October was a decent reading month. Nothing too amazing, but nothing bad either. I actually got around to all of the books on my spooky reads list except one! (I'm still reading Halloween Party so even though I'll probably finish it today, it didn't make October's list.) As usual, click on the book titles to read my Goodreads reviews.
French Milk, by Lucy Knisley. I love travel memoirs, but this one was a little disappointing. It's a graphic novel style memoir, but it's more of a diary than anything: pages of what they ate and where they went. If you've never been there and don't really know what she's talking about, it doesn't mean much.
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, by Alan Bradley. I enjoy this series so much...it's just begging to be made into a BBC mini-series. This one felt a little different, with the focus on the de Luce family and Flavia and her mother's mysterious past. The things that were revealed didn't really surprise me, but I'm very curious to see how it will carry over into future books.
The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, by Claire Legrand. It's far from the best middle grade book I've ever read, but this one was a perfect October read. It was creepier (and quite a bit grosser) than I expected, and I would have loved reading it as a kid. It was a bit longer than was necessary...things were drawn out at times.
Bed-Knob and Broomstick, by Mary Norton. I'd had this book since elementary school, and I finally got around to reading it. It was okay, but nothing special. Even though it was very short, it still didn't hold my attention. I would like to try reading The Borrowers at some point, though.
Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen. I'm so glad I finally got around to rereading Northanger Abbey! I enjoyed it so much. It was a lot more Austen-ish than I remembered, and it made me smile. I need to reread at least a couple of her novels each year. Also, I had forgotten how incredibly annoying, simpering, and obnoxious Isabella Thorpe is. She might just be one of my least favorite characters ever.
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1, compiled by hitRECord and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I randomly stumbled across this book on Book Outlet (a dangerous place to browse) and thought it looked cute. It really is a tiny book...it only took a few minutes to read. An interesting concept, but not as amazing as I'd hoped.
Your spooky reads post inspired me to do a little themed reading too. :) I don't typically do that, but it was really fun! I read The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (which wasn't great - not nearly as good as The Woman in White) and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (which was so, so good - I'm already looking forward to a reread!). I also read The Girl with All the Gifts - somehow I didn't realize that it was about zombies when I bought it (!), so I'd put it off for awhile for obvious reasons (scary/gory/horror books are totally NOT my thing). I ended up liking it way more than I expected. Oh, and I'm in the middle of a Harry Potter reread, and The Prisoner of Azkaban was the one I was on during Halloween, which was perfect. :D
ReplyDeleteThemed reading is fun sometimes! :) I haven't read anything by Wilkie Collins yet, but I absolutely love We Have Always Lived in the Castle and want to read just about everything by Shirley Jackson because of that.
DeleteI've heard of The Girl with All the Gifts but didn't realize it was a zombie book either, ha. And a Harry Potter reread is always a good thing! :) I'm going to reread the Chamber of Secrets as soon as I pick up the new illustrated edition.
It was so fun! I'm already looking forward to reading a similar round of books next October. I bought The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson within an hour of finishing We Have Always Lived in the Castle, so I guess you could say that I was impressed as well. Either impressed, or totally lacking in self-control - probably both. ;)
DeleteYeah, I'm not sure how I reached the point of buying the book without knowing that zombies were central to story. It's fun to go into thrillers pretty blind, but maybe not to that extent!
The release of the illustrated edition was what prompted my reread. :) These editions are so gorgeous! This slow, one-per-year release is giving me a tiny idea of what it was like for everyone else who grew up waiting for Rowling to write the books. That wait would have been so, so painful!
I liked The Lottery and Other Stories a lot, even though the "other stories" weren't exactly what I was expecting after having read The Lottery. I've got my hands on some more of her books, most recently her two memoirs about raising her kids, and next on my list is the new Penguin Classics deluxe edition of The Haunting of Hill House- so pretty! :)
DeleteI love the illustrated editions, too! And I like having an excuse to reread at least one Harry Potter book a year. :) The waiting was hard, ha! After book 3 is when I got caught up and anxiously awaited each new book.
The Borrowers was cute and fun. Especially if you can get a copy with the old illustrations!
ReplyDeleteOh, and watch the Studio Ghibli film "Arriety" if you haven't already ;)
I've been wanting to read French Milk for ages, yet somehow just never order a copy. If the library had it I'd definitely give it a go. But like you experienced, it might just be a one-time read...
I haven't seen Arriety, though I do enjoy the live action version of The Borrowers. :)
DeleteYeah, French Milk (in my opinion) would be an okay library read, but I kind of wish I hadn't bought it. I am interested in checking out some more of her books, though...there are a couple of them that sound interesting to me.