Nicola Griffith Archives - A Literary Escape

June 2023 TBR List

Published on June 1, 2023May 29, 2023 by Celeste6 Comments

When I make TBR lists I tend to treat them as a list of “hopeful reads.” I’m easily swayed from a TBR list I create for myself, usually because of mood reading or the arrival of a library hold. However, this time I want to stick to my June 2023 TBR list. I don’t know if I’ll be able to read all of these books. But I want to stay as close to this June 2023 TBR list as possible for several reasons.

The first is to read the first book of a series or two to decide whether I want to purchase the inevitable special edition of their sequels. Second, I want to focus more on my own physical backlog, which was one of my bookish goals this year. And third, August is an ARC-heavy month and I need to start prioritizing because July will be incredibly busy for me.

With all that in mind, here is my June 2023 TBR list. It seems I gave myself a lot of chonkers for this month. The book titles link to either Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Continue reading →

Wyrd and Wonder: Bite-Size Fantasies

Published on May 23, 2023April 28, 2023 by Celeste10 Comments

Todays’s Wyrd and Wonder prompt is “bite-size fantasies.” While this sounds delightfully fun, it is meant to focus on short story or novella-length fantasy stories. Since last year’s Wyrd and Wonder I have read quite a bit more fantasy books (obviously), some of which were on the shorter side. Here is a list of some bite-size fantasies that might be of interest. I loosely interpreted novellas as 200 pages in under, though I believe technically they are typically shorer than that.

Continue reading →

Arthurian Retellings Reading List

Published on May 17, 2023May 17, 2023 by Celeste29 Comments

Initially created for Wyrd and Wonder 2023, I decided to pull together an Arthurian retellings list. I have always been low key interested in Arthurian legend. Like many things in life, we all have many interests but not enough time in which to truly delve deep into them. So I satisfy my interest with reading Arthurian retellings. And there are some great ones out there to read.

Since there are many works on Arthurian legend, this list is not comprehensive. Instead, this Arthurian retellings list contains books I have read. It also has some which I have not yet read, but would like to in the long term. My intention is to create a working list. That is, I plan to update it as I read my way through more Arthurian tales. I am always open to recommendations, so if you have any that fall under this topic, please let me know in the comment section.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Spear by Nicola Griffith

Published on October 10, 2022December 1, 2022 by Celeste6 Comments

Today’s book review is SPEAR by Nicola Griffith, a queer retelling of one aspect of Arthurian legend. This ethereal read is about identity and brims with beautiful, lyrical writing.

Author: Nicola Griffith
Series: None
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Tordotcom
Publish Date: April 19, 2022
Print Length: 192

Want to support local bookstores? Buy a copy of Spear on Bookshop.org!*

*These are not affiliate links and I do not make a commission from any purchase made using these links.

Continue reading →

September 2022 TBR List

Published on September 7, 2022September 2, 2022 by Celeste2 Comments

As I said last month in my August TBR post, I almost always stay away from making a TBR list. However, I followed my August one pretty well, so I thought I’d try it again. This time I have less ARCs to read, but I still have a minimum of four I need/want to read for various reasons. The book covers link to the official synopses.

Continue reading →