September was a fairly good month for reads, especially since I had some opportunities to listen to an audiobook, which I don't often get anymore. I also finished the fourth book on September 30th, bumping up my stats for the month! As I have the past few months, I still have a few books that I'm reading simultaneously and partly through, including a couple of poetry books, which I find read better that way.
Books Finished This Month
- You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith--It takes a lot longer to finish audiobooks (which I pretty much only listen to in the car) than when I used to commute but I got this because I had a couple trips this summer. I finished it up on the way home from the last one on Labor Day weekend. This is a memoir on Smith's marriage and divorce but it also reads like a manual on how to write (or not write) a memoir. She has repeating refrains about "the question at the center of this book" and the scenes that she is deciding to keep private, just for her family. She is also very much in conversation with other poets, authors, and musicians, mostly living ones like (but not limited to) the Mountain Goats and Naomi Shihab Nye. She includes some of her poetry and reads in her own voice. Highly recommended to fellow aspiring poets, writers, and memoirists. I also subscribe to her newsletter on writing craft, "For Dear Life with Maggie Smith," where she breaks down how she writes her poems, among other things.
- Role Playing by Cathy Yardley--I was interested in this romance novel both because it features a romance that starts in an online roleplaying game and because the main characters are 48 and 50, respectively. This is an easy, quiet read that kind of feels like one of those social learning games or books, but for adults. I think we all need this more than we think, because it's comforting, and also because, what we think of us as normal isn't necessarily--in particular, one of these characters learns more about their own identity and relationships, and it really changes their life for the better. If you're looking for a cozy, mostly positive read--this is it.
- The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman--This was a book club read, so sometimes harder to make myself read something I'm not necessarily feeling, but I don't regret it. This was a truly thoughtful and unique perspective on the Civil War from the points-of-view of a Jewish soldier and an African-American soldier in the Union Army and their respective Jewish and African-American sweethearts at home. If you like historical fiction, I highly recommend it.
- Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde--Another book club read. This was an easy read; I finished it in a day. This would be a good read for middle or high school students, especially in a class where they could discuss the central issues of valuing human life and human connections. It reminded me a lot of the author's earlier book, Pay it Forward. As an adult, it was a little one-dimensional.
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