the best books i read this month – september 2018

Another month has passed and I can really feel the fall coming in. The mornings are cooler and the trees are starting to change colour. I read a bunch of really great books this month and have picked 10 to highlight. I hope you find something interesting that you can add to your to-read list.

1. Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy  by Angela Garbes While I am in no way pregnant or rushing to be that way this book was a very interesting look at the role of pregnancy and motherhood from a feminist viewpoint, which many of the other pregnancy books do not. I really enjoyed reading this book and being encouraged in the things that I desire for my life as a woman and mother.
2. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards This book was both heartbreaking and touching. When a doctor has to deliver his own wife’s baby he not only realizes that there are twins, but that the daughter has Down’s Syndrome and decides to tell his wife that she died and sent her off with the nurse. The nurse instead of handing the baby off to a home decides to run away and keep her. The story of these two families are then unfolded as the children grow up and the secrets become harder to keep.
3. Give a Sh*t: Do Good. Live Better. Save the Planet. by Ashlee Piper This book continues my reading journey of books on environmentalism and I really enjoyed this one. I felt it very modern, but also very practical and something that most people can get an easy change to make in their life to produce less waste and reduce our impact on the environment.
4. Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce When Mrs. Bird, the advice columnist that Emmy works for in the midst of WWII refuses to answer any questions that she deems “immoral” Emmy decides to answer them herself secretly. I really fell in love with the character of Emmy and her desire to help out women who found themselves in trouble, or just need a friend.
5. The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James After a series of unfortunate events Romy, the girl who was not supposed to be born in space, has found herself alone on a space ship that isn’t set to reach its destination for another 50 years. But then she starts hearing from earth that another ship is on its way and it is going to catch up in just over a year. She starts contact with the captain of the other ship, but things may not be as perfect as they seem.
6. Vox by Christina Dalcher This book is horrifying and hard to read, but it brings a voice to literature that I believe is needed. In a world not too far in the future women have been prevented from speaking more than 100 words a day, literally silencing their voice. Jean is a woman scared that when she did have a chance to speak up she didn’t, and now there is nothing she can do, but then an opportunity to make a difference is presented to her and she has to figure out what she can do with it.
7. I Stop Somewhere by TE Carter This book is another sad one, and one that comes to you in questions and once those questions are answered you are hooked to the story as you will someone to hear Ellie, trapped and alone, and without a voice. Big trigger warning in this book for rape and kidnapping.
8. OCDaniel by Wesley King 
   I have heard about this book for so long and I finally got the chance to to and I am so glad. Daniel has OCD and while he doesn’t have those words to put to it he knows that there are numbers he can’t write and that it takes him a very long time to go to bed at night as his routine can take hours. One day he gets a note in his locker and is swept into a mystery. I love how they treated OCD in this book and presented it in a way that kids can understand.
9. Any Man by Amber Tamblyn 
   I was first intrigued by this book as the author was one of the girls in “Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants”, but this book was really so much more. This book deals with the hard issue of males who have been raped, their responses, societies responses, and the search for the woman who has hurt them all. This is another super hard book to read, but the mixture of prose, poetry, and other mediums in the writing of this book is done really well.
10. Rich People Problems (Crazy Rich Asians, #3) by Kevin Kwan 
    This book is the conclusion in the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy and I found that is wrapped everything up very well. While I was sad that some of my favourite characters weren’t as prominent in this book, it still had the same outlandish scenes and characters that I loved in the first two.

Those were some of my favourite books that I read this month. You can check out my Goodreads profile HERE to keep up with all of the books that I am reading. I hit 250 books this month for the year which is crazy and there is still three months to go.

What have you been reading and loving lately?

Reading Roundup:

• Books Read in 2018: 251
• Canadian Books: 11/12
• Diverse Books: 9/12
• Goodreads Challenge: 19/20