Hi, you all.
Can you believe it’s September? Back to School, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Cozy evenings curled up with a good book? Sounds wonderful, eh? Here in Northern California, we are still experiencing 105 degree days and 80 degree nights but I am so looking forward to cozying up with my blanket, my dog, a PSL and a good book.
In addition to an ARC that I am reading and of course books for the classes I am taking, I have come up with a reasonable TBR list for September.
The first book on my list is This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab. Its the first book in the Monsters of Verity series. This book has been sitting on my shelf for I have no idea how long and I keep picking it up but haven’t read it yet. Having heard so many good things about it, you can understand why I would want to get into it. So I devised a simple plan. I pick out my books before the first of the month and put it on my handy dandy bookcase that is right inside the door of my office. I won’t miss it that way and it reminds me that these are the books I want to read this month.
Here is the blurb from Amazon.
There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from acclaimed author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books, This Savage Song is a must-have for fans of Holly Black, Maggie Stiefvater, and Laini Taylor.
Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives. In This Savage Song, Victoria Schwab creates a gritty, seething metropolis, one worthy of being compared to Gotham and to the four versions of London in her critically acclaimed fantasy for adults, A Darker Shade of Magic. Her heroes will face monsters intent on destroying them from every side—including the monsters within.
I can’t wait to get into it.
The next book on my list is:
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott This book is on my list because every month I try to read one book that will help me to be a better writer. This book came highly recommended to me, by other writers. I can’t wait to dig in.
Here is the Amazon Blurb:
Advice on writing and on life from an acclaimed bestselling author:
“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'”
The third book on my list is Two Boy Kissing by David Levithan. I wanted to read a book that would give me all the feels. Friends who have read this have told me that it will leave me curled up with my dog, a box of tissues and a giant tub of chocolate ice cream. I am looking forward to ugly crying over this one.
Here is the Amazon blurb:
Based on true events—and narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS—Two Boys Kissing follows Harry and Craig, two seventeen-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record. While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teens dealing with universal questions of love, identity, and belonging.
Named to the National Book Award Longlist
A Lambda Literary Award Winner
A Stonewall Honor Book
“An intriguing, complex narrative with an unusual point of view…[and] a quality of retrospection that is rare (and refreshing) in YA literature.” —The Washington Post
After reading something so full of feels, I have chosen a light hearted book full of fun and laughs. That book is: Sideways and Backwards by Heather Teysko
Here’s the Amazon Blurb.
Natasha Delancourt, the Editor-in-Chief of a large publishing company, wakes up the morning after Halloween with a massive hangover. She also has a huge problem when a compromising photo of her from the night before goes viral. Advised by her company PR to get out of London and turn off her phone, she takes the train to Cambridge for a weekend of self-imposed quiet reflection. Determined to figure out how her life has gone so sideways, and how she can start fresh, she makes an afternoon pilgrimage to Evensong service at King’s College, an ancient chapel in the heart of Cambridge. Then things get strange. Really strange. Feeling moved by the music and surroundings, she closes her eyes in quiet meditation, and then the world gets dark. She wakes up in the same place, but a very different time….
I am so looking forward to reading this book.
Brain on Fire -My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan is next on the list and is soon to be a major motion picture.
Here is the Amazon Blurb:
An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman’s struggle to recapture her identity.
When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?
In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen. “A fascinating look at the disease that . . . could have cost this vibrant, vital young woman her life” (People), Brain on Fire is an unforgettable exploration of memory and identity, faith and love, and a profoundly compelling tale of survival and perseverance that is destined to become a classic.
This book looks absolutely fascinating and I can’t wait to dive right in.
Next Up is The Takedown by Corrie Wang
Having been a part of the social media world since AOL was 4.99 a minute this book is of particular interest to me. It looks like its going to be quite of a ride. I am looking forward to reading this one for so many reasons.
Once again, the Amazon Blurb.
Kyla Cheng doesn’t expect you to like her. For the record, she doesn’t need you to. On track to be valedictorian, she’s president of her community club, a debate team champ, plus the yummy Mackenzie Rodriguez has firmly attached himself to her hip. She and her three high-powered best friends don’t just own their senior year at their exclusive Park Slope, Brooklyn high school, they practically define the hated species Popular. Kyla’s even managed to make it through high school completely unscathed.
Until someone takes issue with this arrangement.
A week before college applications are due, a video of Kyla “doing it” with her crush-worthy English teacher is uploaded to her school’s website. It instantly goes viral, but here’s the thing: it’s not Kyla in the video. With time running out, Kyla delves into a world of hackers, haters and creepy stalkers in an attempt to do the impossible-take something off the internet all while dealing with the fallout from her own karmic footprint. Set in near-future Brooklyn, where privacy is a bygone luxury and every perfect profile masks damning secrets, The Takedown is a stylish, propulsive, and provocative whodunit, asking who would you rely on if your tech turned against you?
The last book I am planning on reading this month is To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han. This just looks like a fun book to read and its looks like it will have more than a few laugh out loud moments.
The Amazon Blurb. of course.
Lara Jean’s letter-writing days aren’t over in this surprise follow-up to the New York Times bestselling To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You.
Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could ever hope for. She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter; her dad’s finally getting remarried to their next door neighbor, Ms. Rothschild; and Margot’s coming home for the summer just in time for the wedding.
But change is looming on the horizon. And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy helping plan her father’s wedding, she can’t ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college and what that means for her relationship with Peter. She watched her sister Margot go through these growing pains. Now Lara Jean’s the one who’ll be graduating high school and leaving for college and leaving her family—and possibly the boy she loves—behind.
When your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?
Sounds like a great read, doesn’t it?
Let me know what books are on your Septemeber TBR? Comment below. I would love to connect.
Cheers,
Laurie