We've Wandered Mony a Weary Fit

I like nonfiction but I don’t often reach for it, so when my book group picked this one, I was hesitant. And then just a few pages in, I was hooked. And fascinated both by the ease of Fromm’s storytelling and the story itself.

Here’s the disclaimer on this little novella: it’s probably best enjoyed by audiobook on a roadtrip with a bunch of friends who also have read quite a few thrillers and are a little tired of the stale tropes. McFadden, a thriller writer herself, does an amazing job poking fun at her genre.

How could I not pick this book when every sentence was perfect? Read it simply for the prose. I wish Keegan would try her hand at a full-length novel, because this one feels more like the set-up to a novel (or perhaps an open-ended short story), but it’s still such a beautiful read.

The runner-up this month was The Saturday Night Ghost Club which also packed a major emotional punch, but had some harder themes and a few parts I would have cut. But as a coming-of-age story, it excelled.

Who, at the tail-end of a North Idaho winter, hasn’t dreamed of relocating to the vibrant warmth of a Greek Island? No one, I tell you. This book was a treat.

Technically I listened to the third one in May, but the series as a whole was a lot of fun, particularly on Audiobook. Overall, her contribution to fairyland lore was fantastic and thorough.

Considering I only managed to finish two books in June, and the other one was a book on technical writing, there wasn’t much contest here. I enjoyed this most when it was light-hearted, and enjoyed it less when it wasn’t. The movie adaptation looks fun!

I was enchanted by the world and the magic system in this one. Meyer did a great job of weaving a few different fairytale stories together.

I’ve read this one a few times now and it gets better with each reread. If you haven’t read this one yet, 2026 is your year.

Technically my favorite read of September was The Wee Free Men, but since that was another reread, I thought I’d share this novel instead which blew me away on the line level. Such lush and descriptive prose. There were parts of the plotting that didn’t work for me, but I loved the setting and the glimmers of magic even more.

This also wasn’t my favorite read, but it was one of the only reads I managed in October. And I really can appreciate how formative Frankenstein was for the gothic novel, and how unique the idea was. Plus, I’m fascinated by trying to parse out how much of Shelley’s indictment of her own philosophical circles was intentional, and how much accidental.

This was a fun, quick distillation of a lot of different parts of the novel concept stage of writing.

This was my audiobook pick for the month, and it was especially good because it was read by the author. I was intrigued by how analytically he approached everything from his faith to his writing.

I also read The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer and Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard this month. If you haven’t read any Dillard essays, Living Like Weasels and Total Eclipse are great places to start.