Rearview Mirror // October 2020

Haha maybe someday my posts will match the time of year!! At any rate, it’s time to wrap up October… halfway through December!!

First off, I’d like to take a moment to say how absolutely horrendous the new block editor is on WordPress! Just absolutely genuinely horrible. I hate it with a strength that’s hard to give words to. It’s clunky, not remotely intuitive, and honestly pointless. I have no idea what’s supposed to somehow be better about this version than the old editor. I HATE the new editor with an amazingly strong loathing. One more tragedy of 2020, I guess. RIP easy-to-use WordPress.

Anyway, such is life and I guess I’ll just have to get used to being filled with rage every time I try to create a post. I had a super busy fall (SUPER BUSY) but am now on “winter break” between my two seasonal jobs and trying my best to get caught up on all kinds of things, including book reviews!! So let’s see how October went reading-wise.

Favorite October Read

Two months in a row that my favorite book of the month is about cooking?? What’s happening to me?! But I really did enjoy Make the Bread, Buy the Butter AND I’ve used several recipes from it that have turned out really well. My favorite fiction read was a reread – Anne of Ingleside – so it seemed kind of like cheating to choose that one!!

Most Disappointing October Read

While East was a close second, I think I have to go with Lightning, the 87th Precinct book from this batch that was not only my least favorite from these five, but one of my least favorites from the series so far.

Other October Reads

• 3*
  • East by Edith Pattou
  • Nobody But You by Jill Shalvis
  • Poison by Ed McBain
  • The Wrong Side of Magic by Janette Rallison
• 3.5*
  • Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras
  • My Kind of Wonderful by Jill Shalvis
  • Passion On Park Avenue by Lauren Layen
  • Well Played by Jen DeLuca
  • The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller
• 4*
  • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
  • Ice by Ed McBain
  • Love on Lexington Avenue by Lauren Layne
  • Marriage on Madison Avenue by Lauren Layne
  • The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
  • Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery
  • Tricks by Ed McBain
• 4.5*
  • Eight Black Horses by Ed McBain
• 5*
  • Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery
  • Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

October Stats

• Total Number of Books Read:  21 (all physical)
• Total Pages Read:  6531
• Average Star Rating for September:  3.9
• Longest Book: East (494 pages)
• Shortest Book:  The Murder at the Vicarage (231 pages)
• Oldest Book:  Pride & Prejudice (published 1813)
• Newest Book:  Marriage on Madison Avenue, Island Affair, A Deadly Education, and Well Played (all published 2020)
• Number of New-to-Me Authors:  5

October DNFs

None!!!

TBR Update

This I keep updated as I go, so it’s current as of today, rather than as of the end of October. Still a million years behind on reading blog posts, though!

For those of you who don’t know, I’m weirdly obsessive with organizing the TBR, and have it on a spreadsheet divided into five different tabs:

• Standalones:  493 (down four!)
• Nonfiction:  124 (holding steady)
• Personal (which includes all books I own (fiction and nonfiction), but lists any series I own as only one entry…):  652 (up five)
• Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series):  256 (up two)
• Mystery Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 118 (holding steady)

Reading Challenges Updates

• #ReadingEurope2020 – visited Norway – this challenge is NOT going to get completed this year but I’m still tracking it for fun (total 8/46 complete)
• #ReadtheUSA2020 – visited nowhere new (total 33/50 complete – unless I get myself really organized, I probably won’t get this one done this year)
• #SeparatedbyaPondTour – visited no where for this challenge, either! (Total 57/159 complete – this is still on the 3-year track. If anyone has books they love set in Canada, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales, let me know!!)
• #LitsyAtoZ – 0 books (22/26 complete – only weird letters left. Specifically Q, X, Y, and Z, so let me know if you have suggestions for titles or author last names that start with those letters!)
• #BackwardsAtoZ – 17 books (No W through no Z on my fourth list and No A through no M on my fifth list – I’m trying to do this one in order and to see how many times I can get through the alphabet!)

Current Reads

For December, I’m indulging in 100% fluff and it’s been fantastic!! Basically, think Christmas Hallmark movies except in book form. Right now I’m reading a Nora Roberts book called First Impressions.

Up Next

The probable next five(ish) reads – (guess what, more fluff)

• Christmas With You – two Nora Roberts Christmas books in one volume
• The Hundred and One Dalmatians and Starlight Barking by Dodie Smith – for some reason, these are Christmasy books for me!!
• Santa’s On His Way by Lisa Jackson – not gonna lie, I got a pile of holiday paperbacks on eBay for less than $2 a book, so some of these are just super random.
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens – everyone needs to read a classic, right??
• These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer – I’ll admit that this isn’t a Christmasy one, but it’s for my traveling book club so I’m making an exception. Besides, how can I go wrong with Heyer??

Well, that’s all for October (!!!) – we’ll see how fast I can get through my November reviews. Will I be caught up by the end of the year?? *cue dramatic music*

Happy December everyone!!