September Books

I read a lot of books in September. Nine, to be exact, which is more than I've read in one month since February of 2007, when I had a lot less baby in my life and a lot more free time. Of course, several of the books were short, finished in the span of one day. But I did read a few substantial books (Shogun, The Sea Runners), and a couple of long page-turners (Prep, The Girl Who Played With Fire). So, what did I read last month? Here's the list:

26. The Sea Runners (Ivan Doig)
27. The Young Black Stallion (Walter Farley)
28. Prep (Curtis Sittenfeld)
29. The Thief (Megan Whalen Turner)
30. The Girl Who Played With Fire (Steig Larsson)
31. The Queen of Attolia (Megan Whalen Turner)
32. The King of Attolia (Megan Whalen Turner)
33. Shogun (James Clavell)
34. How to Get Your Kid to Eat - But Not Too Much (Ellyn Satter)

The numbers? Books 26-34 for the year for me. The green one is my book club book for the month. Italics? I've read it before.

Shogun was my favorite book of the month. I can't believe I've never read it before. E Ben read Shogun in the month after Jude was born and he's been trying to get me to read it ever since, but I haven't had the fortitude to attempt it until this month. I liked it both for the engaging story and the feeling that I was learning something about Japanese culture.

Prep is the one that got me thinking the most. I wouldn't say that I liked it, or even that it was a good book. But this book really threw me back to my high school and college experiences. In a way, this book made me feel like I got really lucky to have the positive college experience that I had. On the other hand, I had some trouble feeling sorry for the main character. She had a really close female friend for her last three years at the exclusive prep school (something I never had in high school), someone she admired and trusted and respected. With that kind of a support system, would she really have such low self-esteem? And make such poor decisions? I don't know.

I had a great time reading the Megan Whalen Turner trilogy. Really fun YA fantasy, highly recommended if you like that sort of thing.

And the eating book... I read this on the recommendation of one of the parenting blogs that I read, and I really liked its philosophy. This book basically sets up a framework for avoiding battles about food with your kids. The basic advice? Parents decide what to serve for meals/snacks and when. The kid decides how much to eat (and nothing is an acceptable answer).