Reading Stats
September was a bit of a slower month for reading compared to the summer months. I finished a total of 9 books during the month. I attribute the majority of the decrease to the vacation we took at the end of the month and the time spent preparing for it and actually going. Still...nine is a pretty respectable number, I think.
I have now completed 80 books for the year (including 1 book I finished this week at the beginning of October). This puts me miles above my records for previous years and is just crazy. It's so nice to return to a love of reading.
My nine books in September contained a total of 3202 pages, which was actually a higher number of pages than June, when I read 10 books.
That quantity placed me at an average of 107 pages per day, slightly lower than July and August, but still well on par for the year.
And the month of October helped me to break one more big record. I have now officially read more pages this year than I have in any year since I started recording my stats back in 2011. We're now in uncharted territory...and I'm thrilled!
Book Stats
I had a good mix of books this month, with 1 Book Club read, 4 ARCs, 2 Classics, 1 book that I had previously DNF'd, and 1 book that I picked up on a whim. The ratings distribution was interesting, with a good focus on the upper range along with one of my lowest rated books of the year.
DNF : 0 books 1-star: 0 books 1.5 star: 1 book
2-star: 0 books 2.5 star: 1 book 3-star: 1 books 3.5 star: 3 book
4-star: 0 books 4.5 star: 1 books 5 star: 2 books
There were 2 historical fiction reads, 1 memoir, 2 contemporaries, a classic, a mystery, a fantasy, and one YA contemporary; a fairly eclectic group of reads.
A total of 7 of the books were intended for adult audiences, with only 2 YA reads this month. Look how grown up I'm being. There were 4 diverse reads in the bunch, a bit lower than my 46% tendency for the year, but still not bad.
Books I Read
I started the month off with a fun mystery read from Agatha Christie. I listened to Murder on the Orient Express via audiobook, read by Kenneth Branagh. He did a fantastic job with the narration and I very much enjoyed it. It had been a long time since I read an Agatha Christie book. In fact, it had been quite a while since I read a mystery of any kind. It was a nice change. This was a good, solid read and I gave it 3 stars.
Next up was This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. This was an ARC that I requested after reading one of Krueger's mystery novels for my local book club. I had enjoyed his writing and wanted to try a bit more of it. This Tender Land is not a mystery, but rather a historical fiction. This shift in genre worked well for Krueger and his style of writing pulled me right into the story. This is a sweeping drama that moved through locales near where I live, so hearing the history of the area as I read was an additional draw. The writing made it clear that there was a lot of time and effort put into the research and it really paid off in terms of my enjoyment with the book. I very much enjoyed the story and the characters created. In fact, this was one of my favorite reads of the month, rated at 5 stars.
My next audio read was Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Audio was a good format for this one, as I'm pretty sure I would have gotten bogged down in the writing and language styles. The story was good and flippant with true Austen style. I enjoyed her sassy characters and the way they interacted with blatant honesty. It was worth the read, but broke my heart a little when the relationship I hoped for never came to fruition. 3.5 stars.
I had been anxiously awaiting The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow (ARC). The synopsis was interesting, the cover was beautiful, I was just ITCHING to pick it up. I will admit that it may have gotten slightly overhyped for me, but it was still a beautiful and fantastical read. It has been billed as adult fantasy, but to me read more like a YA. It was incredibly creative and I loved it. I did struggle with the pacing a bit and it took a while for me to get into the story, but overall it was great. 4.5 stars.
My one true YA read was my ARC of Trapeze by Leigh Ansell. This book fell a little flat for me, moving away from what I expected given the title and the synopsis. Very little of this book actually relates to the trapeze, but it is still a cute YA contemporary. The writing was good and I liked the main character. The supporting characters lacked a little in depth. I struggled with the pacing in this one as well and the ending just felt rushed and a little contrived. That was disappointing. It was an okay and easy read with a cute narrative, but just left me a little underwhelmed. 3.5 stars.
Oh...The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler. This was my book club read for the month, where it averaged a 6 out of 10 on the ratings scale based on our readers. Myself...well...I was among the lower group of ratings, giving it only a 4 on that scale and a 1.5 star rating on my own scale (I was nice and rounded up for book club). I was so incredibly bored with this book. It is incredibly character driven with little plot and I just couldn't connect with the protagonist. In fact, I found him annoying. This one just was not for me.
And then came All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I had attempted to read this one a few years ago, but just couldn't get into the story. This time around, I grabbed the audiobook and it. was. magnificent! This is an incredibly beautiful story with amazing description and detail. It was a terribly emotional read and I just adored it. It was by far my favorite read of the month and rated an incredibly solid 5 stars. This one is a MUST READ.
After the heaviness of All the Light We Cannot See, I needed something light and airy. Enter The Princess Diarist read by Carrie Fisher herself. This was entertaining and to the point with expected Carrie Fisher style. She doesn't pull any punches. I did fail to read the synopsis before grabbing the book, so it wasn't what I was expecting, and the focus on her relationship with Harrison Ford wasn't completely my cup of tea. However, I do enjoy her style and the readings from her 19-year-old self's diaries were beautiful. However, overall I was disappointed in the content and (more due to my fault than the fault of the writing) I wound up rating this at 2.5 stars.
My final read of September was an entertaining and quirky contemporary ARC. Immaculate Perception by Kik Phillips was a good read with a main character somewhat reminiscent of Eleanor Oliphant. If you are familiar with Gail Honeyman's book and enjoyed it, then you will likely enjoy this read as well. This moved with a unique style and I found it refreshing to some degree. It ran the gamut on emotions and pulled me in odd directions, but it totally worked. The writing was good and Lincoln's character was just the best. The ending was a bit of whiplash for me though, suddenly turning a direction I didn't expect and then stopping abruptly. If there is a follow up novel, then that will make sense, but as a standalone it was a bit of a cliffhanger. I'm not a big fan of that style of ending, so that caused me to lower my rating a bit. Still...this one did pretty well and kept me entertained, earning 4 stars.
And...that was September! Admittedly a different month in terms of my reading spread, but still an enjoyable one. And it did managed to yield one of my favorite books of the year thus far, so I consider it a success. Now...let's see what October will bring...
Happy reading!!
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