September reading wrap up

I read two books in September. I've accepted that, at this point, I'm not going to meet my ambitious reading goal of sixty books this year, but that's okay. I'm currently at 27 books and hope I can get to about 35-40. This is a reminder that your goals can be dynamic, and it's not a bad thing to change them! 

Although I've been unemployed for most of this year, it hasn't led to my reading lots like I thought it would. Maybe it's the anxiety about money and finding a new job? 

Overall, I enjoyed the two books I read this month, so here's a little recap. 

The first book I finished was Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston. I'd previously read The Seven Year Slip, which quickly became one of my favourite contemporary romance books, so I was really excited to read another of hers. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it as much, but it's still one of the better contemporary romances that I've read. It was a very average read for me, a nice enough story, but nothing stood out. I rated it three stars, and I still want to read some of Poston's other novels! 

The second was Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson. This is my first story by Jackson, although several of hers have been on my wishlist for a long time. This is one of those books I wish that I'd read when I was younger. It's quite introspective and eccentric. It gave me one of my favourite book quotes 

"The gap between the poetry she wrote and the poetry she contained was, for Natalie, something unsolvable."

Hangsaman is one of my favourite books of 2025 and I desperately want to read The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle next! I rated it five stars. 

I am also in the process of reading Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors, The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerlad and Chasing Lolita by Graham Vickers, so hopefully I will have a productive October and finish some of these! 

This isn't a very detailed blog post, but I'm so out of practice I just wanted to get back into the routine of writing a little bit. I'm also trying to be more actively engaged with what I read so that I can write more detailed reviews in future posts. I've been in a bit of a reading slump for most of this year, so by sort of habit stacking blogging and reading I'm hoping I can find my enjoyment in both things again!