September Reading Round-Up

September marks my favorite time of year—the -ber months! This month I also think I had my first experience of "the movie was better." Words I never thought I'd say...

Happy reading, friends!

The Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home Stephen Starring Grant | Memoir, 4/5

This book was a wonderfully wholesome read. I go back and forth on if I can read books about the pandemic, but this memoir felt like a good balance. While overwritten at times, I really enjoyed learning about the Post Office and the inner workings of being a mail carrier.

---

Master and Commander, Patrick O'Brian | Historical Fiction, 2.5/5

And thus concludes my summer of nautical reading! And dear reading, in my opinion, the book was not better.

---

Guatemalan Rhapsody: Stories, Jared Lemus | Short Stories, 4/5

This is a beautiful collection of literary short stories. Each story offers a small vignette into a character's life or circumstance. While many of the stories felt incomplete, it left me wondering and wanting more—which I feel worked in this book’s favor. I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you to Libro.fm for my copy.

---

Among Friends, Hal Ebbott | Fiction, 5/5

I know I’m in the minority, but I loved this book!! The writing is exquisite, and I found it to be such a profound character study. It is very literary and stream of consciousness, but once I got the hang of who the characters were, I was never lost.

TW for sexual assault.

---

Alchemy of Secrets, Stephanie Garber | Fantasy, 4/5

This was a fun, magical read! This book was really outside of genre for me, but I enjoyed the universe Garber created. This was a perfect book to launch fall reading.

---

Lost & Found: A Memoir, Kathryn Schulz | Memoir, 4.5/5

I love memoirs and books about grief. I found the writing and reflections in this one to be particularly stunning. Like the title suggests, this book is about loss, but it is also about love and finding her partner. I highly recommend.

---

Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything: A Memoir, Alyson Stone | Memoir, 5/5

This was a beautifully written memoir. It is more than just a book about a child star, but an honest and raw look at what it means to rise to fame at such a young age. Alyson’s story is thought-provoking and gut-wrenching.

---

The Authenticity Project, Clare Pooley | Fiction, 4/5

Clare Pooley is one of my favorite authors. I love the way she weaves together characters and their lives. Much like Fredrik Backman, this book will leave you feeling hopeful.

---

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism, Sarah Wynn-Williams | Memoir, 4.5/5

This was such an interesting and terrifying read. While I was aware of Facebook's influence during the 2016 election, learning about the broader social implications of the platform was really harrowing. And while there are two sides to every story, given the information already leaked about Meta’s policy, it is hard not to believe the allegations laid out here.