September in review
Slumpy reading, the end of babyhood, and lessons from selling our house
Hey, readers!
I’m thrilled to now be offering a new monthly edition of the FictionMatters newsletter to paid newsletter subscribers. In addition to monthly Ranked Reading Recaps that hit your inbox in the middle of the month, I’ll now be sharing month in review posts the last day of every month. I’ve missed the reflective component of writing lengthier posts for my (currently on hiatus) blog, and I’m looking forward to having another place to do that writing work. Each month, I’ll share some thoughts and reflections on my reading life as well as life outside of books, and—as inspired by John Green’s wonderful book The Anthropocene Reviewed—I’ll rate the month out of five stars.
If this sounds like something you might enjoy reading, but you just aren’t sure, you can sign up for a free trial of the paid version of this newsletter to read today’s post and peruse the archives!
September felt like it lasted at least twice as long as its allotted thirty days, but looking back on it, it’s also a blur—or perhaps more accurately, a fog. We put our house on the market and temporarily moved to my mom’s. I put out my first ever fall reading guide and brought back regular episodes of Novel Pairings. In the midst of that, Louise dealt with the acquisition of 5 new teeth, caught a cold, and learned how to climb the stairs, all of which drastically increased my degree of exhaustion.
Still, I read some wonderful books, enjoyed the turning of the season, and am feeling extremely grateful that we’re getting close to selling our house. Here are the highs, lows, favorites, and lessons of September.