What I Read: August & September 2023
Books that I read with my eyes 👁️ and books I listened to with my ears👂🏻 during the months of August & September:
Sea of Tranquility
August 16, 2023
👁️ Kindle Library Book ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shelf Indulgence Book Club August 2023
The pandemic/end of world stuff hits a little close to home in this one. Though it is sci-fi, and time-travel based at that which is my least favorite sci-fi genre, I still enjoyed it. Beautifully written but left me with some questions at the end.
“You know the phrase I keep thinking about?” a poet asked, on a different panel, at a festival in Copenhagen. “ ‘The chickens are coming home to roost.’ Because it’s never good chickens. It’s never ‘You’ve been a good person and now your chickens are coming home to roost.’ It’s never good chickens. It’s always bad chickens.”
A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
August 12, 2023
👂🏻Libby Audiobook ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This had been on my Libby wishlist since back when it was Overdrive. I added it right at the beginning when there were barely any titles available and you could scroll through all of them in one sitting. I have recently been trying to clean up my wishlist by either checking out or deleting the old stuff on it. This one was available so I gave it a listen.
I have not actually seen the movie, but know the general story. This book dug much deeper into all the events and was probably more detail than I needed.
Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller
August 16, 2023
👁️ Kindle Library Book ⭐️⭐️
I read the first in this trilogy for a book club so I decided to keep going (not realizing the third isn’t out yet. I never know how to rate these sort of books. What it amazing? No. Did it hold my interest and keep me entertained? Yes.
Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola
August 29, 2023
👂🏻Libby Audiobook ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.5/4)
I don’t always get into romance but this was a very enjoyable listen!
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
September 2, 2023
👂🏻Libby Audiobook ⭐️⭐️⭐️ & 1/2
Oh Florida…
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
September 3, 2023
👁️ Kindle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I started this years ago and didn’t get very far. I finally picked it back up and finished it. If you like The Hunger Games and Divergent style stories you will enjoy this, though it was darker and the violence was more descriptive (making it feel more violent).
“I am the spark that will set the worlds afire. I am the hammer that cracks the chains.”
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
September 8, 2023
👂🏻Libby Audiobook ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well, school has started and thus the return of my commute. This means a drastic uptick in audiobooks! I have enjoyed several of Lisa See’s books and this one was no different. You come to care for the characters while being immersed in the well researched historical setting.
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
September 13, 2023
👂🏻Libby Audiobook ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It’s hard to rate a book that contains so much pain 5 stars because it feels incorrect to say you “liked” or “enjoyed” it.
“Mary Grace lifted her eyes to the sky, perhaps to where she felt her God would be. Rachel did the same, even though she did not believe in a sky-god. She felt that if any god or gods existed, they would be diffused throughout everything and everyone on earth, neither benevolent nor malign, but simply existing, drawing everything together, living and dead. But the sky was beautiful that evening, and for a moment the whole village cast their gaze to the heavens and let the last of the sunlight bathe them in God’s love.”
Killing Moon by Jo Nesbø
September 18, 2023
👂🏻Libby Audiobook ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I have listened to all the Harry Hole books and generally enjoyed them. This one just didn't do it for me though. They are all pretty graphic, but this one went too far. I couldn't stomach the (trigger warnings, I don’t want to post spoilers so you can look them up if you want to know) and the main “scheme seemed too far fetch for me. Sorry Jo, a swing and a miss on this one.
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
September 26, 2023
Shelf Indulgence Book Club September 2023
👁️ Fable e-book ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I didn’t love this one or hate it. Byron annoyed me. I liked some of the plot lines better than others. Covey and Bunny’s storylines were more interesting to me than those of her children. I feel like things all wrapped up a little too neatly and, though I appreciate the environmental protection aspect, it felt a bit forced. I did like learning about island traditions and the black cake itself. Curious to see how they adapt it for the series on Hulu. I’d be willing to give it a watch!
“And what about a person’s life? How do you make a map of that? The borders people draw between themselves. The scars left along the ground of one’s heart.”
The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox
September 26, 2023
👂🏻Libby Audiobook ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Enjoyable entry into spooky season. Gave me Flavia de Luce vibes, but that might have been just because the narration of the audiobook seemed similar.
