This was a brutal meh kind of book month for me until the very end when things turned around.
10/1: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (library audiobook narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt , 2023) - Strange book that addresses the historical reality of abusive reform schools for boys, but also has ghosts. A nice way to start October. 4/5 stars
10/1: Colton Gentry's Third Act by Jeff Zentner (library, 2024) - I don't know if I've really read a romance novel written by a man from a man's perspective before. Interesting. 4/5 stars
10/6: Zazen by Vanessa Veselka (library, 2011) - Great cover. Otherwise, I don't think I am the intended audience for this one. 3/5 stars
10/10: You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day (library ebook, 2015) - Day is funny, but this lacked something for me. 3/5 stars
10/12: Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton (library audiobook, 2020) - It's fun to hear Parton talk about her songs, but this was incredibly superficial. 3/5 stars
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10/13: Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (library, 2019) - I knew who did it by page 70. I didn't care for Happiness Falls and I didn't care for this one. I don't think this is the author for me. 3/5 stars
10/18: Bookshops & Bonedust (Legends & Lattes #0) by Travis Baldree - Prequel to Legends & Lattes. The beauty of Legends & Lattes is that the story was delightful, but low stakes. This was similarly delightful, but the stakes were so high - it really was life and death. And there were a lot of fight scenes. And that's why it's not as good. 3.5/5 stars
For Jenny, the quotation in this book, describing a bookshop was:
The interior smelled almost exactly as she’d imagined—of old paper, mildew, and disappointment—but with the additional odors of dog and … henhouse. She wrinkled her nose. (location 278)
10/20: Northern Spy by Flynn Berry (library, 2021) - Single mom Tessa works as a producer at BBC when the news shows that her sister is an IRA terrorist. Soon she is involved in espionage and counterterrorism. I don't know about this one - I mostly felt terrible for Tessa's son's father who really gets screwed in this book. 3/5 stars
10/27: The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (library, 2021) - Book club book for the month. I hated it. I don't think I'll be up for pandemic literature ever in my life and I was really pissy about reading it while I was in bed with COVID. Thumbs down. 1.5/5 stars
10/28: The Memory Palace: True Short Stories of the Past by Nate DiMeo (advanced reading copy, expected publication date November 19) - So good. I loved every word. 5/5 stars
10/28: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (library, 2024) - Very compelling. Impressively good job of keeping multiple timelines under control. 4.5/5 stars
10/29: Serious Concerns by Wendy Cope (university library, 1992) - Beautiful collection of mostly funny poems. 4.5/5 stars
10/29: Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, edited by Alice Wong (book I own, 2020) - I read this for a book club at work. As with most essay collections, the quality of each selection varied greatly, but it was an interesting look at how easily disability is overlooked in public policy and life. 3.5/5 stars
10/29: Shattered by Kathryn Casey (audiobook narrated by Coleen Marlo, 2010) - Dated true crime book. Interesting case, though. I'm pretty sure the guy did it, but I can't believe they convicted him on such little evidence. 3/5 stars
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Did not finish:
Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen - Look, I thought it was boring, okay? DNF at 8%.
What a full month of books. I am wondering 3.46 is a rating more to the good/great part you still say it was a meh month. So what did make it a meh month? Do you usually have more 4 & 5 star ratings? There was only one 1.5 star. Anyways... I was just wondering because rating is of course very objective. For me I guess it would have been a good month.
ReplyDeleteI did rate Northern Spy the same. Even though I can't exactly remember but I hated the ending.
I really do need to get The God of the Woods.
In an ideal world, I would mostly have 4 and 5 star books, but this year it doesn't feel like I've had very many. This isn't a super low average for a month, but books at the end did a lot of the heavy lifting.
DeleteYes! I have you down as my rec source for Northern Spy. I think you probably did like it more than I did, but I did learn a lot of things about living in Northern Ireland!
It's not fun to have a meh streak of books, yet it does seem to go in spurts like that for me. I'm glad it turned around and you found some good ones!
ReplyDeleteI was so happy for the end of the month turnaround or it could have been DIRE.
DeleteHa, well thanks for forever ruining used bookstores for me! That description is pretty funny. (Just for the record, the last used bookstore I went to did NOT smell like a henhouse.)
ReplyDeleteHa. I knew I had to pull that quote out for you. I feel like all used bookstores have a smell - it's not just the smell of old books, but there's always something dirty feet about them.
DeleteI DNF-ed Colton Gentry. I may try it again on paper. I was listening to the audiobook and something about it wasn't working for me. I was also pretty bored by the book. And everyone loves this book so I don't know what's wrong with me. Maybe just the wrong time to read the book.
ReplyDelete3.46 is such a low average :( I hope November is a better reading month for you!
