What I Read Last Month (September 2024)
Holiday reading edition
I maintain that there is nothing better for a TBR pile than a holiday.
In case you missed it, I was away for two weeks, the first of which was a proper holiday followed by a week at an author conference. I read some excellent books during that first week1, and I can’t wait to share them with you!
Inspector Imanishi Investigates by Seichō Matsumoto
This book was my first experience with Japanese detective fiction, and on balance I enjoyed it despite firing some reading slump feelings while reading it. It has one of those multi-thread crime stories that end up coming together for a really satisfying—quite haunting—ending. I’ll definitely be seeking out more from this author.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
I’ve been seeing this book with its distinctive pink paint drip on the cover everywhere, so I downloaded it to be my first holiday read. I ended up absolutely loving it, and it catapulted me right out of the reading slump that had plagued me for much of the end of August and some of September. Pretentious though it sounds, I think its description as literary thriller is a fair one, but I’d be curious to hear what you think if you’ve read it.
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
I suspect this book is going to be Marmite for a lot of people because, within the first few pages, you realize that there are some quite heavy themes dealt with in what might feel like a dose of glibness. I didn’t see it that way, but I usually enjoy dark comedy and ended up really enjoying spending time with the main character.
I’ve never read Michaelides before, although I’ve seen his books everywhere in the UK and the US. I ended up whipping through this book about a murder among a group of glamorous (horrible?) friends holidaying on an isolated Greek island in a couple of sunny afternoons.
Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna
This was a recommendation by one of the hosts of the Shameless podcast. Set over one weekend in London during a heatwave when a whale has swum up the Thames into the centre of the city, it dives into the messy, sometimes unsatisfying lives of the twentysomething year-old protagonists and the people around them. There is something very “in your twenties” about this book which feels further and further away from my reality these days, but I found it ultimately compelling, sometimes strange reading.
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Bright Young Women was an enthusiastic recommendation by my fellow author Eliza Knight who learned that I love thrillers while we were at a conference together. A very strongly written narrative, it follows an attack in a sorority house the affect of the aftermath on the lives of the survivors. There’s also a dual timeline that deals with an earlier killing and a possible serial killer. For personal content warning reasons, I couldn’t finish this author’s Luckiest Girl Alive, but this one worked much better for me.
The Examiner by Janice Hallett
I adored Hallett’s first book, The Appeal, which is told through texts and emails and follows a murder mystery centered around an amateur dramatic production of All My Sons. Ever since then, I’ve been chasing the same high of enjoyment I got from The Appeal, and this is the closest I’ve come so far. This book focuses around a group of M.A. students and the external examiner meant to mark their final coursework who, while reviewing their work, becomes convinced that one of the students is missing or dead. Told through emails, coursework, and messages, it has the same gossipy, sharp tone as The Appeal.
As the seasons started changing here in the UK, I started casting about looking for cozy, autumnal reads. Just by coincidence, The Gentleman came home with a copy of North Woods for me, which has proven to be the perfect pick. The novel is told in fragments and vignettes and focuses on a plot of land in New England from roughly the 1760s to present day. As bits and pieces of the story unfurl, the style of writing shifts and morphs to match the evolution of writing styles through the decades. So far it’s a fascinating read, and I’ve already recommended it to a couple of people.
What are you reading right now? Leave me a comment to let me know!
Not so much the second because I was working but we’ll ignore that for now.
I've just started What She Said by Elizabeth Renzetti. It's a collection of, I suppose you could say essays? She's a journalist by trade and she addresses feminism and the state of the world.
Just finIished Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby VanPelt. It's a delightful novel focused on Marcellus the octopus, Tova the widowed older cleaning lady at the aquarium, and Cameron a 30 year old who's unable to hold a job and owes everyone money. Deals with grief, frriendship, love, home.