A Cruise And The Best Reading Month – September 2024 Overview

As I took two weeks off for my holiday it genuinely does only few like days since I wrote my last monthly wrap up. And being back writing about September 2024 is madness. I don’t feel guilty talking about Christmas and starting to plan for the festive period as it’s totally allowed now. Right?!

Things I got up to in September 2024

At the very start of the month I headed for Korean BBQ with a few friends and we had so much great food. Then later in the month I had my very first ramen experience. I have no idea how it took me so long to try ramen but it was a great experience.

During the month I headed to one gig which was The Plot In You. They were a band I didn’t know all that much about but it was a really fun evening. The show was at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, a venue I hadn’t been back to in a long time.

The weekend before my holiday I headed down to Bournemouth for one of my best friend’s 30th birthdays. It was such a lovely weekend filled with catching up with people, great food and cocktails. And I managed to have some time to myself to relax and read which was nice.

Then just before my holiday I headed to my very first in person book club. I joined Chapter 25 book club in Milton Keynes so I could meet some new people and talk all things books. I was quite nervous before going but I had a great time (even if I didn’t love the book), and I met some fab people.

The biggest part of the month aka holiday time

The whole month led up to our two week holiday which we’d had booked since November 2022! We started off with four days exploring the capital of Iceland: Reykjavík. And then we jumped on a cruise and spent a few more days in Iceland, then over to Norway before heading to Amsterdam and Bruge.

I’ll do some separate posts on the trip itself, the ship and our excursions. But overall we had such a fab time and we even got to see the Northern Lights during our trip which was a real bucket list experience for me.

Things I watched and read in September 2024

I headed to the cinema once during September to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. I absolutely loved the movie, maybe even more than the original. It was the right mixture of creepy and funny and I loved the additional of Jenna Ortega alongside Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder.

During our cruise I finally watched Cars and Cars 2. I have no idea how I went this long without seeing at least the original, but it’s two more Disney movies ticked off my list and added to my overall rankings.

I headed to the theatre once in September 2024 to see Mean Girls. The show was the right mixture of the original movie and the new adapted movie. The songs were incredible on stage, and the jokes landed so much better than in the newer movie.

My favourite books of the month

I had such a good book month with four five star reads which hasn’t happened in quite a while.

• Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson is the follow up to my only five star read in August. This is the second book in a series following a coven of witches and I loved it just as much as the first.
• Bride of the Shadow King by Sylvia Mercedes is a romantasy. The book flits between both of our main two characters perspectives which I love as you get both of their thoughts and feelings. It was slow burn romance, full of adventure.
• Gentlest of Wild Things by Sarah Underwood is a Greek mythology reimagining and it was so beautifully written. It doesn’t follow any of the bigger more well known characters, but I loved the story of our bad ass female lead Eirene.
• Empire of the damned by Jay Kristoff. The first book in this series is my favourite book of 2024, and book two was just as incredible. It was emotional, shocking and had me gasping throughout (much to Luke’s amusement). I don’t know how I’m going to wait until the third and final book.

Things that made me happy in September 2024

The F1 continues to make me very happy. We had three races over the month and again no Red Bull wins which is making the season very interesting. It feels like such a long wait until our next race in Austin but I can’t wait to see where the end of the season goes.

At the moment I am obsessed with the chicken caesar dip from M&S and would happily eat it all day every day. It’s part of the new dips range from M&S and it is incredible. Please try it if you like cheese, garlic, chicken and bacon (which should be most people).

What did you get up to in September 2024?