#book meme

Hello, bookish lovelies! Can’t Wait Wednesday is hosted by Wishful Endings and is based on Waiting on Wednesday that was previously hosted by Breaking the Spine.   It was created to show off a book that you are excited to read that hasn’t been released yet. ABOUT THE BOOK:  Title: The Mirror of Infinite Endings Author:  Stephanie Garber Release Date: Sep 22, 2026 Published By: Flatiron…

as tagged by @minipliny

Number of books you’ve read so far:

87 books! There was like a week or so that I was snowed in back in February, and then I've also been making an active effort to go through my TBR pile and return library books in a timely manner.... But it also means I've been reading a lot of like.....just okay.....books, sigh.

Best book you’ve read so far in 2026:

Stealing pliny's idea of doing it in (less unique) genres:

Best fantasy: Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw, in which Greta Helsing is a doctor for magical creatures and monsters in London and eventually elsewhere in the series. This was just a fun story and I loved all the creatures and Greta's dedication as a healer to help all of them.

Best sci fi: Lady Eve's Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow! Look this was always going to be an easy sell to me. I love 1930s romcoms, I love girlfriends, I love heists, I love taking tropes from like screwball comedies and putting them into space! But Fraimow is an incredible author and the pacing and romance was top tier as well. Just a great book overall.

Best light novel: Ballad of Sword and Wine, hands down, though I also throughly enjoyed the wild ride that was The Husky and His White Cat Shizun. Ballad of Sword and Wine has, frankly, ruined me for so many other historical danmei and once the final volume comes out and devastates me in a few weeks, I will do a full length recommendation post about it. It's a danmei where the main relationship is ever evolving and extremely hot, but also it has so much plot and so many important characters and remembers women are people! And that taxes and graineries are vital to the continuation of an empire! And has many many thoughts about the responsibilities of leadership and corruption of the state.

Best fiction: The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf by Isa Arsén! I can't remember how I stumbled on this one, it's not my usual read, but I'm glad I did. This book divides its time between 1950s NYC and New Mexico, in which two Shakespearean actors in an unconventional marriage get caught up in a renowned director’s scheme and without saying too much has a lot of MacBeth undertones pining the story. An interesting, engaging read and I've been thinking about it ever since I read it in February.

Best nonfiction: Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman, which examines both humanity's conviction that we're all ultimately evil and selfish and debunks it by debunking much of the very unscientific famous science experiments we've heard about like the Prison Experiment and also other things like the Bystander Effect. A very encouraging read and I think a lot of people could do with reading it right now.

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2026:

I have read the second and third book of the Greta Helsing series and am still enjoying them tremendously! I think the third book had one of my favorite antagonists of all time. She was so amoral and even when she was doing something good, it was only because it personally affected her. The inside of her head was FASCINATING.

New release you haven’t read yet but want to:

Radiant Star by Ann Leckie is on my hold list and I'm always excited for more Leckie.

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year:

I don't know, gang. I have like several dozen books I own that I am trying to weed and read, I will probably focus on those for the rest of the year!

Biggest surprise favorite new author (debut or new to you):

I haven't read a lot of new authors this year so far! I think I'll go with Isa Arsen, if just because I had never heard of her and I think The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolfe is only her second novel?

Newest fictional crush:

Qi Zhuyin, I will marry you!!! Please!

Book that made you cry:

Is it a volume of Ballad of Sword and Wine if you're not weeping over something? The answer is no.

Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received):

Every single cover of both Ballad of Sword and Wine and The Husky and His White Cat Shizun are the most beautiful covers to ever exist, but volume 9 of erha is an attack on me personally.

Book that made you happy:

Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell! She was also a new to me author for juvenile novels and reading it felt a little like reading Diana Wynne Jones. It was a charming story with great characters and prose, though I felt the ending was very abrupt.

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

lovely, thank you! <3

book you’ve reread the most times?

Honestly, it's The Lord of The Rings. I have been listening to that book on repeat for like the last 20 years. I fall asleep listening to the Rob Inglis audiobook almost every night. And when I read the end, I just start it over.

7. is there a series/book that got you into reading?

There were three series I remember reading at different stages when I was a kid:

Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar, which I used to also read out loud to my younger sister

The Babysitters Club by Ann M Martin, but particularly the mysteries OR the double books, like when they would go to summer camp, or winter ski camp

Fear Street by R.L. Stine, which is funny because I never read Goosebumps. I just jumped straight to these when I hit about 13 or 14.

15. recommend and review a book.

Hmm. You are a horror fan, right? Have you ever read The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons? Last year, I was reading a haunted house book each month, and in the process of that I also decided to read Danse Macabre by Stephen King, and this was one of the books he talked about when it comes to haunted house stories. It's a hungry house book (in the grand tradition of The Shining, Burnt Offerings, Hill House), but Stephen King also posits that it's more of a werewolf story.

What is particularly interesting to me about it is that it takes place in the American South in the late 1970s, and the house in question is modern: in fact it gets built during the course of the book. The way the novel ties in the elements of horror when the expectations of southern hospitality is such an interesting element, as well.

Woot thank you! <3

2. top 5 books of all time?

Oh, just starting with an easy one, are we? Ugh this is hard. These are in no particular order, and are picked based on my feelings right now, and the amount I have re-read these.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Elementals by Michael McDowell

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reed

8. what is the first book you remember reading yourself?

A babysitters club book, maybe? I also remember my mom had old Nancy Drew books around the house. I don't know what order I would have read them in.

11. what non-fiction books do you like if any?

Yes, I love a non-fiction. I sometimes pick them based on the topic (such as Monsters: What Do We Do With Great Art By Bad People? by Claire Dederer), and sometimes based on the author (such as Everything is Tuberculous by John Green, or Football by Chuck Klosterman). I also love memoirs, and I especially love listening to them narrated by the authors: Mel Brooks, Kelly Bishop, Suzie Eddie Izzard, and Bruce Springsteen are particular highlights.

18. do you like historical books? which time period?

Yay thanks, friend!

4. what sections of a bookstore do you browse?

Depends on the bookstore, but if I'm in an independent book store, I will usually spend more time on the featured books, or staff recommended ones. But in every bookstore, I will go check out the horror section and see what weird, unusual things I can find there. They are, unfortunately, usually smaller than other sections, so easier to explore.

9. when do you tend to read most?

I guess it depends on how you define read... I read mostly before bed, or you know, while I'm in a waiting room or whatever. But I listen to audiobooks in my car all most of the time, and when I run, because I'm a crazy person.

17. top 5 children’s books?

Oh gosh, how are we defining children's book???? Fuck it, I'm going with my gut at this moment, and in no particular order:

The Hobbit

Watership Down

Sideways Stories from Wayside School (series)

Percy Jackson (series)

If this isn't them, I don't know what is. I make a point throughout the book to point out Cornelius' chaos, and Watt's refuge in routine. They're two sides of the same coin.

Neurodivergent. That's the coin.

Character and cover art by @thistlearts

The Voice of Wild Places is queer historical fiction following two former childhood friends as they search for lost legend Percy Fawcett, and the city he was looking for.

No. No, he is not. He's an impulsive, homicidal loser in love with his childhood friend which is a horrible combination.