The Books I Read in September 2025
This month, I read two books with bookish friends! I’m typically a solo reader, but it was really rewarding and so much fun to buddy-read The City and Its Uncertain Walls and Jasmine Tea. I’d love to do more communal reading, so please feel free to slide into my DMs if you spot a book on my TBR that you’d like to read together!
My reading seems to have taken a melancholy turn this month. There’s no specific reason, but I do so love some dark academia vibes ever since reading The Secret History a couple of years ago. I also got very handy with the DNF this month. We’re in the final months of the year, people! There’s no time to waste on books you’re simply not gelling with!
September reads
- Useless Etymology by Jess Zafarris (ARC)
- Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
- The Morgue Keeper by Ruyan Meng (ARC)
- The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami
- Jasmine Tea by Eileen Chang
- Magnolia Parks by Jessa Hastings (DNF)
- The House Witch and The Enchanting of the Hearth by Delemhach (DNF)
- The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
- The Sylvan Hotel by Frannie James (ARC)Sundaze Book Café is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
October to-be-read list
- Hauntings by Vernon Lee (ARC)
- The Rose Field by Philip Pullman
- I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
- The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (reread)
- The Wax Child by Olga Ravn (ARC)
In review
Useless Etymology by Jess Zafarris
Thanks John Murray and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy!
Rating: 4 stars
Full of interesting facts and tales, Useless Etymology was a fun read for a writer like me who is obsessed with words and where they come from. The English language is deceptive, transitional and magical, and I loved Zafarris’ mission to bring that to life. Zafarris breaks words down and gets to the literal root of how the word came about, and I think this would make a lovely coffee table book for fellow word nerds.
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
Rating: 3.75 stars
It feels like, in book world, you’re either an R.F. Kuang stan or you’re not. I’m the former: I always bat for East Asian representation in the publishing world and it’s a great bonus that her characters are often East Asian too. I might write about this further, but seeing people ‘like me’ in the things I consume has really helped me puzzle-piece my identity in place. That aside, I was really excited to read her 2025 release, Katabasis. Kuang has described this novel as ‘nonsense literature’ and I’m inclined to say that is only a half-true description. Here, two PhD students are on a mission to descend to Hell to rescue their recently deceased university advisor so that he can give them a recommendation for job applications. A lot of readers have been put off reading Katabasis because of a certain pre-release reading list that was shared: I’ll start my review by saying that I didn’t read the list and nor do I think it was necessary.
Katabasis doesn’t hold the same charm as The Poppy War and Babel for me, and that’s okay! These are all completely different books in wildly different genres! In fact, that is one of the charms of Kuang’s writing for me, personally. The book feels less lyrical than I expected. Instead, it’s packed with philosophy and references to different cultures’ perceptions of hell and there’s plenty more relationship-y stuff, which I wasn’t expecting at all. I must admit, I really loved the Alice and Peter interactions throughout the book. They felt human and believable amidst the eight circles of hell, and helped to alleviate a big problem I had in this book.
Kuang does a lot of hand-holding in Katabasis, which I suppose is sort of necessary – I am no philosopher after all. But the endless telling, instead of showing, grated on me. Again, this is sort of necessary in a book like this and I’m not sure what the solution is. For me, descending through the eight circles of hell was an up-and-down rollercoaster too. I don’t think this is a spoiler, but the story slumped for me once we’d left Pride, before picking back up. After that, the book felt really strong. We learn more about each of our protagonists and I really appreciated Kuang’s inclusion and exploration of chronic illness, as well as fawning in academia. Neither felt shoehorned in, unlike a good few of the philosophical references. For a fantasy book about hell, it sure felt very human.
The Morgue Keeper by Ruyan Meng
Thanks Leland Cheuk and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy!
Rating: 4 stars
Upon requesting this book on NetGalley, I thought I was in for a mystery novel. Instead, I was rewarded with a devastatingly raw and unflinching commentary on what it means to be human in China during the Cultural Revolution, where communism has started to take over. Qing Yuan works as a morgue keeper, cleaning corpses and preparing them for the afterlife. Grisly as the job may be, it’s a sacred ritual for the families. One day, Qing Yuan is presented with a mutilated body, #19. It is this body that takes him aback and Qing Yuan soon becomes obsessed with uncovering who the deceased was.
Soon Qing Yuan and his fellow medical workers are accused and detained as counter-revolutionaries by Chairman Mao’s Red Guards. Locked in a coal room, he witnesses even further atrocities and is tortured himself, fighting to survive. Through extraordinary prose and poetic dialogue, Ruyan Meng delivers a clever, eye-opening commentary on how humans act and behave and survive through authoritarianism, using Qing Yuan’s psyche to take us through human empathy, revolution, survival and hope.
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami
Rating: 4.5 stars
I have a real soft spot for Murakami novels. I know they often garner criticism for Murakami’s treatment of women and I definitely balk at some of his descriptions, yet it’s undeniable that he is an incredibly skilled surrealist, magical realism writer. The two can exist. Perhaps this opens up a separate conversation, too, but I think his treatment of women has improved in recent years, and perhaps some of it was to do with his age and the culture he was raised in.
I buddy-read The City and Its Uncertain Walls with a bookstagram friend and it turned out to be the perfect way to read this one! Rich in metaphors and surreal overtones, I loved being able to unpick this novel almost line by line and discuss it with a friend, as I feel like we both gained so much from talking about our interpretations. And, there’s a lot to interpret! The story starts with a saccharine love story between a teenage boy and girl. Between park bench dates and letter exchanges, they fall in love while the girl describes a mysterious walled town where the ‘real her’ lives. Then, months later, his lover vanishes without any fanfare or announcement. The book morphs into an overall love letter to the people we miss along the way, to books, to libraries, to memories. I really enjoyed the writing and translation of this novel. It felt sweet and simple, akin to a commentary on life’s everyday mundanities, while being made extraordinary by all the oddments going on. Our protagonist is curious-minded, making for some wonderful twists and turns through the maze that is this book.
