These are the books I read in September 2021 with a rating reflecting my opinion on them. I am leaving books not available in English out for your convenience. At the bottom, I will be sharing some recommendations that fall under the category fiction, non-fiction, or non-fiction political. These recommendations are books I have not read myself, so proceed with caution as I cannot speak to their actual quality.
Read
Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
II usually love books told through letters, but this one fell flat for me. The characters were very one dimensional, the dialogue often trite and the way certain topics were dealt with was mediocre at best. I never connected with Laurel as a narrator and found the focus on suicide and the way it was discussed uncomfortable. The poetically written parts of this book were compelling, but it wasn’t enough.
Recommendations
Fiction
The Heart Asks Pleasure First by Karuna Ezara Parikh
“It is 2001 and Daya and Aaftab have just met in a park in Cardiff. She is studying ballet and he is practising in a law firm. She falls madly in love. He does, but he also cannot, because he is Muslim and there are certain rules.
Set in a world of students, Karuna Ezara Parikh sets up a dazzling framework of impossible, forbidden love, difficult joyous friendship, as she delves into migration, Islamophobia and jihad in the wake of a cataclysmic terror event that will have dangerous ramifications the world over.”
Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune
“When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead. Instead of leading him directly to the afterlife, the reaper takes him to a small village. On the outskirts, off the path through the woods, tucked between mountains, is a particular tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. Hugo is the tea shop’s owner to locals and the ferryman to souls who need to cross over. But Wallace isn’t ready to abandon the life he barely lived. With Hugo’s help he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life. ”
Political
Rigged: America, Russia, and One Hundred Years of Covert Electoral Interference by David Shimer
“The definitive history of the covert struggle between Russia and America to influence elections, why the threat to American democracy is greater than ever, and what we can do about it. This is the first book to put the story of Russian interference into a broader context.”
Peril by Bob Woodward & Robert Costa
“The book covers the end of the Trump presidency and the early months of the Biden presidency. The transition from President Donald J. Trump to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stands as one of the most dangerous periods in American history.
But as # 1 internationally bestselling author Bob Woodward and acclaimed reporter Robert Costa reveal for the first time, it was far more than just a domestic political crisis. Woodward and Costa interviewed more than 200 people at the center of the turmoil, resulting in more than 6,000 pages of transcripts—and a spellbinding and definitive portrait of a nation on the brink.”
Nonfiction
Never Say You Can’t Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories by Charlie Jane Anders
“The world is on fire.
So tell your story.
Things are scary right now. We’re all being swept along by a tidal wave of history, and it’s easy to feel helpless. But we’re not helpless: we have minds, and imaginations, and the ability to visualize other worlds and valiant struggles. And writing can be an act of resistance that reminds us that other futures and other ways of living are possible.”
No Cure for Being Human: And Other Truths I Need to Hear by Kate Bowler
“It’s hard to give up on the feeling that the life you really want is just out of reach. A beach body by summer. A trip to Disneyland around the corner. A promotion on the horizon. Everyone wants to believe that they are headed toward good, better, best. But what happens when the life you hoped for is put on hold indefinitely?”
The Congressional Report 