What I read in September 2025
I read slightly fewer books than usual last month (I know, nine is still a large number!). I’d love to say I was earnestly writing my own novel or short story collection or something, but alas, I’m not sure where a lot of the time actually went.
I Don’t Talk to Dead Bodies: The Curious Encounters of a Forensic Psychologist, by Dr Rhona Morrison
The Great Deception, by Syd Moore - 4*
Mother State: A Political History of Motherhood, by Helen Charman - 4.5*
Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor - this was so close to being perfect in my eyes, but then the end I thought I’d been primed to expect throughout the book didn’t happen, and I didn’t know if that was the intent, or I’d just been dense. 4.5*
The Algorithm Will See You Now, by JL Lycette - 4*
Exit Strategy, by Martha Wells - 4.5*
Untypical: How the world isn’t built for autistic people and what we should all do about it, by Pete Wharmby - related to this so hard, it made me wonder how I could possibly not be autistic. I don’t rate my chances of ever finding out without paying for a private assessment, though. 5*
The Examiner, by Janice Hallett - 5*
The Briar Book of the Dead, by Angela Slatter - 4.5*
Looking ahead…
After a quiet few months, blog tours are ramping back up for me, and Rainforest, by Michelle Paver, is one I’m particularly looking forward to – I’ve enjoyed her previous books, and what a beautiful cover!
I adored The Haunting Season and The Winter Spirits anthologies, so I was very excited to find out The Witching Hour is coming soon – on my birthday, in fact!
I’ve already started Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Getting It Right, having realised I’d been neglecting her for a bit, and it’s already made me chuckle a few times. I’m also planning to continue my Murderbot journey, with Network Effect.