The Year in Books September

I don't quite know where September went. I think I must have blinked and missed it. One moment we were on the first of September and everyone was getting ready for the new school year or taking their offspring to University and the next I was writing a post on my Lazy Days and Sunday's blog saying goodbye to September and welcoming October.

I've not had time to write up about all the books I've ready this month so will give you a quick run down here.

I started September with Susan Lewis's The Truth About You.  Lainey Hollingsworth had always had a strained relationship with her late mother and never knew why.  After her mothers death she decides to return to Italy to find out why her mother had left her home country when Lainey was 3 months old never to return and what was the secret her mother had hidden from her for all her life,  Lainey is married to the love of her life with children of her own and if trying to discover what if anything had happened to her mother wasn't enough, her husband too she was to find out had his own secret. A secret that could if she let it change her life forever.

I had only read one other Susan Lewis Behind Closed Doors.  This one was much more to my liking, not gripping but I would recommend it as a good holiday read. 

My second read was Stephen Fry's More Fool Me.  I had previously read Moab is my washpot and The Fry Chronicles and had looked forward to reading this the third installment of Stephen Fry's memoirs. I did enjoy this one but felt it was a little repetitive in parts and not as good as the first two.

Northanger Abbey is Val McDermid's modernisation of a Jane Austen classic.  I had never read the Jane Austen original to know how in keeping Ms McDermids adaptation is but overall thought it was a good interpretation.  I'm not sure some of the language used by today's teens would be that of Ms McDermids choosing but I think it would be quite a challenge to get that right. 

Three and Half Heartbeats by Amanda Prowse was a new purchase for September on my kindle. The Penderfords are a happy couple with a young daughter.  They are left devastated after their daughter dies from Sepsis following a routine operation. All the proceeds for this ebook are going to the Sepsis Trust. I do hope that this one will eventually be released as a paperback, not only as it will raise more money for such a good cause but will also reach a wider audience in making people aware of the signs of Sepsis. I am an a long standing fan of Ms Prowse's work but would urge you to read this one even if you have never read her novels before or likely to read any of her other novels. 

At the beginning of the year I challenged myself to return to some of my favourite childhood reads. My selection for September was Kenneth Grahames Wind in the Willows.  It was lovely revisiting rattie and mole and not forgetting the formidable Badger and the encourageable Toad

So there we are a bit of whistle stop tour of my September reads.

As per usual I like to pick a book of the month and I think it will be no surprise that I have selected Amanda Prowse's Three and half Heartbeats.

I have started October with a Helen Bryan novel War Brides. It begins in 1995 when a reunion of the war brides is about to take place in a little village in Sussex some fifty years since they had last all been together. From here you are taken back to the 1940's in order to be told the story of how these women came together and the bond that has kept them in touch over all these years.

My return to childhood read for October is Pollyanna.  I am sure many of you will have memories of reading this one as child. And if you did do you always have something you can be glad about?

Happy reading one and all

Mx