It was the best of times and worst of times when it came to books this month.
10/3: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (library, 2000) - What a ride. 4/5 stars
10/3: Wanderers (Wanderers #1) by Chuck Wendig (library audiobook narrated by Dominic Hoffman and Xe Sands, 2019) - There's a pandemic! And a very long audiobook. I mean, it was okay. I wasn't blown away and won't read the sequel, but I thought it was okay. 3.5/5 stars
10/6: The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner (library ebook, 2025) - This just didn't do it for me at all. 2/5 stars
10/7: The Nightingales by Emil Wilson (library, 2026) - Just a perfect graphic memoir about a teenage girl and her friendship with a dying man. There are POMERANIANS. 5/5 stars - literally NO NOTES
10/14: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori (library, 2016) - Look, this book is my jam. So much to think about. 5/5 stars
10/14: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me (Maggie the Undying #1) by Ilona Andrews (library audiobook narrated by Kristen Sieh, 2026) - Frustrating book. There's a lot here to like, but the pacing was off. 3/5 stars
10/17: Voyagers by Meg Charlton (library, 2026) - Two distinct storylines. I liked both of them, but I'm not sure if they worked together. 4/5 stars
10/19: When I Fell From the Sky: The True Story of One Woman's Miraculous Survival by Juliane Koepcke translated from the German by Ross Benjamin (library ebook, 2011 ) - When Koepcke was 17, she was the sole survivor of the 1971 LANSA Flight 508 crash over the jungle of Peru. Interesting, but not truly enough to sustain the length of the book. 3/5 stars
10/25: Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty (library, 2026) - Not enough time travel. 3/5 stars
10/25: Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang (library ebook, 2025) - I'm definitely not the right audience for this one. But things did go absolutely batshit at the end, so if that's your jam, maybe you're the audience. 2.5/5 stars
10/27: Royal Assassin (Realm of the Elderlings: Farseer Trilogy #2) by Robin Hobb (library audiobook narrated by Paul Boehmer, 1996) - The reread continues! There's a bit that's slow when Fitz is mooning around like a teenager after Molly, but he IS a teenager, so it makes sense. But we are introduced to Nighteyes and Fitz grows up. 4.5/5 stars
Did not finish:
Night Objects by Eli Raphael - Look, this is maybe a good book. But I can't deal with a mom death AND teenage sex in the same book. I just can't. DNF at 12%.
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How many 5 star books did you read in October?
I did enjoy Convenience Store Woman — and now even the title has me thinking — was that her whole identity? ;-)
ReplyDeleteMaybe not a 5 star read, but I did enjoy Verity. Sometimes I need something dark and twisty!
Want to do another buddy read? Some good stuff on the publishing horizon...
ReplyDeleteThe Nightingales grabbed my heart in such a specific way. I think about it ALL THE TIME!!
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