september reads.

It's funny because last month I had 15 days left to read my second book and I was worried that I wouldn't get it done and this month I had 10 days left to read both books and I wasn't worried at all. Either I've become more apathetic or I have more confidence in my ability to read.

Anyway, this month's selection is brought to you by iBooks, which is this fantastic app I found and immediately wondered why I'm forced to have a Newsstand app that won't fit in my "Utilities" folder (which is where I store all the default apps like Stocks and Compass that I will never use but cannot delete), but the iBooks app is optional. I'm not really a fan of e-readers (although I wouldn't say no to that feature on an iPad, if one were to be presented in front of me) because I like tangible things, as I've mentioned with the whole owning physical copies of CDs thing. Unfortunately, the tangible things tend to cost more money, which is not something I have an abundance of at this point in time. So I'm forced to be a sucker for the iTunes "Books For $5.99 And Less!" deals.

(This post is getting to be lengthy. Enjoy it while it lasts because tomorrow will probably be another three sentences on what's new and semi-noteworthy on iTunes.)

The Pact, by Jodi Picoult

I made the decision to never read another Jodi Picoult after reading Handle With Care, the second book I read of hers. (The other was My Sister's Keeper.) While she is an incredibly talented writer whose stories take you away to another world, her stories are often devastating and end with an epilogue that's like a sucker punch in the gut. Yes, this opinion is based on my reading of those two books only, but if you've read them, you know what I'm talking about. So when I saw that The Pact was on sale for $5.99, I was a bit hesitant, but for $5.99, I knew it would be a good read.

I won't say much about the story, other than that it basically fits my previous description: incredibly heartbreaking. And, unless you handed me a free copy of any of her other books, I will probably not be reading any more of them. I love a good, well written story, but her books really push the limits for me.

Also, I just did some googling and fount out they made a Lifetime movie out of the book in 2002! I bet it's terrible, but I kind of want to watch it.

Looking For Alaska, by John Green

Another John Green! This one was actually the same price on iBooks as it is on Amazon, but the thing about Amazon is there are shipping fees and a lag time between ordering and actually holding the book in your hands. And, as I stated earlier, I had 10 days to read two books, so I didn't have that kind of time. And, in case you're wondering why I didn't just choose a book from the $5.99 And Less selection, it's because there's a free sampler of John Green books and after downloading that and reading the first chapter of Looking For Alaska, I didn't want to read anything else.

Anyway, I've heard a lot about this book on Tumblr. And by that I mean, there are typos with Looking For Alaska quotes everywhere you look. (Typos, as in design typography. Not typing errors.) So I've been wanting to read this book for a while, mainly because of that, and I finally did.

I spent the first half of the book enjoying it, but also thinking that, if I had to choose, I'd say The Fault in Our Stars is better. But then I kept reading and now I'm not sure. Looking For Alaska was different than I thought it'd be, but I liked it a lot. I think I'm just a fan of John Green's writing style.