I’m struggling to do much beyond working and driving kids to school or their various activities these days. I never thought our calendar would look so crazy—I vowed to limit the number of things my children are involved in. (We vow to do a lot of things before we actually become parents, right?) Well, we do limit them, but the limit still makes for a pretty busy schedule with two kids, especially this time of year.
Reading is my solace though. When l feel completely exhausted at the end of the day, going to bed a few minutes early to read (even if I can only stay awake for a few pages) is the only thing I want to do.
Here’s my reading list for September, mostly fiction because that’s what I need when life is nonstop.
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd. Nell Young is passionate about cartography, and her father is an expert in the field. They hadn’t spoken since he fired her after an argument over an old, cheap looking map. However, when Dr. Young turns up dead, with that same map hidden in his office, Nell begins investigating. She finds there is much more to that map than she originally thought, and she begins a dangerous journey that reveals a family secret and the truth behind the map. This sounds like the perfect escape!
True Biz by Sara Novic. Set in a boarding school for the deaf, True Biz focuses on the stories of two students and the school’s (hearing) headmistress. Charlie is rebellious and not used to being around other deaf students, Austin is the school’s star student, and February is a CODA (child of deaf adults) and leader who is trying to keep her school open despite challenging circumstances. According to the Bookshop description, “as a series of crises both personal and political threaten to unravel each of them, Charlie, Austin, and February find their lives inextricable from one another–and changed forever.” This sounds fascinating!
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood. This contemporary romance is about third-year PhD candidate Olive Smith, who in trying to convince her best friend she’s happy and dating someone, winds up in a fake relationship with a new professor who’s known for being a jerk. I’ve heard such good things about this one, so when I saw it as a choice of “prize” for our library’s adult summer reading program, I scooped it right up.
Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson. I’m picking up this historical novel for one of the book clubs I’m in, but it’s been on my TBR list since it came out. It’s the story of Phelby, born enslaved on a plantation but protected because of her mother’s position and value to the Master’s family. Instead of the freedom she was promised on her eighteenth birthday, she finds unimaginable hardship at the Devil’s Half Acre, a jail in Virginia. This sounds like a challenging, yet powerful, read.
Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour. I’ve heard this described as a literary satire about race and the corporate world. I wanted to pick it up because I’m very familiar with working a corporate job (as that’s what I’ve done for the past decade), yet I have much less experience with the role of race within the corporate culture, due to my own privilege as a white cisgender woman. Satire can be hit or miss for me, but I’m looking forward to trying this one.
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. My monthly nonfiction picks have been very parenting-focused, because well, I’ve been struggling lately, especially with parenting my strong-willed, firecracker of a Violet. I read a version of this book that’s focused on younger children (How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen) several years ago and found it quite helpful, and I’ve also read Siblings Without Rivalry by this same author duo. I’m hoping that this will serve to supplement what I’ve already read and I won’t feel overwhelmed or confused by a “too many parenting gurus” situation.
What are you hoping to read in September?
