As expected, Monsters presented many insightful points about problematic artists and how we might think about consuming their work. What really struck me was how my pre-internet generation, and every generation that came before, had no real knowledge about the private lives of artists. It’s mind blowing how I can remember vividly the days when the only way you could see famous art, like a Monet or Klimt, was to buy a book, go to the library, or if you were lucky enough- the local art museum. (I absolutely remember the fervor of the Monet exhibit coming to the art institute of Chicago.) The information at our disposal in modern day is unwieldy, and it messes with all aspects of our lives.
Ultimately, not a single one of us is perfect, and that is Dederer’s final thought on the matter: that it is not up to us, individually, to fix these problematic artists, because boycotting won’t necessarily solve the problem. In the same way that giant corporations are the ones that need to step up to save our planet - not me buying reusable dish cloths and fancy hand soap refills. It takes a while for her to get to this point, and there was a lot of interesting food for thought on all sorts of the usual suspects of cancel culture (Picasso, Polanski, Woody Allen, JK Rowling). But I think it’s important for people to know about the problematic nature of art for context and understanding (especially with dated work), so they can decide if they would be uncomfortable consuming it, and not in the aim to solve some sort of problem. Anyway, this was a lot of food for thought, not handbook on how to deal with problematic people.

Wellness is one of those books that’s about everything and nothing - focused on the minutiae of life, and how all those small things add up to large things with far reaching consequences. It’s a deep character study of a married couple navigating the obstacles of middle age while confronting their ingrained traumas of childhood.
It meanders from peak 90s city living in Chicago (which my GenX Chicagoan, nostalgia loving self appreciated immensely), to a farm conducting controlled prairie fires in Kansas, to the 19th century beginnings of a robber baron family.
I think that some readers may be put off by the scope of the novel that moves away from and eventually back to the two main characters, but I found it illuminating. I also found the scientific dissection of love and happiness rather fascinating and that’s where the deep dives should have ended. What kept me from going full five stars was all of the other, obviously well researched, topics the author tried to pack into the story - I could especially do without the mind numbing details about social media algorithms. Though Hill tried to pack a little bit too much into this, I still found it to be a worthwhile read!

The ‘You’ve Got Mail’ of YA fantasy and I’m here for it! This book has been all over social media, so I don’t have much more to add to the glowing reviews. I will say that I found the intricacies of the magic and lore unique and compelling.
The story of the two main characters typewriters was very clever, I was impressed with the world building and atmosphere that feels nineteenth century mixed with high fantasy, and the characters are all well developed and empathetic.
Fair warning, there is a cliffhanger ending - one of the many similarities to Fourth Wing! (If you are looking for a read alike with way less steam and a more sentimental feel, Divine Rivals is it!) The next book comes out in November, and yes, I already have a hold on a library copy.☺️

I’ve had this book on my shelf for a while, and I’m glad I finally picked it up. The description makes it sound like cli-fi, but really, it was a story about trauma, found family, facing demons and finding peace.
At first I was disappointed, because I like literary sci-fi, and was hoping for something more creative and atmospheric. But, the emotional lyricism grabbed me, as did the plot as it became clear Franny was keeping some rather heavy and dangerous secrets.
McConaghy’s use of a narrative device, that is often employed in novels to divert the reader, seemed evident (I’m not going to disclose it, because it would spoil the book - but IYKYK.) This might be offputting for some readers, but I think she used it in a way that worked well with the character development.
Though I had my guesses about the other secrets, they all went in directions I did not see coming. I was especially glad that the ending didn’t go how I had expected. 
All very vague, I know. This slim, but impactful, volume is worth checking out and learning the secrets within!

“He said our lives mean nothing except as a cycle of regeneration, that we are incomprehensibly brief sparks, just as the animals are, that we are no more important than they are, no more worthy of life than any living creature. That in our self-JJ importance, in our search for meaning, we have forgotten how to share the planet that gave us life.”

the narrator of the audiobook is not my favorite, and it took a while to get my bearings with the cast of characters and different wolves being referred to by their numbers versus nicknames. Ultimately, it’s a fascinating story about wolf behavior, as well as how humans just really shouldn’t insert themselves in trying to outsmart mother nature.

