What I Added to To Read in September

Frankly, this month has been so fraught with stuff to worry about that I forgot this new feature until I saw Liz’s at Adventures in reading, running, and working from home, where I copied it from originally.

This is the second issue of my new feature, which I hope to post at the beginning of each month. I am listing all the books I added to my To Read list during the previous month, starting with the most recent. The trick is to remember what made me add them to the list.

I am doing worse this month when I know I should remember than I did last month, when I wrote the first feature off the cuff! So, if you think your review might be responsible for me putting a book on my list, please let me know.

Said the Dead by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

I have to admit, this one has me puzzled, especially because I added it in the last few days. I could have sworn it was mentioned by Cathy of 246 Books, but it’s not mentioned in her September news about Irish literature. I also see the Literary Hub wrote about the author, but I can actually picture what the page looked like in my mind, and it’s not the page from Literary Hub. So, if you wrote about this book recently, perhaps in terms of an award nomination or lack thereof, let me know. Anyway, it sounded interesting. It’s a sort of memoir by the Irish poet.

Grand Horizontales: The Lives and Legends of Nineteenth-Century Courtesans by Virginia Rounding

I am fairly sure I read about this book in the New York Times book section. Look! Two nonfiction books in a row! I think the title of this book indicates why it might be interesting.

My Husband by Maud Ventura

I actually tried to figure out a way I could tag books with where I heard of them in The Storygraph, but there was no way. I might have to start writing this stuff down, because I have no idea where I heard of this book. I would think this might have come from the New York Times feature, “Books We Liked this Week” except it was published in 2021. It was originally written in French about a woman’s excessive love for her husband.

Farewell to Eden by Sebastian Faulks

I remember where I read about Farewell to Eden, because I had a discussion with FictonFan about not particularly liking Faulks. Her enthusiastic review made me add it to my list.

Blockers by Michael Lewis

Although Michael Lewis’s The Big Short was not about subject matter that usually interests me, it was actually excellent. Blockers, about people’s encounters with Trump’s “government efficiency” folks, sounds a little more down my alley. That being said, aside from yet another nonfiction book, I have no idea where I read about this one. Might be the New York Times.

Peck & Peck by Bonnie Garmus

Here we go again. I have no idea where I heard about Peck & Peck, but I so enjoyed Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry that I put it down on my list without even reading what it was about.

The Little I Knew by Chiara Valerio

It’s official. Starting today, I will write these down, because the farther out I get, the less I remember. In any case, it’s about the secrets of a woman who died unexpectedly, so it sounds right up my alley.

Prague Nights by Benjamin Black

I am confident that I put Prague Nights on my list after reading the review by Helen of She Reads Novels. I have read six of Black’s novels on my own (so I’m kind of surprised, Helen, that you said you’ve never heard of him, since I know you read my blog), so just the mention of this one intrigued, especially as I am fascinated by Eastern Europe.

So, here it is for this last month. I hope I do better at remembering in October!