September is one of my favorite months. Not only is it back-to-school (and back to routine) time, but it’s also my daughter’s birthday (the 1st), my birthday (the 18th), and my anniversary (the 21st).
While all of that makes it a fun month, it’s also just plain busy. I managed to finish a few books, nonetheless, but I hope that the colder weather as we enter October offers more time for getting cozy and reading!
Here’s what we read in September.
Cathy
Howlโs Moving Castling by Diana Wynne Jones (Audiobook)
This is a re-read as itโs possibly my favourite book of all timeโฆ But Iโm shaking things up and listening to the audiobook. And itโs possibly even better than reading the actual book. Kristin Atherton as the narrator gets the voices spot on.
Sophie and Howlโs cantankerous relationship is as charming as it is amusing and even more funny when you can actually hear Howlโs Welsh accent (I guess as the author, whoโs Welsh, intended?).
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Rebellinnen zu Fuร (Female Rebels on Foot*) by Anneke Lubkowitz
German author, Anneke Lubkowitz, fell in love with hiking and the great outdoors while pursuing her PhD in Edinburgh, Scotland. In between hikes, she delved deeper into her literature research and noticed a distinct lack of female voices in nature-focused literature. The genre has typically been dominated by male voices with female authors and artists often being left on the sidelines. Having noticed this, she then set out to highlight female voices within the space.
The book touches on her own experiences and love of hiking and the great outdoors while exploring famous female writers’, like Sophie von La Roche, Mary Shelley, and others, passion for nature.
Iโve read a couple of chapters – each focusing on a different female author – and itโs a very readable book. Straightfoward writing that captures the essence of what I personally enjoy about hiking – the vastness and diversity of the world around you.
As far as I can find online, the book is currently only available in German. And itโs a 3.5 stars for me.
*not the official title, just how I would say it in English.
Joli
Tell Two Friends by Ann Garvin
Ever since reading and loving I Thought You Said This Would Work, I’ve been subscribed to Ann Garvin’s newsletter and have even met her in person. I also read another of her books: There’s No Coming Back From This, which I enjoyed.
Tell Two Friends is Garvin’s first foray into something like suspense. I liked aspects of it, like the settingโI live in Minnesota and have taken part in Norwegian festival things like they do in the book, and I love lefse, which they make in the book. The story, though, was a bit touch-and-go for me.
It was somewhat suspenseful, with an ex-con next door spying on his female neighbor, and you don’t really know why for the first half-ish of the story. But the rest just wasn’t holding my attention for some reason. It was still a fun read, but not my favorite of Garvin’s.
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The Rules Do Not Apply by April Levy
It’s been forever since I chose a book just from wandering down an aisle in the library, and this one really made me think I should do that more often. I found it in the memoir area and knew I’d heard of it before. After reading the synopsis, I decided to grab it.
Levy’s life took a ridiculously tragic turn when she lost a baby, her home, and her relationship all at once. Her memoir is pretty short at just over 200 pages, but it really packs a punch. I loved her writing style, the way she tells her story, and the way she frames her tragedies.
If you enjoy memoirs, this is one I definitely recommend. Please note, though, that the baby loss part could definitely be triggering for some.
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The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner
This was my book club’s pick for September. I was kind of unexcited to read it because Sarah Penner’s The Lost Apothecary was just kind of “meh” for me. But I ended up really enjoying The Amalfi Curse!
It was thoroughly entertaining. There are sea witches, a forbidden love, mystery, sunken shipwrecks…I honestly flew through it because I was having fun.
Is it the most amazing piece of literature? No. But entertaining? Yep!
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Fresh Water for Flowers by Valรฉrie Perrin (Audiobook)
I’m in two book clubs, and this was the second club’s pick. We meet every 2 months or so, which is good because this book is looooong. I decided to listen to it and it took quite a while.
That said, it was a good book. It’s translated from French and is set in France. The main character holds a couple of very interesting jobsโat first she attends a train crossing where she has to push a button to put the crossing arms down across the road, and then she’s a live-in cemetery manager.
The book follows her life from just post-school through adulthood as she navigates marriage to kind of an intolerable man, having a child, enduring tragedy, and ending up living at the cemetery. There’s some romance, mystery, and very interesting characters that I enjoyed. Overall a great story, but I took a star off for the length and sheer number of characters I got lost in.
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Renee
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
My Friends is told in two connected timelines. One is in the past, 25 years ago, the year that the Artist, at 14 years old, creates the painting that will become world-famous and launch his career. It’s the last summer that he and his friends spend together as children, meeting up in the morning, hanging out on the pier, sprinting into the ocean.
The second timeline is in the present. We first meet Louisa on the day before her 18th birthday. Her best friend in the world, a young woman called Fish, has just recently died of an overdose. They were both foster kids, and Fish was the only thing that got Louisa through some of those terrible experiences. When Fish is gone, Louisa decides to run away. Plus, once she turns 18, she ages out of the system, and who will even be looking for her?
The one thing Louisa has always kept with her is a postcard of a painting that she loves. The postcard shows the sea, and a pier, but just tiny at the edge of the pier, three friends. Louisa wrote a note to herself on the back of that postcard, pretending it was from her mother.
She learns that the actual painting is going to be up for auction, so she goes. She has to see it up close.
That begins her journey that includes accidentally meeting the artist, getting the opportunity to paint graffiti with him, and ultimately embarking upon a long train ride with Ted, one of the subjects in the painting.
See my full review on StoryGraph.
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The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu
The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu is a year in the life of the faculty and staff at Baldwin High School. It begins on the day that Mr. Lehrer, a former Baldwin English teacher who, at 82 years old, is still subbing, dies in the faculty lounge and is discovered by a first-year teacher.
Principal Kendricks finds out that Mr. Lehrer’s last wishes were to have his ashes scattered on the grounds of Baldwin. He tries to do this discreetly, holding a small ceremony in the courtyard that is relatively hidden away, but things don’t exactly go to plan. This sets the tone for the whole school year.
Each chapter is told from the perspective of different faculty members, some who have been at the school for a long time and remember Mr. Lehrer and what Baldwin used to be, and others who have only recently started teaching. With each chapter, the months go by in the school year, highlighting how the faculty members have so much to deal with at school while also trying to balance their personal lives (which often include some difficult and challenging times for them).
My teaching career was relatively short-lived, but this book just brought it all back to me.
See my full review on StoryGraph.
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Stephanie
My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
In keeping with my goal to read as much as I can about the Supreme Court, I read Sonia Sotomayorโs memoir, My Beloved World. She tells about her early life, growing up with an alcoholic father and distant mother and moves into her life in school and choosing a path that would lead her to become a lawyer, federal judge, and ultimately a Supreme Court justice.
While she details her life up to and including her time as a federal judge, she stops short of describing her ascension to the Supreme Court or discussing her judicial philosophy. I was hoping for more clues as to how she thinks about the law and cases!
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That’s it! That’s what we’ve been reading. What did you read in September?
More About Me
- What We Read in September 2026 - October 13, 2026
- Reading While Neurodivergent: The Sensory Magic of Books - October 2, 2026
- What We Read in August 2026 - September 9, 2026