Reading The City and Its Uncertain Walls as a long-time Murakami fan felt rewarding, mind-boggling and completely enjoyable. I’m not sure where to begin with reviewing this behemoth of a book. It’s one of Murakami’s longest works yet, and it’s actually a redo of a short story that he professes to have regretted publishing early in his career. For this reason, perhaps, it is full of Murakami signatures, which fans will love. Short chapters paired with hypnotic, often-meandering prose work really well in this magical realism story. I buddy-read this with a bookstagram friend and we enjoyed the ‘real’ elements that the first part of the book opens with, before slowly having to work together to puzzle-piece the more surreal. I really enjoyed seeing that Murakami is far less heavy-handed with his treatment of girls and women. It was still a bit sticky, but much improved. Other parts of the story felt heavy-handed in a more negative way though, as if we were being spoon-fed the story. Having read his (rare) afterword, I believe this felt necessary to him since this was a bit of a rewrite for him. The ‘City’ that revolves around is perfectly mystifying: ever-changing walls, timelessness and a strangeness about its dwellers are quietly explored through our protagonist’s eyes as he grasps to go inside the city to meet his one-time love again. Full of heartwarming moments, equally warm characters and a very distinct Murakami signature, I found myself completely loving this one.
Jasmine Tea by Eileen Chang
Rating: 2.75 stars
I buddy-read this trio of short stories with a friend, and unfortunately we both didn’t get along with it. In fact, I really struggled with the first two shorts, Jasmine Tea and The Golden Cangue. We put this down to the translation, which didn’t feel as natural and lyrical as I’d have hoped. Some sentences were beautiful, but it read quite tediously overall, shining a light on the oppressiveness of the story and the equally tedious characters. The Golden Cangue reminded me a little of E.M. Forster’s literary commentaries on the idling rich, which I also hated!
This felt like such a strange collection of short stories. I wonder why Penguin Archive published these three together, because I couldn’t really see the connection personally. Jasmine Tea and The Golden Cangue were too showy and melancholy for me, but I loved the quiet introspection and vignette feel of Traces of Love. It’s just a shame it was so short; those last 2-3 pages felt a bit rushed after a great build-up!
Magnolia Parks by Jessa Hastings (DNF)
Rating: N/A
When I heard 90% of bookstagram rave about this book and liken it to a British Gossip Girl, I was sold. I picked up a copy for 99p on Kindle Daily Deals, and dove into it. Sadly (but very luckily!), a kind person in the community alerted me to the fact that the author is fairly problematic. I did a little research and concluded that – personally – I wouldn’t feel comfortable continuing to read this one.
Plus, the one chapter that I did read was… not great.
The House Witch and The Enchanting of the Hearth by Delemhach (DNF)
Rating: N/A
Cosy, witchy fantasy books were the name of the game towards the end of the month and I’d spotted The House Witch on offer on Kindle a while ago. I gave this a good chance for a few chapters, but simply could not engage with the story, world-building or characters. Another did-not-finish for me.
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
Rating: 3.5 stars
With this book read, I finally became a Donna Tartt completionist this autumn! If you didn’t already know, The Secret History is one of my all-time favourite books, so I’ve been curious to read Tartt’s entire works (three novels!) ever since. Frustratingly, I didn’t get along with The Goldfinch, although I read it in lockdown and I suspect that’s a big reason I didn’t enjoy it. Now, I must sit with my readerly emotions as I war with what I’ve read here.
The Little Friend is a strange novel. Set in the 60s, we open to a distressing scene of Robin, who is found dead by hanging at the age of nine, an unexplained death. The first part of the novel is melancholy, tragic and beautiful, realised by Tartt’s unequivocally sparkling prose. Tartt knows her words and she knows it. Then, we follow Robin’s sister, Harriet, in the aftermath of this family tragedy, piercing together perspectives, dynamics and experiences of her wider family.
This novel is a story of two halves, and not everybody will like that. It is also yet another novel that does a lot but with minimal action, something that I’m sure you’ve noticed I personally like. I love the haunting quietness of books with lesser plot. I’d also like to add that I knocked quite a bit off my overall rating of this book because I was really taken aback by the constant and wide-spanning slurs that Tartt includes in The Little Friend. There’s commentary about the Black diaspora in the Southern setting, sure, but I feel like the language could’ve been explored in depth, if these slurs were to be included at all. Next, she constantly included dated East Asian slurs and stereotypes that made me – an East Asian reader – feel deeply uncomfortable. This book was published in 2002!! This sadly overshadowed the brilliance of her other language and the interesting commentary on adult-child relations.
The Sylvan Hotel by Frannie James (ARC)
Thanks Hinton Publishing and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy!
Rating: 3 stars
I’ll put my hands up and say that I didn’t read the entirety of this book, but I feel that I read enough to be able to review it and render my thoughts.
More of a slice of life than the historical fiction it’s touted to be, The Sylvan Hotel is about the comings and goings of its titular hotel, and the people that work there. It’s comfortably cosy in that you see all the little minutiae of everyday hotel life, but it’s also a touch mundane since I personally couldn’t get on or into the mind of any of the characters. The writing is perfectly lovely though, and I’ve saved my copy in case I’d like to pick it up again.
