Reading!
I finally finished this book: It was SO GOOD. The main character, Alex, has been recruited to join Lethe, an organization that monitors eight secret societies at Yale. These eight “houses” are able to employ some sinister magic, and Lethe is supposed to ensure that things don’t get out of control. But then there’s a murder, and a coverup, and Alex takes it upon herself to find out what happened. It’s a mystery, with lots and lots of magic woven into the story. I really, really loved that part of it. And I loved the writing except for one thing. Alex constantly communicates with people via quippy comebacks, which seemed out of place and took me out of the story a little. It just didn’t seem to fit in with the tone of the rest of the book. I liked the book enough to want to read more by this author- I hope the jokey one-liner isn’t a thing in all her books. But I’m willing to find out. (I just realized Hell Bent is a sequel to Ninth House! I want to find out what happens! But then I have to deal with more of Alex’s one-liners… sigh). I also finished… I read this for Engie’s book club, which meant I read one section per week, interspersed with the other books I was reading at the same time. I’m wondering if it would have been better to read it continuously, rather than putting it down for a week at a time and then coming back to it. I was a little confused about which daughter went to which mother, and kept forgetting their backstories. But! I eventually gave up on that, and read it more as a collection of short stories that were loosely connected, and I really enjoyed it that way. The writing is beautiful, and I got engrossed in each story as I read it. I’m really glad we read it for book club (although I didn’t vote for this one) because I wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise. Now I have a conundrum! My plan was to start The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith. I LOVE the whole series, and have been looking forward to reading this one. But, my mind was so scattered while reading Ninth House- I was frustrated that I couldn’t spend more time reading, and that took away a little enjoyment of the book. I don’t want the same thing to happen with The Hallmarked Man! Maybe I need to save it for January? Or, I could save it for Christmas Day- that would be fun. Instead I picked up this one: One of the books on my holiday TBR. I’m guessing this will be an easy, fun read that won’t take a lot of brainpower, and if I’m distracted by NaBloPoMo and can’t dedicate all my attention to it… that’s okay. What are you reading? Have you read Ninth House? Should I read the sequel? Top photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash