September was officially Thriller Month (cue MJ) and I FINALLY read Girl on the Train – but it was the non-thrillers that really blew my mind and landed into my top three.
To see more about the books I loved and hated this month, click here.
My Top Three:
“Unless is the worry word of the English language. It flies like a moth around the ear, you hardly hear it, and yet everything depends on its breathy presence. Unless-that’s the little subjunctive mineral you carry along in your pocket crease. It’s always there, or else not there.”
Reta Winters has lost her daughter. But her daughter is not dead. Her daughter has, inexplicably, chosen homelessness. Norah sits on a street corner with a sign hanging from her neck that just says GOODNESS. Reta is a mother who cannot mother. Caught in an in-between, Reta and her family continue on, fractured between knowing Norah is alive and knowing that she refused to return to them.
I’ve never felt this way about a novel before; I almost don’t want to write about it, because I want to keep it to myself, possessively. I don’t think I could handle if I recommended it to anyone and they didn’t like it! If you’re looking for a standard novel with a gripping plot and interesting characters, this is not the book for you. If you’d have said that to me before I read it, I would have laughed and said “well, what else is left?!”; but Unless is like a painting. It’s a study of a woman in a moment of crisis, where every element comes together to paint that picture in an incredibly masterful way.
I am really starting to rate Liane Moriarty. I enjoyed The Husband’s Secret, but Big Little Lies is an absolute corker! I was gripped throughout and could not put it down, but the TWIST. Ahhh! Bloody brilliant! I won’t spoil – just read it.
A gorgeous little supplement to the Harry Potter series. What I love about J.K. Rowling’s work is her attention to detail. The Tales of Beedle the Bard is mentioned in the main series and the final tale plays a critical role in the final book. Rowling could have just written the little book of tales as an added extra, but instead she goes a step further, by adding the annotations of Albus Dumbledore. In doing so, she’s not just supplementing a series of seven books, she’s supplementing the whole world she’s created, with all its own history, social rules and idiosyncrasies. I loved it, it just made everything more magical!
On the menu for October:
You can see all of my choices and reviews by following me on Goodreads, let me know what you’re reading so I can get inspired!
NB. Some of my reviews do include spoilers, so please check the top of the post for a warning before reading.
Martha Is 
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