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Share with us what you read September 2018 !

Please provide:

~ A GoodReads link
~ A few sentences telling us how you felt about the book.
~ How would you rate the book

Here are my September reads. On the wholeit was good, not great. At least I was able to cross another book off my 2018 Determination list.

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit---Michael Finkel
Non-fiction
Rate: 3/5
This is the story of Chris Knight. He was 21 years old when he decided to drop out of society. He lived in the Maine woods in a tent and didn't talk to anyone for 27 years. He lived by stealing food, clothes, batteries and other necessities from summer homeowners and a camp. Though the things he took were not of great monetary value, the robberies still left many of the community in fear. The book isn't what I thought it would be. It's interesting but not inspirational or insightful.

Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House---Omarosa Manigault Newman
Non-fiction
Rate: 3
I never watched the reality show The Apprentice. So I am not quite clear how she managed to be come known to me. I guess our society is so "celebrity" driven, one can't help but learn of contemporary culture such as it is. The book is well written. However, it really doesn't reveal anything you probably already haven't heard. It's also a bit repetitive. Still, it kept me turning the pages, so I gave it a 3 rating.

Earning the Rockies: How Geography Shapes America's Role in the World----Robert D. Kaplan
Non-fiction
Rate: 2/5
I read this for the NY Times /PBS NewsHour book club. The author takes a cross country trek to see what is often overlooked by airplane travel. He decides he won't speak to anyone, just overhear conversations at rest stops and such. So I don't know why he is so surprise that the conversations he listens in on are often banal. I don't think he uncovered anything new. He often mentions the U.S. obesity problem, the areas that are in an economic depression with no hope in site. He has a fixation with lack of smart phones in these areas. I don't have a smartphone and I live in NYC. He does come off as a bit elitist. The pockets of prosperity he sees are linked to globalization. The author is a huge fan of the historian Bernard DeVoto and discusses DeVoto's ideas again and again. The author also touches on Manifest Destiny and Americans responsibility in world affairs. The book wasn't what I was expecting and I was quite disappointed. The Facebook group led by PBS also was less than enthusiastic. The author will probably be on the PBS NewsHour on Monday 10/1 to be interviewed for the book club. Though it hasn't been officially announced yet. That is also when they will announce the new October selection. I think this book probably does have a small audience that will like it. I would suggest getting it from the library if you are interested.

Beautiful Ruins---Jess Walter
Fiction
Rate: 3/5
This book was on my 2018 determination List. The story is a bit convoluted but it was enjoyable enough. The author even manages to throw Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in this odd mix. My issue with it was the many multiple story lines and characters, the back and forth in time form 1962 to current times all made it a bit confusing at times. Good thing I read it on my Kindle so I could tap a characters name and it would tell me who they were. It was my subway read so maybe the stop and go of my commutes didn't help. Still a fun read.

Alias, nice reading month. I thought the same about The Stranger In The Wood.

My reading month was pretty good:
The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers (audio; 3/5) - a pleasant Civil War story.
Review: /review/show...

Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich (audio; 3/5) - a fun continuation of the Stephany Plum series.
Review: /review/show...

Uneasy Spirits by M. Louisa Locke (3/5) - a better story than the first of the series. A light, fun read.
Review: /review/show...

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (1/5) - undoubtedly well written but such a hard story.
Review: /review/show...

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (4/5) - a lovely coming of age story of a woman learning to live her own life.
Review: /review/show...

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (1/5) - I'm in the minority about this book. I didn't enjoy it at all.
Review: /review/show...

Very nice month, Petra !

I read the last 3 on your list.

I gave Go Tell It and All the Light 4/5
Go Tell it is a disturbing read. It seemed raw and honest to me.

As discussed before, I found reading the dialect in Their Eyes too hard. 2/5

Congrats on the good month !

Alias, the Finkel is one i hope to read. While the Kaplan sounded good to me, your description and thoughts on it have me thinking i'd be more annoyed with it than learn from it. Interesting that he opted to NOT talk to people and was dismayed by the banality of what he overheard. John Steinbeck apparently made up conversations with people when writing his Travels with Charley: In Search of America. It makes me wonder if some authors have good ideas just not the where withall to execute them. Sorry your reading month wasn't great.

