I’m So Tired

Image courtesy of daha3131053 via Pixabay.

I’m so tired, y’all. I’ve not been sleeping well and I’ve been working long hours. I’m glad I get to go home early today at least. Getting to see Wicked: For Good on premiere day with my friends Shelby and Chloe was a boon to my soul, and sorely needed.

I’ve also got two books I need to get read that I’m reading with my book club friends. One is Quicksilver by Callie Hart because they’ve all moved on to Brimstone (the sequel). They’re not official book club picks but everyone is just kind of reading them together. The other one I’m buddy reading with my book club friend John is The South Wind by Alexandria Warwick, the third book in a series we’ve read together.

I hope everyone reading this has a great Saturday!

Thanks as always for being a faithful reader of The Voracious Bibliophile. If you like what you see, please like, comment, follow, and subscribe to my email list to get notified of new posts as soon as they drop. You can also email me at fred.slusher@thevoraciousbibliophile.com or catch me on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest @voraciousbiblog. Keep reading the world, one page (or pixel) at a time.

Book Review: Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey

Book cover for *Poems & Prayers* by Matthew McConaughey.

Review

When you finish a book in one sitting, you know it’s good. Filled with the witticism, humor, and wisdom of someone who’s lived a lot of life and tried to live it well, Poems & Prayers chronicles decades of McConaughey’s life distilled into the most important and most reflective moments.

I laughed out loud, bookmarked certain passages to remember and review later, and nodded my head in assent throughout the book. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook. There are riffs and musings in there that aren’t included in the printed text. Myself, I listened to the audiobook and followed along in my printed copy that arrived today. Autographed, because who’s going to miss out on having a signed book by Matthew McConaughey?

Poems & Prayers is available to buy wherever books are sold, but of course I encourage you to buy it at your local Books-a-Million, and if you don’t have one you can buy it online at booksamillion.com.

Unboxing a Barnes & Noble Order

This is not me making a plug for Barnes & Noble. As a proud employee of Books-a-Million, I am encouraging you to buy your books at your nearest Books-a-Million or online at booksamillion.com.

That said, I believe in the continued existence of every single brick-and-mortar bookstore and believe that every dollar spent at a physical bookstore that doesn’t go to line the pockets of Jeff Bezos is a good dollar.

Plus, these editions were B&N exclusives so technically I’m not cheating on my spouse.

July 2025 Book of the Month Club Unboxing

I usually try to only pick one or two books (and in recent months I’ve even picked an audiobook since BOTM offers that option) but this month was just an embarrassment of riches so I ended up with three. Below are my picks (for the people who don’t want to watch the video):

Book cover for *Among Friends: A Novel* by Hal Ebbott

Book cover for *Finding Grace: A Novel* by Loretta Rothschild

Book cover for *The View From Lake Como: A Novel* by Adriana Trigiani

If you’re not already a BOTM Club member, it’s only $16.99 for a brand-new hardcover book and you can add on additional titles (2 for new members, up to 4 for Friends and BFFs, a status you can achieve by keeping your subscription active) for just $11.99 each. I’m sharing my link below for anyone who reads my blog and wants to join:

The Voracious Bibliophile’s BOTM Referral Link

Book Review: Terror at the Gates (Blood of Lilith, #1) by Scarlett St. Clair

Book cover for *Terror at the Gates (Blood of Lilith, #1)* by Scarlett St. Clair

***Note: I received a free digital review copy of this book from NetGalley and Bloom Books in exchange for an honest review. I have not received compensation for the inclusion of any links for purchase found in this review or on any other page of The Voracious Bibliophile which mentions Terror at the Gates (Blood of Lilith, #1), its author, or its publisher.***

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Terror at the Gates (Blood of Lilith, #1) is coming out at a time in America where the rights of women and other marginalized groups are constantly under threat. In many places, they have fewer rights and freedoms than their mothers enjoyed. Weak men, wielding whatever shallow power is afforded them by the state and other weak men, are hell-bent on ensuring women serve not their own dreams and desires. No, it is their will that women remain curtailed, simply incubators to house and grow future servants (girls) and leaders (boys).

