What did you read in October?

[litskispeciality]

Ratings, recommendations etc.

[travella]

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles too a long time for me to read so that was the only book I read in October 3*

[litskispeciality]

I was hoping vacation could catch me up a little more.

Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottonline - 3* (good story, could be a lot shorter)

7 Days of Rage: The Deadly Crime Spree of the Craig's List Killer by Paul LaRosa and Maria Cramer 3*

I got halfway through Party of One: A story in 21 songs by Dave Holmes the old MTV VJ. It's good, lots of lol moments. Hoping to finish it this week.

[abs]

I spent most of October reading Tower of Dawn. I really liked it but it took me forever to get through. It is long but mostly October was insanely busy.

I also read Without Merit (1 star...I hated this) and The Marriage Lie (3.5 stars...quick easy read).

[Vespasia]

Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie 4*  It was a good horror novel for October. I imagine I would have reacted to it differently, either positively or negatively, if I was a parent. 

Where they Found Her by Kimberly McCreight  3*  Not terrible but I expected it to be much better. Typical surprise twist bullshit. 

[hurricanedrunk]

Shi*t My Dad Says - Justin Halpern 3*
Difficult Women -Roxane 3*
Beartown Fredik Backman 4* took me a bit to get into this one but really enjoyed it once I did.
Tower of Dawn - Sarah Maas 4.5* I wanted to hate read this book - where's Aelin? However the whole new land and lot of new interesting characters helped win me over. Kind of predictable in some ways except for the big reveal- excited to see where this series leads.
I started a Gentleman in Moscow but had to return it to the library before I could finish - back on the reserve list.

Audio
And then There were None - Agatha Christie 4* classic whodunit that I really enjoyed and wasn't able to guess the killer.
Caraval - Stephanie Garber 3*
The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith 3.5*
The Alchemist Paul Coelho 3* I liked the concept and easy flow of this story but did not like how women were portrayed.

[charlatti]

The Power by Naomi Alderman 4.5*
The Book of Etta by Meg Ellison 2*
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin 4*
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige 3*


Slow month for me -- The Stone Sky took me forever to get through. Enjoyable but not as good as the first two in the trilogy, IMO. The Power was quite good and thought provoking.

[spedrunner]

Don't You Cry
Kubica, Mary *
3 stars

The Kept Woman (Will Trent, #8)
Slaughter, Karin *
3 stars


The Lake House
Morton, Kate *
4 stars


Don't Close Your Eyes
Seddon, Holly *

4 stars


We Could Be Beautiful
Huntley, Swan *

3 stars

[dorothyinAus]

I felt like it was a pretty good month, but then I feel like I'm behind. I'm about 8 books behind last year's total. But many of those were Kindle Freebie short stories, so maybe I'm not really all that behind. I'm at 50 books for the year, where last year I was at 58 at the end of October. I've ticked off 33 of 40 tasks for my Monopoly Challenge, so I feel good about that.

47. Heavenly Pleasures, Kerry Greenwood 4****
48. A Pint of Murder, Alisa Craig 4****
49. The Enchanted Wood, Enid Blyton 4****
50. A Dissection of Murder, Felicity Young 4****

The Enchanted Wood was fun, DH and I have been sharing it as part of our weekly story time since May and we finally finished it. I had never read the series, though they were bedtime stories for DH. The version we've been reading is an updated version and for reasons we can't figure out, they changed the names of the main characters. DH was a bit upset by that, but still it was very good.

A Dissection of Murder was very good and put together some things I didn't realize were occurring concurrently. A Pint of Murder was really good, and I am glad I finally read the series. It was recommended in a port guide on one of my cruises several years ago and when the first book was on sale for the Kindle I picked it up. I will definitely search out the rest of the series. Heavenly Pleasures was fun, and since it's set in Melbourne and surrounds, I knew the location and it was fun to water the path the main character talks about taking on a trip up to the city, even finding the landmarks she talks about. Corinna Chapman is a very different character than Phryne Fisher (Greenwood's other series), though typing that out, I realize she isn't really so very different, just the times are very different.

[mrspez07]

I finished John Adams by David McCullough 4*
I did this via audio book, and I don’t think I would have gotten through it reading the book. It was really good, detailed, informative, but long (26 hours of audio took me 2 months!) I highly recommend it if you love history and this time in history. Just the first part about the development of the Declaration of Independence was amazingly informative.
It reminded me that even our founding fathers were flawed men just trying to do what they thought best and that politics have been vicious since the beginning. The top reviews on goodreads are also spot on and say it much better than I.

I also read:
Modern Girls by Jennifer S Brown 4*
The Gilded Hour by Sarah Donati 4*
both of these were books where I missed the characters when I was done.


Devils Cut by JR Ward 3*

It was a good month, despite being a crazy life month.

[MrsAxilla]

Wow, I've been reading the same book all month? That can't be right...

Mists of Avalon - 4 stars
Sleeping Beauties - 200 pages left!

[litskispeciality]

I have to give you ladies (and gents) credit for reading these long books. I get anxiety about reading long books even if they come highly recommended. I think next year I'm going to go quality/pages vs. quanity goals.

[rainbowchip]

Midnight Jewel by Richelle Mead 3* - I liked this one better than the first on but it was still only OK.

