What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

The past month has included purple (September) and brown (October) books. My reading time so far in October has mostly been spent on the 14-hour audiobook of Jayber Crow, and I'm now partway through the 16-hour A Place for Us, so not much brown yet!

Geekerella by Ashley Poston: Poston has created a fresh retelling of Cinderella that doesn't feel contrived, and I really appreciated that; I just wish there weren't so many details that didn't make sense or weren't explained.

The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock: This was sweet if not especially memorable. We rotate through the POVs of four teenagers who are (or become) connected to one another's lives over the course of a few months in 1970s Alaska. The number of coincidences stretched belief a bit far for me and I didn't find myself totally emotionally connected to the characters, but I enjoyed the story.

Multiamory: Essential Tools for Modern Relationships by Dedeker Winston, Jase Lindgren, and Emily Sotelo Matlack: This reread held up! I really like all of the Multiamory team's tools and think they do a great job providing a variety of practical examples to illustrate each one.

Disoriental by Négar Djavadi: The disordered plot of this book kept me engaged, and I appreciated all that it was doing, though ultimately I didn't find the central questions that drove the story to be worth the payoff.

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry: This book has quite a few things to recommend it, from beautiful writing to small-town characters who feel real. Unfortunately I got stuck on one of the central pieces of the book, which added a sour note to what was otherwise a lovely, quiet tale of a man's life. But I'd definitely be open to reading more of Berry's work.

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Stepping Off the Relationship Escalator, Who Deserves Your Love, Dracula, It Had to Be Him, and The Power of Moments
Five years ago I was reading: Girl Sex 101, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, Honey Girl, and Dragons and Marshmallows
Ten years ago I was reading: On the Road, A Little Life, La traduction est une histoire d'amour, and Adoption Parenting

Best of the Bunch (September 2026)

Today I'm sharing the best book I read in September.

Of the 9 books I read this month, my only 5-star read was a reread (and my January 2024 Best of the Bunch), so I'm going to crown my one 4.5-star read my Best of the Bunch!

Full of Myself was a beautiful book, even more vulnerable and personal than Brown's first book. It's a memoir told in snapshots, which made it a quick read because every chapter is just a few pages long. The title refers to Brown unapologetically sharing all of herself: yes, the trauma and racism we've been conditioned to expect in memoirs by Black women, which is often the only thing publishers want to extract, but also her joy at learning hand-clapping games with other Black girls at the playground at recess, the community that exists within a store catering to Black women's hair compared to the solidarity found with another Black woman fruitlessly searching the shelves at CVS, the anxiety and depression that have played large and small roles in her life over time, and her sadness when finally allowing herself to think about her grandmother's mortality. While the book covers a wide range of experiences from Brown's life, there is nonetheless an arc to it, previewed via the book's subtitle as "the journey to self-possession." Brown's four decades of experiences move slowly toward better self-understanding, the ability to set and maintain boundaries, and healing from past trauma. This was a fabulous read and I definitely recommend it.

What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Stepping Off the Relationship Escalator, Who Deserves Your Love, Dracula, Meditations for Mortals, and The Well of Ascension
Five years ago I was reading: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer and Know My Name
Ten years ago I was reading: The Guns of August, All Creatures Great and Small, and Adoption Parenting

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Top Ten Books on My Fall TBR

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

It's time for another seasonal check-in! I finished all the books on my Summer TBR and am continuing full speed with this year's reading project. I'm finishing up September (purple) and planning what I'll be reading in October (brown), November (black), and December (multi-colored). Here are some of the books I've picked out for this season!

1. Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

2. From Scratch by Tembi Locke

3. H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

4. Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

5. Love's Not Color Blind by Kevin A. Patterson

6. A Place for Us by Fatima Fahreen Mirza

7. Secure Relating by Sue Marriott and Ann Kelley

8. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

9. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

10. What I Mean When I Say I'm Autistic by Annie Kotowicz

What do you plan to read this fall (or spring if you're in the southern hemisphere)?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Who Deserves Your Love, Dracula, Meditations for Mortals, and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Five years ago I was reading: Pregnant Girl, The House of Broken Angels, Information Dashboard Design, and The Space Mission Adventure
Ten years ago I was reading: The Guns of August, The Peril at End House, and The Master and Margarita

What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

The past month has included blue (August) and purple (September) books. It's been a great reading month of mostly solidly 4-star reads, which I'll take any day.

Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam: Vanderkam provides a wide variety of tips about time use specifically focused on how time feels, using real people's time diaries and surveys about their perception of time to discover what makes the difference between people who feel crunched and people who feel like they have a full life in a satisfying and easeful way. I'd recommend this book to anybody who wants to feel like their days have the expansiveness to make room for the unexpected and their lives are ultimately prioritizing the things that matter most to them.

How to Live a Meaningful Life: Using Design Thinking to Unlock Purpose, Joy, and Flow Every Day by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans: I first learned about these guys from an episode of The Happiness Lab, the first podcast episode I ever saved to listen to again in the future. Their framework of meaning-making struck me as incredibly powerful, and it has been helpful in continuing to remind me how to find meaning in the moments that already make up my life. If you want to get a taste, I recommend checking out the podcast episode. If you want to really dig into thoughtful exercises, the book is worth picking up.

UnWholly by Neal Shusterman: I felt similarly about this as I did about the first book. The unpredictability of the plot kept me reading, but I had trouble connecting with the characters. I think I'll eventually continue with the series, but I'm not breathless to pick up the next book.

The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson: I adore this universe and these characters, and I'm glad I have one more book in the series to look forward to. While I agree with the folks who say these books aren't as good as the original trilogy, I'm still greatly enjoying the journey.

The Disasters by M.K. England: This was a fun ride! It's your typical "teenagers save the universe" plot that requires suspension of disbelief, but if you're in the mood for an action-packed sci-fi plot with a diverse cast of misfits and a side of mental health representation, this is a pretty good one.

The Dance of Intimacy: A Woman's Guide to Courageous Acts of Change in Key Relationships by Harriet Lerner: Through a variety of anonymized stories, Lerner shows how staying in connection with others (especially difficult ones) without either trying to change them or fully cutting them off requires a deep knowledge of one's own self and the ability to communicate this without coming from a place of activation. She has a more practical and compassionate approach than many self-help books. I struggled with some of Lerner's underlying philosophies and subsequent conclusions, even if I thought much of her advice was sound.

Full of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession by Austin Channing Brown: This was a beautiful book, even more vulnerable and personal than Brown's first book. I could see myself in so many parts of her story, while also clearly seeing how many parts of her story could not be mine, and that juxtaposition of mirror and window was lovely. I definitely recommend this.

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum: This was an interesting dive into an earlier era, focused primarily on two men who made it not just their careers but their life missions to offer the world a better understanding of how different substances lead to death. I appreciated the history lesson on Prohibition and was even more fascinated by the developing forensic sciences detailed in these pages. If you like a good history or find the topics of medicine or murder interesting, you'd probably enjoying picking this one up.

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi: I really, really appreciate everything that Emezi is doing with this book, and yet when an author is so focused on getting their message across in a crystal-clear way, sometimes they drop the ball on the flow and coherency of the actual plot. There's a lot to love in this story, and so I was disappointed by how often I got pulled out of the story flow by pieces that didn't make sense. The book has generally very high ratings, so if you're less nitpicky of a reader than me, you may find it incredibly impactful.

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Who Deserves Your Love, Dracula, Master Your Attachment Style, and Mirrored Heavens
Five years ago I was reading: Strange the Dreamer, Somebody's Daughter, Information Dashboard Design, and The Space Mission Adventure
Ten years ago I was reading: The Guns of August, The Lovely Bones, and The Master and Margarita

Best of the Bunch (August 2026)

Today I'm sharing the best book I read in August.

Of the 8 books I read this month, I didn't have any 5-star reads, but I had three 4.5-star reads:

The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center by Rhaina Cohen

Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam

The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson

This was a hard decision! As often happens when I feel similarly about multiple books, I'm choosing for my Best of the Bunch the one I'd like to recommend most widely.

The Other Significant Others was such a needed book, and I'm so grateful it exists. It was validating to see multiple examples of people who have dared to imagine how non-romantic relationships could become central fixtures in their daily lives (sometimes instead of, and sometimes in addition to, a romantic relationship). I thought Cohen did a fantastic job of organizing the book, highlighting a specific friendship pair within each chapter and using that to illustrate a specific theme, like co-parenting with friends, friends being each other's caregivers in old age, or grief from the loss of a friend. I especially appreciated the chapter about legal structures, giving readers a clear idea of what public policy changes could make a difference for a multitude of family structures, including close friends who want to be each other's caregivers, beneficiaries, etc. I hope that the popularity of this book will push more people to rethink what the relationships in their life "must" look or feel like, leading to more visibility and acceptance of non-traditional relationship structures. For all the reasons Cohen lays out in this book, society would be much better off in so many ways with this expanded perspective.

