What I Read September 2019

Whew, I am really dragging my feet on finishing up my September blog posts! I don’t always feel that inspired to write about the tv shows and movies (so redundant most of the time), but I love writing about books! I finally have a chunk of time and no excuses, so it’s time to get this done!

I read 13 books in September. In August, my goal was to read 15 books which was supposed to make me prioritize reading at every opportunity, but really just sent me trying to find the shortest and fastest way to accomplish that goal. Number goals for something so important to me – not a good idea! Well, except for my Goodreads yearly challenge of 100 books which I’m definitely always going to meet, so it doesn’t stress me out. Anyway, in September I just wanted to pick the books that called to me and enjoy them. So it’s kind of surprising I still finished so many, but two were on audio (!), one was a cookbook, one was a super short graphic novel, and one was a re-read. All of which were pretty speedy. Most of the books were pretty middle of the road this month, but a few stood out as being more than worth your time.

Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy (audiobook)
Rating: 4.5 stars

I spent so much time deliberating on what my 100th book of the year should be and then I spontaneously picked up this audiobook and listened to it in a day, beating out the fiction book I so carefully picked out for the occasion. It was so worth it, though! I really, really loved this book. As someone who almost never listens to audiobooks because I have such a hard time paying attention (why are podcasts so much easier?!), I had no problems staying intensely focused on this book. It helps that it’s less than 3 hours long! I’ve had the physical copy of this book on my shelf for YEARS and probably never would have gotten around to actually reading it, so I’m really glad I chose to get it on audio (one of the very few interesting “available now” options from the library). Brian Tracy laid this book out so simply and straight to the point, making it both personable, relatable, and interesting. My only problem with the book is that it’s very much geared toward people with typical white collar office jobs – and it’s not marketed that way. I had to spend a lot of time trying to translate everything he said into how it could apply to me in my personal life and my work from home running an entire business by myself life. It’s also always a sore point to me when someone says the answer to some of your problems is to delegate, delegate, delegate. They never takes into consideration that other people could be delegating to you, and what do you do then?? Delegation just isn’t an option either when you run everything on your own. At any rate, I found all the principles in this book invaluable. I was actually quite pleased to know that so many of the ideas are actually instinctual to me, I just don’t often follow them. I’m excited to put what I’ve learned into practice and see how much it will change my life!

God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie Debartolo
Rating: 3 stars

I had such high expectations for this book. It was featured at Book Bonanza with some raving endorsements from Colleen Hoover, so it’s the only book I outright bought when I was there. And…I didn’t really like it. It’s hard to read a book that you know from page one it will not have a happy ending. Where is the joy in that? I also thought the main character’s instant connection and silly obsessions with each other was kind of sickening. I mean, it was just so ooey gooey and unrealistic to me. I can’t stand most of the weird quirks people have. The writing is great and I obviously enjoyed it enough to see it through. But it was not what I was hoping for.

To Night Owl From Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer
Rating: 5* stars

This is the first middle grade book I’ve read in my adult life (granted, there haven’t been many) that I absolutely adored. You all know I’m a total sucker for epistolary novels – books made up entirely of letters and emails. That, and a handful of great reviews, are the reason I picked this up at a recent Barnes and Noble sale (gotta love those special editions). It’s the story of two 12 year old girls who find out that their gay dads are long distance dating each other and they come up with a plan to break them up. The more they write, however, the more curious they become about the other and reluctantly start forming a friendship. Their letters to each other reminded me so much of my own longest standing friendship, that is almost entirely conducted through emails at this point in our lives. The whole thing just made me so happy. I was emotionally invested in ways that surprised me. I was crying near the end. It was just such a beautiful book about friendship and family. I suggested it to Caden as soon as I was done and he actually really loved it too. It’s not the typical book he’d pick up on his own, so I was impressed he couldn’t seem to put it down. Highly, highly recommend!

Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke
Rating: 3.5 stars

In this book a girl who got kicked out of her senior year of high school (for attempting suicide) decides to take classes at the local community college to get her diploma. In order to have a place to live, and to give herself a true fresh start, she applies and gets in a local reality tv show competition where she lives in a house with a group of people and the last one in the house at the end wins a small scholarship and a car. This book was somewhat unique because the entire thing is told through Jane’s journal entries. But she still plays out conversations that she has with everyone, so it doesn’t feel exactly like a journal. But you also feel distanced from everything that is actually happening, and that bothered me a bit. I was definitely intrigued enough to want to read as often as possible, but at the same time – it wasn’t really the most exciting of books. I wish I could have felt a deeper connection to all the other characters. I did enjoy it, it just won’t be very memorable in the long run. (Case in point, writing this a few weeks after reading it, I had NO recollection what it was about until I re-read my summary (which I write immediately after I finish books and save up for this end of the month post, in case you were wondering!))

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
Rating: 4 stars

This is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale – which really meant nothing to me because I’ve never even heard of that tale before. Twelve daughters are seemingly cursed as one by one they die under mysterious circumstances. The eight remaining sisters decide to put aside their mourning clothes after years of wearing black and being forced to stay inside their castle in order to go to magical balls every night, dancing through shoes and shoes. The story is told from sixth daughter, Annaleigh’s view. Overall, I thought this was a really interesting and well written book. There were a few minor things that bothered me – for example, we never learned half of the sisters’ ages, including Annaleigh’s. It seemed like details worth mentioning. I’m also not accustomed to reading fairy tales and was confused as to what sort of time period this took place in and wondered why there were ghosts, magic, gods, etc. It felt like an odd mix of fantasy elements that didn’t exactly go together. Things did get a little crazy and hard to follow at the end, but I really liked Annaleigh and the friendship bond between the sisters, which is what compelled me to stay up late every night trying to fit in one more chapter. It was a good book!

Antoni in the Kitchen by Antoni Porowski
Rating: 4 stars

I’m a little obsessed with Queer Eye right now and jumped at the chance to buy Antoni’s new cookbook. And overall, I liked it! I enjoyed learning a little bit more about Antoni’s life, as he’s notoriously known as the most private of the group. I did find it a little amusing that there just might be more photos of Antoni walking or shopping or just standing and staring at things than there are of the food. Though most of the recipes do have a photo as well, which I always appreciate. For MY tastes, this isn’t the type of cookbook I’d generally keep around. A lot of Polish flavors, a lot of pastas, a lot of seafood. I only bookmarked a couple of main dishes I could actually see myself making at some point. But the appetizers and sides really appealed to me. This is definitely a HEALTHY cookbook. And to be honest, I don’t often refer to those types of cookbooks when I’m searching for dinner ideas. But all of Antoni’s recipes were simple, intriguing, and looked tasty enough that I’d be willing to give them a shot. I still don’t see myself using the cookbook all the time, but I’m excited to experiment with many of the vegetable ideas – I’m sure anything than our typical throw bags of raw carrots and peppers on the table every night would be an improvement!

Frankly in Love by David Yoon
Rating: 3 stars

It took me forever to finish this book. Which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad book – it just was not what I was expecting or hoping for. One of the things that kept distracting me probably more than it should have was wondering why certain words were spelled differently and why the formatting was always switching up. It didn’t MAKE SENSE to me, and it kept catching me off guard and upset the flow of the story. This YA “love story” is very, very much about what it means to be Korean-American with parents who only want you to associate with other Koreans. It made me sad to see what a limited relationship the kids could have with the parents who barely spoke any English. Why did the parents not teach Korean to their children? I guess what I’m saying with this review is that there were so many things that kept distracting me that I never really felt invested in the actual story. It was okay. But I regret buying it ahead of time with the expectation it was going to be amazing. I’m just a sucker for unique books (blue edging) and pretty covers.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (re-read)
Rating: 4.5 stars

