September Wrap Up

 Well, hey, hi, hello there friends.

So I read ten books last month which is pretty dang good for me, an easily distractible grad student. More than half of them I read in the last two-ish weeks of September because I got into booktube and then spent what was probably a foolish amount on hardback editions of books that looked interesting.

Oops.

I regret nothing because, honestly? These books were real good y'all. I'll start with the nonfiction books I read near the start of the month, though, to keep everyone in suspense.

First book I read was Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins.

I loved this book. I learned new things (which is always ideal) and it helped reframe my perspective. It's a nonfiction book so I'm not really looking at it from a 'fun' angle but from a 'does this add pieces of information to my map' angle. I mean, it is also fun to read in the way good writing is fun to read.  

I have not read a lot of feminist theory, full disclosure. Most of what I know I've gleaned from my scattershot reading of feminist theory as applied to media analysis. Patricia Hill Collins writes about her experience as a Black woman and quotes other Black women writing about the same. It's a primary source of the intersectional oppressions Black women have faced and still face today. 

I highly recommend this book for continued antiracist education. I'm not giving it a rating because that feels weird to me? I read this for educational purposes not for entertainment.

The next book was Ibram X. Kendi's How to be an Antiracist.

Kendi structured the book a little like a memoir and a little like a lesson. It is both of those things. In the book Kendi shares moments in his life that illustrate the point he is making about racism. He also takes the time to explain how he defines racism along the way.

It isn't a step by step guide for how to combat racism in the wider world, not directly at least. He does talk about the ways in which racism manifests and what the antiracist action to combat it might be. Mostly it's a memoir and usually I'm not super about those, but the scenes from Kendi's life are so pointed that it hooked me in. He's an engaging writer and this was a pretty quick read.

I think if you like memoirs you'll like this one, but it isn't a guidebook or a how-to for activism. I'm  also not giving this one a rating for the same reasons as Black Feminist Thought. It's a good starting place for anti-racist education, actually, so if you're looking for a book to start with, give this one a shot.

The last nonfiction is far less contemporary or relevant. It is indicative of my buck wild taste in books, though.

So this book is Inventing the Middle Ages by Norman Cantor and it he published before I was born. (I was born in 1995, for context). 

I did history in undergrad and that is where I ran into Cantor's work originally. He wrote one of my textbooks about the Middle Ages, wildly enough. This is gonna be a deep cut for anyone who isn't interested in history, so strap in. 

Inventing the Middle Ages is a historiographical about various scholars who researched the Middle Ages from the Edwardian Era to around the 1970s. Let's unpack that! 

Historiography is essentially history about history. I love it because I'm a messy bitch who loves to see scholars @ing each other in the footnotes of their books. It's like the world's dustiest gossip because historians are still just as nosy as everyone else. It's like Youtube drama, but about differing interpretations about an obscure legal document on English common law. God, do I love it. It has uses besides wild tea spilling. For instance, if you wanted an overview of how people were writing about history around the turn of the century you would look for an historiographical source.

I can't recommend this book to anyone, because I have no idea if you, dear reader, are interested in the surprisingly thirsty accounts Cantor writes about the scholars he saw as making the most waves in Medieval history. You may think I'm joking about the thirst, but you didn't read 400 pages of this man calling CS Lewis handsome. Along with several other dudes. (There is only one lady, which he acknowledges is an issue in old Medieval scholarship). 

Oh yeah, and there is a chapter about CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. I might have cried over a line in CS Lewis' section because it was rather poetic. (I restate, I am a messy bitch).

I have talked for way to long about this book. It was okay and I read this for fun so, 2/5 pumpkins.

It's on okay source and it does make me want to write a research paper, but objectively speaking it's only okay.

Now, on to the fiction!

First up is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis. 

This was a reread for me, although I haven't read this baby in a while. It was one of the books that my dad used to read to me before I went to sleep and, I'll be honest, my memories were better than the book itself.

Please don't come for my bones.

