September 2025 Wrap-Up

What a ride! September was honestly so full, I’m a little relieved that it’s over. Not sure I could keep those energy levels for much longer! It’s officially autumn now, and that means I can curl up under a blanket with a hot drink again which somewhat makes up for the shorter days.

My highlight for September was definitely attending the pordenonelegge festival, which I’ve now talked about at length lol. Reading-wise it wasn’t a great month though, as I ended up reading only 2 books.

What I read…

Curiously, both reads were magic-centric!

The Magical Legacy of the Ryūjin by Stephan Lethaus – this is book 1 of the duology, and I’m very curious to see where the story will go in book 2 as a lot of questions are left open at the end of this one. I’m hoping to have a full review out soon and jumping into the next one ASAP.
Of Mages and Makers by Rel Carroll – this was an absolute joy to read. Witty, romantic, adventurous, magical – definitely a great cosy read. My full review is (amazingly) live already and you can read it here.

What I added to my shelves…

Surprisingly, the only books I added to my shelves this month were two library holds that came in at the same time (as library holds do).

Borrowed

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka – this one caught my eye a while back and it has an unusual premise which made me curious. I heard conflicting opinions on it, so I’ll see where I fall by the end. For now, I’m finding the writing style fascinating and almost hypnotic at times, but I’m only around 20% in so it’s still very early.
When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley – I feel like I saw this book everywhere for a while, got my library reservation in and then never saw it mentioned again. The power of the algorithms haha. Well, now my hold came in so I’m ready to get this trending again.

What I’m reading…

The Seven Moons is my physical read, When the Tides is my digital, and I am very close to finishing Dragonfruit on audio.

What I’ve been watching…

I actually hadn’t realised I only watched 2 films in September until just now. It clearly was the month of twos haha.

I had a few things to say about Materialists, so I wrote them out on Letterboxd. I really enjoyed One Battle After Another! It was a great way to end the month at the cinema and definitely sparked a lot of interesting conversations.