Also, Alias, i think we both know Omarosa's name because it's an unusual name & social media caught onto it. I haven't watched a single episode of Apprentice but still knew her (although i can't say i would have recognized her prior to the media blitz for her book).

Petra, your list is a good one. I agree with your thoughts on both the Baldwin and Hurston books. It looks like you had a good month, i must say.

I read two books of poetry this month, as well as a couple of short books.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is about author Jean-Dominique Bauby experience getting accustomed to being paralyzed. He was the editor of French Elle magazine when he had a stroke in 1995. Chapters include his outings with his young children on Father's Day (a day they never gave much thought to previously) and learning to communicate with eye blinking & a machine. It's a Very Short book and i felt it was well written without much self-pity.

A Shropshire Lad is a collection of poems written by A.E. Housman which center on people who lived in this town and their reflections. It was written in the 1800s but many of the sentiments could be written today, as they reflect upon friends lost to illness or war, simple pleasures of rural life, childhood memories, and such. There were a number i just didn't understand but overall i liked the work. I've shared a bit on our Poetry Board, if you are interested.

The Incendiaries is about three people of varying degrees of Korean ancestry at University. The R.O. Kwon book alternates chapters between the three but one is kept minimal, while the others fill in the story. Ultimately it is about seeking spiritual satisfaction but is also about cults and worse. The story was well presented, imo.

The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy is set in Ireland and about one woman in her struggling community. Fellow Book Nooker Barbara reviewed this a month or so ago & the community aspect appealed to me. As much as i liked this book, i, as too often is the case, am not interested in reading subsequent books on the woman/community. I'm beginning to wonder if this is a personality flaw! :-)

America for Beginners was probably my favorite novel of the month. It is about a widow from India who travels to the US in hopes of finding out what happened to her son. Her tour of the country is with a guide, whose first trip this is (he is from Bangladesh) and an assigned companion, a struggling actress. Author Leah Franqui's development of the story and characters was perfect for me--enough but not too much.

My second book of poetry for the month was Spoon River Anthology, over 200 poems ostensibly about dead residents of one small town. Turn of the 19th to 20th century poet Edgar Lee Masters wrote the book to cover more than just humans. Some people just describe what happened to them, some spoke about their ideas and others about the town in relation to them. I liked it the idea but, of course, there were references to things topical, which flew over my head. Also, a few poems described their monument itself & the meaning of the carvings.

Finally, The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown was written in the middle 1800s and describes the slave life and escape of author Henry Box Brown. Full of religion (including the notion he had until he was 8 or so that his Master, a decent man, was God and that man's son was the Savior!), he explains his life in light of different owners and how they cheated him of more than his freedom. He escaped in a wooden box with the help of others. Interestingly, i learned that Frederick Douglass was a bit peeved at Brown for telling how he escaped, as it cut off that rout for others.

Two of these, Brown's tale and Shropshire, were from my 2018 DL, where i'll post next.

What a terrific month you had, deb. I love the eclectic mix.

America for Beginners sounds interesting. I'm adding to to my TBR book. Thanks !

Deb, A.E. Housman is a favorite poet of mine (not that I know many).
I really like his "When I Was One & Twenty" poem and another about a cherry tree in bloom (something about realistically having only 20+ blooms left to see). If I remember correctly, one or both are in A Shropshire Lad.
His poems seem to be solidly based in philosophical elements of life, as you say, remembering friends & family.
I'm glad you read him. I may pull out my copy of his work and read a few poems.

I like your thoughts on The Incendiaries and think I'll put this on my TBR list.

You've had a wonderful month of reading.

Mine was a slow month because I spent 3 weeks babysitting groups of foreigners (read: traveling for work).

The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield
Genre: Short Story
Rating: B
Review: A high class family is in the midst of preparation for a garden party when they receive the news that a lower class sort-of neighbour met his untimely death in an accident. Young Laura is finally given the chance to organise the garden party but when she hears a man had died she is having moral doubts.

I rather enjoyed the story. It gives a good description of the upper social class, their train of thought and priorities in life.

