An Open Book: September 2025 Reads

I am finally coming up for air after a whirlwind of a September, and I'm excited to link up with An Open Book to share about the books that I read over the month! I read way more than I anticipated, so I'm going to do a rapid-fire recap. Onto the books! 

The Raven and the Crown, by Elizabeth Amy Hajek

I was delighted to beta read this book a while back and it was fun to finally sit down and read the final version! This novel (it is a sequel to The Mermaid and the Unicorn, but can also be read on its own) follows Kate, a college student, and some of her friends as they embark on summertime travels in Scotland. While there, Kate discovers that there is a curse on her bloodline and she tries to unravel the secrets of her past--all while surrounded by secrets, Fay characters, and the charm of the Scottish countryside. This book was a ton of fun to read (it was especially great reading while on vacation!) and I am very excited for part 2! 

The Secret of the Shamrock (Chime Travelers book 1), by Lisa M. Hendey

One of my kids received the Chime Travelers series as a gift and he was insistent that I read this ;) This delightful children's novel conveys the story of Patrick, a boy who finds himself thrust back in time to ancient Ireland. He's confused and tries to figure out how to get home, and winds up meeting a mysterious shepherd who helps him. This was a quick read, but very fun, and I especially appreciate that some of the dialogue was taken from St. Patrick's Confessio.

Midnight for Charlie Bone, by Jenny Nimmo

Charlie is a boy who discovers that he can, surprisingly, hear people in photographs. When his eccentric and borderline-nefarious aunts learn about his gift, they scheme to send him to Bloor Academy, a pretentious school with a special section of students who are all endowed with different gifts. Throughout all of this, Charlie is trying to understand his ability, navigate life at the school, and solve the mystery of a missing girl. This was a pretty fun children's book overall. It had one or two parts that were kind of crude, and I didn't love the prose style, but I enjoyed reading it for the most part. I may read further into the series at some point! 

 

Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull

This children's (maybe middle grade?) fantasy was really intriguing! It follows a set of twins who go stay with their reclusive grandparents while their parents go on a cruise. The siblings wind up learning that their grandparents' home is a sanctuary for endangered magical beings (fairies, trolls, etc). When dark forces go to work, the siblings need to fight to save their grandparents and the estate from destruction. This book was really fun! While I thought that the grandpa went a little soft on consequences for the siblings when they disobeyed at times, it was cool to see the story portray the negative consequences of disobedience and/or meddling with things you aren't supposed to. The prose style was fine, not my favorite but not horrible. I loved the premise, though (also appreciated that there was quite a bit of good vs. evil even if both sides used magic to an extent), and I'm interested to read the next book in the series at some point. I do want to note, some reviews of this book mention a comment one character makes about no religions having full truth and all being corrupt, or something like that. I found it to be a very eye-roll worthy comment (why did the author put it in there??) but at the same time I think it provides a good discussion opportunity between a parent and child. 

Wild Chocolate: Across the Americas in Search of Cacao's Soul, by Rowan Jacobsen

This fascinating book covers the history of chocolate and the growing interest in bean-to-bar chocolate, and the people who work with wild cacao. It was also part travel memoir, since the author went to some of the locations in the book and interviewed different people. I really enjoyed this book. I will note that, as many travel memoirs seem to feature, there are a couple instances involving drugs in the book, which could turn off some people. Still, I there was a lot of worthwhile discussion in here and tons of fabulous information and it was all presented in a really engaging way. I first learned about this book when visiting Caputo's market in Utah, so learning about chocolate that I ate at Caputo's was really neat, too. I recommend this!

Detectives in Togas, by Henry Winterfeld

Inspired by some real-life graffiti from ancient Rome, this delightful children's book follows a group of schoolboys as they try to untangle the mystery of a message that someone painted on the wall of a pagan temple. This story was a lot of fun and the setting was fantastic. One of my kids read it once I finished it, and also really enjoyed it. 

A Song for Nagasaki, by Paul Clynn, S.M. 

I had this book on hold from the library for what felt like forever, and it finally came in! It tells the story of Takashi Nagai, a doctor of radiology who lived and worked in Japan and wound up surviving the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, and then spent the following years studying the effects of the a-bomb. If all that wasn't fascinating enough, this book also covers Dr. Nagai's journey from Shintoism to atheism to Catholicism. The book also provides really helpful insights about the history of Christianity in Japan. This book was brilliant. It was well-written, scholarly but engaging, and told a really good story about someone I knew nothing about. I highly recommend it!! 

A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin

This book was recommended to me and I'm so glad I picked it up! It's a fantasy novel set in a world that feels very medieval/King Arthur-ish (at least to me) and follows a young wizard named Ged as he grows in maturity and self-discovery. The writing was gorgeous, the story was really interesting, and I thought it was cool to see the dark vs. light, death vs. life-type themes that cropped up. It was a really good, thoughtful-but-adventurous sort of book. I definitely need to read the next book in the series! 

Thanks for joining me this month! If you have any recommendations, please drop them in the comments!