I’ve been traveling for work most of the week in St. Louis, MO, so herein a somewhat abbreviated weekly reading recap.
On Repeat
In the past I’ve had Beyoncé on repeat and I’ve discussed my love of the art form of music videos.
For me, there is no finer combination of these two things than the “Hold Up” music video.
Finished This Week
Battle Ground1 by Jim Butcher
I’ve already discussed my major problems with this book and nothing changed in finishing it.
To deeply dive into UF will require reading all of The Dresden Files, but I’m not looking forward to it.
Still Reading
Left for Undead2 by L.A. Banks
This is the final book in L.A. Banks’s Crimson Moon series and is (likely) the final book in my ill-advised but nevertheless quite illustrative “can you understand this late series UF book without reading the previous ones” series. I already have a TikTok diary up and plan to finish this shortly.
I really enjoyed Banks’s first two Vampire Huntress books (Minion and The Awakening) for their deliberate plotting, decent action, and interesting ideas. Crimson Moon is much more action-oriented and fast-paced and less about big ideas, but I still feel Banks’s steady hand at the plot wheel. I also feel her oftentimes overly strong hand on the exposition-through-dialogue wheel, but that’s just something you learn to live with if you come to enjoy Banks’s work.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
I’m continuing my history of urban fantasy work with Dracula, the first book that I’ve already read. I loved it as an 18-year-old, I loved it as a twenty-something, and I’m loving it now in my mid-to-late-thirties. The edition that I have linked here is gorgeous — a great copy to own.
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
The thoroughly researched, narratively thrilling, and essential piece of investigative journalism into the Sackler family dynasty—the owners of Purdue Pharma, the markers of OxyContin. Comparable in the best possible light to Robert Caro’s The Power Broker. I’m hanging on every word.
Links to books are affiliate links to Bookshop.org that benefit this publication.
Thriftbooks link because these books are deeply out of print. They are available as POD on Amazon, but there are many very decent copies of the original paperbacks out there in the world.