Weak men, wielding whatever shallow power is afforded them by the state and other weak men, are hell-bent on ensuring women serve not their own dreams and desires.

I know there’s something to the fact that Scarlett St. Clair is releasing a story like this in a post-Roe world, because in our own world almost every woman is a Lilith Leviathan. Indoctrinated by religious zealot parents, repressed by a controlling church community that dictates how women should live and serve the church, and desperately in love with a man from a rival family who can’t love her the way she wants to be loved, Lilith is the female main character the world needs right now.

I loved Lilith so much. Like many of us moving through the world with religious trauma, Lilith is forced to unlearn the doctrines wielded to deprive her of her humanity and to siphon away her power. Without spoiling anything, I will say that I loved watching the development of the relationship between Lilith and Zahariev Zareth. Oh Zahariev, you dark and brooding hottie, how lucky we are to read of you on the page. If only all men were like you, there’d be no MAGA, no world without Roe, and no need for any woman to ever have to say #MeToo.

Oh Zahariev, you dark and brooding hottie, how lucky we are to read of you on the page.

MINOR SPOILER ALERT, LOOK AWAY IF YOU MUST!:

You do eventually get spice, even though you have to wait about 400 pages for it. When you get there, though, Lord have mercy! You’ll sweat through your clothes about eight different times 😉. Needless to say, I don’t think anyone involved (carnally, that is) with Zahariev would ever need a gym membership, at least not for cardio. Probably not for strength training, either, because your core would also get quite the workout. But enough of my innuendo.

I can’t wait to recommend this book to my customers, friends, and followers on this blog and elsewhere on social media. It’s the story all of us need right now, of women reclaiming their power and forging their own paths in spite of what others might choose for them, and we’re lucky to have Scarlett St. Clair to be the one to give it to us.

By the way, that ending was one of the best I’ve ever read. I’m eagerly awaiting the second book in the series.

Terror at the Gates (Blood of Lilith, #1) is now available at your local bookstore or library. I am obligated to make a plug for Books-a-Million, since I work there and it’s my favorite bookstore. You can order the signed edition of Terror at the Gates (Blood of Lilith, #1) from BAM! for 40% off right now, either shipped to your house or through a buy-online, pick-up-in-store order.

Fun Bonus Content

I had a little bit of fun creating content for my social media pages ahead of this book’s release. I hope you like it.

Book Review

The West Wind (The Four Winds #2) by Alexandria Warwick

First of all, let me say that Alexandria Warwick is on my list of auto-buy authors from now on. I loved the first book in this series, The North Wind, and the follow-up did not disappoint. I read both the first and second books in the series with my friend John, and we’re planning on reading the third (comes out this month) and fourth (TBA) books when they come out.

Brielle is a Daughter of Thornbrook, a novitiate in service to the Father and the Text. Her dream and one true goal is to become an acolyte and advance in her faith under the tutelage of Mother Mabel, the Abbess of Thornbrook. She has dedicated her life in service to the Father and the running of Thornbrook. Like the nuns of Catholicism in our own world, one of the vows the novitiates of Thornbrook are beholden to is the vow of chastity. She must never touch a man. She and the other novitiates wear gloves at all times, especially when selling their wares in Carterhaugh.

Like the nuns of Catholicism in our own world, one of the vows the novitiates of Thornbrook are beholden to is the vow of chastity. She must never touch a man.

Zephyrus is the West Wind, an immortal god, one of the Anemoi, the four brothers who control the Four Winds. He is the Bringer of Spring. He is also bound to Under, the realm whose existence is shrouded in mystery and mysticism to the novitiates of Thornbrook. Every seven years, a tithe takes place in Under, in which the novitiates of Thornbrook pay a price for the continued existence of their abbey lands. But Zephyrus is also forced to pay a price, one that is far more dear than anyone could possibly imagine.