November is starting off really strong. I'm listening to a terrifying book that's really well done, and reading two really great books. I'm feeling like a real READER right now.
DeleteI got Lunar Love to read - the 12 year old read it on our trip to San Francisco and then I was going to read it, but it's been languishing. I feel bad because I should want to read romance novels featuring Asian Americans, but.... there were other things I wanted to read.
ReplyDeleteI liked Northern Spy more than you did - it moved very quickly and it sucked me in - but now that you mention it... yeah... that husband got a pretty shitty deal.
I wanted to like Lunar Love because I also want to read more books featuring Asian Americans that aren't serious internment camps/railroad building/racism. This one didn't do it for me, though. I felt bad about it, but life's too short for me to reading boring romance novels.
DeleteI also had a meh month in October. If you DNF, do you count that into the average somehow? Because I think I may have DNFed three books, which really should count, but I give them 0 stars if I DNF them, so that would really bring down the average! I remember reading The Sentence and kind of slogging through it; however, I just checked and I gave it three stars so now I can't really remember why I did that!
ReplyDeleteDNF don't figure into my stats at all. I have a separate tab on my spreadsheet where I keep track of them, but I don't rate them because it seems unfair to do so. I think I might keep track of how many pages I read of DNF books next year, though, because it's crazy that I've probably read hundreds (thousands?) of pages of books I've never finished and that's not tracked anywhere.
DeleteI guess the book club discussion about The Sentence was good and so that makes it a good book club book in my mind - even if I don't like it, if the discussion is good, that's a worthwhile book.
The Memory Palace . . . something I'll have to keep my eye out for. I chuckled at "I hated it" for The Sentence. Tell us how you really feel? ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't sugarcoat things here on my blog, Ernie. I tells it like it is.
DeleteGod of the Woods is on my Kindle. So many of these books are new to me...and my TBR list is so long. My Kindle is going to stay in airplane mode forever! Also, did you listen to the podcast series Dolly Parton's America? It is so good, especially episodes 2 & 3 focusing on Jolene and I Will Always Love You.
ReplyDeleteI did listen to Dolly Parton's America and that was the first time I got pissy with Dolly about refusing to acknowledge her feminism or ally stance. I just find it so...artificial.
DeleteI haven't read any of these, but started The Reformatory and then the ebook expired and I'm waiting for it to come back. I have read Louise Erdrich that was really good but really hard to read. I believe it about Dolly Parton - I think she's been quoted on saying that if you want to stay successful in show business you keep your mouth shut about a lot of things? My October reading month was pretty good, but Don Quixote made it not very prolific.
ReplyDeleteI just really wanted more ghosts in The Reformatory. Less real life abuse, more ghosts. Is that too much to ask?
DeleteOooooh - 1.5 stars for Louise Erdrich! I haven't read The Sentence yet but I love Louise. Reading a covid novel while in bed with covid does sound awful.
ReplyDeleteI've only read three Erdrich books - The Sentence, The Night Watchman, and Future Home of the Living God. I've not really liked them at all. I like the Twin Cities settings, but that's not enough to carry the books for me. I think I'm probably not going to read any more of this author.
DeleteI don't know most of these, though I keep hearing good things about God of the Woods.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like GOTW is a love it or hate it kind of book. But if you're not into mysteries, I don't know that's I'd recommend it.
DeleteI am so impressed with your reading habits. I can get through a couple of books during a good months... I don't know how you get through 14. It's so impressive to me.
ReplyDeleteOh, I just read constantly. It's a lifestyle choice. LOL. It's true, though. I rarely leave the house and books are my main form of entertainment.
DeleteWow, you've read way more book this month alone than I've managed all year. And I consider myself a book lover. I wish I had your capacity, I just can't find the right authors at the moment.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I have to read a lot of meh books to get to the great ones. But the great ones are worth it.
DeleteOh, I know and yes, totally agree. I've had way too many DNF book this year.
Delete"The Memory Palace" has been on my TBR list for awhile. Glad to hear you liked it.
ReplyDeleteI read the Alice Wong for a work bookclub too and then we had a Zoom Q&A with her. I love that she won a MacArthur this year!
ReplyDeleteWe read The Sentence for book club and most people liked it. It's the only Erdrich book I"ve read that didn't feel like homework. She's typically an author I avoid which pains me since many of her books are set in my home state of ND. I didn't mind the pandemic setting but it was challenging for some and brought back terrible memories of that time, like hearing helicopters and rubber bullets from our open bedroom window. Eeks. I don't like stories that involve ghosts typically but it worked ok for me in this book.
ReplyDeleteI had a kind of "meh" month of reading in October. Lots of "just oks".