I began the month with a first-time visit to the National Book Festival, and ended it with an old favorite, the Antiquarian Book Fair, where I picked up a new book for my Oz collection. I had a great visit with my sister, went to my first professional soccer game, and I signed up to participate in a clinical study for a migraine treatment. Oh, and I volunteered for some extra responsibility at work, so you might be hearing from me less in the next few months.
September was a good reading month, with a few light reads (for sanity) and one intense read that really shook me. Here’s what I read:
- Monstress Vol. 2 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
- An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
- Transcription by Kate Atkinson
- Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney O’Sullivan
- Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
- Destiny’s Embrace by Beverly Jenkins
- Less by Andrew Sean Greer
- The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
My favorite read: It’s between Less and An Untamed State, two books I can’t possibly compare to each other. One was insightful and humorous and the other was seriously disturbing but also really moving.
Most disappointing or did not finish: I expected to love Seven and a Half Deaths but felt it was kind of a slog. I started but didn’t finish Warcross by Marie Lu. It felt kind of superficial to me, and I just didn’t buy the plot. I realize it’s a YA book so it wasn’t really aimed at me, but there are YA books I love. Dread Nation, for example, was clever and scary and had great characters, and was not just about zombies but about race as well.
Books for challenges:
- TBR Pile: An Untamed State
- Reading All Around the World: An Untamed State
- SciFi/Fantasy Bingo or Swords and Stars: Dread Nation
- RIP XIII: Dread Nation, Monstress Vol. 2, Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
What I’m reading now: The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, and Bruja Born by Zoraida Cordova.
What’s coming up: I’ve got The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner and Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (my fall TBR list here).
Things that made me happy this month: We watched Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, the movie about Mr. Rogers, and I was surprised how emotionally I reacted to it. As a child I was more into Sesame Street, but seeing this movie made me realize how much Mr. Rogers dealt with difficult emotional issues. I thought it was just a show about a soft-spoken guy putting on a cardigan – but Daniel Striped Tiger has stuck with me all these years, and now I understand why.
That’s a wrap for September! How was your month, and what was your best read?
