I can't believe we're in the last quarter of my 6th year of sharing quarterly reading round-ups! As a reminder, I have a goal of 80 books for this year, 100 as a stretch goal and have been in a huge Non-Fiction phase. Here is how July, August and September went...
Check out Quarter 1 here! > What I Read Last Quarter // January - Marchand quarter 2 here >
What I Read Last Quarter // April - JuneA Little Gay Natural History by Josh L. Davis 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read [audio] 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Midnight Howl by Benjamin Read [audio] 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Midnight Hunt byBenjamin Read [audio] 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Nightsilver Promise by Annaliese Avery 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Queer as Folklore: The Hidden Queer History of Myths and Monsters by Sacha Coward 🌟🌟🌟
The Little Book of Pride Heroes: Icons of the LGBTQIA+ Community by Jared Richards 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People by Joan Roughgarden [audio] 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrix Potter 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Tale of Pigling Bland by Beatrix Potter 🌟🌟🌟
Can you guess this month's theme? Granted, there are a few curveballs. So I intended to read a chunk of my LGBTQIA+ / Pride themed books, with a random book thrown in to tick off my Buzzword Book Cover Challenge, but ended with three Beatrix Potter books tagged on when I realised it was her birthday on the 28th.
One book I urge everyone to read from those above is A Little Gay Natural History by Josh L. Davis. If you are transphobic, homophobic or don't think that gender and sexuality are naturally varied. The whole animal kingdom shows evidence of homosexuality, hermaphrodites, changing gender and way more.
August
The Mousehole Cat by Antonia Barber 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman 🌟🌟
The Wishkeeper's Apprentice by Rachel Chivers Khoo [audio] 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant [audio] 🌟🌟🌟🌟
I have to admit that I am still not completely finished The Secret Commonwealth as of the start of November... so I don't really have much to say about this month's reads! I will say that I have struggled to get through this book purely because (after loving the first Book of Dust more than the Dark Materials series), the adult turn this part has taken was disappointing and unnecessary.
Also - read more kids' books!
September
Neurodivergent, By Nature: Why Biodiversity Needs Neurodiversity by Joe Harkness 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Rescue of Ravenwood by Natasha Farrant [audio] 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Extraordinary Adventures of Alice Tonks by Emily Kenny [audio] 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Children of Castle Rock by Natasha Farrant [audio] 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson [audio] 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Wood Where Magic Grows by Andy Shepherd 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Green Kingdom by Cornelia Funke 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Book of the Frog by Sally Coulthard 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Not to judge a book by its cover, but how beautiful are all of these books? I really wanted to read Neurodivergent, By Nature by Joe Harkness in September, so I made everything else fit the (loose) theme. My anticipation for this book was hindered somewhat when reading reviews; however, I must say that I just ended up annoyed after I finished the book. As you can see, I rated it 5 stars, and so I obviously disagree with the reviews. In particular, those who said it 'wasn't what they were expecting' or that it 'wasn't easy to read'. The book was exactly what it advertised itself as, and it was actually a very easy and enjoyable read. It flowed well and was laid out in a way that was interesting and kept you reading. I guess some people may only look at a cover and title rather than a blurb or research something more before picking it up, or maybe it reads well for those of us who are actually neurodivergent...
The rest of the September stack was awesome too, as you can see from all the stars!
[Click to view larger]
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This post is a month late, however, as of the end of September, I'd read 87 books of my 100-goal. I have slowed down a lot with reading, which always seems to happen at a certain time during the year, but overall, I'm happy with my reading year.
Just some quick stats...
Total books read in the third quarter of 2025 - 23
Physical books - 13
Audiobooks - 10
Longest book - The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman, 736 pages.
Shortest book - The Mousehole Cat by Antonia Barber, 40 pages.
DNF - 0
Average days to read - 5.8
Five Star Reads - 8
'All Year Reads' page total - 368
Favourite book from each month...
July - The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read
August - Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant
September - Neurodivergent, By Nature: Why Biodiversity Needs Neurodiversity by Joe Harkness
