Truly, where has the year gone? How is it October? I am not ready for the weather to turn cold. I am a summer gal, through and through. To me, cold weather means seasonal depression, so give me that summer sunshine. Alas, nobody asked me about the changing of the seasons, so here we are in October.
It wasn’t a great month for me reading-wise. I started off strong, but fell into quite a rut. I did finish kind of strong though, with two that I read quickly in a bout of insomnia. If the last couple of months had a bit of a theme, this month did not. I am all over the place. I’ll just blame that on work.
But as always, I keep reading. Here we are…
The October Books
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisburger
This was my great start! I read the whole thing in about two or three days. I read it a million years ago, back in high school, but came back to it for reasons unknown. I am glad I did though. This was a lot of fun to read. I knee-jerk bought the other two books in the series as well. I am looking forward to reading them at some point.
I love books that are fun and take me on a ride. I think everyone knows about Andy Sachs and her nightmare of a boss by now. Because of my job, I could relate to certain aspects of the job (like sending emails saying “My boss needs this yesterday!”) while others just seemed crazy and I don’t know how Andy put up with it for as long as she did.
The Wrong Way to Save Your Life by Megan Stielstra
Wow. This collection is amazing. I haven’t finished it yet. I am savoring it. Each piece is a great little morsel of amazingness. I first heard about Stielstra on Instagram and on a whim bought this collection. I am so glad I did. I’ve read so many essay collections over the years that it is rare I stumble across somebody new and different. What a gem!
Stielstra does an amazing job of exploring and dissecting the female experience in 21st century America. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I feel like she is a braver version of me and who I wish I would have been. (Though, I guess it’s not too late, right?) Anyway, highly recommend!
The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
This is another insomnia read for me. It’s a book I can just fall into when I can’t sleep that will help me ride the wave of non-sleep (as in, it entertains me and doesn’t just put me to sleep). This is a really interesting imagining of what would happen if the heir to the throne fell in love with an American. It’s about Bex who has to navigate dating the future king, convince his family that she’s all right, and a whole lotta drama.
I’m only about one-third of the way through, but it feels like a ton has happened and I cannot even begin to imagine the twists and turns to come in the remaining nearly 400 pages. The authors really move the pacing well. It could be easy to get bogged down, but nope. Things keep moving along. I’m kind of looking forward to another extended period of insomnia so I can keep reading.
Beautiful World, Where Are You? By Sally Rooney
I pre-ordered this one because it sounded really interesting. Like many millennials, I love reading about the millennial experience. There’s just something comforting in reading about characters who are similarly screwed up.
Every other chapter is an email exchange between the two main characters, who are best friends. They capture that ability to talk about nothing and everything in a single correspondence. It reminds me of the text chain between my best friend and I. Even though I haven’t finished yet, I am really enjoying this one.
Enola Holmes and the Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer
I’ve had this on my Kindle for quite a while, but reading Sara Farmer’s recent post on Modern Girl Detectives, I just had to start reading it. This series is for children (I don’t know all of the various terms for types of children’s books, but it’s for ages 8 and up) that features Enola Holmes, much younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft. She finds herself alone in London, solving mysteries like her older brother. I love this concept. Very girl-power.
This was a perfect insomnia read. I stayed up until 6 to finish it and was able to fall asleep happy, knowing that Enola was on the hunt for the next case…
Enola Holmes and the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer
Which brings me to Enola’s next case. Being a left-handed person, I was a bit intrigued by the title. Then I started reading all of the really not nice things 19th-century people believed about left-handed people. I know that historically, we’ve been thought to be evil and had the left-handedness beaten or trained out of us, but this was the first time I really read about it. I must say, it hurt my feelings a bit.
But I am HOOKED on the series! I ordered the next two books to accompany me on vacation. I wish I had bought them on my Kindle for insomnia, but note to self for books 5, 6, and beyond! Seriously, kudos to Nancy Springer for coming up with such an interesting and entertaining concept. And please write more.
There you go. My October books.
Total Books Read in 2021: 31
Tell me in the comments below: What’s on your TBR for October?
Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. Though she’s fallen off the wagon as a writer, she’s hoping to return to writing essays (perhaps even a novel!) through her involvement with DIY MFA. She is also Launch Manager, Web Editor, and Podcast Producer for DIY MFA and a Book Coach. She resides in Smalltown, Oklahoma, with her husband and their cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.
