September Reads

Should I wax and wane about the passage of time in 2020, as we close out another month? I want to, but I'll spare everyone. I will say that in order to make my Goodreads challenge for the year I will need to read 19 more books in the remaining three months of the year, which will be a bit of a stretch. Luckily I thrive under pressure, so if I get through five in October and seven in each of November and December, when I have some time off for the holidays, I might pull it off. Scratch that- I will pull it off.

This month there were two book club books (actually, I think that's every month now, which is one of the few good things to come out of this horrid year). I reread Weather by Jenny Offill, which was even better the second time around. It's not an uplifting or happy read, but instead more of a reminder of things such as the doom connected to global warming, possibilities of existential crises, and how difficult relationships can be. Have I sold it yet? Fine, fine. Read it for Offill's unique, poignant writing style instead. 

The other book club selection was Naked by David Sedaris, which is exactly what you would expect from him- hilarious essays that highlight his family, quirks, and observations. If he were to publish a new collection a month, I'd buy and read it. He can do no wrong. 

I read Erika Sanchez's I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter to help a student with her IB Extended Essay (a 4,000 word paper on a topic of their choice). This one is a YA novel, and the she plans on comparing it to a contemporary adult literature on the same topic, which is such a cool ideas. I am not a fan of YA, as I typically find the whole "adult writing as a teenager" voice problematic, but I did appreciate the story.

The shining start of the month was definitely Curtis Sittenfeld's Rodham. She absolutely nailed Hillary's voice and the reimagining of what her life would have been life if she hadn't married Bill was fascinating. I convinced one of my book clubs to read this next month, and I can't wait to have people to talk to about it. It was so distracting from life's stressors- it felt like a treat to read every night.