A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead
Genre:History, Biography, WWII
Rating: A
Review: This book is a gem. I tells the story about the women who took part in the resistance against Nazi and their fates. This book, in particular, tells the stories of 230 women who were, in different ways, part of the French resistance and who were eventually caught and taken to Nazi concentration camps, for the most part Auschwitz. Usually, when we read about the victims of WWII, we read about the Jewish people, but, there were so many more people sacrificed for the "great Germany". I am not trying to diminish what the Jewish people went through in the war, but these stories needed to be told, too, especially because women are often left out of the the war stories (war being a masculine thing). Wonderful book!

Japanese Women Writers: Twentieth Century Short Fiction: Twentieth Century Short Fiction by Noriko Mizuta Lippit
Genre: Short Story
Rating: B-
Review: I've never read Japanese short story, much less a collection of ones written by women. It's definitely a weird writing style, but it went with the picture I have of Japanese people, based on my working experience with them. Also, the choice of topics along with the style is rather dark and heavy and reminds me a lot of Spanish and Latin-American literature.

Be My Hero by Linda Kage
Genre: NA Romance
Rating: A
Review: Every few years I go back to this series and this part is my favourite.

Nice month, Samanata. I am going to put A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France in my TBR book. Thanks!

Petra, i know i had previously read a few of the Housman poems but reading them all over a period of weeks was a pleasure, as it allowed me to see some themes. The appreciation for nature is evident. The poem you mentioned is second in the volume.

II. Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

LOVELIEST of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

It's so amusing that you mention this one, Petra, because it really started me thinking about the time i have left. (October is my birthday month, so this may be why, too.) We don't often think about how many more of each season we will experience but it's not a bad idea.

For instance, i decided i probably have around 15-20 autumns left to see. Do i really want to spend them in Texas, where the season is basically unremarkably like summer? No changing leaves, few crisp days, etc. I'm quite grateful to Housman for this one!

Samanta, that looks like a good list. Like Alias, i'm adding Moorehead book to my list. And, like you, i have never read a short story by a Japanese woman. Nor, i believe, even an entire novel. Interesting. Thanks for that title, too.

As for the Mansfield short story, i can well imagine your pleasure with this one. I have a book of her short stories, which i like very much. For me she excels in describing parties and planning for them. I suppose part of that is her description of things such as the setting--flowers, particularly.

Deb, yes, that's the poem. It's still lovely.

It also started me thinking about how many seasons I have left. I'm not young anymore (60).
Housman started thinking of longevity rather early (20).

madrano wrote: "Samanta, that looks like a good list. Like Alias, i'm adding Moorehead book to my list. And, like you, i have never read a short story by a Japanese woman. Nor, i believe, even an entire novel. Int..."

Moorehead book is a definite recommendation. Good thing I have my own copy and I can get back to it.

I'll have to read more of Mansfield's work to see what else she has to offer.

Petra, you make a good point in stating that Housman began looking at longevity early in his life. And so many thoughts and words are perfect in their description.

It seemed to me, Samanta, that i learned quite a bit about etiquette of the era from some of her party-type books. I recall one about teenagers at (or preparing for) a dance which was neat. Sorry, i seem to have lost my notes on short stories i've read!

My September Reads:

YA and fantasy are some of my favorites to read and I discovered the "Grisha trilogy" by Leigh Bardugo. It includes: Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising. There are a couple of related short stories that I was able to read online through links on goodreads including The Witch of Duva, a standalone scary fairy tale with quite a twist at the end that is set in the same universe and it is well worth reading even without reading the trilogy. So, I really enjoyed these and I'd give them all a 5/5 rating.

The main character of the series, Alina, is part of a detachment of soldiers crossing a great inky blackness over their land called the fold. When the Volcra, creatures of the fold attack them, Alina blacks out and later awakens to find out that when her best friend was attacked, something awakened inside her that repelled the darkness and chased away the attacking creatures. Alina finds herself suddenly famous as the only sun summoner and now a member of her country's army of magic using soldiers, the Grisha. I loved how the main country in the story, Ravka, is based upon historical Russia. I also loved the scenes where the characters enter the darkness of the fold as it reminded of the movie Pitch Black. This is a great trilogy full of battles between soldiers, magicians, and fantastical creatures and contains many plot twists and exciting moments.

