#12DaysofReadThis 2017 | September — Tina

Dec 28

Dec 28 #12DaysofReadThis 2017 | September

I had a great reading month in September! I listened to my favorite book of the month on Audible and read one of my few non-fiction books. I also finally got to cross off one of the books that has been on my TBR for a long time.

This Is How It Always Is | Laurie Frankel | One of my favorites of the year. A large family with a truly remarkable youngest child grapples with doing what is best for the child and what is expected by those around them. This book presented a lot of issues with tact and humanity, and I really enjoyed the characters. Especially the youngest at the center of the story. Great for readers who like reading about family drama with a little heft. Rating, 5

Bird Box | Josh Malerman | I kept hearing people cite this book as one of the scariest books they've ever read. I don't know if I'd call it my scariest (that award might go to Pet Semetary), but I did really enjoy the premise- there is something unknown that is killing people. No one knows what this unknown threat is, only that if you open your eyes outside or look out the window, you run the risk of dying. It's tense dystopian with a compelling character at its center. The TV show Lost meets Station Eleven. Rating, 3.75

The Fourth Monkey | J.D. Barker | Another book I really enjoyed! This book opens with a twist- a detective who has been hunting a serial killer for years finds out that the killer is now dead. He is dead, isn't he? This book was pretty brutal and comes with all of the trigger warnings, but I enjoyed the lead detective and liked unraveling the story. It didn't hurt that it was set in Chicago. It reminded me of of the Jussi Adler-Olsen Department Q books. Full review here. Rating 4.75

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of Unruly Women | Anne Helen Peterson | My reading goals for 2018 include reading more books like this- non- fiction, written by woman, or written by people of color. I loved the structure of this book- 12 or so chapters that each presented a woman that is considered too X by some: too sexy, too shrill, too old to be doing that. There were a ton of themes presented- feminism, age, weight, sexual orientation- all in an accessible way supplemented by strong citations. Great to give as a gift or to have on your bookshelf. Rating: 4

The Wife Between Us | Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekenen Finally, I read an ARC for a book that comes out in January 2018. This was SUCH a good book. I thought it was going to be your "typical" Gone Girl-esque thriller, but there were a couple of big twists here that totally threw me for a loop. This was a really fun domestic noir- I only had a few notes I took while I read it, one of which was "I'm so sweaty!" Expect to see this one everywhere in 2018. Full review here. Rating, 5

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