I’m still here, friends!!! Chaos seems to come in waves around here, so I’ll have a few days of being good about posting and then a few days of… well, not haha But for now, let’s see a September summary!!
Favorite September Read
I had a lot of books I enjoyed in September, and several rereads. But I think my favorite new read was probably The Reef by Nora Roberts – it was a fun blend of suspense and romance.
Most Disappointing September Read
Definitely Everywhere It’s You, a book that’s been on my Kindle forever. Except it was actually just half a book! Half a poorly-written, full-of-typos book! Gah!
Other September Reads
- 3.5*
- Endings and Beginnings by Nora Roberts
- A Matter of Choice by Nora Roberts
- Moonlight Cove by Sherryl Woods
- The Mystery of the Six Clues by Vernon Howard
- 4*
- The Fallen Man by Tony Hillerman
- The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
- Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie
- Outside the Gates by Molly Gloss
- The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy
- The Stand-In by Lily Chu
- Venetia by Georgette Heyer
September Stats
- Total Number of Books Read: 13
- Total Pages Read: 3503
- Average Star Rating for September: 3.54
- Longest Book: Moonlight Cove (378 pages)
- Shortest Book: Outside the Gates (97 pages)
- Oldest Book: The Scarlet Pimpernel (published 1905)
- Newest Book: The Stand-In (2021)
- Top Genre: Romance (7 books)
- Top Format: Paperback (10 books)
- Top Source: Library (6 books)
September Challenge Updates
- New states visited: Illinois
- Chunksters read (800+pgs): 0
- Almost-a-chunksters read (450-799pgs): 0
- Classics read: 1
- Nonfiction read: 0
TBR Update
This is current as of today, not the end of September!!
- Standalones: 493 (up three)
- Nonfiction: 132 (holding steady)
- Personal (which includes all books I own (fiction and nonfiction), but lists any series I own as only one entry…): 599 (down two)
- Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 251 (up one)
- Mystery Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 110 (holding steady)
- New Arrivals – (I have a lot of books that I have been gifted or that I pick up somewhere and they get put on my “oh I’m so excited about this shiny new book” shelf… and then of course don’t actually get read.): 171 (down three)
Current Reads
Oh, so many! I am buddy reading way too many books this month!!
- Still plugging away on Middlemarch, which should actually wrap up in, well, the middle of March!
- Walden is this month’s classic. I’m on about 30 pages in, and it’s honestly a bit of a struggle so far.
- Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck – I have several of Steinbeck’s books on my TBR and he’s Litsy’s author of the month, so I decided to give this one a whirl. So far, I love it.
- House of Dreams by Liz Rosenberg – a biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery aimed at middle grade readers. I’m only a few chapters in, but so far it’s engaging.
- On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder – still working my way through the Little House books. I didn’t really remember much about this one (except grasshoppers, which haven’t happened yet), so it’s been a fun read.
- Heartstone by Elle Katharine White – I’ve had this P&P/dragons mash-up on my shelf for quite some time, so even though I already had a bunch of buddy read commitments, I couldn’t resist joining in with this one as well!
- Under Currents by Nora Roberts – the other day I accidentally left the house without a book, so that seemed like a good reason to pick up a new book off the discount rack at Meijer. This one is a little long, but I am really invested in the characters.
Last Time on “Up Next”
Did I actually read my probable next five reads from last time?
- Songs of Willow Frost – this ended up being a DNF for me. Too depressing.
- Twelve Percent Dread, The Roundhill, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and Ben and Me – all yes!! Those were all pretty short, easy reads, so I was excited to bang them all out, even if none of them were particularly stellar reads.
Up Next
My probable next five reads…
- The Girl in the Tower and The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden – I read The Bear and the Nightingale at the beginning of the week, and definitely want to finish the trilogy. The Girl in the Tower is actually the book I forgot at home, which is why I started reading the Nora Roberts book first… and here we are haha But these are next in the queue as I do want to find out what happens with Vasilisa!!
- The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis – This is one of those authors I keep seeing around and meaning to read, so we will see how I feel about this one.
- The Black Stallion by Walter Farley – a reread for this month’s Children’s Classic Read – this is actually one of my very favorite books, and one that I read over and over growing up, so I’m always happy to revisit it.
- The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly – this historical fiction was gifted to me a while back. I am rather hit or miss with this genre, but I’m hoping for a win here!!
Well, there are all the updates from, you know, six months ago LOL Up next, books I read in October!! :-D
The Aroma of Books 