Carrie by Stephen King

I read this for my bookclub’s “Read Outside Your Comfort Zone” theme. I read a wide breadth of genres and horror is the one I reach for the least. I do like gothic horror especially in classics, but I am too much of a scaredy cat for most horror movies, TV, or books. I have wanted to try Stephen King for years because he is apparently a good author. I read this all in one sitting. It was a good read. It was short, propulsive, had decent character work, and was not too gory. I was pleasantly surprised by the epistolary sections. This was a very good debut. I would read more from Stephen King if it was not too gruesome and tense. He is a verbose author so it may be awhile before I get to something like 11/22/63.

September 20, 2026.

The Best of Me by David Sedaris (Narrator)

I had to really rush to finish this because it was due on Libby. I even got the Libby 30 min grace period as I listened to the end and the interview on super speed. I had listened to read most of the essays in this book already.

September 19-23, 2026.

Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie with Hugh Fraser (Narrator)

Hercule Poirot #12 1935. More enjoyable procedural characters in this one than Three Act Tragedy. Good twist on how the murder happened. I called the killer halfway through. I like when Poirot acted as matchmaker as well.

September 19-24, 2026.

Ascendance of a Bookworm (Manga) Part 4 Volume 4 by Hikaru Katsuki, Miya Kazuki with Quof (Translator)

Schwartz and Weiss were introduced and the cuteness factor went up with the secondary characters reading to them. I liked seeing the academy library in more detail. I have one more volume in October before I am caught up with the library copies. I am really grateful to whomever ordered this series at my local library. I saw it in the online catalogue years ago and made me curious. My comfort series for the last couple of years.

September 24, 2026.

A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries 2003-2020 by David Sedaris (Narrator) with Tracey Ullman (Narrator)

This one was better than the previous collection and had a lot of travel moments which I enjoyed. I use to read a lot of travel writing so this tickled that. I remembered some of the moments from the other Sedaris books. Many of the entries were read by Tracey Ullman who did many accents and it was a fun listen.

September 2-12, 2026.

Kakigori Summer by Emily Itami

Read for a reading challenge. I had heard of this book before so I did want to read it even though it did not have a reviews. The book is about three sisters in Japan who come together after a scandal with the youngest sister. They go back to their hometown and have to face their mother’s passing as well. As a literary work, it was not bad. I did find the characters and relationships believable. There was a cute hometown romance too. It was decent but the setting and the food is what kept me engaged. I miss Japan and I wanted all that food in the book.

September 9-13, 2026.

Double Sin and Other Stories by Agatha Christie and various narrators

A couple of these stories were used in episodes of Poirot which we had watched so it was good to listen to the originals. At least a few of the other stories we had heard before so we skipped a couple. There was also a creepy doll story.

September 9-14, 2026.

Ordures!: Journal d’un vidangeur by Simon Paré-Poupart

A great book about trash collection, capitalism, the environment, and class. It was also a book about Quebec and the human condition in some ways. I really enjoyed reading this in the original French. It did not take long either. I moved this book up in the queue due to reading challenges. I listened to this in tandem read by AI. I rarely use AI but I could not find the audiobook and wanted to listen along for my French practice. The accent was fine but rather robotic. I am very glad it was only about two and half hours. Anymore I would have stopped.

September 13-15, 2026 on Kobo Libra 2.

No New Things by Ashlee Piper with Ashlee Piper (Narrator)

I listened to this too quickly because it was due to be returned on Libby soon. I feel like I do some of these things already but the book has good reminders about why not to buy new things especially as I was reading Ordures at the same time. I also bought a new iPhone during this time which reminded me that I should do more to buy less. This book would be more useful to me in print so I requested this book from the library. I will try some of the tips and may revise the review later.

September 13-17, 2026.

Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie with Hugh Fraser (Narrator)

Hercule Poirot #11 1934. Mr Satterthwaite from the Harley Quinn stories is in this story more than Poirot. I called the murderer early on. I really did not like one of the characters, a girl nicknamed Egg. I wanted more Poirot but at least him and Satterthwaite had good interactions. It was a decent Christie plot overall.

September 14-18, 2026.

Inferno by Dante Alighieri with Elio Zappulla (Translator)

This was one of those used books that I had for too long. It was not as challenging to read as I thought. This edition had good end notes after every canto. I found the translation comprehensive as well. While I was interested in the classical references, the Italian political references dragged. I do not like gory horror either. I did want to continue with the rest of The Divine Comedy and listened to the Overdue podcast episodes instead.

September 3-6, 2026.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Finally, I read a T. Kingfisher who has been on my TBR for years. This was a short and fun retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I can see why her books are considered cozy. It had the right amount of stakes as there was some darkness, but most of the book was about two strangers who become friends. The right amount of character development as well. I enjoyed the magical elements and lore too. Very well done novella. Looking forward to more from the author.

September 7, 2026.

The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie with Emilia Fox (Narrator)

Superintendent Battle #2 1929. We enjoyed Chimneys and I read that Bundle and her father Lord Caterham returned in this one. This was a really fun one because it had a lighthearted tone even with two murders. I was surprised that it was received poorly when it was first published. One article derisively commented that it was in the style of PG Wodehouse. I agreed which is why it was so fun for us. I liked Bundle as a protagonist and her romance too. Some of the aspects of the novel were a bit silly and I had some questions about the motives of the villains. It was still much better written than the 2026 Netflix adaptation we watched right after. Acting aside, The TV mini series removed all the lightness and changed key some key elements. Recommend the book as a lighter Christie novel.

September 1-8, 2026.

Miffy et la neige by Dick Bruna

I like when Miffy is a more active and caring bunny.

September 8, 2026.

Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx

I read this for a challenge since it was short. I have probably not seen the movie since it was released. I was not a big fan of The Shipping News novel when I read it in high school over 25 years ago. This short story was extremely well done. Proulx was able to capture the characters, their relationship, and the setting so deftly in such a short amount of time. The screenplay followed this short story so closely. Glad I read this short story and this is why I do reading challenges to find things like this.

September 9, 2026 on Xteink 4.