I reread The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner in preparation to read the series again now that there's a fifth book I haven't read and a sixth book coming out next year. In the beginning of the story, Eugenidies, or "Gen", is locked up in the King's dungeon after bragging too much of his thieving. The King's magus frees Gen in order to get Gen to help him steal something. So, Gen, the magus, Pol, a soldier, and the magus's two apprentices set out on an epic journey to steal something. It sounds like many a story, but Gen's snarky humor and wit are quite entertaining. There are quite a few twists and turns in the story along with a couple major surprising reveals at the end. This is an engaging and easy to read fantasy story and the beginning of an epic YA fantasy series. The Thief is an old favorite of mine and I've read it quite a few times so, of course I have to give it a 5/5 rating.

I also have been rereading the Kyle Swanson series by Jack Coughlin. I skipped around the series a little because not all were available at my library, but I wanted to refresh my memory of the series before I started reading the newer books in it. I read: Kill Zone, Clean Kill, and Running the Maze. The first two books I'd rate about a 3/5 while I'd give Running the Maze a 4/5. These are all intense military thrillers that feature an ex-Marine sniper, Kyle Swanson, who joins a secretive military group called Trident that engages in anti-terrorist missions around the world. I rated Running the Maze higher because it introduces a new character in the series, Beth Ledford, a Coast Guard sniper who works with Swanson and the tension and closeness in their relationship really enhanced Running the Maze.

Since discovering that Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ has online links to read short stories by certain authors, I found Guy Walks into a Bar... by Lee Child which is a fairly short story featuring his famous character Jack Reacher. Reacher discovers something shady happening at a concert in a bar, but reads the situation wrong and has to quickly improvise to deal with the situation. This is meant to go along with the 12th Reacher book but could easily be read as a stand-a-lone or as a introduction to the series. 4/5

I continued my way through the I am Number Four series with The Fall of Five by Pittacus Lore. In this one, the members of the Loric Guard are training in Chicago as well as going on a mission to find the last missing member, number Five. This one features the usual battles with the evil Mogadorian aliens, a heartfelt reunion, an intense training battle, a shocking betrayal, the death of an important character, and some intense twists and reveals at the end. 4/5

Wow, Dru, congratulations on a great month of reading. They seem to be very rewarding, given the ratings. Isn't it terrific when that works out? Thanks for mentioning the short story link on GR. I keep forgetting that. It's such a good service, imo.

Dru83 wrote: "My September Reads:

YA and fantasy are some of my favorites to read and I discovered the "Grisha trilogy" by Leigh Bardugo. It includes: Shadow and Bone, [book:Sie..."

Excellent, Dru ! Thank you for sharing.

Dru, your reading a lot of series. I enjoy a good series, too. What a terrific month of reading!

I didn't know GR had a short story link. Thanks for mentioning that.

Petra wrote: "Dru, your reading a lot of series. I enjoy a good series, too. What a terrific month of reading!

I didn't know GR had a short story link. Thanks for mentioning that."

I didn't know that either. Thanks !

September of 2018 was a very good month and didn't realize that I read eight 4 star reads and one 5 star read! I was definitely in reading mode that month! lol :) Also I was all over the place in genres as well! lol :)

by John Everson - 4 stars.
My review:
/review/show...

by Kimberly Dean - 4 stars.
My review:
/review/show...


by John Coon - 5 stars.
My review:
/review/show...


by Hunter Shea - 5 stars.
My review:
/review/show...


by Glenn Rolfe - 4 stars.
My review:
/review/show...


by Roger Hayden - 4 stars.
My review:
/review/show...


by Chelsea Cain - 4 stars. (4th book in a series)
My review:
/review/show...


by Jason Parent - 4 stars.
My review:
/review/show...

by Jonathan Janz - 4 stars.
My review:
/review/show...

Wow! That was some reading month! As usual, the short story collection by Rolfe sounds most tempting, as i like my horror in smaller segments. The mystery series by Cain draws me for its Portland, OR, setting. I appreciate this introduction to them, Marie.