What I Read in September

 And just like that summer is over. Pumpkin spice season is upon us and I'm not totally mad about that (just the pumpkin spice part, I mean). 

I'm still not yet back to my normal reading pace, having absorbed 7 books into my personality this past month, because what are we if not a reflection of the stories we've read?!?

In case you were curious, here's a peek at what I read and reviewed last month!

Mother Walked Into the Lake by Alana Capria

I bought this book last year when Kernpunkt Press was having a sale. I'd heard the author read from it and knew it was something I wanted to read.

It's uniquely written and narrated - the characters are only known as Mother, Father, Sister, and Brother. The protagonist, the eldest sister, explains that Mother walked into the lake and disappeared. After searching high and low for her, she suddenly reappears but is not who she was. Mother has changed... is changing... and the children are both frightened and enthralled. Mother hides and chases, she smiles and sneers, she's watchful and wary.

I wrongly assumed it would be a quick one-sitting read since it clocks in at just under 100 pages. Instead, I digested it over the course of four days. The prose is lush and quite literarlly breathtaking, requiring frequent breaks to allow its words to wash over you. It's psychological, trauma-ridden, body horrific fiction that's haunted but also haunting.

Dead Water by CA Fletcher

Oooh yeeeaaaah. A chunky slow burn of a watery horror-adjacent novel that's best dived into blind. Don't read the reviews before you read the book. Trust me.

I won't give anything away here so if you end up reading it, you gotta come back and tell me what you thought.

It's atmospheric and unhurried. The short chapters help you glide through the book pretty quickly despite it being so page-heavy. It's set on a pretty isolated island, so as the good stuff gets going it starts to feel a little claustrophobic. And it's very character heavy but that's not a bad thing in this case.

In tone and pacing, it reminded me a bit of The Town That Forgot To Breathe and The Shipbuilder of Bellfairie.

Go on. Get it. I think you'll really like it.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Had the opportunity to download this on audio as a review copy, though I was hesitant because it was blowing up on the socials and typically when a big five book is praised by the masses, it usually means it's not for me.

True to my hunch, it was a good car-ride companion but probably not something I would have enjoyed curling up with to read. The narration was well done, but the storyline was a bit long for me... I'm not a fan of books that span long relationships. And this one had a lot of break-up-get-back-together moments. Because of that, there's this weird built-in redundancy that's slightly nails-on-a-chalkboardish, a repetitiveness to some of the situations that really frustrated me - oh no, they are misinterupting each other's intentions again; oh gosh, why don't they just say it, why are they holding it in again, haven't they learned their lesson?; why do they remain friends if they so obviously can't get along?

I did enjoy the retro throwback feel of the book. Setting it in the 90's, just as gaming and computers were really blowing up, brought back a rush of nostalgia for me. As a non-gamer, I appreciated how the book didn't hyperfocus on the details of designing or playing, even though video games are basically what stitches the whole thing together.

Saturnalia by Stephanie Feldman

This one took me by surprise. I definitely wasn't expecting it to go where it went and ended up reeeeaaally enjoying it!

Set in an alternate version of Philadelphia, where climate change has ravaged the world, we meet Nina, who's barely keeping her head above water, when she receives a call from an old friend with a request that she can't turn down. He needs her to sneak into the Saturn Club - a super elite social club she broke away from three years earlier - and retrieve something for him. The timing is perfect, the city is celebrating Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival that has become a trendy 'mardi gras' like block party, and it will provide her the perfect cover.

At first it's all carnival masks and flashbacks to when she was part of the upper echelon and discovering the reason she turned her back on it all... but once she learns exactly what she it is she has stolen, all the wheels fall off the bus and we find ourselves on one roller coaster of a ride. Out of nowhere, we're suddenly thrust into a strange underworld of mayhem and magic and alchemy and secrets darker than anything Nina could have ever imagined.

And it's just.... so.... good! If this wasn't on your radar, it is now, and now you've got no excuse!

Assemblage by Abigail Stewart

I am a fan of Abigail's. Her writing is ridiculously bingeable. Go ahead, crack open one of her books and tell me you didn't accidentally read it cover to cover in a matter of hours without even noticing the time passing.

In this collection, Abigail infuses each of her stories with just the right amount of magical realism. They lean slightly left of center when you least expect it and continued to surprise me at every twist and turn.

The Light Never to Be Snuffed by Josh Dale

Mother fucking ants, you guys!

The Light to Never Be Snuffed is a surreal peek into a young boy's damaged view of the world and the increasingly strange ways in which he copes with escalating domestic unrest.

Jack was homeschooled and is preparing to enter the third grade. His dad drinks, his mom wears bruises like jewlery, he's sick of the ants that seem to have run of the household, and he's probably got a concussion from the hit he took to the head when helping his dad in the garage.

He typically hides in his room and plays his gameboy, knowing enough to stay out of the way when his parents start to get into it. But he's concerned, he knows something's not right, and he creates an imaginary friend to keep his head occupied as things become increasingly more difficult for him.

It's a weird little novella that is easily read in one sitting but fair warning, it's not going to be for everyone.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Listened to this one on my way to and from work and I'm glad I did because I'm not sure this was the kind of book I would have enjoyed sitting down with. It was a little too cutesy for me but worked really well on audio.

Elderly Tova Sullivan has experienced a lot of loss in her life. Her son disappeared when he was eighteen and her husband passed away after a long suffering illness. She's working overnights as a cleaner at the aquarium and quickly develops a meaningful friendshipwith their giant Pacific Octopus named Marcellus (who happens to be the book's narrator). Marcellus was a rescue from the Puget Sound, the very ocean her son is believed to have committed suicide in.

In a separate storyline, we meet Cameron, who just turned 30 and has traveled to Sowell Bay in search of the man he hopes is his father. After spending every cent he owned to get there, Cameron is in need of a job to pay back his aunt's loan and ends up taking over Tova's position while she's home recovering from a bad fall.

As the two storylines merge, astute readers will quickly read the writing on the wall and well, who cares. It doesn't ruin the experience because, as I mentioned, it's kind of a cutesy read (or "corny"... as I saw another review refer to it) so we're rooting for the happy ending we know everyone will be getting.

Have you read or listened to any of these?