I was not familiar with the author’s work/comedy, but the title made me curious. Alas, this book has nothing to do with cults! It took me a little bit to warm up to her sense of humor, which is the definition of irreverent, but it was surprisingly endearing and an eye opening account of someone going through a suicidal mental health crisis.

The Marriage Portrait was an excellent historical fiction read, especially for those who love renaissance era novels. Reading the reimagined story of Lucrezia de'Medici (married off to a Duke at 13, and dead by age 17), I was transported to the time when I used to inhale Philippa Gregory paperbacks- set in a similar timeframe of Tudor England. 
I last read Maggie O’Farrell years ago, and it was one of her contemporary fiction novels. This felt like a departure, but I still recognized her style of pulling several narrative threads together for a story that culminates in such a satisfying way. The plot tantalizingly shifts back and forth in time between Lucrezia’s childhood and the fraught moments in the future where she is convinced her husband is trying to kill her. O’Farrell really pulls the reader along as the tension in the story comes to a crescendo. It read like a psychological thriller. Though I wasn’t completely surprised by the ending, it was a simultaneously lyrical and intense journey to get there.

“Sadness keeps attempting to tie weights to her wrists and ankles, therefore she has to keep moving, she has no to outpace it. And so she walks, along one terrace then another, from one battlement to the next”

I fall firmly on the side of “loved” with this polarizing novel, which is ostensibly about a man who mutates into a shark. I went in thinking it was a love story between this man and a woman named Wren, and it absolutely is - but it took a turn I wasn’t expecting, and is equally a story about family and a mother’s love.
I found Habeck’s writing style so moving, and delighted in her use of similar metaphors or turns of phrase used in different contexts throughout the story: the endless sky, the stars, the wind, a kite string, a treehouse, the stem of a pear, learning the difference between loneliness and being alone. Just brain tingly great to spot echoes between characters, past and present. I  also loved segments of the book that were in very short bursts, written like a play, sometimes even a few lines per page that created the a sense of urgency and made the pages fly by (literally and figuratively).
Not once did this fictional world, wherein animal mutations are a legitimate medical diagnosis, feel ridiculous. Few books can make me shed a tear, but there were some excruciatingly sad moments, all surrounding the idea of your loved one mutating into something that isn’t human. Really the crux of it is change, the inevitability that things end, sometimes (a lot of the time), when we least expect. Smarter people that I could probably put a finer point on what this novel is really about, but I will attempt to say that it is about love and letting go, while also holding on for the ride that is life.

“he was an aimless kite, in search of a string to ground him to the world, but instead, he’d found Wren, a great, strong wind, who supported his exploration of the sky.”

WHAT EVEN. I can’t remember last time I gave a one star review, probably because I usually DNF books that aren’t for me… Alas!
I’m always curious about trending books that are polarizing, and the covers are FANTASTIC: giving major Baz Lurhman vibes (especially book two, which I obviously won’t be reading). Turns out I should have just watched Baz’s Romeo + Juliet for the millionth time if I wanted to consume any ounce of plot, romance, character development, sexiness or beautiful prose.
I only finished it because there seemed to be the promise of a huge reveal about why the male protagonists was such an asshat (only slightly more so than the female protagonist), plus I purchased this book with my own cash money. And there was no big revelation, no redemption - just more of the same repetitive, self indulgent, insufferable drivel I wasted nearly 500 pages on! WHEW. Welp. Now I know.
I have read the arguments about why one needs to continue with this series to appreciate it, and I just don’t buy it.

Thank you @littlebrown for the complementary finished copy of Bridge by Lauren Beukes! This was such a WILD read: a creepy thriller not for the faint of heart.
I read her novel The Shining Girls almost a decade ago, and this novel has a similar tone and themes. If you enjoy books with alternate realities/sliding doors/all the possible paths your life could take in a different universe, Bridge took that trope in an unexpected directions: a little horror, a dash of sci-fi, a lot of thriller, with a literary heart thoughtfully exploring mother-daughter relationships.
They are completely different, but I was reminded of how I felt reading Mexican Gothic. Which, funny enough, is mentioned in Bridge as a book one of the characters is reading! I would absolutely recommend both, and they would be perfect for creepy October reads.