October Wrap up

October was an incredibly successful reading month for me. There were a lot of new books I was excited for and I flew through most of them. I read a total of 10 books this month and had multiple 4.5/5 star reads, a rarity because I probably rate less than 10% of books I read that high. I covered a lot of these books in my October TBR so I’ll be pretty brief on the description and focus mostly on my thoughts/reading experience.

The first book I read this month was A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs. This is was 4th book of the Peculiar Children Series and while it continues the story from the first 3 books it also sets up a new story on a new continent which I think was a smart move to keep the content feeling somewhat fresh. This book really highlights the fact that Miss Peregrine’s wards act like, and are treated as, children despite the fact that they would all be senior citizens if their bodies reflected their age. Jacob tries to convince them to act their age and fight this treatment, but I don’t really think he succeeds. It also doesn’t help that Jacob himself can be pretty grating. He’s reckless and impulsive and refuses to listen to the people who have more knowledge and experience than he does and that leads to a lot of troubles for him in this book and frankly, they’re well deserved. I rated this book 3 stars. I liked the new setting I think there’s an interesting story being set up, but I found almost every single person in this book very annoying which brought down the experience a bit.

The invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (5/5 stars) - I wrote an entire blog post on this book which you can read here. Basically it’s one of my favorite books of the year, if not of all time. I read it in one day and loved every minute. I’ll absolutely be reading it again in the future.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (3.75/5 stars) - I also wrote a whole blog post on this book which you can read here. It was good. A quick, creepy read and I plan on reading future installments in the series.

Blood and Honey by Shelby Mahurin (2/5 stars) - This is the sequel to last year’s Serpent & Dove which follows Lou, a witch in hiding, and Reid, a witch hunter, who are trapped into marriage as their enemies close in from all sides. This book was fun on a surface level but also very frustrating to read. I didn’t have high hopes going in because I enjoyed the first book in the series well enough but didn’t love it. The main draws for me with Serpent & Dove were the hate-to-love romance and the French inspired setting and because Reid and Lou’s relationship progressed so much in the first book that whole element was no longer present. If you’ve read the first book and really loved the characters and want to see the world expand and learn more about how the magic works then definitely read this one, otherwise feel free to pass.

Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (4.75/5 stars) - Book #6 in The Queen’s Thief series and one of my most anticipated books of this year. I had incredibly high hopes for this book and I was not disappointed. The first book in this series (published almost 25 years ago!) tells the story of Gen, a thief who has been caught and thrown into the king’s prison after bragging that he could steal anything. Gen is selected by the Magus (the king’s scholar) to help him track down and obtain an ancient treasure that will give power to the king. The Magus does not know Gen’s true identity or his particular interest in helping find this treasure. Turner is, without a doubt, a master crafter in the art of storytelling. Through each book in this series she weaves mythology and fiction, fantasy and politics, and love and war so beautifully and seamlessly. We see the overall story unfold through the eyes of so many different characters and the way that everything falls together at the end of each book (and with this one, the end of the series) is mind-blowing. I love these books. I love the characters, I love their stories, and their motivations and their strategies for navigating their lives and the obstacles they face. I love how Turner shows such well-rounded portrayals of so many people and truly makes you so connected to them. I could gush about this series for days so I’ll leave it there, but definitely buy it (start with book 1 not this one obviously) and read it. I know it’s fantasy, but it can really be appealing to every reader.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid (2.5/5 stars) - This is a psychological thriller I checked out from the library on a whim. It was a quick read and I was admittedly hooked almost immediately. It was gripping and creepy and it’s one of those books that has you checking in the closet before you turn the lights off at night. Reviews for this one are all over the place, but at least the ones I’ve seen skew mostly positive so it seems I may be in the minority here with my opinion, but it just wasn’t for me.

