Welcome to September!

I’m a fan of all seasons, but there’s something about those cold nights that I really enjoy. Relaxing on the couch under a blanket, with a cup of tea in one hand and a Kindle in the other—fall and winter are when I usually get the most reading done. I can’t wait!

Of course, I have to start the newsletter with some promotion for Book Notification, Launched last year, you can get notified of new books by your favourite authors, track your “want to read” list, rate and review books, see what books you are still to read by an author and so much more.

We’re now at over 54,000 authors audited and listed, more than 10x the size of Order Of Books.

So if you’re not registered yet – head over to Book Notification and start getting notified of new books by your favourite authors, as well as enjoying all of the other features. My favourite is still the “What’s Next” feature in tribute to Fictfact, letting me know the next books I need to read in each series I have ongoing.

August was a big travel month for me. I visited the UK and spent a couple of weeks there. It was one of those hectic trips, just non-stop, with not much downtime for reading.

We went to London for a few days with a tourist itinerary, then off to Glasgow to spend time with my mum, sister, and the rest of the family for a few days, and finally back to London for the primary purpose of the trip—attending the Taylor Swift concert.

It was a whirlwind couple of weeks, with some incredible memories. But you know what the highlight of August was for me? It was the following week. After two weeks of hectic travel, planes, trains and automobiles. Two weeks of staying in four different airbnbs and hotels, living out of my suitcase as there was just no point in unpacking.

It was last Sunday night. After coming back from the trip and catching up on work, I sat out in my backyard with the fire table on, a beer at my side, and nothing to do except read my book. That’s when I truly thought, “This is the life.”

In saying that if you are ever in London, be sure to check out Abba: Voyage. Absolutely incredible show.

Tied into the UK trip, I read It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. The adaptation was releasing in early August, and my daughter had a neat idea: to read the book and then go to the theater with my sister and me to watch it while we were in the UK.

Unfortunately, none of us finished it in time, so we’ll wait for it to be available on streaming services and plan a Skype call to watch it together. However, I was glad she came up with that idea, as I’ve heard a lot about Colleen Hoover but hadn’t read any of her works.

I thought it was… pretty decent. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was a solid story. I particularly enjoyed the backstory with Atlas and the Ellen letters. Not one I’d rush out to recommend, but I’ll certainly read the sequel.

I read The Vanishing by Bentley Little. I still enjoyed this book, but looking at my ratings on Book Notification, out of the twelve books I’ve read by Bentley this was the lowest rated one at 6/10. He’s certainly written better books.

Audiobook wise, I finished listening to The Liemaker by Linwood Barclay. It’s the story of a child whose father goes into witness protection. Years later, he gets hired to write biographies for people entering the witness protection program and wants to use this opportunity to locate his father. It was an okay book—somewhat predictable—but I enjoyed it.

I tried to listen to Elevator Pitch by Linwood but I had to DNF it. I was at 20% and just not into it at all. This is the second time I’ve tried to listen to it. I do enjoy Linwood so I may read it down the road.

I’ve started listening to the third book in the Henry Kimball / Lily Kintner series by Peter Swanson. That’s called A Talent for Murder. Too early to give any thoughts yet.

I finished off the month by reading “What Have You Done?” by Shari Lapena. A standalone thriller about a teenage girl murdered in a small community, and many possible suspects.

This was a rare whiff on Shari’s part, I thought. The narration switched from character to character – but one of the characters was the “soul” of the dead girl, which I just thought was odd. It never really added anything to the book either because – how convenient – she couldn’t remember how she died.

The ending just felt rushed and out of nowhere, and was a part of some unreliable narration.

Very sad to hear of the passing of Victoria Thompson, who wrote the Gaslight Mysteries. A very popular author among OOB readers. If you are a fan of historical fiction, be sure to check out her Counterfeit Lady series too.

Each month we give away 5 $25 Amazon gift certificates to random subscribers. 

To win all you have to do is be a subscriber. Nothing more! When we go to hit “Publish” we take a list of all of our subscribers, throw them into a random draw and those are the winners.

Our winners this month are:

Paul N. from Springfield, IL
Lynn M. from Rochester, NY
Yvonne from Cambridge, ON
Dale T. from Lead Hill, AR
Doris R. from Fenton, MO

All of you have been e-mailed. If you don’t see anything, check your junk folder or contact me.

Graeme
OrderOfBooks.com

Quotes of the Month

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.”
– Rabbie Burns

“the past has all the time in the world. it’s only the future which is running out.” 
– Edward St. Aubyn

“Of making many books there is no end.”
– Ecclesiastes

Thanks to Dave, Judith, and Christine for submitting quotes this month. Submit your own quotes; just hit reply. Book-related is great but happy to share non-book related too! Love seeing quotes from books!

Book recommendations

In this section, I give 3-5 random book recommendations from readers of the newsletter. They can be old books, they can be new. Feel free to e-mail suggestions to me. Just hit reply. If you wish to add a description for the book around the same size as the ones below that’d be great too! 

The Wealth of Shadows by Graham Moore: A standalone spy story and national bestseller recommended by Keith. Here’s what he wrote:

Economics has been called the “dismal science” and doesn’t seem like the obvious basis for a spy story. I expected that a book built around actual events and populated with both famous people and unknown bureaucrats would be dry and boring. I was wrong.

“The Wealth of Shadows” by Graham Moore proved to be an exciting and interesting thriller. In 1939. Ansel Luxford is an undistinguished tax lawyer who is a partner in a Minneapolis accounting firm. Ansel’s “Walter Mitty” dreams of confronting the growing Nazi threat are frustrated by his obligations to his growing family and his career. Then one day, Ansel is given an opportunity to join a clandestine project within the Treasury Department whose objective is to undermine Nazi Germany by economic warfare. What follows is an exciting tale about the mysterious powers of money, the lies told to defeat evil, and the hidden war that shaped the modern world. The fact that this is a generally true story told about actual people makes this historical novel even more surprising. I suggest putting this one on top of your “To Be Read” stack.

Lincoln Rhyme Series by Jeffery Deaver: Fun fact: on Book Notification, we have a database which lists common spelling errors for each author, so that if someone incorrectly spells an authors name it takes them to the author they intended to find.

Deaver is the biggest entry by far, with over 15 different iterations just based on his first name.

Surprisingly, this classic series which began in the late 90s has never made it to the recommendations section before. Sue wrote in to recommend it so it’s good to finally list it. Here’s what she wrote:

“They are sometimes mysteries and always crime stories of the first order. Lincoln Rhyme is the quadriplegic ex-captain of the NYC Crime Scene Investigation team and was one of the best in the world until the accident that left him paralyzed. Now he works with the NYC Police force as a consultant.

I’ll admit I was skeptical, wondering how good /exciting these books could be under the circumstances. Deaver is a master storyteller and keeps you going until the last page (literally). His knowledge of not only crime scene techniques, but the plot lines of the books. The books started in the early 2000’s and it is scary how relevant the plot lines are in today’s world.

A Pilgrimage to Eternity by Timothy Egan: Fredericka wrote in to recommend this one. I haven’t read it myself, but I did love The Dust Bowl by Timothy.

Here’s what Fredericka wrote:

I am a real big fan of Timothy Egan’s non-fiction.  I recently read A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith.  It was outstanding, giving me a strong sense of the history of every place he stopped.

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy: A charming story released by the British illustrator, it’s a modern fable which was recommended by Patricia.

It’s a beautifully illustrated modern fable that imparts universal life lessons through the heartwarming friendship of its four characters, offering inspiration and hope in uncertain times. Patricia described it as a book “to soothe the soul”.

It’s also one of those books which are great as a gift too – to give to anyone who is special in your life.

The Singing Trees by Boo Walker: Stacie wrote in to recommend The Singing Trees, a standalone novel. She wrote: “I just finished a book that I gave five stars to. The Singing Trees by Bo Walker. His characters are complex. This book reminded me of the books written by Charles Martin.”

Annalisa Mancuso, a talented painter in 1969 Maine, seeks to escape her troubled past and find her artistic voice in Portland’s vibrant art scene. However, her journey is complicated by a deepening relationship with Thomas, an Ivy League student, leading her to confront the challenges of balancing her dreams with unexpected love and the consequences of a devastating lie.

September Book of the Month:

Capture or Kill by Vince Flynn: There’s a lot of intrigue over this one – the Mitch Rapp series is one of the most popular series out there. Created by Vince Flynn in 1999, he wrote up until his passing in 2013.

Kyle Mills took over the reigns and did an excellent job. After 10 books, it’s now in the hands of Don Bentley, author of the Matt Drake series and numerous books in the Jack Ryan Universe.

Capture or Kill releases on September 3rd, 2024. This one chronologically takes place in April 2011, with Mitch Rapp having to provide irrefutable proof of the presence of Osama Bin Laden in his compound.

10 More Notable Books Releasing in September

Brought to you by BookNotification.com where you can get updated on all the upcoming books by your favourite authors with your own personalized calendar!

September Charities:

While I appreciate all offers of donations to show your appreciation for the site and newsletter, I’d much rather you do that by supporting some great causes.  Each month I pick a few select charities broken down by our most popular countries or topics that you can support instead.   Thanks! Feel free to donate to a similar charity but in your own area.

All4Paws
United Way of Northwest Illinois
Child’s Play
Qajuqturvik

I rotate this list each month.  Feel free to suggest a favourite charity – hit reply.

Pictures of the Month:

Submitted by Phillip

Submitted by Norma. You can actually buy it as a poster which is super cool. Perfect for your reading nooks.

Submitted by Norma.

Send in your own to site@orderofbooks.com or by replying! Images, jokes, etc. We’ll take it all! Bit of a backlog but working my way through it.

Your Thoughts!

Last month I asked “What book character has the best name? And what book character has the worst name?. The replies are later in the newsletter.

This month, the question is a popular one we have ran twice before:

What was the last book you read?

What are you currently reading?

What’s the next book you are planning on reading?

Feel free to add in your opinions or a brief review.

The last book I read was What Have You Done by Shari Lapena. Opinion is in the opening.

I’m currently reading The Marriage Act by John Marrs, and A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson.

I’m planning on reading the latest Mitch Rapp novel by Don Bentley next.

What about you?

What was the last book you read?
What are you currently reading?
What’s the next book you are planning on reading?

E-mail us your feedback to site@OrderOfBooks.com or just reply to this e-mail, and we’ll pick the best comments and feature it in next month’s newsletter.  Five people will also randomly win a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.

Reader Mailbag!

Click here to read.

Order of Books » Newsletter » OrderOfBooks September 2024 Newsletter

Leave a Reply