Into The Water 3* - I think my problem with these types of books is the twist never lives up to Gone Girl. Gone Girl has ruined it for me.

I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual by Luvvie Ajayi 4* - The first part was funny but then it got into some serious stuff. She was saying what I was thinking but saying it way better than I ever can. The last part was strange. One of the reviewers commented that they didn't know who the book was written for and that hit the nail on the head.

Without Merit by Collen Hoover 2.5* - This is the lowest I've ever rated a CH book. I think she tried to tackle too much with one book and ended up doing a horrible job all around.

I'm still 4 books behind my goal of 52. I don't know if I will ever get caught up.

[ufcasey]

2.5 stars
Archangel's Viper (Guild Hunter, #10) by Nalini Singh

3 stars
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt
Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn
Warcross by Marie Lu
Rock Hard by Nalini Singh
The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare

3.5 stars
Elven Blood (Imp, #3) by Debra Dunbar
Scandalous Desires (Maiden Lane, #3) by Elizabeth Hoyt
The Emperor of Evening Stars (The Bargainer, 2.5) by Laura Thalassa
Karolina's Twins by Ronald H. Balson

4 stars
The Highlander by Kerrigan Byrne
Rhapsodic (The Bargainer, #1) by Laura Thalassa
A Strange Hymn by (The Bargainer, #2) by Laura Thalassa
Most of All You by Mia Sheridan - recommend for people who like romance books with a more deeper emotional plot
A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold - recommended in general!

4.5 stars
Land of the Beautiful Dead by R. Lee Smith - this book is super long and definitely not for everyone but I enjoyed it and would recommend it if you think you would like dystopian/zombie-ish/romance LOL

[minzy]

In October, I read:
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie **
The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand ***
What Happened by Hillary Clinton ****
Down the Rabbit Hole - Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny by Holly Madison - 3.5 stars
Moloka'i by Alan Brennert ****

[kelliebeans104]

I have read six books in October:

4 stars:
Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah

3 stars:
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
The Julian Chapter (A Wonder Story) by R.J. Palacio
Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

The only book I would truly recommend is Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. It was really good and I think a lot of people would like it.

[snshne322]

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine ***
Spinning Out by Lexi Ryan **
Royally Matched by Emma Chase ***
Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren ****
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs *****
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs *****
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs *****
Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs *****
Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs *****

9/117 for the year!  I'm at 113/117 for the year so I will smoke my goal.

[ally]

I only read two books in October.  Which is a little light for me, but we were on vacation for about two weeks and other the plane I did not find much time to read.

The Winter Sea - 4 1/2* I really liked it and look forward to reading more by the author
A Discovery of Witches - 4* again, I liked it and will continue the series, a good escapist read

I have 32/35 books for the year.

[spedrunner]

Nov 3, 2017 9:19:19 GMT -5 rainbowchip said:

Midnight Jewel by Richelle Mead 3* - I liked this one better than the first on but it was still only OK.

Into The Water 3* - I think my problem with these types of books is the twist never lives up to Gone Girl. Gone Girl has ruined it for me.

I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual by Luvvie Ajayi 4* - The first part was funny but then it got into some serious stuff. She was saying what I was thinking but saying it way better than I ever can. The last part was strange. One of the reviewers commented that they didn't know who the book was written for and that hit the nail on the head.

Without Merit by Collen Hoover 2.5* - This is the lowest I've ever rated a CH book. I think she tried to tackle too much with one book and ended up doing a horrible job all around.

I'm still 4 books behind my goal of 52. I don't know if I will ever get caught up.

I just read this! I gave it 3 stars.  It was a quick read, it was cute....I just read several psychological thrillers so I thin the timing was right for this one!  I felt like a teeny bopper reading it though, and was thinking that Luck got around for being so young! LOL

[MrsAxilla]

Nov 3, 2017 9:05:34 GMT -5 litskispeciality said:

I have to give you ladies (and gents) credit for reading these long books. I get anxiety about reading long books even if they come highly recommended. I think next year I'm going to go quality/pages vs. quanity goals.

I definitely recommend that!  One year, I read a bunch of crap to hit my arbitrary book goal, then I started the next year with Gone with the Wind (which is great, btw) and decided a 1000 pagebook is worth more than one book.  

[ssmjlm]

Oh man, I had a hard go with decent books this month. I seem to not like all the ones that are the "must reads" because I'm just like "ummm, yeah, no."


P.S. from Paris *** (good, but wondering if some stuff was lost in translation)

A Glimpse of the Dream **** (I just seem to really enjoy her books)

Before I Go to Sleep ** (figured out the plot twist real quick on this one)

It Looked Different on the Model: Epic Tales of Impending Shame and Infamy * (Is she trying to be Jen Lancaster? This one was awful.)

Love Handles (Oakland Hills, #1) ** (freebie from book bub)

Every Last Lie * (Mary Kubica and I need a break. Either her books are getting worse or I can't deal with her writing about such wimpy characters. And the millennial whining in this one was too much.)

It's Always the Husband * (I'm not sure a book with more unlikeable characters has ever been written. I'm not even sure how it got published.)

The Marriage Lie * (Another bad one everyone said to read. And the twist was very predictable.)


Also what is up with female writers writing women so poorly? The last 3 books in my list all have these women who can't manage to help themselves. How could you have no idea what is going in your life and with your husband?