Deathbringer by Sonia Tagliareni (Fairy Loot) – I’ve heard mixed reviews about this one.
• The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty – As noted already, I had to order a special edition from Waterstones to get the cover I preferred.

New books acquired in June (3 allowed):

• The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden (Fairy Loot) looks like a fascinating book and I’ve wanted to read something by this author for a while. I added it to an upcoming book club discussion.
• The Strength of the Few by James Islington is the sequel to The Will of the Many which I read earlier this year and loved. Spoiler – this second book was also amazing! The final book is due out in about six months.
• A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett is the sequel to The Tainted Cup which I read in April and enjoyed a lot.
• The Incandescent by Emily Tesh is a stand-alone fantasy academia novel told from the perspective of the teachers and I loved the other book I read by this author (Some Desperate Glory).

Ooops, I went out of my allowance! I blame this on my travel to Portland, Oregon where I had to visit Powell’s Books. How could I not buy more books at this amazing place? This is where I picked up A Drop of Corruption and The Incandescent.

That wraps up this update and I hope to be more consistent with posts here as the summer wraps up.

What are you currently reading? Have you had more or less time to read over the summer than you would have liked? Let me know in the comments.

Somehow April got away from me and I didn’t have a chance to do my monthly summary post for March sooner. That means that I’m going to lump the two months together for one giant post. In total I did fairly well in my reading, with four books read in March and five for April. While I’m not meeting my goal of six books per month, I am making steady progress through my pile of books.

Also – if you’d like to pick up any of these books and support my blog at the same time you can click on any of the book links in this post.

Read in March (1,375 pages):

• Grievar’s Blood by Alexander Darwin is the second book in The Combat Codes series and I listened to this as an audiobook – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow is a stand-alone fantasy novel I had been looking forward to – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst is a YA cozy fantasy novel that I received courtesy of Net Galley for review – ⭐⭐⭐
• The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien is a short novel that I started for Tolkien Reading Day this year – ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read in April (1,957+ pages):

• An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon is the sixth book in the Outlander series and was a solid installment – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett is a book I didn’t get to in time for a book club discussion but still wanted to read – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis was a fun stand-alone fantasy tale that I read for a book club discussion – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Time Traveler’s Passport Collection by John Scalzi and others is an audiobook-only collection of time travel themed stories – ⭐⭐⭐
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi – I just finished this one last night for an upcoming book club discussion. This book had been on my list for quite a while. It is a book that required careful reading, but I enjoyed it a lot – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Reading now:

• Seveneves by Neal Stephenson – I’m having a hard time getting through this one with a lot of technological descriptions that don’t add a lot for me. I’m undecided if I’ll finish it. I’m almost halfway through a massive 872 pages.
• Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon – This is book #8 in the series and I just started it within the past few days.

Another reading event that happened in the last two months was that I got a new Kindle! My old one went missing for a couple of weeks, and while it did eventually turn up, I was convinced that I had lost it. My husband picked the new one out for me because he saw that the Kindle Paperwhite was available in my favorite color – red! While I can’t find a link to that color to show you right now, there are some other pretty colors available (paid link).

Other books I had hoped to get to in April:

• A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas – I expect this to be a fast read, but I just couldn’t get to it this month.
• The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan – This is book 8 in The Wheel of Time series, and at 685 pages, I couldn’t make myself start this until I finish Seveneves.

Books I’m planning to read in May:

• Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight by Don Bassingthwaite – This book came to me as a gift from a friend and looks like fun!
• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury – Somehow I’ve never read this classic science fiction work, and it is an upcoming book club read.
• The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst – This is the next book in the Spellshop series. I reviewed the first one here.
• The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older – This book is another upcoming book club selection. I’ve never read anything by this author.
• Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue – I picked this ARC e-book up as part of a giveaway. The premise sounds great!
• Quicksilver by Callie Hart – Since I didn’t get to this book earlier in the year, I’m bringing it back into the queue for May.

New books acquired in March and April:

• Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity (Fairy Loot)
• The Last Starborn Seer by Venetia Constantine (Fairy Loot)
• Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue
• Unidentified Funny Objects 10 edited by Alex Shvartsman
• Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight by Don Bassingthwaite
• Starside by Alex Aster (Fairy Loot)

Uh oh – I ended up with six new books when my new rule for the year said that I can only acquire four! I suppose that the first one on here shouldn’t count because it was the delayed February order from Fairy Loot which I didn’t make up for with another book at that ime. I had forgotten that I backed UFO 10 on Kickstarter, and then when I clicked on Steelborn for the giveaway, I had thought that only gave me a chance to win the book rather than gifting me the book immediately. At least two of these are e-books and won’t take up room on my shelves.

Overall I think that my reading for the year is going well. I made some changes to my cell phone that limit how much time I can spend on social media and gaming apps, and I think that has really helped me to focus on more important things. Do you have tips or strategies that help you to read more? Let me know in the comments.