I finished 6 books in September, and a few of those were on the lighter side. My new teaching job is keeping me ridiculously busy, between long hours and a graduate class I’m taking from home. Still, it was a good month. My job is great, despite being exhausting and pretty stressful. I’m getting to know the students, and the teachers have been so supportive.
This month I finally got to visit my sister in Wisconsin (after our canceled flight in August). We had a fantastic time as always, and our short visit was a full one. My sister and my nieces went to a floral wreath-making class at a brewery. I wasn’t sure how that would go, and it was pretty hard work, but we had fun and I loved what I made. The only problem was I couldn’t possibly get my wreath home.
I also visited an amazing used bookstore called The Book Deal. Besides having a fantastic selection of new and used books, and a teacher discount for children’s and YA books, they also had a whole room full of children’s books that kids or teachers could take for free. I left with a large stack of books, and would have gotten much more if I didn’t have to get on a plane that day.
I volunteered a few hours at my library’s Fall Book Sale, which I love to do. This time I was more restrained and didn’t carry out bags of books that I won’t have time to read. But I did find some great deals for my classroom and picked up copies of a few favorites for home (Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, The Dictionary of Lost Words, and You are Here).
The New York Times recently published a list of their 50 best thrillers, based on votes from writers and book critics. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on that list soon.
Here’s what I read in September:
- The Gates of Midnight by Helene Wecker
- Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
- Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan
- The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders
- The Antidote by Karen Russell
- I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
My favorite reads:
The Gates of Midnight was fantastic. See my review for more.
The Great Wherever is a book about a farm in Tennessee that’s handed down over generations. Thomas, a former slave, buys the property and builds a family and a life there. In the present, Thomas’ great-granddaughter Aubrey travels to see the property she’s inherited a piece of. Aubrey needs the money and has no connection to the land – but she finds there’s so much about her family she never knew. This debut novel isn’t a perfect one – the multiple generations are confusing, and on audio you don’t get the much-needed family tree in the beginning of the book. Plus, Aubrey is a mess for a 32-year-old, but I didn’t mind that. For anyone who likes messy family histories and historical fiction about a black family in the South.
Dungeon Crawler Carl was a perfect read this month, when I just needed something funny and easy to read. I’m coming to this series late, so I expect you’ve all heard about it already. Aliens have destroyed every building on earth, with all the people inside them, and created a huge multi-story dungeon. The remaining humans have to play a galactic reality game of killing monsters and building followers. If someone’s making a list of the best snarky cat characters in books (why haven’t I done that yet?), this one should be added to the list.
Disappointing reads:
I didn’t love I Who Have Never Known Men, though it was interesting. I expected to learn more about what was happening and why. As a dystopian novel, I’d recommend others, like The Handmaid’s Tale, over this one.
On the blog:
I reviewed The Antidote and The Gates of Midnight.
Books for challenges:
- Speccy Fiction: Dungeon Crawler Carl, I Who Have Never Known Men, Gates of Midnight, The Antidote, The Great Wherever
- Jewish: The Gates of Midnight
- 52 Book Club: The Great Wherever (a character list), Dungeon Crawler Carl (a series of 8 or more books)
What I’m reading in October:
I’m currently reading B.K. Borison’s And Now Back to You, which I’m really enjoying. I’m reading Anthropologist on Mars very slowly but it’s fascinating. My ARCs this month are The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford by Nafisa Thompson-Spires and Castles by Dan Jones
I hope you’re enjoying the fall and reading something good!