GARBAUGUST WEEK ONE WRAP-UP! | The best and worst of my trashy reading so far...

[@RaynorReadsStuff]

Brilliant Alex. Some good contenders there and I am loving the return of the trash pandas 😂

[@lihayes5046]

The Vampire Knitting Club sounds right up my street - love cozy mysteries and love a good vampire tale! My library has the whole series on audio book which is good for August cuz I'm driving a long way to go camping . And it's great that it's a cozy mystery cuz, yeah, I'm camping and don't need to be spooked as I try to sleep in semi-wilderness 😬. You really have gotten through a lot in a week! Thanks for the reviews - I always seem to find something you mention that I want to try. Have a great week!

[@alex_unabridged]

Ooo yeah, it'd be a great one for camping! Very cosy and sweet - no scary vamps in this one. Plus there's very cute kitten in it! Glad to have provided some potential entertainment ideas for your outdoors adventures. Have a fabulous time! 😀

[@zombieprincess82]

Will have to check out Vampire Knitting Club, sounds like my kind of thing. Solid start to GarbAugust!

[@alex_unabridged]

I reckon you’d have some fun with the knitting vampires! They good short audiobooks, perfect for a chilled little reading session! 👍

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

You've had quite the week! I actually have a vivid memory of taking my nephew to see the first Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle movie in 1990. He's probably close to your age. He was very into the turtles back then. I kind of liked them myself. 😉 The Knitting Vampires sound kind of fun too. You've definitely made a decent start. Well done!

[@alex_unabridged]

Cheers, Pat! Yes, a good start for me, plenty of fun reads 😀I remember loving the turtles movie back when I saw it as a kid in the 1990s, and it was definitely a good bit of nostalgia re-watching it again. The knitting vampires were indeed fun, and I now know more than I could ever need to about different sorts of wool and knitting techniques... 😂

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@alex_unabridged haha! You never know when knitting knowledge may come in handy.😂

[@alex_unabridged]

@@BookChatWithPat8668 Very true! I probably ought to file it away in 'knowledge I might need if there's a zombie apocalypse'. Knitting could be a useful survival skill. When the world goes to hell in a handcart I can keep people warm in snuggly but incredibly ill-fitting jumpers 😉

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@alex_unabridged Awwww there you go! I love that idea!😉

[@troytradup]

I listened to this video on the way home last night and now have no memory of anything you talked about ... so I will just say: Hi, Alex!

[@alex_unabridged]

I am deeply offended to learn that you have not made the effort to commit every carefully chosen word of my superlative literary criticism to memory, especially when talking about such important works of fiction as these. AND you didn't even watch the video, thus rendering the hours I spent making myself look extra pretty for you all meaningless. Shame on you, sir 😜

[@troytradup]

@@alex_unabridged I am suitably shamed and will punish myself by leaving work and spending the rest of the day in my room, thinking about what I have done!

[@alex_unabridged]

​@@troytradup Suitable penance for such a sin... 😂

[@tyghe_bright]

Worst so far for GarbAugust: Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Vampire romance, but they're not quite vampires. Really weak writing. Lots of cringy sex. Poorly paced. Which is too bad because the take on vampires and the plot elements were actually interesting. Rain Falls by Kelli Jae Baeli. A lesbian romance novel. Seems like it's going to play against some tropes but ends up just reinforcing them and being really ace-aro-phobic. Which is a bummer because there's good disability rep. Often corny writing. Best so far: The Shriek-A-Rama Spook Show Experience by Judith Sonnet, a fun little book Blood Sugar by Daniel Kraus...in some ways super trashy (kids and drugs and swearing and grossness), but ultimately actually a brilliant experimental novel about broken, abandoned children in a clear and unusual voice. Heartbreaking and tragic. A tough read. Totally surprised me. Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles #1-6; Comics featuring classic cartoon characters Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, and others, in a story about gays and the blacklisting of writers and artists in the 40s because of the Red Scare. It's historical and political and a great comic.

[@alex_unabridged]

Shame about the couple of poor/disappointing reads, but sounds like you've had some really good ones to make up for them! Daniel Kraus is an author I keep meaning to read but have yet to get around to, have got Whalefall and Wrath on my wish list already. So that's another to add as well! I flippin' LOVE 'Exit Stage Left' - it's one of my favourite comics. I love the artwork and the colour palette (it's so vibrant), and I love how poignant the writing is too. Packs quite an emotional punch. Glad you enjoyed it! 😀