What I Read: September

Lots of great books in September! I'm super excited for some thrillers and spooky reads in October.

Snuggles with kitties while I read in bed after a long run are the best!

Books:

• The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer- I saw this on the Quick Pick shelf at the library and was drawn in by the beautiful cover. Then I read the book jacket and got really excited because the plot reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I loved it so much that when I started reading it, I was giddy with excitement. This was one of my favorite books I've read this year. Sometimes you can judge a book by its beautiful cover!

• The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling- I was super excited about this book. I came across it in the Native writers section of the local bookstore in my hometown. I was expecting it to be fact driven and almost nonfiction but with added fictional details. It was not what I was expecting at all. It was really interesting how she chose to write it, but it was also confusing and very strange. I was overall disappointed with it. I didn't struggle to finish it, but I was happy it was over when I finished it.

• Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado- I saw this as a librarian recommendation at a different library than the one we usually go to. It sounded really cute and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

• The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo- I read this one with the kids. They would go through spells where they begged for another chapter before bed and then times when they didn't want to read it at all. It took us a long time to get through it which made it less enjoyable for me. I liked it, but it wasn't one I liked so much I'd recommend it to others.

• Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree- I was super excited for this one after reading about it on some fantasy book lists. I may have built it up too much in my head because I was really disappointed in it. I'm not sure I'll even read the 2nd book, that's how little I liked it.

• Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah- I saw Hokeah when he was in conversation with Margaret Verble at an author event at the library by our house. I bought his book after the discussion. His book was compared to There, There by Tommy Orange. I liked his even more than Orange's. I liked how each chapter was narrated by a different character so you got different views of the same person's life.

I was looking for this book at one point and asked Elise if she had seen it. She said, "Oh, the money hat book?" haha

• Mascot by Charles Waters & Traci Sorell- I came across this one at the Adult Book Fair and saw there was an author event for it later. I thought it was something Carter would like so I got it and read it first. It was really good and I loved the different perspectives they included, it really made you think. Carter is currently reading it and liking it. He's excited to go to the author event with me.

eBooks:

• Kill Joy by Holly Jackson- This was a little A Good Girl's Guide to Murder novella that took place before the first book. It was cute and it was a nice little view into what drove Pip to choose to research a murder for her capstone project.

• Solito by Javier Zamora- This was our book club pick for September to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. I had a bit of a hard time getting through this book, but I think it had more to do with reading it as an ebook. The chapters were really long and I struggle with that when I'm reading ebooks, because I read in little snippets and it's hard to stop in the middle of a chapter. I liked the way he wrote a little bit in Spanish and felt like it was easy to figure out what he was saying due to context clues. It's hard to imagine what his parents went through as they waited for him to arrive in America to be with them.

Audiobooks:

• Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases by Paul Holes- This was really interesting. I immediately put Michelle McNamara's book on hold after listening to this one. I've had her book on my TBR list for a while.

• Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan- I really, really liked this one. My mom recommended it to me and I did it as an audiobook for the narrators. It was super frustrating at times and kept you second guessing what you thought had really happened over and over.

• Starstruck: A Memoir of Astrophysics and Finding Light in the Dark by Sarafina El-Badry Nance- I saw this displayed as a librarian recommendation at the library. I was excited to read about a bad ass woman in a male dominated science field. I expected her to be an astronaut based on what she was wearing on the cover of the book, so I kept waiting for that part of the book. There wasn't anything like that until the epilogue which was disappointing to me. This was a good book and I would have liked it more had I not gone in with that expectation.

• Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley- I was super excited to see Boulley had another book out because I loved Firekeeper's Daughter. I decided to listen to it so I could hear the pronunciation of the Ojibwe words. I loved that about listening to Firekeeper's Daughter as an audiobook. This book was really good, but didn't hold my attention the way Firekeeper's Daughter did. It was still a solid book and I would recommend it to others.