I’ve really been pushing myself to read more in the past month. As work and other projects have gotten more time consuming I definitely let my bookshelf start to get dusty.
The big thing that drove me back into books? The Fall TV schedule. Yes, I’m serious.
Between Shonda Rimes Thursdays, a hundred new premieres, Hulu, Netflix and podcasts, I feel like I’m clicking, watching and stuck on a screen every minute of the day. Not to mention the time I’m connected to my computer at work, or when I come home and get to work on the blog.
It’s way too much, and I needed to break up the electric attachment.
I joined Book of the Month Club (affil. link) to help connect me to new titles and authors and I’m loving it so far. Here’s a quick overview of what I read last month and which titles I’m getting into this month.
SweetBitter by Stephanie Daniels. I started this book in the Summer and finally got around to finishing it. Stephanie Daniels is definitely an author to watch. I loved her writing in the books, I felt like I understood the scene and characters on a new level. The story dragged a bit for me, but over I really liked the book.
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. Anyone who has ever felt things should read this book. Rupi’s poems are insightful and real and raw in all of the best ways. It put into words things that we’ve all felt at some point in our lives. Highly recommend.
Today Will be Different by Maria Semple. This book made me laugh, think and relate. The entire story takes place over only one day, and what a day it is. The main character is definitely someone I think most women will relate to, regardless of where you are in life.
What I’m reading in November
The Mothers by Bri Bennet. This was my October Book of the Month (afill. link) pick and I couldn’t be happier with it. I actually finished this book in the first few days of the month. The story follows Nadia Turner, her best friend Aubrey and Nadia’s former love interest from their teen years to adulthood. It’s an incredible story about how the hard choices we make follow us in ways we couldn’t have imagined.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I haven’t finished this book yet, but I realize it’s definitely in the running for becoming one of my favorites of the year. The writing is amazing, and the story is captivating. It follows 9 year old Oskar who is dealing with the death of his father, who died on September 11th in the World Trade Center. The book touches on grief, loss, hope and love in a beautiful way.
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae. I loved the web series, I’m loving the new HBO series Insecure so I knew I had to read the book as well. The first few pages already gave me some laughs and I’m sure the rest will as well. If you aren’t familiar with Issa Rae and her work, I definitely recommend looking into her!
If you have any books or authors that you love, I’d love for you to share those in the comments!
Loved both Issa Rae’s book and Safran Foer’s! There has been some awesome interviews with Issa lately, she’s killin it. Ps – have you heard of @phillybookclub on Instagram?
I just followed @phillybookclub! I love their posts and am excited to keep following and checking out the books they shared. I finished Extremely Loud last night and now I have to watch the film. Need a few days those, because all the feels.
The only one of these I’ve read is Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and I enjoyed it so much 🙂 I’ve heard of SweetBitter and Milk and Honey, but I haven’t gotten around to reading them myself. I really like the idea of the Book of the Month Club, but I don’t think I’d be able to keep up with it during the school year! Is it one book a month? -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s
Extremely Loud was amazing, I just finished it last night! BOTM Club is one book a month with the option to add up to 2 other books for $10 each, which is a steal for a hardcover! I’m pretty sure you can skip/pause months pretty easily. I think it’s a great deal on new, hardcover releases. But I also know I wasn’t easily getting through one non-assigned book a month in undergrad haha
The Mothers & Sweetbitter are both on my to-read list, & I really liked Issa Rae’s book. I have, like, five BoTM reads piled up waiting to be cracked open!