October Wrap Up and November TBR
Hello lovely Book Dragons,
We are here today to talk over what we have read in October and what we are planning for November. November is looking to be an extremely busy month for me but that’s a good thing, I hope. I will just stock up on energy providing beverages. I should also have some water. Maybe. I’ll think about it. I am a Dragon after all and as such, I do not need prosaic things such as water. It takes away from my mystique as a magical creature.
Ahem without further ado here are all the books I have consumed, I mean read, in October.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi- I loved it. I had to read it for class and I suffer in the name of education. Five hundred pages of fantasy? No professor please! Anything but that.
The World of Lore: Wicked Mortals by Aaron Mahnke- I read this one on audiobook for fun. It was nice to put it on while I was doing other things because I have already read this book and have listened to all the podcast episodes. This was not any new material, but it felt appropriate for the Halloween Season.
The Shadows by Alex North- The book was appropriately creepy even if it didn’t blow my mind. It had some truly interesting and creepy aspects to it and some of the things I did not expect. I am still on my quest to find a thriller that will blow my mind. Maybe I am just too suspicious of everyone, so I can’t be shocked by anything.
Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab- I had so much fun. These books are quick and easy yet contain so much history and lore between their covers. I know Victoria does a lot of research for her projects, so I know the information provided comes from actual legend and lore. I love what she does with it and how each city the heroes of the story visit further the overall plot.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson- I bow down to the queen of creepy and unsettling. I read the book in one sitting, it is short, and once you start you do not want to put it down. It was so well done. The ending was surprising and uninventable at the same time as any good endings are.
Dracula by Bram Stalker- I wanted to love it. I truly wanted to love it more now than I did back when I first read it in high school. That’s misleading, I read it when I was in high school but not for school. It was fun. The story starts strong and fizzles out. We spend too much time talking about how great we are as men and not enough time dealing with Dracula and his victims. I also found many of the characters rather stupid for how intelligent they were supposed to be. They missed the obvious right in front of their faces rather a lot. I will do a longer review soon. I hope.
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole- I have not laughed so hard in a long time. The book was intended to be humorous. It was supposed to be a gothic tale of horror and drama. I laughed so hard I cried at one point. I don’t think this will be for everyone and I also recommend you get this on audio as the dialogue is not provided in either quotation marks or separate paragraphs. Because of this issue with dialogue, the book can get rather confusing as to who is speaking and who is present at any given time.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Seanez- the award for the longest book title belongs to this book. Congratulations. I truly do not wish to type all that out again. I liked this book a lot. The storyline was not surprising, and overall this was a very quiet book in terms of the content. I think was and is tremendously important for what it did for young people and the impact it has had.
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini- dragons, dragons everywhere. I remember I read the book when it first came out in one day. This is true now as well. I devoured it in one long sitting on a Saturday. Now you know why I don’t always get any writing accomplished. It’s because the books distract me.
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas- so much happens in this book and so much is set up for the future. I loved it. I cried in it. I laughed too. The characters grow so much in this story. We have our first glimpse of witches. It’s just so good. Seriously I know a lot of people say these books are not worth the hype. I respectfully disagree having just re-read some of them. They are really good on all fronts and should be recognized as such.
One by One by Ruth Ware- I knew who the killer was about a third of the way in. there were just too many coincidences for me not to figure it out. I wanted not to figure it out. Damn you brain. I did love the atmosphere and the callback to Agatha Christie. Only Agatha did it better because I did not expect the ending. I expected the ending we got here. It was still good and like I said the atmosphere and premise were top notch.
Mythos by Stephen Fry- I finally got it from the library on audio. As I am familiar with those stories I could play this book while doing things such as homework. The book is fantastic. I had a blast listening to it and I think Fry had a blast both writing and narrating it. The book deals with a variety of Greek Myths, but they are exposed for how truly ridiculous they are. When Fry brought Percy Jackson into this I completely lost my mind. Good job sir, I salute you.
These are all the books I read in October. My TBR for the month was extremely ambitious so I am not surprised I failed to read every book on it. I am still disappointed though. The books keep multiplying and I am still behind.
For November I have loose reading plans. I did not want to commit to too many books as I am also participating in NaNoWriMo and ending my first quarter of grad school. So, I will only put five books down. The five books that have to get read if I want to keep my sanity. Seriously if I do not, read the sanity slips. Here goes the list.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab- I need to read this. I have been trying to not be too crazy and cry for months after, but it is time to cry for months anyhow. Winter is almost upon us, so I will be crying every day as is. Might as well have a good reason to do so.
The Bea and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden- I have seen some art for this series and now I need to read it. I have meant to read it for years now and just never got around to it. But I am determined now. I also have a reading buddy. So hopefully that will prevent any incidents.
From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armourtrout- Again I blame the art for this. More and more amazing artwork has popped up for this series and I need to jump on the train. Also, everyone who reads this book seems to love it to extreme degrees. I will be okay with that. Oh, and the girls from the Two Book Bitches Podcast (Link Here ) are doing the series in November and I enjoy their discussion of books.
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova- I am reading this one for school. As I write this I should be reading it because I have a discussion post due the next day. Whoops. It sounds cool. I like Urban Fantasy and anything with Labyrinth in the title piques my curiosity.
Archangel’s Sun by Nalini Singh- I need to read it. I have no patience or self-control when it comes to Nalini’s books, so I will probably read it on release day. I also got a ticket for a virtual event for Nalini and Sarah J Maas, so I know it will be great. Sarah is an unashamed fangirl, so I expect her to ask all the questions I want to ask. Also, the premise for this book has me doing grabby hands. I need it.
These are all the books I want to read for sure in November. I am already behind on NaNoWriMo and things are not looking promising. I hope to read more than this. I have multiple series started that need finishing. I am currently reading- well listening to- a book about Ancient Egypt for no reason whatsoever. No, NaNoWriMo I am not researching my writing project or for class. I just have issues.
This is it for today, I have to go read for school and cry over my writing project. Sadly, blog writing does not count towards my word count goal. Stupid rules. I will see you soon with Mini Book Reviews. I have given up on writing full-length reviews for November, well I say that now. We might have a situation as I had with Red rising. I did not mean to make it a full-length review. It just happened.
Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Halloween and that they are reading all the great books! See you all next time!
Anna
