Tuesday, October 01, 2024

September: What I Read

SO many GOOD BOOKS this month! I just LOVE a new Karin Slaughter. And! God of the Woods was as good as everyone said it would be. PLUS the new Rainbow Rowell is AMAZING and I loved every single word.

Here's the tl;dr:

You can skip these

Mad Love by Wendy Walker: NOPE. I was between library holds and out of Audible credits and all caught up on Pod Save America, so... **Audio 

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin: ALSO NOPE. It’s a bummer because I used to LOVE her.**2024

Briefly, Perfectly Human by Alua Arthur: I wanted less memoir and more stories from being a death doula, honestly. **Audio **2024

Pretty good reads

Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin: Is it harsh to say this is an Eleanor Oliphant wannabe? Liked it, but not as much  as most people. **2024

Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson: I mean. I don’t know. This was a DNF for me on Kindle, but I thought I’d like it better as an audiobook. I did like it better, but I did not love it. I requested the next one ad the random bonus Christmas one, though. **Audio

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center: Solid meh on this romance. **2024

 The List by Yomi Adegoke: I read this over a couple of lunches at my desk because I was in the office more than usual observing TAs teaching, and it was a quick, fun read.

Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight: Meh. This thriller was ok and a quick read. I really like this author, so maybe my expectations were inflated.**2024

Now we’re getting somewhere

The Unwedding by Ally Condie: Suspenseful but also sweet and with characters I really liked. **2024 **Audio

Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly: I really liked this and admired the writing so much, but WHAT FREAKING BUMMER. I was so bothered by the end. Nicole warned me, but I dug in anyway. **2024

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager: Serious Stephen King vibes — I liked this a lot. **2024

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult: I liked this a lot. I am a Picoult stan, though, and it's not as good as the elephant one. **2024

Yesssssssss

God of the Woods by Liz Moore: LOVED THIS SO MUCH. What a great story! What awesome characters! HOW SAD! Lisa recommended it, and she was right! **2024

This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter: I LOVE to listen to Kathleen Early read Karin Slaughter to me. This book was GREAT even though there was lots of Sara Linton over explaining everything and ruining Will’s good time. She's a useful plot device, but that doesn't mean I like her very much. **2024 **Audio

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell: I loved this one. The dialog! The characters! It was funny and devastatingly sweet. About potential versus reality/being versus becoming/ promise versus settling. I LOVED IT. **2024



This month: 15 books

Audio books: 3

Real books: 12

2024 books: 12

This year: 125

Audio: 56

With my eyes: 69

Books published in 2024: 72


12 comments:

  1. Ooh! I'm excited because I just started God of the Woods. And that Karin Slaughter sounds really good! Do you think I need to read the series in order, or can I just start with this one?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think she does a good job with backstory so you COULD start anywhere. But also, the series is GREAT, so starting at the beginning is also really fun.

      Delete
  2. I'm glad you loved God of the Woods as much as I did. I need to pull together my September reading post. I was waiting to see if I would finish "Wellness" last night but I didn't - I only have 5 minutes left but decided to finish it today since it was already past my bedtime.

    I haven't read a Giffin book since the book about the maid of honor cheating the groom which I found so problematic as I felt it romanticized infidelity. After that I was like - NOPE, NEVER READING A BOOK BY YOU AGAIN. I am judgey in that way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am judgey like that, too-- I will probably skip her future books, for example.

      Delete
  3. We have only three books in common, and pretty wildly differing opinions on two of them! I enjoyed God of the Woods but it didn't blow me away, and I loved the Rom-Commers!

    Everyone in My Family was fun, after I got over being super annoyed by the writing style. I do think the sequel was better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I would have liked Rom-Commers better as an audio book

      Delete
  4. Riley Sagar is so hit and miss for me - I liked but didn't love Middle of the Night. Everyone in my Family was a really neat concept, didn't love the writing - going to try the sequel on Suzanne's rec above.
    I love the Will Trent series, but I was SO BUMMED when Sara Linton showed up. I felt like Slaughter had really leveled up, and then leveled down again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. in this book, it was VERY OBVIOUS that she is really just there to move things along by sharing Magical Medical Knowledge that no one else has. maybe she is just a macguffin?

      Delete
  5. Rainbow Rowell!! I didn't know she had a new one. I'm so excited!!!! (Too many exclamation points excited, obviously.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I laughed at wanting less memoir and more about being a death doula. I guess I need to look up what a death doula is. My book club takes recommendations for next year's list in October. I might suggest a few of these titles. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I can't keep up! I added God of the Woods, the Rainbow Rowell, the Jodi Picoult (I like Picoult and Shakespeare lore) and then followed the link to Picoult's elephant one (and I love elephants too) and I just started the Claire Lombardo that you and Nicole loved...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Omg, we have some similarities yay! Two things: I read a book by Wendy Walker a LONG time ago and gave it 1 star. I don't know why I kept reading it - it was SO BAD. And I've just given up on Katherine Center. She started off FINE and is now a no-go for me.

    LOVED God of the Woods and glad you loved it also. I was also meh about Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone and DNF-ed the sequel. I was just tired of the schtick, and I didn't even read the books back-to-back!

    I am SO GLAD you loved the new Rainbow Rowell novel. I need to get my hands on that one soon!

    ReplyDelete