Somehow, I haven’t done a book haul post since March, which would be a lot of yikes if I was going to include all of the books I’ve bought since March, but here’s the thing. I talked about the books I bought for Pride in my TBR, so I don’t really want to talk about them again, particularly because I only ended up reading about half (and probably under that), and they kind of ruined me for contemporary for the following five months. I’m also not talking about the books I just chatted about in my book buying ban check-in, nor am I talking about the ones that I want for Christmas because that was literally last week. And so, though I originally titled this the April-December Haul and went through my B&N to check everything I’d bought since then and not posted an official haul about, I’ve done unofficial ones, and this explanation was so much longer than it needed to be.

Like everyone else in the universe, I’ve long seen The Secret History by Donna Tart recommended for anyone who likes dark academia, and given that I’ve been reading more and more historical fiction lately, or at least novels that feel like that genre, I figured it was high time I finally gave this a read. I’m excited to dig into it, though I think it’ll likely wait until well into next year.

Just recently, when I was writing out my top ten lists for the year, I had to scrap the middle grade one because I think I’ve read four middle grades this year? They’re usually so much fun, so I’m not sure why I stopped reading them, and I was excited to peruse the middle grade section recently and find The Monsters of Rookhaven by Pádraig Kenny. This sounds right up my alley, particularly after reading A Treason of Thorns recently, and I’m happy to finally have some middle grades back on my shelves.

Katherine Howe is one of my favorite adult fiction writers, and again with wanting more historical fiction, or along those lines, I’ve decided to start reading her backlist, and I’m starting with The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen. She commented on my Insta post, too, noting that this was the weirdest book she’d ever written, which makes me even more excited to read it.

I first encountered Bridget Collins in The Haunting Season, and I knew right away that I had to read everything else she’d written. I ended up with The Betrayals first because The Binding wasn’t available at the bookstore I was in, but as you can see a little lower, I ended up buying that online. I know that they aren’t in the same series, but the covers & titles were too similar, and trust me to start reading a second book in a series, so I just decided to play it safe and read her debut first.

Oh, I know. Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat seems to be very polarizing in the bookish world, though most of the people I know have been utterly bereft by this book and how good it was, so I’m eager to read it. One of my friends described it as the slowest burn ever, and given I just wrote a whole post on why I love slow books, I think this’ll be right up my alley.

My mom reads to a fifth grade class, and she just started with Midsummer’s Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca. She’s been loving it, and she was excited that there was a sequel, but I haven’t read Much Ado About Baseball yet, so I snagged a copy to try to read it before her. I still haven’t cracked it open, and I probably won’t until January, but I’m definitely going to be reading it soon!

I was so fed up with the lack of historical vampire books that I scoured the internet until I found The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova on a list, which was mildly hilarious given I’d just picked up a Kostova book at the bookstore and put it back because I wasn’t sure if it was actually magical, or just historical. This sounds like something I’d write, though, so if I end up loving this, I’ll definitely read more by her, magical or not.

The Binding by Bridget Collins is somehow the only book I’ve read on this list, and I think it’s ridiculous that I have because I had so many other plans when I picked this up to read it, but I just want gay historical magical fiction so bad, and I knew Collins would deliver, and boy, oh boy, she did.

Time for some Portuguese books! I’m about to finish out my lessons on Duolingo, so I bought a grammar book & a workbook for Portuguese, as well as an intermediate guide, and I think I’m pretty close to being able to read. I got four young adult queer contemporaries because that’ll make everything easier, and even if I have to sit with my dictionary while I read Conectadas by Clara Alves, I’m really excited to give it a try.

Você Tem a Vida Inteira by Lucas Rocha is translated into English, and I could read it in English, but since I’m trying to read in Portuguese, why not just stick with the native language? I was about to say I don’t know why this one keeps giving me Rent vibes, but duh, it’s about HIV, what the heck else is it supposed to do.

I love that Enquanto Eu Não Te Encontro by Pedro Rhuas is so clearly about Titanic, and I can’t wait. This cover is just fabulous, and I won’t lie, it’s definitely what drew me to wanting to try to read in Portuguese. One of my goals this year is to read five books in Portuguese, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the first one.

I just read Here the Whole Time by Vitor Martins, and a huge part of me wishes I’d read it in Portuguese, so I picked up Um Milhão de Finas Felizes to rectify that! I’m excited to have read his other book in English so that I can see how he writes in his native language. I think it’ll be a fun comparison to see what a translation looks like, even if they’re not the same book.

Have you read any of these?