It’s hard to believe that this year is almost over. This month I read:

• Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I heard about this book from a number of different sources, so I knew I would enjoy it.  The story is about the rise and fall of a fictional famous band in the 70’s, following their rise to fame, relationships, demons, and more.  It’s told like a long interview or like you are reading a documentary, which makes the band feel so real. It made me want to google their music, which was so interesting, as the author made them so believable.  It’s a fun read!
• Hope and Other Punch Lines by Julie Buxbaum – This is a beautiful YA book written about the lives affected by 9/11. While the story is fiction, it felt so real to read about these characters, Abbi and Noah and their friends and family. Abbi is famous because she turned one on 9/11 and was saved before the World Trade Center buildings collapsed, and her saving was capture in an epic picture.  Years later, she is haunted by that image of herself, and Noah is haunted by someone else in that picture.  I loved reading how their stories came together!
• Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger – This was another great book recommendations by Laura Tremaine from the 10 Things to Tell You podcast. It was a fast-paced mystery by an author I’ve enjoyed before. It was actually a little short for me. I think the character of Nell could have been more developed with the details that were shared only very briefly.
• Burnout by Emily & Amelia Nagoski- This book was recommended on 10 Things to Tell You.  Since I love that podcast so much, I thought I would love this book.  The truth is, I loved parts of it, but was underwhelmed overall.  I was hooked in the beginning by the description of the stress cycle we all live in and rarely escape from.  The authors detail how we can “complete the stress cycle” to remove that toxin from our life and move forward. We can do this through exercise, connection with others, and things like breathing and meditation.  The middle of the book got a bit redundant on self help ideas.  I did appreciate the authors, a pair of sisters, reiterating the struggles that professional women face from a variety of aspects of life, including the patriarchy that has set up systemic oppression for us in many ways. At the end of the book, I felt like I had a few good tips, some decent reminders, but not much else. 
• Sadie by Courtney Summers [audiobook] – My friend Barb recommended this YA book to me, and it was great to listen to the audio version.  The book is told half in the form of an on-going mystery podcast called “The Girls”, part in the form of the podcaster researching the story, and part in the actual story narrated by one of the two main girls. Like any good mystery, the reader is giving parts of the story out of order, and only at certain points, so it takes awhile to put the entire story together.  It is both sad and interesting.