Fall was here for a few days. And now it’s not. Come back!
Also, it’s finally Poetober!
September goal:
For September, I’ll set a goal of 3 books.
What I read:
- Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook—Anthony Bourdain
- Audiobook 🎧 / 6h 27m
- Sept 4–17
- 3⭐
- Review
- Summer of ’69—Elin Hildebrand
- Kindle / 433p
- Sept 8–25
- 3⭐
- Review
- How to Seal Your Own Fate—Kristen Perrin
- Kindle / 316p
- Sept 26–28
- 3.75⭐
- Review
- Edgar Allan Poe’s Baltimore (Images of America: Maryland)—David F Gaylin
- Physical / 130p
- Sept 29–30
- 4.75⭐
- Review
In-progress:
- In My Remaining Years—Jean Grae
- Audiobook
- 27%
- The library loan expired before I was done and I’m still awaiting redelivery.
- Life Among the Savages—Shirley Jackson
- Physical
- Only a few pages
- I picked it up for Poetober, but I’m not sure I’m feeling it.
- A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe—Mark Dawidziak
- Audiobook
- 18%
Abandoned:
- None
2025 Note: I quit linking titles to that big site that funds the rich dude and fascism a while ago—and the same guy owns Goodreads, so now I link to Storygraph. Regardless, I recommend supporting independent bookstores. My favorite is Old Town Books (they ship!). You can also support my favorite podcast through their Bookshop.org link at KickBezosInTheBalls.org (or pick a local shop of your choosing). And you can never go wrong with your local library!
2025 Progress
Star Ratings:
Based on the flat stars, not the quarter stars I assign in my reviews.
- 5 stars: 2 books
- 4 stars: 11 books
- 3 stars: 19 books
- 2 stars: 2 books
- 1 star: 0 books
- 0 stars: 0 books
- Abandoned: 3 books
- Not rated: 0 books
Pages Read/Hours Listened:
(Does not include partial books, abandoned books, or edited manuscripts)
- January – 1359p, 4h 13m
- February – 766p, 8h 0m
- March – 1475p*, 15h 49m
- April – 0p, 4h 22m
- May – 1840p, 8h 57m
- June – 1861p, 5h 57m
- July – 1425p, 0h 0m
- August – 1326p, 0h 0m
- September – 1165p, 6h 27m
*Note: Storygraph has a slightly different number because they count what they think I actually read each day based on when I update my progress. I always count the entire book in the month it was completed, even if I read everything but the last page (or listen to everything but the last minute) in the previous month.
Reading Goals:
Read 36 books
I finished 4 books toward my Goodreads Challenge, and I’m 7 ahead.
- Audiobooks: 9
- Kindle: 23
- Physical books: 1
*Note: I edited a book in April/May and read the 297 pages 3 times in the process, so I feel like I could count another 3 books and 891 pages toward my total.
Decrease my TBR
- Jan 1: 59 physical / 20 digital
- Feb 2: 59/20
- Mar 2: 59/20
- Apr 6: 59/20
- May 2: 59/20
- Jun 4: 59/21
- Jul 5: 59/21
- Aug 3: 58*/20
- Sept 1: 58/20
- Oct 5: 57/20
*I finally switched these stats over to Storygraph and realized I have discrepancies between my physical TBRs on Goodreads and Storygraph. A problem for another day.
Read 25 minutes per day
September 30 was Day 1476 of my reading streak.
September was OK for reading. I was so sure I set a goal of 4 books that I really pushed to finish one more. It was one of my Poetober picks, so I got a head start on this month.
Poetober, by the way, is when I read and watch and do all of the creepy stuff. So far, the month’s off to a scary start in a different way, and we’ll see how well I’m able to sustain and enjoy the vibe. We have some fun things planned, and I keep hoping the weather will decide to feel like fall.
I’m setting a Poetober goal of 3 books.
As always, you can find me other places to see what I’m reading:
