What is this beautiful book stack for? Readers Imbibing Peril, of course! It is the 15th year of this wonderful, seasonal reading challenge, started many full moons ago by Carl and continued by Andi and Heather for the past few years. It is my absolute favorite thing and, to be honest, a good portion of the books I read year-round could fit into this challenge. But, in September and October, I read exclusively Perilous books and I've never regretted it. There is so much variety in what you can count, from a classic ghost story to a tea-sipping matronly detective tale to some full-blown horror and mayhem.
As we all have for many things during the past six months, our friends have opted for a simplified version of the challenge this year. There are no sign-ups and no levels. Just read one or more books during these months and post on Instagram or Twitter (if you have them) or your blog, if that's still going. It's all questionable these days, right?
So, we'll start with my new books. I have a full shelf of about 25 books that I will consider picking up this fall but I decided, since I have some other stacks, to pick a smaller group that are my "top-shelf, must reads". I will be writing about Mexican Gothic as part of Witch Week (Oct/Nov). The gothic tales pair with that (and I read some gothic classics during the summer too). Plain Bad Heroines is a new release, coming out in October, that I'm looking forward to. And, as for the American Mystery Classics, I have fun with almost every one and, in fact, started Murder by an Aristocrat last night and it grabbed my attention immediately.
Then I have some library holds that will be (hopefully) coming in over the next two months. These two novellas, Silver in the Wood and The Haunting of Tram Car 015, came in first and I think Finna is in transit. I'm also hoping for The Eighth Detective, A Declaration on the Rights of Magicians, Flyaway, The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne, and The Relentless Moon. These are all new releases so we'll see if the library manages to receive their ordered copies in a timely manner! If not, I'm sure I can handle reading them in the winter.
And then, this year, I really wanted to pull some old RIP favorites off of my shelves to enjoy their familiarity and the guaranteed quality. Picking a Carlos Ruiz Zafón almost broke my heart but his YA horror novels are so fantastic and he and I discussed once that I always turn to at least one of his books in the fall for their atmosphere. The others are all going to be fantastic as well! I don't think I could even pick one that I'm looking forward to the most.
Finally, with last Saturday being Independent Bookstore Day, I couldn't resist a few purchases to support my indie favorites. And yes, the books I chose all happen to be possible RIP reads. I grabbed two more American Mystery Classics (The Red Right Hand and Rocket to the Morgue), the latest Charles Lenox mystery, Titus Groan, and a British Library Crime Classic, Castle Skull.
So, 26 books, plus 19+ on my TBR and many others that I could choose to reread. I think I'm set!
What will you be reading perilously this autumn?
