Books Read in September

September was a great reading month for me, with the last of my summer reading - including one last book for my Big Book Summer Challenge - at the start of the month, transitioning to some dark, creepy reading for fall and the start of the RIP XI Challenge.

Here's what I finished in September (my reviews at the links):

• The Many Lives of John Stone by Linda Buckley-Archer, a teen/YA novel (NY, UK, France)
• The Summer Guest by Alison Anderson, adult novel on audio (Ukraine) 
• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, re-read of a Man Booker Prize-winning novel (UK)

• The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell, adult novel (India, Scotland)
• Drag Teen by Jeffrey Self, teen/YA novel on audio (FL, NY)
• They Are Trying to Break Your Heart by David Savill, adult novel (UK, Bosnia, Thailand) - due out in March 2017

 

• Swing Sideways by Nanci Turner Steveson, middle-grade novel on audio (NY)
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, classic novel (UK)
• Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, adult novel (CO)  

Nine books in all! Possibly a record for me. The month started with a long weekend readathon and ended with a week-long vacation, so that explains the extra reading time! I read all fiction in September, which is really not a rarity for me! I did, however, read a nice mix of middle-grade, teen/YA, and adult novels and with widely diverse topics, genres, and tones. My favorite was Sleeping Giants, an amazing and wholly unique novel that you must read!

Progress on 2016 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary - updating my Reading Challenges! I read 4 more TBR books in September for my Read Your Own Damn Books Challenge - that's a total of 17 so far this year. For the Monthly Motif Reading Challenge, September was Sci Fi/Fantasy month - Sleeping Giants fits that category (though don't let that dissuade you from reading it if you don't normally read sci fi - like The Martian, it has broad appeal & is very well-written). I added no new nonfiction books to my 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge, and one more classic for the 2016 Classics Challenge - I'm up to 3 now! For my Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge, I added books set in Scotland, Bosnia, Thailand, and Ukraine (though many of my books this month were set in NY or UK). I am also tracking the states my books are set in, even though there is no Where Are You Reading challenge this year, but I added no new states this month. And I kicked off the RIP XI Challenge with three books.

Finally, I filled 20 spaces on my monthly Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - my best month yet! (you can join the fun any month without officially joining a challenge). Here's my Bingo card for September:

My books filled these spaces:

The Many Lives of John Stone - Shelf Love, lawyer
The Summer Guest - note/letters, vacation, run/alcohol
The Sense of an Ending - library book
The Many Lives of John Stone - Shelf Love, lawyer
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - affair, recommended to you, boat/ship, step family, child, secrets/lies
Drag Teen - debut novel, friendship, pink on the cover, free book
They Are Trying to Break Your Heart - tattoo
Sleeping Giants - alien, in a series
Free space

What was your favorite book read in September?