September has been a busy month around Lori’s Book Loft, and not all of it involved sitting down with a book.
Twenty-one books were finished this month, and most found their way into reviews here.
It was a full month, with something to enjoy around every corner—and that’s what makes life so special.
On the 15th of this month, I told you one of my guests (Greg Hickey) had sent me a copy of his new book cover. Well, last week, I reviewed his ACR for Terminal Veracity. I love it when a book leaves me with questions I wasn't expecting to ask. This one did that for me.
Sunday, I emailed Charlie Laidlaw after reading The Days of Our Birth and told him that his mention of the song “Leaving, on a Jet Plane” brought back a wonderful memory of me chatting with Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary in an antique mall in Ohio. Charlie kindly responded and shared what he's been working on.
Those little conversations are special. A book may be finished, a review may be posted, but the connection doesn't necessarily end there. Sometimes another story is coming, another idea to talk about, or simply the pleasure of knowing a little more about the person behind the pages.
A visit back to The Paris Review brought me to “Derek,” Captain Ahab’s Evil Half Brother, and once again this article had me thinking about books and their film adaptations.
Why do filmmakers change things? What did they see in the story? What did they leave out? And why can a character we know from the page sometimes feel completely different on the screen?
Maybe there isn't always an answer. But there are certainly things to ponder.
That same curiosity is part of why, this month, I added the Find Your Next Read page, and it has quickly become the most visited page on my blog.
If you're curious about books that became movies, you can see what I have updated on the Books to Film page. I'm constantly adding more titles. Honestly, I've seen many more of the books I've read be adapted to film. I just haven't taken the time to write a blurb about them yet, as I've been trying to catch up on my reading.
The more time spent with books, the more obvious it becomes that stories rarely stay contained to the pages.
A book can lead to a movie. A movie can lead back to a book. An article can send us searching for more. An author can introduce us to another story. And sometimes a simple conversation can make us curious about what comes next.
That's what I love about this little corner of the internet.
Yes, it's about books.
But it's also about interaction and connections with others, festivals, music, gardens, bookstores, film, travel, animals, libraries, bookstores and interesting discoveries. All those little things that make me stop and think.
There is another part of my reading life I've been thinking about sharing here.
I'm working on adding the page Why This Book?
Over the years, readers have asked me, “Why did you choose that book?”
It's a good question.
Some books were purchased with a gift card or money given to me by my husband, family, or friends. But the book itself was always one I chose.
So what caught my attention? What made me pick that particular book from all the others?
That's what I want to share here—the story behind why a book found its way onto my shelves and into my reading pile.
I am so thankful to see how much this blog's audience has grown. This month, people from Singapore, Brazil, Bangladesh, Türkiye, Argentina, Pakistan, Vietnam, Mexico, Hong Kong, India, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Chile, Japan, Colombia, Morocco, Venezuela, here in the United States, and many other places found their way to Lori's Book Loft.
A reader sitting in the Midwest somehow reaching someone halfway around the world truly makes me smile.
September 2026 wasn't really about 21 books after all.
It was about where those books took me as I turned the pages.
Thank you for stopping by. I'm glad you are here. And I hope you find new books to love.
