Monthly Wrap-Up September 2026

By Leah's Books on October 3, 2026 • ( Leave a comment )

September felt like it went by really quickly. There were so many Jewish holidays that it felt like there was one every week. I went to services and it was such an amazing feeling to join in with the same prayers my ancestors and Jews all around the world have been saying for millennia. It gave me a really cool feeling to have that sense of community, and Mom and I have committed to attending services every other week. We would go weekly, but it is hard on Mom to get out of the house and into other places. Either way, we will be attending more regularly than we were before.

I did notice some cooler days towards the end of the month, which I thoroughly appreciated. It seems like everywhere had super hot weather for the summer, and Long Island got caught in that nor’easter. Luckily, we only lost a few leaves and twigs. Things could have been a lot worse and we’re glad it wasn’t bad at all. Instead, we just stayed in the house and watched movies and TV shows. Turns out my mom actually enjoyed watching The Big Lebowski with me, and Fargo too. I didn’t think she’d like those very much but she surprised me. We’re also slowly working our way through Rescue Me, which she also surprised me by enjoying.

My focus has shifted to podcasts a bit more lately. There’s a ton that I can listen to while going to sleep, and they even have a sleep timer so I don’t wake up with a dead battery. I’ve been very into sleep podcasts about all different periods in history and learning all about other places. Occasionally they interest me so much that I wind up being unable to fall asleep, but more often I drift off peacefully. I didn’t even know that sleep podcasts were a thing before a few months ago. I’ve also been intrigued by podcasts when I’m awake, and have learned so much from these short, manageable episodes that I can squeeze into my downtime.

ChatGPT continues to help me organize my daily tasks into a more manageable list, and it remembers what works and what doesn’t. I’ve gotten feedback on my to do list, and find myself accomplishing a lot more than I had previously. Technology is amazing.

Nearly all of my reads this month were NetGalley ARCs and I have no complaints with that because most of them were really good. I got a good range of genres, and haven’t read as much as usual because taking care of Mom is a big job.

Here’s some of my September highlights:

My reading took me to New York City; Ontario, Canada; Atlanta, Georgia; Karalgiris, Lithuania; Hong Kong; Paris; and London.
I read 10 books, with no DNFs.
Two books were nonfiction: one was a Holocaust memoir and the other was one about GLP-1s.