When Brielle finds a wounded man in need of help outside the walls of the abbey, she has to make a choice. Let him suffer, and possibly die, or risk bringing him back to her room to nurse him back to health. The decision she makes will set off a chain of events that will change not only her, but her entire world, forever.

The story of Brielle and Zephyrus, however, is completely original. Contained herein is a perfect mix of heroism, adventure, love, and sacrifice.

The West Wind takes inspiration from both the Greek myth of Hero and Leander as well as the Scottish ballad Tam Lin. The story of Brielle and Zephyrus, however, is completely original. Contained herein is a perfect mix of heroism, adventure, love, and sacrifice. In order to become the people they were destined to be, Brielle and Zephyrus will have to leave behind everything they thought they knew, about themselves and the world around them.

Needless to say, this was a five-star read for me. I’m eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. Goldsboro Books, an independent bookshop in London, United Kingdom that specializes in signed and specialized books, is releasing a special numbered and signed edition with sprayed and stenciled edges. It’s limited to only 500 copies, and I was lucky enough to snag one. They’re still in stock as of this writing, so if you want one I will include the link here:

The South Wind

For the standard edition paperback of The South Wind (currently a preorder) and the first two books in the series, visit my personal favorite bookstore (linked below) or get them wherever books are sold.

The North Wind (paperback)

The West Wind (paperback)

The South Wind (paperback)

Book Review

The Games Gods Play (The Crucible #1) by Abigail Owen

First of all, I will say that this book was entertaining. I don’t usually gravitate towards mythology-centered books that bring pantheons of any culture into the modern world, but if anything is well-written enough I’ll give it a go. My book club chose this book and we just finished it a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been holding off of writing an official review for it because I have very mixed feelings.

First of all, can we dispense with the FMCs who are written as baddies but who have the internal monologue of a damsel in distress? The dissonance is just too much. That’s one reason I’m having a hard time getting through Fourth Wing right now, because the FMC (Violet Sorrengail) is supposed to be this fierce dragon rider but her internal thought process is all about how she doesn’t think she can do it and wah wah wah. It gets really old. I think the next romantasy I pick up where there’s a dissonance between the FMC’s inner thoughts and her entire personality (as observed by other characters), I’m just going to put it down. I already went through high school and I’m not interested in it again.

I don’t think I would have finished this book if I hadn’t have been reading it with my book club. The first hundred pages were a slog. Like pulling teeth. Thank God Owen takes her chapter lengths from the James Patterson playbook of writing and they were short.

Once the action started in earnest, I started to enjoy it more. The Labors were fun to read and I think the book would have been better served if they’d been elaborated on in more detail. Think Percy Jackson meets The Hunger Games, although the writing is not on par with either of those series by a long shot. The banter between Lyra and Hades was interesting, and the spice that spices was spicy. Catch my drift?

The most interesting characters in the entire book are Lyra’s thief friend Boone and the goddess Aphrodite. Boone is the friend you’d always want with you in a tight spot. He’s selfless, resourceful, and brave enough to risk pissing off the Lord of the Underworld in order to help out a friend.

Owen’s Aphrodite is gorgeous, horny, and a total gossip. She’s the friend who begs you to confide in her all so she can go tell your secrets to the other mean girls at her lunch table. You hate her for it when you find out, but you still crave her approval desperately. She’s Regina George by way of Olympus, and honestly, if Owen wanted to do a spinoff all about her, I’d say the heck with Lyra and Hades.

I know it sounds like I’m bagging a lot on this book, and I don’t want it to seem like that. At the end of the day, the book was a lot of fun. I ended up buying two different copies of it, the Deluxe Limited Edition with sprayed and stenciled edges and the audiobook too. I’ve been doing a lot of tandem reading, listening to the audiobook while following along in a physical copy or ebook. With my ADHD, it really helps me to stay focused. If I had to rate it, I’d still give the book four stars. It entertained me, and that’s enough. That alone was worth my money.

