The City in Glass | 
pickWell. That happened quickly! That was just three reading sessions. It really is more of a mood than a plot, and that leaves it feeling somewhat... open ended. Kind of like waking up from a dream, all of a sudden. I enjoyed it!
#BookSpinBingo going well so far; faded ones aren't read yet, the dashed border is for finished books in free spaces, solid border and full opacity = finished books from the list. I hope for at least three bingos.
Very much enjoying this. It's less a plot than a mood, and I'm certain there are lots of people who violently hate it for that!
Not perhaps as classy as the typical glass of wine and a bubble bath pic, but it's been a long long day and my GORD is playing up, so fiery ginger beer, “You're Having A Giraffe“ (papaya, passionfruit and apricot scented) bubbles, hot water, and a book I've been meaning to read for ages.
pick4⭐ This strange, poetically lovely book is a love triangle between an angel and a demon and the city she's so carefully honed. It is less about understanding everything and more about the feelings the story evokes. It's hard to describe this book and even harder to follow everything that happens, yet I found it strangely alluring and compelling.
pick#AuldLangSpine @Itchyfeetreader @monalyisha What a unique and hard-to-describe novel. Thank you so much for this rec! It was at times dreamlike and untethered, à la This is How You Lose the Time War (one of my favorites). And yet at other times it had a plot that was crystal clear. Sometimes piercing sorrow, sometimes laugh-out-loud humor, sometimes steamyyy sexual tension. Also fascinating and different to read a book set over many centuries…
pick4/5
Vitrine is a demon with a city. Until that city is burned to ground by angels. Vitrine must grieve and eventually rebuild her city, while dealing with the presence of the angel she cursed.
It's a book about grieving and rebuilding. It's beautiful and strange, but I really enjoyed it.
I thought the narrator did a wonderful job bringing Vitrine's voice to life.
#netgalley
This is Casey‘s, “OMG THE TOAST POPPED” face. Little dude loves breakfast foods.
He‘s gonna help me finish THE CITY IN GLASS this morning. It‘s very good but not propulsive, so I haven‘t torn through it the way I usually do with Nghi Vo‘s work. Still, it builds beautifully. I expect affecting things from the ending.
pickFinished early this morning after I admired the aurora (background picture).
It could be penned as an epic love story between an angel and a demon. It is much more. The story explores grief and memory and the transformation of a city, its people and cultures over centuries.
Winter Solstice library haul! I‘m especially excited for the tagged book, and for the Paris guide. I just booked a week there, in an ACTUAL GARRET. All the literary sources agree you should get a garret when you run away to Paris—unless you‘re d‘Artagnan, in which case you may live in a ground floor flat with only one lackey.
My library holds came in so fast! And I‘ll listen to Herc on audiobook. Already excited for January!! #AuldLangSpine
@Itchyfeetreader @monalyisha
I am SO excited for my #AuldLangSpine list from @Itchyfeetreader !! Thank you so much!! The 5 pictured ones are what I plan to start with! So many cool titles that I‘ve either been wanting to read or haven‘t heard of yet! I LOVE mythology, too. And we both like Kate Quinn! :)
HUGE thank you to @monalyisha for being matchmaker extraordinaire!!
pickA soft pick (tagged) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lyrical, pretty to ponder, & great potential for the story b/t Angel & Demon. Ultimately fell a little flat for me.
Soft pick for Gold Hills. Again, such pretty writing, & fascinating story & characters! I don‘t know if it tried to do too much in too few pages, but it wasn‘t as strong as it could have been. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pram - a quick audio creature feature ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Next: audio Apprentice & paper Cemetery #reallifebookgroup
pickI stayed up late last night, but made myself stop doomscrolling and instead read. So I finished this book. It was a fever dream of a book and a perfect escape for the moment. It takes place in a city over centuries as a demon and angel rebuild the city the angel helped destroy. Very beautifully written. Harsh at times, but beautiful.
#aardvarkbookclub
"No one loves a city like one born to it, and no one loves a city like an immigrant. No one loves a city like they do when they are young, and no one loves a city like they do when they are old."
"Vitrine loved her city like demons and cats may love things, with an eye towards ownership and the threat of small mayhem."
Page 69
Next up is this slim fantasy from #aardvarkbookclub. It's my first book by this author.
pickfantastical & mystical I picked this up as i needed ‘a book about a city‘ & it was recommended. It‘s a special, beautiful odd book. A story about a demon who claims a city for her own, growing it over decades & blessing or cursing its people & what happen when it is destroyed by 3 angels - one of whom she curses in her rage. As she mourns & grieves & remembers, the angel returns to her over decades as she (they) build the city once more. ⬇️
so-soAnother book where the packaging is even better than the contents within. The premise of this one is fantastic—a demon has mothered/raised/built the city of Azril & then one day, four angels come & destroy it & its population. Furious & mad with grief, the demon curses the angel locking them into a cycle of grief, recrimination, obsession & more. Unfortunately, the character development & plot weren‘t as good as the premise.
In this new standalone novel, Hugo Award-winning author Nghi Vo introduces a beguiling fantasy city in the tradition of Calvino, Mieville, and Le Guin.
A demon. An angel. A city.
The demon Vitrine—immortal, powerful, and capricious—loves the dazzling city of Azril. She has mothered, married, and maddened the city and its people for generations, and built it into a place of joy and desire, revelry and riot.
My #aardvarkbookclub picks for October! They surprised us with another signed book - My Vampire Plus-One is signed. It's also their 2 year anniversary, so in celebration, the box will also include an acrylic holographic bookmark.
