September 2025 books read

  • A Month in the Country – J. L. Carr, 1980. Second Monday selection; one attendee described it as “a perfect novel” and that’s’not far off. I marked only four quotes/”in this book I learned”s. I haven’t really had a cut-off between monthly lists and what rates an individual post, so maybe I’ll make it five!
    • rulley – Yorkshire term for a flat cart
    • estovers – allowance of wood to be taken from the commons
    • “‘This one either is excessively hot, on occasions, red-hot (in point of fact) or else just keeping itself and no-one else warm.’ And he gave it a resentful little kick. They glowered at one another like ancient enemies.”
    • “If I’d stayed there, would I always have been happy? No, I suppose not. People move away, grow older, die, and the bright belief that there will be another marvelous thing around each corner fades. It is now or never; we must snatch at happiness as it flies.”
  • The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with our Wild Neighbors – Erika Howsare, 2024. Nature and Environment selection; quotes TBD.
  • Look Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe, 1929. Great Books selection; quotes TBD (I read it as a teenager or young adult)
  • Hugh Lofting’s Travels of Doctor Dolittle – Al Perkins, illustrated by Philip Wende, 1967. I embarked on a Dr Dolittle re-read a few months ago and remembered a picture book adaptation I’d had as a kid. It may have been prompted by seeing the movie. To my surprise this is quite rare, but I was able to get it through the Commonwealth library system. The text is enh (thank goodness I went on to read the Lofting books as a kid) but the illustrations are memorable – a bit ligne claire but with visible cross-hatching. I can’t find out much about Wende.
  • Kindred – Octavia Butler, 1979. Mass Center for the Book suggestion for September, “A book told in non-chronological order.” I wrote: “Compelling and vivid – it’s been on my TBR list forever and I’m so glad I finally read this classic, but it’s harrowing.” The relationship between narrator Dana and her ancestor Rufus is complicated and fascinating. I might put this on the suggested list for Great Books – I’ll be thinking about this one for quite a while.
  • Big Damn Hero (Firefly #1) – James Lovegrove, 2018. Not as good as the one I read last month, but I enjoyed it.