September 2021 Reads

Here's my recap on what I read this month (per usual, would love to hear what you have loved), including, uncharacteristically, commentary on one of the books I couldn't finish this month!

1️⃣ After a few false book starts it was so great to hit on a page turner like "Not A Happy Family" by Shari Lapena. The adult children in this whodunit made me cringe in their entitled, turn-on-each-other mentalities and the story was a good reminder that wealth can make people be ridiculously horrible. But still... weirdly enjoyable if that makes sense!

2️⃣ "The Paper Palace" by Miranda Cowley Heller is beautifully written and goodness, so painful. I do wish the the jacket summary had hinted at the childhood secret because I personally could have used that trigger warning. I do recommend this book, but just be prepared for painful threads.

3️⃣ When I read the jacket of "Malibu Rising" (by Taylor Jenkins Reid) to remind myself of the plot line, I admittedly rolled my eyes, not sure I could stomach a story built around Malibu surfers and a wealthy rock star dad. I figured I'd give it my 50 page litmus window but wasn't feeling optimistic. But wow, this novel delivered family heartache and resilience big time. I devoured it in a weekend.

The reason I want to mention one of the books I tried to read but failed to finish is because I got well past my 50-page litmus and then couldn't finish it! I made it to page 175 of Andy Weir's "Project Hail Mary" then gave up.. I'm curious if anyone else stalled out on this? I was so looking forward to it because I loved "The Martian" but I totally lost steam and was like, I cannot hang with this for another 300+ pages! I wonder if the movie version of "The Martian" broke me because I kept thinking of Matt Damon's portrayal (and how it did or did not line up with the current book).