What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Dracula, Master Your Attachment Style, How to Keep House While Drowning, and Out of My Heart
Five years ago I was reading: Strange the Dreamer, Womanist Midrash, and The Sun Is Also a Star
Ten years ago I was reading: The Martian and A Prayer for Owen Meany

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What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

The past month has included green (July) and blue (August) books. Even if not all of them were winners, I'm really enjoying how this project is encouraging me to read a wide range of different kinds of books!

Introverted Mom: Your Guide to More Calm, Less Guilt, and Quiet Joy by Jamie C. Martin: If you can get past the narrowly gendered, cisnormative, heteronormative, mononormative language of this book, this is such a beautifully affirming book for parents of any gender who feel overwhelmed by the sensory overload of parenting combined with the external pressures to parent in a very social way.

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip Heath and Dan Heath: I like the Heath brothers' books for how they break down complex topics into practical steps with simple phrases and acronyms. In this case, they use a framework of four steps the reader can use to make better decisions, each of which has multiple variations of how that step might be accomplished. I appreciated the takeaways from this book, even if I took issue with some of the authors' assumptions.

A Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton: It turns out that I don't like a hard-boiled private eye any better when they're a woman. I found the ending fairly predictable, and I was confused about some of the main character's decisions. I don't think I'll pick up another book in this series.

Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais: I hoped this would get better, but alas. I hoped this wouldn't turn out to be mostly about a white girl coming of age through the help of Black people teaching her not be prejudiced, but again... alas.

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara: This was fabulous! O'Meara intersperses a chronological retelling of Milicent Patrick's life with her own investigative attempts to learn more about this artist who worked on animations at Disney and designed movie monsters in an era with even fewer female names than the industry sees today. Even if you're not a classic film buff or monster enthusiast, I'd recommend this book if you're willing to go along for the ride.

Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation, and Non-Monogamy by Rachel Krantz: This was both fascinating and extremely stressful to read. I think I'd recommend this to a very specific audience, those who are involved in non-monogamy but finding it emotionally challenging, but not those who have experienced gaslighting or other abusive relationship dynamics unless they are extremely well-equipped to handle the triggers of this book.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson: I devoured this one in a few days. I enjoyed the dual timelines, enjoyed the mysteries, enjoyed the characters. I should have known going in, given that it was a series, that not everything would be resolved, but it ended with less resolved than I expected. I will likely continue with the series.

The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center by Rhaina Cohen: This was such a needed book, and I'm so grateful it exists. I hope that the popularity of this book will push more people to rethink what the relationships in their life "must" look or feel like, leading to more visibility and acceptance of non-traditional relationship structures.

How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay by Jenny Lawson: I think this book is probably extremely helpful for writers and other creatives who have ADHD, anxiety, and depression, like Lawson. The further you get away from sharing all those identities, the less relevance this book is going to have. I struggled with the combination of her signature self-deprecating humor with the very earnest suggestions about dealing with severe mental health challenges, but I think this could be very helpful for a lot of people.

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Dracula, The Name of the Wind, The Knife of Never Letting Go, and Fevered Star
Five years ago I was reading: Weapons of Math Destruction, Womanist Midrash, The Buried Bones Mystery, and Nothing to See Here
Ten years ago I was reading: Bread and Wine, Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control, and A Prayer for Owen Meany

Best of the Bunch (July 2026)

Today I'm sharing the best book I read in July.

I finally had 5-star reads this month after quite a drought! Of the 12 books I read this month, I had three 5-star reads:

Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong

Heartstopper: Volume Six by Alice Oseman

I already had to give some thought to which one I'm going to share about at my book gathering this weekend, and so the one that I picked is my Best of the Bunch for this month!

An Immense World was fascinating from start to finish. I adore Ed Yong's writing as well as his audiobook narration. It would never have even occurred to me to compile in one place a survey of the ways that animals perceive the world, and I haven't seen anything like this before. Yong does a fabulous job breaking down complex scientific topics using examples and analogies; he doesn't shy away from digging into the nuances, while keeping his tone conversational and his language clear. I also appreciated how thoughtfully and fluidly he linked together the chapters on different senses in an order that followed logical connections, often ones I wouldn't have put together without his expert guidance. I was enthralled. I highly recommend this one, especially on audio!

What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Dracula, The Name of the Wind, A Monster Calls, and Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
Five years ago I was reading: The Thursday Murder Club, Womanist Midrash, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
Ten years ago I was reading: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare and Girl at the End of the World

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