Caveat emptor, though…the book ends on a total cliffhanger which made me mad and now I have to wait until September to read the next book in the series. Oh well…

The Games Gods Play (The Crucible #1) is available wherever you get your books, but as a proud Books-a-Million! employee, I am linking to the BAM! website.

Dollar Tree Book Haul for Less Than $10

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on my blog. I apologize. Life has been lifing, for lack of a better way to put it. I’ve also been wrestling with what I want this blog to look like because I’m in the middle of redefining what my life is going to look like. Post-election, seeing the worst-case scenario play out before my very eyes, moving forward I want to be very intentional about ensuring that I’m caring for my mental health and taking time to process and really being very specific about my boundaries.

All of that said, I have connected with a great group of people on BookTok. I joined a book club, we’ve been reading When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker (which if you haven’t already read it, it is god-tier fantasy), and they’ve really become family to me in such a short period of time. I’ve been posting a lot more on there and growing my following, making friendships and building community, and it’s been really good for me.

Moving forward, I’d really like to use this blog as a hybrid for original content but also as a way to amplify the content I create specifically for that platform. Thank you so much for being on this journey with me and for sticking around so long.

Here’s a video of my recent Dollar Tree book haul. Enjoy!

Film Review: To Have and Have Not (1944); Directed by Howard Hawks

Film poster for *To Have and Have Not* (1944).

Review

To Have and Have Not was a landmark film for several reasons, not least of all because it introduced Lauren Bacall to the world and became the backdrop for the beginning of one of Hollywood’s most famous marriages. In fact, I’d say the only Hollywood love affair that topped it would have to be Liz and Dick, but that’s not really a fair comparison. To Have and Have Not is based loosely on the 1937 novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was friends with Howard Hawks, the director of the film, and it was during a fishing trip they took together that Hawks told Hemingway he could make a great movie out of Hemingway’s worst novel, which in his estimation was To Have and Have Not.

Whether or not he was successful in his quest is not really up for debate, because anyone that sees the film can’t easily forget it. From the time that Lauren Bacall first explodes onto the screen asking if anyone has a match to her infamous line about whistling (watch the scene with the line here), every frame is a delight.

Garfield’s tortured desperation is more fitting and far more interesting than Bogart’s stalwart stoicism.

I say that even though To Have and Have Not isn’t even my favorite adaptation of Hemingway’s novel. The Breaking Point (1950), directed by Michael Curtiz of Casablanca fame and starring John Garfield (in his penultimate role), Patricia Neal, and Phyllis Thaxter, is the far superior film. I know this statement is sure to arouse a lot of strong feelings in some, and I welcome the discourse. It is only my opinion, but I stand by it wholeheartedly. Garfield’s tortured desperation is more fitting and far more interesting than Bogart’s stalwart stoicism. And while Bacall is truly a revelation in this her first film role, her performance has nothing on Phyllis Thaxter’s pleading anguish when trying to convince Harry (Garfield) to reverse course.

It would be really easy to turn a character like that into a stereotype or a caricature, but Brennan is far too capable to let that happen.

Perhaps one of my favorite parts from the film, aside from Bogie and Bacall, of course, is Walter Brennan’s performance as Eddie. Brennan’s Eddie is really a tragic character, but not an obviously tragic one. His alcoholism makes him vulnerable and is also probably one of the driving forces behind Morgan’s (Bogart’s) de facto adoption of him. He’s the kind of person you want to protect but that is seemingly helpless in the face of their own demons. It would be really easy to turn a character like that into a stereotype or a caricature, but Brennan is far too capable to let that happen.

If you’ve seen the film or are inspired to watch it after reading this post, let me know and we can talk about it.

Production Stills

Quote for the Day: March 31st, 2024

Free for use under the Pixabay Content License. Image Credit: CDD20

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright