November 2025
Welcome to The Book List!
September was such a weird reading month for me. I finished just six books, and while that is as many books as some folks read in a year, it's about half of what I read in a month. It's a testament to how busy this September has been, how much I've enjoyed catching up on Stranger Things instead of reading (I'm through season three, so that's a lot of hours), and simply how momentum is hard, especially when life feels loud and overwhelming.
Be patient if and when you find yourself in the same place.
Alright, on to the six books I read this month!
This Month’s Books
Book Reviews
The Ugly Cry by Danielle Henderson
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Casting: None
Content warnings: Danielle's grandmother curses like a sailor, so be prepared there. There's also several instances of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.
Book words: I saw someone describe this as "unsentimental" and that's spot on. It's a blunt, unapologetic, vulnerable, deeply kind read.
What a spectacular book.
This is a memoir that had me laughing, crying, and gasping, all out loud. I made so much noise reading this book.
The Ugly Cry is masterful storytelling. In a time when stories sometimes feel like our only anchor, this one just got me. The writing is exceptional, just one banger after another, and you immediately love Danielle and her foul-mouthed, unaffectionate, but tender as a baby bunny grandmother. This story is hard, beautiful, funny, and human in every sense of the word.
An exceptional memoir that deserves a spot on just about any shelf. Top three of 2025 for me so far.
I See You've Called In Dead by John Kenney
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Casting: Bud is Jake Johnson. Again, pitch perfect. His paraplegic philanthropist friend Tim is Lee Pace. And the pretty girl who keeps inviting him to funerals is Florence Pugh.
Content warnings: Death and an affair.
Book words: Sharp, clever, quirky, poignant, just a little bit weird. My perfect book basically. And there aren't even any circuses or dragons!
This book took me completely by surprise.
Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who, during a late-night drunken cry fest, accidentally publishes his own obituary, making himself dead.
The logistics of that are hilarious, but it's a wake-up call he needed, having never grieved the loss of his mom or his recent divorce. He's down on his luck emotionally, he's legally dead which is a pain, and he finds himself spending most of his time attending other people's funerals because this beautiful woman he meets at one says he should. When I say that Jake Johnson, aka Nick from New Girl is THE PERSON for this role? You understand now. That's the vibe. Nick is an obituary writer who's now dead.
The dialogue is exceptional. I cannot stress this enough. I want this book to become a movie so badly. The characters are precious and layered, and the premise of death leading to life is something more of us need to value. Finitude is quite a teacher, and this book was just a stunner.
The September House by Carissa Orlando
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Casting: I vacillated, so I don't want to commit. Still, Alison Janney and Nicole Kidman both took good turns in my head as Margaret. I tried for Jennifer Lawrence as the daughter for a bit, but it didn't stick all the way to the end.
Content warnings: Blood, murder, paranormal activity, domestic abuse.
Book words: Cinematic, more character than plot for most of the book, a slow burn but when it took off, it took off.
Another book that surprised me.
Big time horror but poignant. Still, not for the faint of heart.
New empty nesters Margaret and Hal move into their dream home, and things are great... until September comes. Blood starts pouring from the walls, ghost children appear, and birds keep flying into the windows, littering the yard with carcasses. But after a few Septembers, Margaret is unmoved while Hal is done. So done that he's gone... but where?
When their adult daughter comes home to find her dad, Margaret doesn't want her knowing about the hauntings of the house, but of course the hidden things find their way into the light.
I expected this to be a typical horror (a genre I enjoy), but the underlying message of this book was honestly staggeringly good. Essentially, the horrors that Margaret grows accustomed to in the house are just an avatar for the other human horrors we ignore - alcoholism, domestic abuse, and not believing women. This was a slow burn, sometimes gross, not terribly scary (but I don't get scared by this stuff), and genuinely surprising.
The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Casting: The story moved too fast to even need casting.
Content warnings: Sexual abuse.
Book words: Propulsive, frictionless reading, exciting, not at all scary.
A top notch thriller about a female con artist whose motives might not be what you think.
Meg is a con artist with many names and stories behind her. Little does she know that in one of her past lives, she ruined the life of Kat, a now struggling reporter suffering from PTSD, and Kat has found her again.
Both women have secrets, and both are posing as someone they are not which makes their friendship quite tricky.
Julie Clark wrote The Ghostwriter that I read a month or two ago, and I think she's a top pick for me in the genre. You just fly through her pages, and the stories are compulsive but not simplified. Great character work, great twists, and satisfying endings. I really enjoyed this.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy 🎧
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narrated by an ensemble cast
Casting: None.
Content warnings: Abuse, marital difficulties, death of a spouse.
Book words: Literary, beautiful, descriptive, and takes its time.
I wanted to love this. I really did. And I understand why people do! But it just wasn't for me.
A man and his three children live on a remote island cataloging seeds that have been saved from all over the world. When a mysterious woman washes up on shore, secrets start coming out.
As a premise, that one is solid. But this was quite literary, character-driven, and too slow for me. Everything about this was excellent on paper, but excellence doesn't always equal enjoyment. I simply like my stories to move faster. Plus, some aspects of the plot felt far-fetched, and yet the tone of the writing didn't match the dystopia and craziness the story showed. It was a miss for me, and that's okay.
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery 🎧
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narrated by Rachel McAdams
Casting: The entire cast of the Megan Follows version. There will never be another.
Content warnings: Joy. That's all.
Book words: Light, warm, funny, delightful.
If you ever find yourself in a reading rut, going back to a beloved classic is always the ticket.
After quitting two different books that were good but dystopian and too close to home with the world as it is right now, I decided that Anne Shirley was my best decision.
This version by Rachel McAdams is darling. I do think I'll always be spoiled by Thandiwe Newton's narration of Jane Eyre because nothing will ever touch it, but Rachel was lovely and did the story justice.
If you've never read Anne of Green Gables, might I suggest that this is the perfect time? It is, after all, October, and as Anne says, "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."