September Round-Up: Events Galore! Edition

Total Books Read: 16
Audio: 11
Ebooks: 2
Print: 3

# of Pages Read: 1618
# of Hours Listened: 147 hours 45 minutes

Fiction — 9

1. Prayers for Rain (Kenzie & Gennaro, #5) by Dennis Lehane (audio): I read this whole series and never felt like I had a good grasp of any character other than Patrick Kenzie, who is the first person narrator. The series is set in Boston, like most of Lehane’s books, and the first few books give a really cool snapshot of early 90s Boston.
2. Moonlight Mile (Kenzie & Gennaro, #6) by Dennis Lehane (ebook)
3. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (audio): I absolutely adored this book when I listened to it the first time last year, but during my re-listen all the things that mildly bothered me the first time (the way women are treated, how apparently only Americans know how to play video games, the portrayal of people of color) bothered me a LOT more this time around. I kind of wish I had kept my original, awesome memories of the book and not re-read it.
4. Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart (audio): I’ve heard a lot of great things about Shteyngart and Absurdistan was a New York Times Notable Book in 2007, so I had pretty high hopes. They were…not achieved. Maybe you’d like it if you enjoy lots of talk about penises and lots of awkwardly gross sex scenes.
5. Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman (audio): The blurb said his writing was like Stephen King’s. It was not.
6. Deal Breaker (Myron Bolitar #1) by Harlan Coben (audio): I was so sad after reading all these books where men only valued women based on their looks I needed a comfort read. This was my third time listening to this novel, because I love Myron Bolitar.
7. The Last Nude by Ellis Avery (audio): Right, so then I followed it up with this historical lesbian novel set in 1920s France. I have a review planned and everything!
8. The Tommyknockers by Stephen King (audio): Yawwwwwwn.
9. Criminal (Will Trent #7) by Karin Slaughter: I have a mystery series addiction, and Slaughter’s series is my second favorite (after my boyfriend Myron Bolitar, of course).
10. True Believers by Kurt Anderson (audio): I finished the book late in the afternoon on Sunday. An interesting fictional memoir of a woman who had conspired to commit a crime in her teens in the 1960s.

Non-Fiction — 6

1. Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America by Jonathan Kozol: A review of this is lined up and everything! I love Kozol and I’ve read a bunch of his books.
2. The Savage City: Race, Murder, and a Generation on the Edge by T.J. English (audio): Eh.
3. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson (ebook): Review of this is forthcoming! Thanks bloggiesta (and my new book club, which inspired me to actually read it).
4. Before the Rain by Luisita López Torregrosa
5. Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn (audio): Another book I read because it’s set in Boston. I was…unimpressed.
6. Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss (audio): I am happy to repeat myself: review forthcoming! I loved loved loved this biography.

Coming Up In October

• Banned Books Week: I’m so excited to once again be participating in Sheila’s event honoring Banned Books Week.
• Read-a-Thon: I missed the spring ‘thon, but I’ll be happily participating in the one on October 13. Now I just need to figure out which books I want to read for it so I can stock up.
• My birthday! I’m going to be 26 on the 26th, which also happens to be my favorite number. If 26 isn’t my best year yet, I will lose all faith in humanity.