WHAT I READ IN SEPTEMBER 2022

I’m so sorry to say I think this round up is going to be a disappointment. Not every month can be a rockstar month of reading. I put a lot of pressure on myself to read a lot. In part because I enjoy it, but also because I share what I read with you guys. In September, I just didn’t have a lot of time to read and I also was slogging through a book that just wasn’t doing it for me. I finally quit– even though I was 70% in. The old me would have forced myself to finish just to finish, but I keep trying to remind myself that life is too short. So I stopped and picked up a book I’m loving (which I’ll share for October’s round up!). Anyway, just trying to love reading and not feeling like it’s a job– feels like a good first step.

THE MANY DAUGHTERS OF AFONG MOY by Jamie Ford

3/5 Stars

My mom actually just asked me about this book. I liked it in some ways and found myself quite confused in others. I listened to the audiobook and, I think, it might have been better had a different take had I read it? The concept was so intriguing to me, but I definitely had a hard time keeping track of the lineage of all the daughters. The book is about epigenetics– the shared trauma we pass down through generations. In The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, we learn about the shared trauma of the decedents of Afong Moy. Afong Moy is a real person, the first known Chinese female to immigrate to the United States, and the book is a mix of historical fiction, elements of science, and generational story-telling.

THE GIFT: 14 Lessons to Save Your Life by Edith Eger

4/5 Stars

I downloaded this and breezed through it. Edith Eger is a Holocaust survivor and psychologist and she writes about how the prison she created in her head was worse than any prison she experienced during the Holocaust. In The Gift, Eger “describes the twelve most pervasive imprisoning beliefs she has known—including fear, grief, anger, secrets, stress, guilt, shame, and avoidance—and the tools she has discovered to deal with these universal challenges.” I found her story to be incredibly moving and I loved that she not only described how limiting some of these imprisoning beliefs could be, but also how to overcome them. There are clear and actionable takeaways that I have now been thinking about in my everyday life since reading.

THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN by Carolyn Huynh

2/5 Stars

Oof, okay. So this was another book that I should have read versus listen to. You need to be able to see the family tree. There are SO many characters. The novel is told through the perspective of a number of Vietnamese sisters, daughters, cousins, and aunts. All of whom are decedents of their ancestor Oanh, who was cursed by a witch that she and her decedents would never find happiness or love and would never give birth to sons. It is told with a good bit of humor, but the cattiness between the sisters/aunts/cousins really wore me down. It was hard to find any of the characters likable and I also found the ending easily predictable.

ALWAYS THE FIRST TO DIE by R.J. Jacobs

3.5/5 Stars

This is not my usual genre (thriller), but I enjoyed it. It’s a good book to read during the month of October if you want a novel equivalent of a classic horror film. The main character had a role in a cult classic horror film as a teenager, and now she finds herself in the Florida Keys (her hometown) in the aftermath of a Hurricane in search of her teenage daughter who snuck away to be in a sequel of the movie. Again, it’s not the typical book I would reach for, but I was tuned IN. I needed to know what happened and was on the edge of my seat!