Happy fall y’all! We are now entering my favorite half of the year. I love the colder months, and the temps have finally started to cool down just enough to be comfortable. Today is not only my mom’s birthday (happy birthday mom!), it’s also Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish new year. 

I haven’t seen my friends as much in September, because one of my besties moved out of state. However, there is another Moonlight Market festival happening this weekend, so I have plans to attend with a good friend. We went together over the summer, and had so much fun. I ran into the girl who used to take care of my oldest dog-child, Nena, while she was languishing in a pet store and turning into a total weirdo (which works because I come from a family of weirdos and am proud of my weirdness). We’ve stayed in touch over the 14 years that I’ve had the pleasure of having Nena in my life, and actually became friends! I also managed to run into a friend from my late teens at the supermarket, and got to catch up a little, but not nearly enough. Once our schedules align, we are planning to get together and spend some more time together. 

Throughout the month of September, I struggled with the worst fatigue I’ve ever had in my life. I physically could not get up and moving, and I’ve already talked to some of my doctors, who didn’t exactly come up with any helpful ideas. Fingers crossed that it improves soon, because it is interfering with basically every aspect of my life. Audiobooks continue to be a lifesaver for me, and I’m making a dent in my publisher ARCs, and trying to catch up again with my NG reads, which have kind of fallen behind a lot. Here are some of my blogging and reading highlights from September:

• I had just under 5,000 visitors to my website, which feels like so much compared to my early blogging days when I was happy to get to double digits of visitors!
• I’m still getting some new followers each month, and that also introduces me to some really awesome blogs.
• I went through a bunch of ARCs in September, and focused nearly all my reading on that or libro.fm audiobooks. I love libro because it supports the indie bookstore of your choice whenever you make a purchase. If you’re interested in checking it out, you can find my affiliate link here.
• Four of my reads were nonfiction—two wound up being different types of Jewish cuisine cookbooks, one was about witchcraft, and one was social sciences/politics.
• I had no DNFs in September.
• My books read were all 4 or 5 stars for the month.

Here’s my breakdown of monthly/cumulative totals for September: 

September Totals:

• Books read: 20
• Books DNF’d: 0
• Pages read: 1,764
• Hours listened: 145.3 hours
• Average pages: 58.8
• Average hours listened: 4.84 hours

Genres Read in September:

• Contemporary: 1
• Fantasy: 6
• Historical Fiction: 1
• Horror: 1
• Mystery/Thriller: 5
• Politics: 1
• Religion/Spirituality: 1
• Romance: 2
• Travel/Food: 2

Backlist vs. New Releases:

• Backlist books: 7
• 2024 releases: 13

Fiction Vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 16
• Nonfiction: 4

Format Read:

• Print: 5
• Digital: 4
• Audio: 11

Age Range:

• Adult: 16
• YA: 4

My favorite book of the month was The Lies of Alma Blackwell by Amanda Glaze.

Here’s what I read in September:

1. The Witch’s Book of Spells: Simple Spells for Everyday Magick by Lindsay Squire (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
2. The Lies of Alma Blackwell by Amanda Glaze (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
3. Israel Alone by Bernard-Henri Lévy (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
4. The Mirror by Nora Roberts (The Lost Bride Trilogy #2) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
5. Sabor Judío: The Jewish Mexican Cookbook by Ilan Stavans and Margaret E. Boyle (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
6. Nosh: Plant-Forward Recipes Celebrating Modern Jewish Cuisine by Micah Siva (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
7. The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
8. A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jen Ferguson (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
9. The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz (The Book Series #2) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

1. Unnatural Exposure by Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta #8) | Goodreads | Amazon
2. The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave (Libro ALC) | Goodreads | Amazon
3. Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw (Dr. Greta Helsing #1) (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
4. The Guilty One by Kiersten Modglin (Libro ALC) | Goodreads | Amazon
5. Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw (Dr. Greta Helsing #2) (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
6. A Dark and Secret Magic by Wallis Kinney (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
7. The Scarlet Throne by Amy Leow (The False Goddess #1) (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

1. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz (The Book Series #1) — reread | Goodreads | Amazon
2. Inheritance by Nora Roberts (The Lost Bride Trilogy #1) — reread | Goodreads | Amazon
3. The Luminaries by Susan Dennard (The Luminaries #1) — reread | Goodreads | Amazon
4. The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard (The Luminaries #2) — reread | Goodreads | Amazon

How did your August go? Drop your monthly wrap-up links in the comments so I can come check yours out as well!