Its that time of month! Here is what I read this month:

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma

I participated in an online book exchange over the summer, and this is the book that was sent and recommended to me. I first heard of this book on an episode of one of my favorite podcasts, The Read Aloud Revival, where the host interviewed the author about her book. This is a memoir about what Ozma and her father call ‘the streak’. When Alice was girl she and her father challenged themselves to read aloud every night for 1000 nights in a row, never missing. They did it, and kept going, never missing a night of reading until Alice moved away to college. I loved the premise of the book, but I wasn’t a fan of Ozma’s voice as a narrator, and I had a hard time liking her father. This felt a little like a collection of essays more than anything else. There were parts of the book that I really loved, like the chapter on her relationship with her older sister; but a lot of it felt like she was skirting around the big things by just barely touching on them but not really exploring them. Like when her mother left. Overall, I liked this book, I’m glad that I read it, but I would only recommend it to certain people and with certain caveats.

Roots & Sky by Christie Purifoy

I’ve been looking forward to reading this for a while. This is another memoir, and it follows the author through the first year she and her family live in a 100+ year old house. I bought it purely because its always been a dream of mine to live in a really old house, and her instagram account is beautiful. (Seriously. Check it out.) I’m not sure what I was expecting from this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. Its actually mostly about her spiritual journey finding ‘home’, which mirrors her real-life struggle to feel at home in their new house. She also talks a little about her post-partum depression. Her writing style is beautiful and poetic, with each chapter drawing a spiritual/temporal comparison. I read this book fairly quickly, but it would be a lovely book to dip in and out of as the mood strikes.

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (Cormoran Strike #2)- audiobook

A long time ago I read the first book in this series, “The Cuckoo’s Calling” after learning that Robert Galbraith is JK Rowling’s pen name. I wasn’t disappointed, and after a bit of an audiobook slump where nothing sounded good, I decided to dive into the second one. And I have to say, although I haven’t read much mystery, I love these. I love Strike and Robin. I love their dynamic together and I love each of them on their own. This one felt a lot more gruesome than the first though, so be warned.