I first read this book in 2013 and also gave it a 4.5 star rating. It’s been so long that I really didn’t remember the story at all. I found a special edition of it at Half Priced Books earlier this year and picked it up with the intention of re-reading it before I planned on re-reading Carry On before the release of Wayward Son this month. And I’m really glad I did! What struck me most about this re-read is how similar in personality Cath and I are. With the exception of writing fanfiction, we’re almost identical, especially with how I was as a freshman in college. It was a bit unnerving! I liked watching her grow over her first year and enjoyed all the supporting characters. Levi is just so loveable! Except for that one scene – you know what I’m talking about. That one part of the story is basically the reason this book is knocked half a star down. It felt inauthentic to his character and was never really explained or justified, which bothered me. I do kind of wish there was LESS fanfiction in this book because it had the opposite effect I was hoping for and now I’m less excited about re-reading Carry On because I already feel like I got my fill of Simon and Baz in Fangirl. But overall, a really great book. Rainbow Rowell is so fantastic at writing characters!

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
Rating: 4 stars

This book was really getting a lot of buzz recently in my facebook book club as a wonderful book to read in fall. Because I’ve recently fallen in love with similar books, I bought the duel volume and gave it a shot. I will definitely admit that reading a book written in 1907 was initially really hard for me. Contemporary books are my wheelhouse. But once I got into the rhythm of things, I really enjoyed this short book revolving around the love of books, adventure, and finding joy in your life no matter what age you are. It did take me three days to read a 152 page book, which felt a little ridiculous. But it was sweet and amusing and can definitely see myself picking it up for a re-read in falls to come.

Big Sexy Love by Kirsty Greenwood
Rating: 4 stars

Need a laugh out loud feel good break from the more serious books you’ve been reading? This is your remedy. While I didn’t ADORE it, this was still very funny, sweet, and a little sad. And contrary to what the title makes you believe, it’s really not about romantic love. The main character’s naivety was a little over the top and ridiculous at times, but it made for some crazy storyline. I enjoyed this book a lot.

The Worrier’s Guide to Life by Gemma Correll
Rating: 3 stars

This was one of a handful of graphic novels recommended on a book list of being great for adults. I ended up requesting all of them from the library and then once again lost interest in actually looking at the graphic novels. But I had a brief break between books and picked up this one – the shortest of the pile. It was a FAST read. Maybe 20 minutes? It was amusing. I think the illustrations would have been funnier seen on their own instead of in a compilation. It wasn’t an actual story, but individual full page drawings of different things people worry about. I wasn’t exactly in the greatest headspace when I read this, so I found it to be a little bit more depressing that it was intended to be. But I laughed as well.

Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness (audiobook)
Rating: 5 stars

I’m going to insist that you listen to this particular book on audio. I can’t imagine possibly getting such an authentic experience without listening to Jonathan read his own words. What a life story! It’s another example of how you can see a certain side of someone, but honestly have NO CLUE what they’ve been through in their life. I loved getting this deeper look into Jonathan’s past and all the pain and trauma he has overcome to be the person he is today. I also just had to laugh so many times – he has SUCH personality. The book itself was about six hours on audio and I listened to it over the course of three days. I was interested and captive throughout the whole thing. I highly recommend reading his story. The only downside is that he writes very little about Queer Eye. But I can understand the decision since it’s still something he’s currently involved with. I would love to get a more in depth behind the scenes look of their group dynamic at some point, though!

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore
Rating: 5 stars

Historical fiction is NOT my genre. I was hesitant to get this as my most recent BOTM pick, but it sounded the most intriguing and I’ll usually choose the book that sounds the most romantic out of the limited five choices each month (because those are the books I’m most likely to want to keep around and re-read at some point). And shockingly, this was filled with fun and laughter and sassy comebacks and steamy encounters. It was NOT the prim and proper, dry tale of stuffy relationships that I think of when historical fiction comes to mind. I loved that so much of this book focused on the character interactions instead of the plot (women’s suffrage in the late 19th century England). I love character interaction. Anyway, I plowed through this in two days and would definitely recommend it.