This book focuses on a man and his girlfriend. They’re on their way to visit his parents in a rural area and she’s thinking the whole time about “ending things". She doesn’t see the relationship going anywhere and she wonders throughout the trip if maybe she shouldn’t have agreed to come if she doesn’t planning on being in this relationship much longer. However, as the night progresses things get more and more alarming, from the state of his parents house to the detours they end up making as they head home. We start to see how the narrative we’ve thought we’ve been reading the whole time suddenly twists into something else entirely. It happens in a way that is so obvious, but you also don’t notice it at all as it’s happening. Like the killer standing behind a character in a horror film that only the audience is aware of. It’s a mind-bending, intensely disturbing tale that will make you want to immediately flip back to the first page and start over when you’re done. I would recommend this primarily to people who like and regularly consume psychological thrillers. The cerebral trickery of this story is overwhelming at times and won’t necessarily mesh with all readers, but if this is the type of book you know you enjoy I’d say give it a try.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat - My grandmother came to visit last month and bought this book for me while she was here (hi grandma!). My husband and I cook dinner most nights a week (I’d say, on average, 5/7 days) and most of the time we’re pretty good at it. We’re not going to be winning any culinary awards but we enjoy the food we cook and that’s what matters. I also bake almost every day and I’ll bake anything from breads to pastries to muffins to the occasional cake (homemade pop-tarts and chocolate iced banana donuts were my specialties this week). My Grandma described this book to me as less of a cookbook and more of a reference guide for cooking and I think that’s a spot on description. I’ve never carried around a cookbook reading every page word-for-word like I did with this book. It’s a fascinating look at the ways we cook food and what elements make food delicious. Samin Nosrat uses examples of cuisines from all over the world and breaks down the secret to good cooking into 4 simple categories. The book is, at its core, a cooking guide but Nosrat also includes a lot of anecdotes form her own life to make it engaging rather than simply informative. I’d recommend this book for anyone that spends a lot of time in their kitchen. If you’re not a home chef, but enjoy eating good food and want to know more of what makes it great there’s also a really lovely Netflix show of the same name where the author travels the globe (remember traveling?!) and explores the themes she presents in the book but in a way that’s more easily palatable to any food-lover.

Night Film by Marisha Pessl (4/5 stars) - I’ve been hearing really high praise of this book for a couple of years now, but I’m rarely in the mood to dive into a 600 page thriller novel. Luckily, October is the perfect month for that. I want to start off by saying to not let the length of this novel intimidate you. There’s a lot of mixed media so multiple full pages are taken up with transcripts of interviews or newspaper articles and the book is so immediately engaging that once you’re sucked in you won’t even notice how long it is.

Night Film is a story that focuses on an investigative reporter, Scott McGrath who has been disgraced after he tried to take down a famous horror movie director Satnislas Cordova. McGrath lost everything, including his marriage, when he tried to expose Cordova and now Cordova’s daughter Ashley has died of apparent suicde and McGrath thinks there’s more to her death than what is being reported. Ashley is a former child prodigy piano player and Cordova is a reclusive cult filmmaker who makes movies that portray an extremely unsettling level of darkness. McGrath teams up with an unlikely group of people to pursue the mystery that is the Cordova’s and the events that led to Ashley’s death. I was immediately gripped by this book and I never wanted to put it down. I thought it was wonderfully crafted and I’d recommend it for anyone thriller fan.

Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (4.5/5 stars) - The third book in the Morrigan Crow series (delightful middle grade fantasy) sees Nevermoor’s wunimals infected with a horrible disease. No one knows what causes it, how it’s spread, or how it can be cured causing fear and anger to take over. A lot of this book hit a little too close to home with the events of this year, but Townsend continues to create a world of magic that readers of any age can love. Morrigan has to face a lot of hard choices in this book and she straddles the line really well of accepting guidance and advice from people she trusts while also following her heart and doing what she thinks is right. I thought Townsend did very well to give this book in the series its own plot and story while setting up well for the next book to come. I already know that I’ll be reading and eagerly anticipating this series for years to come.

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang (4.5/5 stars) - I read and greatly enjoyed The Poppy War (book #1 in this trilogy) last month and I wanted to finish this book before the final installment is published later this month. I talked about the Poppy War in my September Wrap Up and there isn’t much more I can add about this installment without spoiling the first book. However, I will say that I like this one even more than the first. I felt that Kuang perfectly expended the world and I believe the characters continued to evolve really well and authentically. This book sets-up well for the finale, but doesn’t feel like it only exists for that purpose in a way that so many sequels do. I still believe that it’s not a book series for everyone, but if you’re at all interested in dark, intense, war-focused fantasy this series is a must-read.

That’s all! October was a great reading month. I expect November to be slightly slower, but I’m still really looking forward to books coming out later this year. Read anything great last month? Let me know in the comments!