September Reads
This month has been a good one for reading-I've started my new job at the Library, which requires reading. I got to write a review of Jesmyn's Ward's phenomenal new novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing. And I read some classics.
1. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
This is so good. I had no idea what to expect-having last had early Brit Lit in high school English. But I loved Sir Gawain and found it SO hilarious-made me want to go back and read some other King Arthur stories-have any of you read the stories in French? I am so interested in that lineage.
2. As You Like It:
Again, first time reading this classic. I always suspected I would prefer Shakespeare's comedies over his tragedies. I (maybe sadly?) started reading As You Like It because Betsy loves it so much in the Betsy Tacy novels, but honestly, it's so fun. Reading Othello next.
3. Moby Dick. I just started this one for my class at the Rosenbach and I totally get the mass adoration for Moby Dick. more to follow when i have read more than 50 pages.
4. Anna Dressed in Blood series. If you need a creepy read in your life, this one IS SO GOOD. it's spooky and haunting and some of it is literally terrifying (a monster with sewn eyes that eats people) but they've got everything I want in a ghost story. The second book strays a little too much into fantasy and loses a lot of the ghosty elements, but it's still worth finishing up.
5. Deborah Harkness, All Souls Trilogy. I was pretty disapointed in the first book, not gonna lie. It was so post twilight Vampire story tropey, which I found to be a bait and switch, as it is supposed to be about witches. That said, the second book gets much more into witchcraft, the missing manuscript, and as a major bonus, they time travel to Elizabeth's England. I enjoyed it, though, it's definitely not what I had expected.
6. Still reading Kavalier and Clay (so long) but I think I really hit my stride with it. The language is SO beautiful.
7. Just finished one of Robyn Schneider's YA books and I highly recommend-not every YA novel with a manic pixie dream girl includes Foucault references! it's very fun, tons of lit references, and does remind a lot of John Green.
Welp, those are the highlights! Clearly straying away from non-fiction, though I am reading a collection of oral history narratives of incarcerated women and a bio of Herman Melville.
Next month seems like it might be major-new John Green, the sequel to Adrianna Mather's How to Hang a Witch, the much anticipated Stephanie Perkins book (love her so much!), Coates' new book, and Moorea Seal's home decor book comes out tomorrow. Can you tell I love fall books?