It's not a bad book, I'm not saying I didn't like it. I am saying that it is a story written for kids and I liked it better when I was a kid. I also maintain that the ending is sad. I am totally biased by all the Seanan Mcguire I just read, but I can't help but think of how terrible it would be to fall into a fantasy world, go through puberty, and then come back to Earth and have to go through puberty again but this time without magical talking animals. Clive, why? Why would you do that to these poor kids? 

Anyway it's a good story and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books. I'm reading them in order of publication because I'm a goblin.

3/5 pumpkins.

Next is a recommendation from Nayareadsandsmiles who I have mentioned before because I am in love with her channel. Go watch it if you want so good content. Fly, fly readers!

Anyway, the book is Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin.

So I spent this summer binge reading Jane Austen so I've softened my opinion on capital R Romance. A good thing to since Serpent and Dove is a romance with fantasy drapery. It's also a romance between two enemies, a witch and witch hunter, no less.

Spicy.

It's an alternating POV book which I'm eh on. I don't love them, but as long as it doesn't get in the way of the story I'm usually fine. The main pitfall of this kind of alternating perspective book is that one of the character overshadows the other, making getting through some sections a slog.

This was not the case for Serpent and Dove. I loved both characters very much; their dialogue was so good. Like, the dialogue is the best part. If you love snappy, well written dialogue, boy do I have a book rec for you. 

Without getting into too much detail, this is a fantasy where the Church (legit just the Catholic Church but with a lil magic) is in a decades long war with witches. Magic is real, more time is spent with the characters then on the setting, and I am actually invested in the relationship of our main characters, Reid and Lou. I enjoyed watching their relationship grow and change. The side characters are fun, the twists were spicy, and I cannot wait to read the next book. It's getting close to gifting season so I must tragically wait, just in case my partners got the sequel for me. It's very possible the suspense will kill me.

4/5 pumpkins for this one.

The last five books are all part of Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series. I read Every Heart a Doorway and, guys. Guys. Words cannot describe the emotion contained within my being.

First of all, the main character says she's asexual in the first few pages and I became a die-hard Seanan McGuire fan. Then we meet another character who is trans and I was ready to get down on one knee and bust out a ring. I am a dedicated Seanan McGuire fan account now.

Okay, I say these things in jest. 

Mostly. 

I do still get very misty when I read books with characters who are like me: queer. Especially when authors write about ace characters and actually do it well. I didn't have those kinds of stories growing up so when I find an author who writes like this I have no choice but to follow them on twitter, read their backlist, and start drawing hearts around their name in my notebook. Okay, that's an exaggeration, I can't draw hearts to save my life.

Seriously though, if you haven't checked out the Wayward Children series, please do yourself a favor and read them. Their short so even if they aren't a fav they'll go by quick. 

Plot-wise they are about kids who go through magic doors to lands that feel like home. Think Alice in Wonderland or The Chronicles of Narnia. These books, however, answer the question of what happens to these kids when they get back from their adventures and find they didn't want to leave. It's magic, a little bit dark (there is some murder), full of amazing characters and beautiful worlds, and I want to live there. Or write a lot of OC driven fan fiction. Probably both.

The other books in this series are Down Among the Sticks and Bones which is about Jack and Jill's world, Beneath the Sugar Sky which is about Sumi's world, In An Absent Dream which follows Lundy into the Goblin Market, and Come Tumbling Down which is also about Jack and Jill. I haven't gotten the last one Across the Green Grass Fields but I shall. I have no idea what it's about and I can't wait to read it.

As a whole this is a 5/5 pumpkin series. On their own I would rank them:

Every Heart a Doorway 5/5

Down Among the Sticks and Bones 5/5

Beneath the Sugar Sky 4/5 

In an Absent Dream 4/5

Come Tumbling Down 5/5

I think Come Tumbling Down is tied for favorite with Every Heart a Doorway, but I love them all so very much I cannot choose!

I am so looking forward to reading more of her writing.

That's it for my September wrap up! I shall be back again with more posts about various things. I don't think I'll write a review for every book I read in October. I likely will write reviews for just the ones that strike my fancy. I read a YA Thriller recently called Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp and I think I'm going to review that one? We shall see.

Until next time, dear reader. 🎃