Maybe I should start one of these without wondering where the time has gone? That would be a change of pace. How about noting that when I do the next one of these, in just over a month, we will be 10 days from Christmas. So I have a lot of shopping to do between now and then...
My reading has really slowed down because I spent the better part of two weeks reading 1500+ pages of Harry Potter, in this case, Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince. Those are LONG books and they take awhile to get through! I have, however, really enjoyed my time back in the Harry Potter universe and I am glad I've been rereading these this fall. Plus, I started Phoenix on Halloween which just felt super appropriate and fun.
One other book post this month:
I'm on Instagram here and Goodreads here. Now, everything else I've been reading!
Continuing the Molly Murphy mystery series set around the turn of the 20th century, this was, I believe, book #14. I have 3 books to go and should finish them this year still and I have enjoyed my time with Molly, even if a 17 book series is a lot to read in a year (maybe still fewer pages than Harry Potter? I should do that math. They both survive a lot of things they probably shouldn't.). This one was about dream interpretation...something I only recall from the title. These have been fun and it's nice to return to Molly every month. 3.5 Stars
10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon
I really enjoyed this author's first book, When Dimple Met Rishi but not so much her most recent two, including this one. The story of two people who dislike each other but fake date because...I forget why. YA, maybe I'm just getting too old to read it? I do remember being 17-18 (although, over half my life ago now, YIKES) and the emotions and everything. I'm sure this is the right book for someone, but not for me. I just couldn't get myself to care. 2.5 Stars
Welcome Home: A Cozy Minimalist Guide to Decorating and Hosting All Year Round by Myquillyn Smith
I have really slowed down my non-fiction reading! I blame Harry Potter and Molly Murphy for that. I really enjoyed Myquillyn's last book, Cozy Minimalist Home and appreciated her guide to changing things for the seasons (I LOVE some good season/themed items) and hosting. Obviously, there's not much hosting going on right now but I loved the sentiments for whenever we can easily do that again! And it was just a really pretty book. I especially appreciated how she showed some of the same spots in her house decorated for each of the 4 seasons. That was very helpful! 4.5 Stars
Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown
I had some duds this month and this was another of them. I don't know why I picked it up but it's a suspense type book where a mother goes missing and her husband and teenage daughter are trying to pick up the pieces after she left AND figured out if she's dead or just disappeared. While I understand that this would be a traumatic experience in real life, I just didn't really care to know what happened in this fiction version. Well, I did care to know the ending but it could have been a better journey there. 2.5 Stars
What You Wish For by Katherine Center
It may have just been compared to what I read before this but I really enjoyed this one. A woman who has been (emotionally) hurt and then changed her life before having someone from her past thrown back into her life. She is a school librarian, he is an administrator at her school. There is also a beached whale, cute kids, and a school library to die for. I feel like it gets thrown around a lot but it was romance with a little more depth. 4 Stars
Rage Against the Minivan: Learning to Parent Without Perfection by Kristen Howerton
This book had me laughing out loud and near tears at separate parts. They "lets forgo perfection and all be real with each other" message isn't new (I feel like I've read a dozen books on that topic) but this had more humor and lots of relatable parenting stories. This one also had adoption stories (although very different from ours), which I always appreciate. Not all laughs (see the above near tears) but I still enjoyed it, despite not agreeing with her on everything. 3.5 Stars
Class Act by Jerry Craft
A graphic novel about a black, early teen boy, living in NYC. I am a 30-something white Mom living in Indiana. I have very little in common with this kid other than both being American humans. It made for a fantastic and thought provoking look at what kind of life a kid like him might live, since those are experiences I'll never have. And so thankful I'll never be in 8th grade again. It was a quick read (graphic novel) but really good. 4 Stars
Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein
This is a super fun rom-com-esque book about a retired elite gymnast who is coming back from not making the Olympics 8 years prior to help train an Olympic hopeful with her former gymnast crush. Women's gymnastics is my favorite sport at the summer Olympics and my sisters and I dutifully followed the Magnificent Seven in 1996. I took gymnastic classes for a few years as a kid (although I never got beyond cartwheels and round-offs). It deals with some more serious issues (like sexual abuse to the teenage gymnasts and what to do when you reach and/or miss your life goals as a teen) but was, overall, so fun and enjoyable. It was also set around the 2020 Olympics that will never be (this was acknowledged in a note in the front.) I breezed through this. 4.25 Stars
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Bowell and Faith Erin Hicks
Another graphic novel that I heard about on Thursday morning, grabbed off the shelf at the library on Thursday afternoon, started it Friday night, and finished on Halloween, Saturday morning. It was just delightful, set at an epic pumpkin patch and following two teens on their last night working there since they will be at college the following year. It was SO FUN and just a delight to read on Halloween. I would definitely consider rereading this every Halloween-time. 4.5 Stars
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
There's no real need to summarize these because the world is pretty familiar with the stories. I think this was my 7th time reading Phoenix and 5th on Prince? I started reading the series in the fall of 2003, a few months after Phoenix had been released. I was fully immersed in the wizarding world by the time Prince came out and was the first time I bought my own book on release day (I believe my sister and I ordered our copies together). These are LONG but bring back so many memories. Prince might have the highest quantity of awkward moments of any of the books, so many times I cringed, remembering what was coming. But I always enjoy my time back in Harry Potter's world. 4.5 Stars
I have A LOT of reading to get done to hit my goal for the year (just 31 books in 6 weeks, it's fine). So let me know if you have any quick read recommendations!
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