I read 12 books in September and three of those were audiobooks. It’s the season in life where I am driving children around to all their events, so when I can, I listen to podcasts and audiobooks. It’s a great way to get more “reading” in! It was a good reading month with some great fiction and some interesting learning. Have you heard of the Enneagram? Read on to see what I read!
It was just a simple, friendly backyard barbecue – but no one walked away the same. The hosts, Vid and Tiffany, shared secrets with their guests while their daughter watches the two little girls who are over. The girls’ parents, Sam and Clementine, are in the midst of the hard time of being parents of little children and not having much time for themselves. The other couple, Erika and Oliver, want to have a child but IVF hasn’t worked and they need to look at other options. Everyone is distracted at the barbecue until … well, the reader doesn’t find out what happens until closer to the end of Truly, Madly, Guilty.
Zuckoff’s book gives an in-depth historical take on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, but also gives the stories of the people who were affected by the tragedy that day. He tells about the families of the flight attendants and pilots. He tells the work history of the firefighters and paramedics. He tells the love stories and shares the heart-breaking phone calls. He talks about who was sitting where in the planes. He describes the rescues attempted at the Pentagon, the struggles of the burn victims from the World Trade Center and the resolve of the coroner in Pennsylvania to recover items with dignity. Rise and Fall: The Story of 9/11 is going to be a must-read book for the people who didn’t live through that day or aren’t old enough to remember.
Hingson’s book is a more personal story of Sept. 11, 2001. Hingson is blind and has been since birth. He has had several guide dogs and had one with him when he was working on the 78thfloor of the World Trade Center that day. Roselle’s calm demeanor and his resolve not to upset her led them both to helping each other and many others escape the building shortly before the first collapse. Besides describing his experience on Sept. 11, 2001, and how it affected him, Thunder Dog also gives a glimpse into the world of blindness and how much blind people are just as capable as seeing people. He also talks about his faith and how he heard God speak to him on that day to calm him fears. It is a moving, inspiring story.
The Enneagram is a personality system based on a person’s innate motivations. Broken down into nine types, the Enneagram can give a person insight into why they tend to make their choices they make in life. This system also realizes that each person can have nuances, so each type has two wings and then reaches toward another type when stressed and a different type when in a growth mode. While it can sound complicated, The Road Back to You breaks down each type into an easy-to-understand format. Each number has a chapter and describes that person in-depth. Readers won’t walk away wondering which number they are – they’ll know.
In The Art of Racing in the Rain, Enzo is a dog who knows he is more than just a dog. He understands the people around not and not just their words, but their motivations, dreams, fears and desires. He is sure when he dies, he will come back as a human and he already has plans for what type of human he will be. His owner, Denny, is a race car driver and Enzo learns about racing by watching tapes with Denny. Enzo is there as Denny falls in love, gets married and has a daughter. Life is hard, but wonderful, for Denny until Eve gets sick, very sick.
In the world of a spy, no one can be trusted completely. Double agents and triple agents can easily be found – bribed by money, pleasures or blackmail. Gabriel Allon, the head of Israel’s intelligence agency, knows there is a mole somewhere after they are blamed for the death of a Russian agent trying to defect. Yet, only a handful of people could have known the location of the defection to kill the man. The mole must be Israeli, American or British – and he will find out who it is in The Other Woman.
My children are going to read The River for a book club and since I hadn’t read this sequel to Hatchet yet, I decided to read it, too. I borrowed the audiobook and enjoyed the story where Brian is once more put to the test in the wilderness. The government asks him to go back so they can learn from his mindset, but disaster strikes and he must find a way to rescue not only himself, but also a companion.
You may have heard of the Five Love Languages, but have you heard about the Apology Languages? We all do things we need to apologize for, but an effective apology is one that speaks to the person’s heart that we want to forgive us. When Sorry Isn’t Enough goes through the different types of apologies, how to find your apology language and that of your loved ones, and how to deal with the other consequences in life when people hurt you. Forgiveness, trust and counseling are also addressed in the book.
The poor people of the Ganges have left their land and are headed on ships around Africa to Europe. As word of their travel spreads, people decide in droves to help them and welcome them with open arms. However, the people on the boats refuse to communicate and toss any aid given them over board, back into the ocean. As they get closer, it looks like they will land in France. Right after Easter, that is just what they do, but as they leave their boats, they find a land evacuated of its people but for a few who have their own specific missions in mind in The Camp of The Saints.
I have had A Room of One’s Own on my to-read list for years. I finally picked it up and while I wanted to like it, I felt it was rather academically written. Woolf does make the point that women writers need to find a way to have a quiet place to write and have a way of support. She gives a history of women writers and often wonders what writers we have missed out on due to women not being supported in this craft.
I read through Platt’s book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream after reading Something Needs to Change. It’s a very challenging book about how Christians should truly be living out their faith. He provides a year-long challenge for Christians to pray for the world, read through the Bible and sacrifice time and money for others.
Columbus Must Die is a book I read for a review request. It’s a historical fiction book set during Columbus’ second voyage. The characters switch between the natives, the men Columbus left behind on his first voyage and a young man aboard Columbus’ ship. They all want to fight the potential enslavement of the native people and that means going against Columbus.
What did you read in September? Share your reads on the blog! I’m always looking for good books to add to my to-read list!
