81 What We Hide by Colleen Coble 9/2 (print/library)★★★★
Challenges Met: 52 Bookclub 13. An Academic Thriller
I pretty much flew through this book on labor day weekend. I finished Persuasion and was contemplating what to read next- this was sitting on top of the library stack. I opened it and could not put it down. A twisty page turner set on a University campus. I'm eagerly awaiting the publication of book 2.
82 The Wedding People by Alison Espach 9/6 (kindle/library)★★★★
Challenges Met: 50States Rhode Island
One from the SRG I enjoyed! I wasn't sure at the start but it really turned into a delightful read. Phoebe arrives at an inn, realizing she is the only guest not there for a wedding. She is checking in with the intention of ending her life, but of course she becomes enmeshed and entangled with the Wedding People in general and the Bride in particular.
“You think you’ll get to an age where your brother stops making fun of you, but no,” Marla says to Phoebe, “it will never happen. I’m forty-two and I am ready to accept this now.”
It is nice, this ritual. She likes that there is a specific phrase for it, this turning down of the room, this recognition that night is something we must prepare for. Because the night is hard.
I will get a dog, she thinks. No offense to Harry. But the dog will go walking with her in the morning. The dog will keep her out in the world. And it feels amazing to just decide something like that, like, I will get a dog.
Love is visible—it paints the air between two people a different color, and everyone can see it.
83 Unveiling the Past by Kim Vogel Sawyer 9/7 (print/library)★★★★
Challenges Met: 50States Nevada
I read this one on the recommendation of a friend, in order to knock Nevada of my list. I very much enjoyed it. I realized after the fact it was the 2nd in a series, but thought it did just fine as a stand alone. Themes of family, forgiveness, motherhood, faith and maybe a touch 2nd chance romance ;)
The past can knock on the door all it wants to. You don’t have to answer.
84 Belle Greene by Alexandra Lapierre 9/10 (ebook/hoopla)
Challenges Met: 52 Bookclub 23. The Other Book With The Similar Plot
A-Z: "B"This was the MMD flight pick paired with The Personal Librarian. I initially started it first but then didn't finish it before it returned (its loooong). But I had read more than half so I decided to go back to it so I could use it for this challenge :P I will be honest I skimmed a bit in parts that weren't overly interesting to me and powered through to finish it before it was due again. I do wish I had read them closer together for comparisons sake, as there were two glaring difference I noticed and wonder what else I might have caught if I had both books at the same time. This author noted that in her later years, Belle destroyed allot of her personal history, photographs, letters, journals, etc. Which is sad.
85 Playing for Freedom: The Journey of a Young Afghan Girl by Zarifa Adiba 9/11 (audio/kindle unlimited)★★★
Challenges Met: 52 Bookclub 50. A Musical Instrument On The Cover
I stumbled across this one on Kindle Unlimited. I listened to the audio for most of it because the kindle book included the audible for this one. It is also read by the author, which I enjoyed. It is a memoir of a girl in Afghanistan who plays viola in an orchestra. I find myself fascinated by women's stories from that side of the world.
I, Zarifa—the Elegant, in Persian—am eighteen years old. I am going to conduct the first all-female orchestra of a nation that has been at war, either with foreign adversaries or within itself, for forty years, and is described by the United Nations as the worst place on earth to be born a woman. My country.
You just need to learn how to control your anxiety. Concentrate and go for it. Sometimes you’ll feel like you’ve hit rock bottom, but you know that every time you do, you’ll get back on top. You’ve been through this before—the seemingly hopeless moments, the discouragement—but you’re much stronger than you think.
Music had taught me to hope, to stand firm when life throws difficulties at me, and to accept humans around me simply for their humanity, and not based on their gender or ethnicity.
86 Born of Gilded Mountains by Amanda Dykes 9/17 (print/own)★★★★
Picked on a whim for my church book club. I enjoyed it, a little slow getting into. I definitely would not have wanted to read in any format other than an actual book as I did a lot of flipping back and forth, trying to remember clues and sort out the mystery and what have you. I'd like to re-read it because there was so much in it.
Sometimes being a friend means being a keeper if their treasure bin the times they can't hold onto it.
I sometimes think, when our dreams seem impossible to us, perhaps we just haven't seen yet how God will chase after our hearts with those very dreams, in the unlikeliest ways.
Spatts is strong. - Rusty
87 My Phony Valentine by Courtney Walsh 9/26 (kindle/kindle unlimited)★★★★
Another sweet, funny, delightful read from Courtney Walsh. 💖 Our main character Poppy is a chef in her little hometown. She stumbles into famous hocky bad boy Dallas at the local coffee shop. In order to improve his image and save her restaurant they enter into a fake dating relationship which feels anything but fake from the start...
There’s a reason that the kitchen is called “the heart of the home.” It’s where love is blended.
“Everyone gets hurt,” she says. “Until they heal. And then it’s time to try again.”
After two hours of primping, my sisters and I are ready to take the town by storm. Or at least to stay awake past 9 p.m.
88 A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann NÃ GhrÃofa 9/30 (audio/library)
Flight pick for the MMD book club. Parts of this book I loved. I enjoyed listening to audio, read in a lilting Irish brogue. I identified with parts about her motherhood. It is a memoir in part, she becomes obsessed with a poem by a 18th century woman. The author goes on a quest of sorts to discover more of Eibhlin Dubh's life. (Pronounced like Eileen Dove, thank goodness for audiobooks!) The parts diving into her research of Eibhlin Dubh's life were sometimes hard to follow.
It is a book that I wished I had the print version as well, one that would do well to be read again. Sometimes I feel I am merely skimming the surface of treasures to be found in text, reading (or listening) quickly to move on to the next one.
This is a female text borne of guilt and desire, stitched to a soundtrack of cartoon nursery rhymes.
When we first met, I was a child, and she had been dead for centuries.
Look: I am eleven, a girl who is terrible at sums and at sports, a girl given to staring out windows, a girl whose only real gift lies in daydreaming.
Total: 8 2024: 88 (13 books ahead according to Goodreads)
Kindle/Ebook: 3 Print: 3 Audio: 2
Library: 5 Owned: 1 Kindle Unlimited: 2
Favorite: Mostly 4 star reads this month, not sure if there is really a stand out for the month. I'm going with My Phony Valentine just because the light, funny romcom was a much needed stress relief. 💖
50 States: Rhode Island, Nevada
52 Bookclub: 36/52 (currently 3 behind according to Goodreads).
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