TL;DR September Review

Hello Bookworms!

Finally, it seems like the weather has turned and I can get back to my usual attire of slouchy jumpers, boots and cute scarves. Hurrah!

September was our holiday month and we had a lovely trip to Devon with my parents. I’d actually forgotten what it’s like to spend long periods of time with them and to be honest there were times when I could have killed my mum for her incessant talking but overall we all had a great time.

Views across the edge of Dartmoor:

We went round Powderham Castle (very interestng, brilliant estate shop), visited lots of quaint villages and did a boat tour round Dawlish where we met this cheeky fellow:

Another highlight of the trip was a visit to Greenway, the home of Agatha Christie, where I got to sit in the chair that she edited her manuscripts in and generally nose around at her families collection of antiques. If you’re ever in South Devon I’d highly recommend a day out there, especially as it’s so remote and has beautiful views of the River Dart. 

As such, we’ve been massively lax about DIY although we have had the damp patches in the living room plaster looked at. It turns out it’s something to do with the salts in the new brickwork which the new plaster has drawn out and are now attracting moisture from the air. In some ways this is good news (no structural issues) but it’s still going to cost us a load of money to sort out. Luckily, the owner of the house next door is a director of a damp proofing company so they’ve revised their original quote (we had them round before we found this out) to make it a bit cheaper. So, until the plaster work is sorted out we can’t do that much (oh no! Poor us 😜).

I managed to contract some weird virus thing mid September which knocked me out for a whole week (and was followed by the worst migraine I’ve ever had) so I’ve had a really quiet month blogging wise. I wrote a couple of discussion posts about Weird and Wonderful Books I Wouldn’t Have Read Without the Read Harder Challenge and one called Confession Time where I talked about my bookish confessions. I also took part in the Calendar Girls meme where I chose Big Little Lies for my favourite book set in a school.

I wrote four book reviews in September, again surprising myself at the consistently high ratings. They were:

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank: Bloody hell, this book was not what I expected AT ALL and it affected me in a way that I hadn’t anticipated. Still can’t stop thinking about it. 🌟Five out of five🌟

The Kite Runner Graphic Novel by Khaled Hosseini: I’d read the book when it first came out and I can honestly say that the graphic novel surpassed my expectations. I loved how it retained everything of the original whilst adding an extra dimension. Four and a half out of five. 

1Q84 Book Three by Haruki Murakami: Ah, the final instalment of this incredible trilogy where we get to find out…precisely nothing. Every single question was left unanswered and yet I still loved it. Four and a half out of five. 

The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt: This was such a cute, classic kids fantasy tale. A great middle grade read that deserves to be better known in English speaking markets. Four out of five

So that’s September wrapped up! I’d also just like to say thank you to you all for following my blog – there’s now over 300 of you and whilst I don’t put much stock in blogging stats it’s lovely to think that my little corner of the internet is growing 😀.

So, how was your September? Have you read any of the books I read last month? Are you a Calendar Girl? Are you taking part in the Read Harder Challenge? Follow the links or let me know in the comments!