September 2025 Reading Wrap Up
Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!
Happy October, everybody! It's the best month of the yearrrr...
September was kind of a chaotic month for me. I got a new tattoo, was fitted for glasses, saw the greatest movie of all time (Demon Slayer KNY: Infinity Castle), and also read and bought some awesome books. This month I read a total of 8 books: 5 novels, 2 nonfiction, and 1 epic poem. I also started a 9th book, but did not finish it before the month ended, so there will be a bit of a carryover. Honestly I'll be shocked if I manage to finish this book before the year ends, but we'll see. 2 books were from my physical TBR and a part of TBR Takedown, 3 were from the library, and 3 were books that I had purchased earlier this year. 5 were physical reads, and 3 were e-books. One book was translated.
Okay, let's get into the details, shall we?
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Novels
Genre: Fantasy, Classic, Adult
Means of reading: Mixed Media
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4.5 stars/8.43 CAWPILE
Page count: 327 pages (19 hrs 24 mins audio)
Day(s) read: 9.01 - 9.13
Final thoughts: Read for the Game of Tomes book club.
I had no doubts or reservations that this was going to be incredible, and oh boy was I right. I mean, it's Tolkien, and not only that but it's Tolkien's self-declared magnum opus, his greatest work. He died before he could polish it to his standards. I'm so glad that his son had decided to carry on his father's legacy and posthumously publish the rest of his writings. The only reason this isn't a five star read is because I was flagging a bit in the middle. The creation up until the first exodus of the elves was great, and everything after Beren and Luthien was equally excellent, but that middle portion was a little boring, I'm not gonna lie. I found it hard to keep track of all of the people, places, and names being thrown at me.
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Middle-Grade
Means of reading: E-book
Star rating/CAWPILE: 3.5 stars/6.99 CAWPILE
Page count: 535 pages
Day(s) read: 9.08 - 9.14
Final thoughts: This was so close to being four stars. This felt more like a setup story for the final book in the series, like it was readying the characters for battle. Seth really just needs a break, man. Poor boy hasn't been able to rest properly in over a year. By the time I reached the end, I was honestly a little frustrated with everything that was going on. It's a good thing I was able to jump right into the last book, because I imagine that year-long wait when this was first published was downright agonizing. Some characters were really getting on my nerves, and others I just wanted to pat on the head and shield them from the world. I kind of love how soft the magic system is in these books, because pretty much anything can happen and you can't really do anything but accept it at face value. Memories detaching from people and becoming their own separate entities? Sure. Characters granting others magical wings? Why not.
Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural, Romance, Adult
Means of reading: Physical
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4 stars/7.50 CAWPILE
Page count: 349 pages
Day(s) read: 9.10 - 9.16
Final thoughts: This was not quite as squeal-inducing as the first book was for me, but I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. I really appreciated the attention to the relationship all three characters gave. Poly relationships take a lot of work and I like that it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows once they got together. (Though I will say that Moira and David have way more patience with Rhys than I ever would have.) I just think that the story was spread too thin. There were too many things going on and I feel like some things were not given the same amount of care and attention that others got. Everything managed to fit together by the end, but I got a little lost in the middle. The magic especially took a bit of a back seat in the story, as opposed to book one.
Genre: Fantasy, Dark Academia, Adult
Means of reading: Physical
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4.5 stars/8.33 CAWPILE
Page count: 541 pages
Day(s) read: 9.15 - 9.19
Final thoughts: I don't think I've read a more controversial book this year. It seems like everyone reading this either loves it or hates it, with no in between. While I am firmly in the "love it" category, I do recognize that it has flaws and I agree with a lot of the more common critiques I've seen online. It needs trigger warnings, and I think the way certain topics are mentioned and talked about rather distastefully, it maybe should have had another round of edits. But if we're talking about the story as a whole, I thought it was very good. I was itching to annotate as I read, which doesn't often happen with first time reads, if that tells you anything. The critiques that I don't agree with are the ones that say this book is pretentious and condescending, and that you need to read xyz before reading this book, or that you need a PhD to understand. Guys, it's an adventure fantasy, not an academic paper. I promise there's no required reading in order to pick this up.
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Middle-Grade
Means of reading: E-book
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4 stars/7.40 CAWPILE
Page count: 608 pages
Day(s) read: 9.23 - 9.30
Final thoughts: It's the end of an era! I've known Kendra and Seth since I was nine years old, almost 20 years at this point. In a way, it feels like I grew up beside them. I remember reading Fablehaven for the first time back in 2006, and becoming rather hyper fixated on it. I had the absolute pleasure to meet Brandon Mull many times during my childhood, at book signings and school events. It's so weird to think that the adventure is really over. I was nearly in tears by the end of this book, not just thinking about how it was the end but also because Seth finally got a happy ending, and that's all I really cared about by that point. He went through too much in this series and now he deserves multiple lifetimes of peace and quiet.
Nonfiction
Genre: History, Adult
Means of reading: Physical
Star rating/CAWPILE: 4.5 stars/8.14 CAWPILE
Page count: 336 pages
Day(s) read: 9.01 - 9.07
Final thoughts: This totally spoke to eleven-year-old me who was obsessed with all things Ancient Egypt. It's crazy to think that everything I know, everything anyone knows, about Egypt was only made possible because of this 2x3 foot slab of rock, and the determination of a chronically-ill French scholar. Even though this book is about the Rosetta Stone, it actually has a lot more to do with Egyptian history and it's relationship to Europe. Dolnick goes well beyond the story of the Stone to mention other important "discoveries", archeologists and historians, and even breaks down the actual hieroglyphs and their meanings for us. It almost feels like a crash course in Egyptomania more than anything else.
Genre: Personal Essays, Classic, Adult
Means of reading: E-book
Star rating/CAWPILE: N/A
Page count: 106 pages
Day(s) read: 9.04 - 9.09
Final thoughts: Read for the Wellread book club.
This essay collection was originally published in 1962, and I think it's rather sad that the things Baldwin was talking about 60 years ago are still problems today. If James Baldwin somehow managed to time travel to today, I think he would weep in despair at what he saw. The first essay, A Letter to My Nephew, wasn't really my style. I struggle with personal essays as opposed to more academic, philosophical, or incendiary essays. The second essay was all of those things, and I was entranced by it. I must have highlighted every other paragraph. I wish I could have heard James Baldwin speak, because I just know it would have been an incredible experience. He was clearly a very intelligent and eloquent man. This was my first foray into Baldwin, but I will definitely be reading more of him in the future.
Poetry
Translated from the Greek by Emily Wilson
Genre: Poetry, Classic, Mythology, Adult
Means of reading: Physical
Star rating/CAWPILE: 5 stars/9.00 CAWPILE
Page count: 560 pages
Day(s) read: 9.22 - 9.24
Final thoughts: This was a spur-of-the-moment read. I decided to reread this specially in order to underline and annotate wherever EPIC lyrics were inspired from. It wasn't a very in-depth reading (I've read it many times in the past, though this was the first time I read the Emily Wilson translation), mostly I was speed-reading until I reached a moment that made it into EPIC, and then I underlined the corresponding lines and added the lyrics in the margins. I'm sure there were moments that I missed, so I'll have to go back at some point and do another run through (oh no, what a nightmare).
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Total page count: 3,362 pages
Favorite book of September: The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
No DNFs this month
Unfinished books: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
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And that's all for September! I'd love to know what your favorite book of the month was. Leave a comment below, or DM me on Instagram (link in sidebar under the heading "More Media").
Until next time, friends!
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