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It’s almost time for the changing of the season, from summer into fall, and from the comfort of re-reads like Harry Potter to the emotional heaviness of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments (even though they are re-reads for Ashley). Prepare yourselves, dear readers, to join us in celebrating reading banned books during Virtual Book Club at 7:30pm Central Time on Friday 17 September 2021! Register at the link here.

Ashley IN MEDIAS RES

• The Go-Giver: A Little Story about a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg
• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
• The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Nikki IN MEDIAS RES

• Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter #7) by J. K. Rowling
• The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Ashley FIN

• The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions by Emily P. Freeman
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
• The Hot Mess and the Heartthrob (Bro Code #4) by Pippa Grant 
• Caspian (Carolina Reapers #8) by Samantha Whiskey
• The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington
• Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
• Real Fake Love (Copper Valley Fireballs #2) by Pippa Grant
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J. K Rowling, Jack Thorne, and Tiffany John
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter #7) by J. K. Rowling
• Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Nikki FIN

• I Pucking Love You (The Copper Valley Thrusters #5) by Pippa Grant
• The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions by Emily P. Freeman
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
• The Hot Mess and the Heartthrob (Bro Code #4) by Pippa Grant 
• The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington
• Real Fake Love (Copper Valley Fireballs #2) by Pippa Grant
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
• Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo
• Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo
• Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

When I thought about what I would write, I didn’t even know what I had read much less where to begin.  This last month’s reading spans from family vacation, through back to school, and ends in mom’s retreat, so I really had to think back to those glorious vacation days with a super relaxed schedule and days where all my people (yes even hubs) spent hours with their noses in a book to consider how to review this month’s reading life.  

The last month has been a lot with all the pull of so many different directions.  It’s been a whirlwind in a lot of ways in my home as my people headed back to school for the first time since B. C. (before covid) and it’s been a whole thing of feelings and drama, and my reading life looks kind of like that too.  But the reading life has been good.  We’ve read some gems and shared about them here, and I’ve read some things that were good for my soul.  Ghosts by Dolly Alderton is a joy (but it is not a romance novel). I’m SO into Alderton’s witty, British style of prose and the story is so timely, vulnerable, and real.  You know we love some romance around here, so Pippa Grant’s novels have been a glorious weekend treat for both of us (yes, I’m putting that on Ashley without asking, it’s fine).  I am a bit disappointed that I haven’t finished a couple of books I started on vacation, but you know what, it doesn’t actually matter.  I’ll circle back to them (hopefully this month, because you all know how my memory is).  I want to say things about Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo but I’m not going to because I need to finish Ruin and Rising (#3) first.  So far, I’m really pumped, but it’s also been so long since I’ve touched it because schedules, and dead-tree-format, and life.  Oh, and I’m also excited to catch up with B and Ashley and finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows before my Kindle Unlimited expires next month, AND was delighted I was not the only one reading it on my trip this past weekend.  That’s half of the adults in case you’re counting along at home, and another said she wanted to reread it because it’s been so long!  C.S. Lewis is so right, “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.”

If you’ve read and enjoyed a children’s story recently, please share the title with us in the comments below!

~Nikki 

We’re going to get a little vulnerable here for a minute… I’d rather be curled up with a book at the moment than writing this blog post. And that’s OK. The reason why is also OK: I’m trying to avoid the emotional turmoil of thinking about my family hunkering down in Louisiana and Mississippi during Hurricane Ida, exactly 16 years to the day of Hurricane Katrina. There’s definitely some PTSD from past storms involved both for me and for them. Forgetting who I am and where I am and what is happening in the world by reading an engrossing book is the best form of forgetting, because it’s also enjoyable. Not that writing these blog posts for you lovely readers isn’t enjoyable, but, as stated above, there are REASONS why a book would be better for me at the moment. 

Nikki and I have had so much fun bringing you some Green Light books from Knox McCoy and Jamie B. Golden of The Popcast this month that we had not read before. We have one more for Thursday, and then we’re going to introduce September’s titles to you a week from today. As Nikki stated above, I’ve truly enjoyed this month’s titles. SO MANY five star reviews!  A smattering of smuts on the weekends, and several books aimed at the ‘youths’ rather than for adults. Not sad that I technically beat Nikki at our Harry Potter re-read AND added Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to the list because I was having memory issues as to what occurred in that book/play. I’m glad I re-read that too, because what I thought happened was NOT what actually happened.

All around excellent reading life this month. 10/10 would recommend. Would not recommend focusing on the weather.

~Ashley

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