September was another solid reading month for me - I finished 8 books. I really like most of what I read! As of today, I've read 74 books and my goal is 75 so it's going to be another banner year of reading for me! I read over 100 last year but I kind of doubt I'll hit that number this year - which is fine. I track my reads because I find it interesting but I don't put pressure on myself to read more each year. I'm in the middle of a 600+ page Wallace Stegner novel (Angle of Repose) so my number of books read in October will certainly be lower - and that is ok!
Mom's reads:
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- All 4 books in the first picture are excellent and are books I would recommend. Of those 4, Vanishing Half and Rodham were my favorites. In the 2nd picture, I'd recommend You're Not Listening (great non-fiction read about the decline of our listening skills) and Royal Holiday (fun romance novel loosely based on Megan and Harry - great if you are looking for a light book!).
Misses:
- I struggled to get through "Girl, Woman, Other." Had it not been a book club book (which only 2 of us ended up reading!), I would have abandoned it. It won the Booker Prize in 2019 so clearly it was a critically acclaimed novel. But as I've said before, big awards are often a kiss of death for me. There was no punctuation or capitalization in this book, so it took a long time for me to get used to that. The 2 of us who read it discussed whether that benefited the book in any way and we really couldn't see how it did... The other person was a literature major so she has the education background to identify how it helped the book and came up with nothing. This math major just really did not care for it and found it distracted from the novel.
Paul's reads:
I started to get library books for Paul this month. He has loved having new books to read. His favorites this month were "Mighty Mighty Construction Site" and "Frog and Toad Together." We have the bedtime construction site book but probably need to buy this one since he loves it so much. When he's a bit older, we will probably buy the boxed set of the Frog and Toad books as they are great for early readers.
He continues to love to read books which makes my heart very happy. He loves bringing us a huge stack of books to read on the weekend or evenings. He's such a busy little guy so I love reading to him as he will snuggle in and relax for awhile.
Phil also surprised us and bought a book he loved from his childhood called "Strega Nona." It's about a woman in a village in Italy who has a magic pasta pot. It kind of reminds me of "The Sorcerers Apprentice" as the theme of the stories (trying to do magic you shouldn't be doing) is very similar. Paul really loves this book!
Did you read anything great in September?
9 comments:
I agree with you regarding Girl, Woman, Other. I know I told you already but I could not get past the lack of punctuation and capitalization! I did not feel that it added anything, but of course I gave up after only a chapter or two.
I read several books in September but none of them really "wowed" me. However, I may be in a little bit of a funk, as I think the current climate coupled with studying has made my lack of motivation and interest in things subside a little. Also, I am reading a good book in print, Hidden Valley Rd. but it is non-fiction and I am really slogging through it; I think I have been reading it for a few weeks already! Sometimes when I am reading a book like that, instead of getting excited about reading, it feels more like a chore. Again, it may be that I am just in a funk. Although what I am not sure which is the chicken and which is the egg (is the book causing the funk or is the funk causing me to not want to pick it up?)
i'm reading the vanishing half now.. .1/3 and still not too engaged. hope the rest is better.
My current faves are "Mudlarking" and "The Library Book" but I'm also into the Donna Leon mysteries. Looks like lots of good stuff. I'd love to read "Rodham."
I'm interested in checking out the book about listening! This is a topic that I'd love to learn more about. I feel like so many people (myself included) tend to almost "check out" sometimes when talking to other people. It's like our minds are just too busy to focus, or we are too busy thinking of how we should respond! I hate when I find myself doing that, but I know it's common. I read a fraction of what you read, but I'm just trying to make time to be consistent with it. Consistency > Quantity right now!! A little at least every day makes me happy and makes me feel like I'm progressing through my book. I'm REALLY enjoying Solve for Happy which I'm over half way through, a non-fiction book about happiness which I'm finding fascinating and very enlightening. I am planning to request the 2nd book in The Winternight Triology from the library (2nd book is called The Girl in the Tower). I thought the first one (The Bear and the Nightingale) was amazing (which I read this summer), and I'm excited to get into the next one.
Awwww, Strega Nona! I loved that book as a child. Tomie dePaolo came to my elementary school and I have such a strong sense memory about that visit!
I'm so impressed at your reading pace, especially as a parent! One of my closest friends became a mom at the end of last year and she usually reads a few books a month but hasn't read at all since having her child, and has no idea when she will read again. It makes me so sad! But it has to be a priority, and it just isn't for her at this stage in her life.
What a great reading month for both you and Paul.
I am particularly intrigued by the book "You're not listening". Thanks for the recommendation!
Tomie DePaola (who, sadly, recently passed away) was a favorite author/illustrator of mine. I was particularly intrigued with his bold outlines: I (as a five year old) thought real art shouldn't have outlines, but I loved his illustrations, and my own art evolved so that I now often boldly outline my people! I had the pleasure of meeting him at a book signing several years ago, and all my nieces and nephews have signed books (one of them got Strega Nona!).
The only one I read was Rodham and as you know I also loved it! I have Vanishing Half and Saint X on my holds lists (such long waits). I just put in a huge library hold order for Halloween kids books and I hope they arrive soon so we can read them for a bit before Halloween! I used to take Olivia to the library to pick out books every few weeks but since COVID kind of forgot about that and we've been reading all our old books over and over so I'm excited for these Halloween books to come in!
I would probably love that kid's book about the spaghetti! I discovered recently that all my favourite kids books are about food in some way - ha! I'm really liking the book I am currently reading, "The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains" by Nicholas Carr.
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