Rearview Mirror // October 2022

Well, still running less than six months behind, so that seems pretty good.

Favorite October Read

While my favorite reread was obviously Wodehouse’s Meet Mr. Mulliner, I think my favorite of the new books I read was Only a Monster, a surprise win as I’m not always particularly fond of YA fantasy.

Most Disappointing October Read

I think I’m going with a book I actually reviewed in October as well as read, Dangerous Beauty.  I really wanted to like this book, but I could never get behind the main characters as a couple, which meant the whole story didn’t really hang together for me.

Other October Reads

• 3*
  • Among the Shadows by L.M. Montgomery
  • A Dog on Barkham Street by M.S. Stoltz
  • The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
  • The Mystery of the Jittery Dog-Walker by Robin Gottlieb
• 3.5*
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  • Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie
  • The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
  • Daddy’s Gone A Hunting by Mary Higgins Clark
  • Engaging Mr. Darcy by Rachel John
  • His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
  • Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
  • Our House by Louise Candlish
  • The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston
• 4*
  • The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charles Mackesy
  • A Horse Called Mystery by Marjorie Reynolds
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  • Lady Thief by Kay Hooper
  • While My Pretty One Sleeps by Mary Higgins Clark
• 4.5*
  • A Fine and Pleasant Misery by Patrick McManus
  • Meet Mr. Mulliner by P.G. Wodehouse

October Stats

• Total Number of Books Read:  24
• Total Pages Read:  7275
• Average Star Rating for October:  3.67
• Longest Book: Jane Eyre (652 pages)
• Shortest Book:  Mystery of the Jittery Dog-Walker (126 pages)
• Oldest Book:  Jane Eyre (published 1847)
• Newest Book: Killers of a Certain Age, Dangerous Beauty, The Cartographers and Only a Monster were all published in 2022
• Top Genre: Thriller/Suspense (7 books)
• Top Format: Paperback (13 books)
• Top Source: Owned (14 books)

October Challenge Updates

• New states visited: Idaho and Wisconsin
• Chunksters read (800+pgs): 0
• Almost-a-chunksters read (450-799pgs): 1
• Classics read: 2
• Nonfiction read: 0

TBR Update

This is current as of today, not the end of October!!

• Standalones:  495 (up two)
• Nonfiction:  132 (holding steady)
• Personal (which includes all books I own (fiction and nonfiction), but lists any series I own as only one entry…):  597 (down two)
• Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series):  250 (down one)
• Mystery Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 110 (holding steady)
• New Arrivals – (I have a lot of books that I have been gifted or that I pick up somewhere and they get put on my “oh I’m so excited about this shiny new book” shelf… and then of course don’t actually get read.): 171 (holding steady)

Current Reads

Getting towards the end of the month, so not quite as many buddy reads going on.

• Almost done with Middlemarch – fewer than 50 pages to go!!
• Walden… kind of… I’m struggling with this one so I haven’t read it in a few days lol
• By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder – we finished Plum Creek and just started this one yesterday.  It’s probably the book I remember the least about so I’m interested to read it again.
• The Healing Woods by Martha Reben – my grandparents loaned me this one, a memoir written in the 50s – Martha suffered from tuberculosis and spent a spring-fall living in a tent in the Adirondacks.

Last Time on “Up Next”

Did I actually read my probable next five reads from last time?

• The Girl in the Tower and The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden – yes!! I really enjoyed this trilogy (I was in the midst of reading the first book, The Bear and the Nightingale, when I wrote my last Rearview Mirror post)
• The Magnolia Palace – yes!  I enjoyed but didn’t adore this historical fiction.
• The Black Stallion – yes!  This was a childhood favorite and I loved rereading it for the millionth time.
• The Last Garden in England – nope!  Still on the shelf and I may not get to this one this month after all

Up Next…

My probable next five reads…

• Dragonshadow and Flamebringer by Elle Katharine White – I just finished the first book in this trilogy, Heartstone, and quite enjoyed it.  It’s Pride and Prejudice set in a fantasy world with dragons and other magical creatures.  I’m really looking forward to seeing where the story goes from here, since we’ve covered the main P&P events in book one.
• The Girl and the Stolen Fiddle by Stephanie Julia Gibson – a friend of a friend actually wrote this, so my friend loaned it to me. I don’t really have any idea what it’s about, but it’s short, so we’ll see what happens haha
• The Ace of Hearts by Ashtyn Newbold – my sister got this historical romance series, so I’m going to give it a whirl
• Witch’s Business by Diana Wynne Jones – my next random TBR pick

And that’s a wrap for October!!  Maybe one of these days I’ll even write reviews for books I read THIS year!  :-D