It’s time! I have five more books that I think you need to read this fall. I feel like the reading lists are the life of this blog. I love creating them! It’s fun to find books I’ve already read that I think everyone should read, and finding a few that I plan to read. Anyway, here we go! As always, descriptions are from goodreads.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
“A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.
So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.
Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.”
One day I was looking in Libby for lucky day books, I saw this one. I’ve seen it on tiktok and it had great reviews, so I downloaded the audiobook. I was unsure about the slam poetry style of the book, but it was actually so easy to follow and I fell in love with Xiomara and her journey. Definitely a must read!
Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena
“In this family, everyone is keeping secrets–especially the dead. Brecken Hill in upstate New York is an expensive place to live. You have to be rich to have a house there. And they don’t come much richer than Fred and Sheila Merton. But even all their money can’t protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mertons are brutally murdered the night after an Easter Dinner with their three adult kids. Who, of course, are devastated.
Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their capricious father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of them is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did one of them snap after that dreadful evening? Or was it someone else that night who crept in with the worst of intentions? It must be. After all, if one of your siblings was a psychopath, you’d know.
Wouldn’t you?”
This was my August book of the month and let me tell you, I read it in 3 days. I could not put it down, which has been my experience with the other Shari Lapena book I read, The Couple Next Door. The whole book makes you keep changing your mind on who did it up until the end.
Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott
“Kit Owens harbored only modest ambitions for herself when the mysterious Diane Fleming appeared in her high school chemistry class. But Diane’s academic brilliance lit a fire in Kit, and the two developed an unlikely friendship. Until Diane shared a secret that changed everything between them.
More than a decade later, Kit thinks she’s put Diane behind her forever and she’s begun to fulfill the scientific dreams Diane awakened in her. But the past comes roaring back when she discovers that Diane is her competition for a position both women covet, taking part in groundbreaking new research led by their idol. Soon enough, the two former friends find themselves locked in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse that threatens to destroy them both.”
I love this thriller and that it focuses around a secret between friends, versus a love-story-turned-murder-who-done-it. I don’t see this one mentioned a lot and I read it so fast and needed to know what happened!
I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins
“Since my baby was born, I have been able to laugh and see the funny side of things. a) As much as I ever did. b) Not quite as much now. c) Not so much now. d) Not at all.
Leaving behind her husband and their baby daughter, a writer gets on a flight for a speaking engagement in Reno, not carrying much besides a breast pump and a spiraling case of postpartum depression. Her temporary escape from domestic duties and an opportunity to reconnect with old friends mutates into an extended romp away from the confines of marriage and motherhood, and a seemingly bottomless descent into the past. Deep in the Mojave Desert where she grew up, she meets her ghosts at every turn: the first love whose self-destruction still haunts her; her father, a member of the most famous cult in American history; her mother, whose native spark gutters with every passing year. She can’t go back in time to make any of it right, but what exactly is her way forward? Alone in the wilderness, at last she begins to make herself at home in the world.”
I searched upcoming releases this fall and this one caught my eye. I love the concept and it’s a different book than I normally read, so I’m looking forward to picking this one up this fall!
Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
“Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time.
But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes.
Almost immediately, Diana’s dream vacation goes awry. The whole island is now under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Completely isolated, she must venture beyond her comfort zone. Slowly, she carves out a connection with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to Diana, despite her father’s suspicion of outsiders.
Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices, and herself—and wondering if when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different.”
Listen, Jodi Picoult has been around forever. I remember being in high school and EVERYONE was reading My Sister’s Keeper (I still haven’t read it). I just wasn’t interested. I read my first Jodi Picoult book last summer because I needed an audiobook and it was available on Libby. After I finished, I was like oooooooohkay I get it. She is a solid writer, with good character development and plot twists. I’ve read a few others by her and am very excited for this new release this fall!
Let me know what sounds good to you in the comments!
Lifestyle by Jenny 