Looking Back at September 2021
September was a bit of a hectic month for me. I didn’t realize it was over until I saw people on bookstagram posting their monthly wrap ups haha. During the last week of the month, I traveled across the country with my partner to move to our new home in the desert (Las Vegas). Since he did the driving, he got to choose the soundtrack. We listened to lots of podcasts, so I’ll talk about that in addition to the books that I read. I can’t read in the car, so most of these were read before we set out on our trip.
What Did I Read?
Even with the chaos of moving, I managed to read 9 books this month. They are as follows:
- Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May [adult sci-fi]
- In the Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland [YA fantasy]
- Twenty-Five to Life by R.W.W. Greene [adult sci-fi] – review here
- The Offset by Calder Szewczak [adult sci-fi] – review here
- Fire with Fire by Destiny Soria [YA fantasy]
- Heart of Flames by Nicki Pau Preto [YA fantasy]
- Wings of Shadow by Nicki Pau Preto [YA fantasy]
- Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao [YA sci-fi] – review here
- When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire [adult fantasy]
This was a really good month! I absolutely enjoyed every single one of these and can def recommend them. The standouts were Iron Widow and Seven Devils, with When Sorrows Come being a close second to those two. Iron Widow is 10000% a new favorite for me. I’m dying for the sequel! Same can be about Seven Devils tbh. And When Sorrows come is the 15th book in the October Daye series, and it felt like coming home. And also a warm hug. Lots of queer rep this month, and a great mix of adult/YA, and sci-fi/fantasy. I hope October is just as great!
What Did I Listen To?
As I said before, we listened to a lot of podcasts on our road trip. These are the main four that we listened to. We actually listen to a lot of podcasts done by the same family, the McElroys. They are on three out of four of these, and have actually guest starred in a couple episodes on the fourth one haha. They’re a family of three brothers who run various podcasts with each other, their dad, and their wives. I guess it’s evident that I really like them haha.
The Besties is a podcast about video games. It’s a “video game book club” as the casters self-describe it. Generally, they will focus on one game per episode, but they’ll chat about what other games they happen to be playing that week. Both my partner and I really like video games, so it’s fun to listen to people be enthusiastic about them. Two of the McElroy brothers run this one, along with two of their friends.
My Brother, My Brother and Me was the first podcasts that the McElroy brothers did together. It’s a comedy advice podcast, and it’s hilarious. They’ve been doing it for over 10 years! They generally take questions from listeners (and previously from Yahoo Answers, RIP) and then answer them. Occasionally seriously, but mostly in funny ways. I really like it because it’s not something that you need to listen to all the way through. You can just listen to a little bit of it at a time if that’s what you’re feeling.
The Adventure Zone is my favorite podcast of all time. I might have mentioned it before. It’s done by the three McElroy brothers and their father, and it’s a Dungeons and Dragons podcast. We listened to the most recent season/campaign, which is the fourth one of the podcast. It takes place in an underwater world! I’m loving it so far.
Blank Check is a podcast that my partner listens to more than I do. Here is the description of it: “Not just another bad movie podcast, Blank Check reviews directors’ complete filmographies episode to episode. Specifically, the auteurs whose early successes afforded them the rare ‘blank check’ from Hollywood to produce passion projects. Each new miniseries, hosts Griffin Newman and David Sims delve into the works of film’s most outsized personalities in painstakingly hilarious detail.” The current miniseries is about the films of John Carpenter, which include Halloween, Escape from New York, Christine, Starman, and more. The episode about the movie Halloween was incredible!
What Did I Post?
I decided to take part in #goodreadance2021, run by Shealea at Shut Up Shealea. You can find my original goals here, and my update post here, since I finished my original goals pretty quickly! I cleaned up my Goodreads shelves, and now I’d like focus on reading my NetGalley books and organizing my physical books.
One of my favorite blog posts in the past few months was my Sapphic Book Recommendations post, which I published this month. There is a corresponding instagram post if you’d like to see that. I shared books I’ve read, ones that are on my TBR, and a handful that are upcoming. I’m really proud of it, so I’d love if you would check it out (and share if you like).
Being in the book community means that your TBR naturally increases due to recommendations from friends. For this month’s The Happy Place 5, I wrote about book recs from different friends. You can read about that here!
How was your September? Did you read anything fun? If you listen to podcasts, do you have any good recommendations for me?
Congrats on your move! Podcasts are so good for road trips, I’ve got to check these ones out
thank you!! yeah they really are. it’s nice to have someone talking to you haha