Unexpected Breaks and Autumn Reads

Where have I been? And what have I been reading?

This is awkward,  but somehow I ended up on a two month hiatus from my blog, which at  the time was itself two months old. It was just the combination of different small things like dealing with Eid in late August, broken internet cables in September, changing weather/terrible smog in October and so on — I tend to retreat into my turtle shell when stressed and avoid all forms of social media.

So that’s what happened. And it is embarrassing, but I feel like I shouldn’t stress over it more than I already have- that would defeat my purpose for having a blog, which is to have fun chatting with other book-dragons about books and bookish things.

To get back to building a blogging habit, I’ve decided to write on the simplest topic I could think up:

Autumn Reads

( Or some stuff I’ve been reading recently)

 

The Grand Master of Demon Cultivation 

A Chinese novel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Genres: supernatural, magic, mystery, undead, adventure, comedy, BL

Cultivators can collect or banish demons, ghosts, evil spirits. Our protagonist delved on the darker side and preferred to control some of them as well, became a master demon cultivator, until one day he was murdered. The story begins with his resurrection. Quite funny how he has to manage in this new body with its own identity and not let his frenemies realise who he is.

 

You can read the ongoing fan translation here. There are 119 chapters total of which 76 have been translated so far (last updated Nov 4). There is also a manhwa and an anime.

 

S.I.D 

Supernatural Investigation Department is an ongoing online Korean manhwa series written and illustrated by Sa Dum Hum. 

Genres: Horror, Mystery, Supernatural.

It is a comic about a Korean police officer who decides to help violent and murderous ghosts through his investigation skills. Because even if a ghost causes mayhem the original culprit is always going to be human. He comes across a few helpful psychic friends along the way, as well as villains, and discovers his own abilities.

 

The Wolf at the Door

Genres: Paranormal, Mystery, M/M Romance, Shapeshifters

A slow paced mystery, by Charlie Adhara, in which a human and a werewolf agent are paired up and sent to solve a small town murder mystery with both werewolf and human suspects. I should mention that I did not like the blurb at all – felt a bit misleading, it sounded like it’d be a frustrating read where it called the two protagonists ‘enemies’ and implied that one is ‘suspicious’ of the other- this is an exaggeration of something more subtle, and there is rather an atmosphere of natural tension of working with an unknown, which gradually develops into a relationship. The book turned out much better than I expected it to be.

Some Chinese Ghosts

Six supernatural tales by Lafcadio Hearn

A short, quick read. After reading two books set in ancient china in the previous month (Bridge of Birds and The Poisoned Bride, both of which I recommend), these stories read more like local/urban legends.  I picked this book to read for Halloween, but haven’t been able to continue since I’m currently participating in NaNoWriMo and tend to read slower and switch books randomly throughout the month.

Most of these books are cosy supernatural and mysteries. Since I’m a mood reader you can guess how I feel about the autumn season from this. Now that winter has officially started — and we had the first winter-rain last week — I might turn to classics, or the gothic, or read more mysteries.

Do your preferred genres or reading habits change with the weather too? Share in the comments.

And good luck to all fellow Nano participants!

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