Best Books of September
As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at doing this.
So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.
These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from September.
None of This Is True (Lisa Jewell): I know this author is super popular, but this was my first Lisa Jewell book. I loved the writing and the pacing; I wanted to keep going and going. But I was waiting for a big, amazing twist that never happened. So, I’ve adjusted expectations for future Jewell books because I will read many of them.
A Trick of the Light (Louise Penny): As I summed it up on GoodReads, there should be a word when your heart explodes while reading a book. That’s how I felt when Ruth said numb nuts at the end. It is always a good reading night when you spend time in Three Pines.
Reign (Katharine McGee): I almost didn’t read this book right now; I didn’t think I was in the mood. But the ChickieNob convinced me that literary fluff is exactly what you need when you’re down. And this is well-written, engaging literary fluff. Absolutely love the conclusion of this four-part series.
Okay Days (Jenny Mustard): This is a book that I will buy for many people in my life because it’s a simple story that carries deep wisdom. It is the smartest relationship/friendship advice I’ve seen in a while about how to know you’re choosing the right people to keep in your life.
Adelaide (Genevieve Wheeler): This was a solid book that I may have enjoyed more if I hadn’t read it right after Okay Days. You love all of the characters in Okay Days because they are all essentially good, flawed people. You do not love all of the people in Adelaide because some are truly awful people. It’s a novel that feels like non-fiction. Like I had to keep remembering that it was fiction because it read like a memoir. But it was an interesting read, and I’m glad a friend recommended it.
The Hike (Lucy Clarke): I liked the last Lucy Clarke book I read, but I really loved this one. It was a great, non-scary thriller about women taking a vacation together that goes horribly wrong. It was such a quick, engaging read, filled with great characters who felt so real.
What did you read last month?
1 comment
I read 4 books in September, all reviewed on my blog, as well as on Goodreads & StoryGraph:
* “Tom Lake” by Ann Patchett. Like Patchett’s other books that I’ve read to date, this was thoughtfully and beautifully written. While harvesting cherries during the pandemic summer of 2020, a mother tells her three adult daughters about her long-ago summer romance with a now-famous actor when they co-starred in a summer stock production of “Our Town.” Apparently the audiobook is narrated by Meryl Streep. 🙂 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.
* “The Giver” by Lois Lowry. This was published in 1993 — long after my school days — and, not having kids of my own, it was just not on my radar, until Lori Lavender Luz and her co-hosts at Adoption Unfiltered hosted a Zoom discussion about it on Sept. 28th. I managed to finish the book before then. I can’t say I loved it, but it did make me think. The ideas & themes presented are complex, sometimes unsettling/disturbing, and will be controversial to some. There’s a lot here that will sound familiar to those of us in the adoption/loss/infertility and even childless communities. 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3.
* “The Last Devil to Die” by Richard Osman (Thursday Murder Club #4!). This edition features the same wonderful characters, wit, humour and convoluted plot twists we’ve come to know and love in the earlier books. Warning: It’s also the most emotional entry in the series to date. Have Kleenex handy! An(other) enthusiastic 5 stars. 🙂
* “The Farm” by Joanne Ramos, for Lyz Lenz’s Men Yell At Me Substack newsletter book club, about surrogates (“Hosts”) living at what is essentially a baby farm that caters to ultra-wealthy clients. Some have called this a “dystopian” novel, and there are certainly shades of “The Handmaid’s Tale” here. But the truly scary thing about “The Farm” is that it’s not set in some distant future or imaginary society. In fact, just about everything depicted in “The Farm” is entirely within the realm of possibility right now. 3.5 stars, rounded up.