October Wrap-Up

 Hello Interwebs!

So October was a good reading month for me, and a good book buying month for me too. I read what is so far my very favorite book of the year, maybe my favorite of all time, and a book that unseated Stephen King as my favorite author. I read a couple books that were simply okay but none that I absolutely hated. I read a total of 9 books, for a total of 3,112 pages and an average rating of 4.1 stars out of 5. I had one five star read, three 4.5 star reads, three 4 star reads, one 3.5 star rating and one 3 star rating. Without further ado here's the books I read in October and my brief thoughts about them in the order that I read them. 

1. In My Dreams I Hold A Knife by Ashley Winstead (2021). This is a dark academia thriller which follows college friends who return to college for homecoming ten years after graduation and are confronted by the younger brother of their friend who was murdered their senior year becasue he knows her boyfriend who was blamed didn't kill her but one of the others did. This book was fine. I gave it a three star rating because while I found the story relatively enjoyable, I literally hated every character in the book and did not care about anyone at all, including the dead girl. The jumps back and forth between present and past got confusing after a while and all in all it was fine. I read it between September 25 and October 7th and gave it a 3 star rating. 
   
   
   
2. Uzumaki by Junji Ito (2013). This was my first manga and it definitely delivered. This is about a small Japanese seaside town that is being taken over by spirals. It feels like a collection of short stories that weave together to a final act that was simply amazing. I loved this book and I have since purchased many of his other works and I will be reading them over the next weeks and months. I read this book from October 6 to the 12 and gave it 4.5 stars out of 5. 
   
   
   
3. My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (2021). This is quite simply the best book I read in October, if not in 2021 period. I loved this book so hard. You follow a girl named Jade who is obsessed with slasher films and as weird things start happening in her small town she begins to believe that she's living in a slasher. Then the killings come to a fever pitch and there's final girls and a blood bath and everything I love about slashers. I found out that this book is getting a sequel in 2022 and I have already preordered it as both a hardcover and as an ebook for my Kindle. I read this book from October 7 to 13th and gave it a very solid and enthusiastic 5/5 stars. 
   
   
   
4. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James (2020). I was worried how a book would follow up after My Heart is a Chainsaw but this one really held its own. This is a horror/thriller about a girl who goes to this small town and the dilapidated motel her aunt both worked at and disappeared from in the past, the Sun Down Motel. She ends up rooming with a girl in the apartment her Aunt had lived in and getting her aunt's old job at the motel while trying to figure out what really happened. This book was a haunted house style book much along the lines of the shining and you meet a full cast of very colorful characters both alive and ghosts who made this a wonderful read. I read it from October 13 to 15 and gave it a solid 4.5/5 stars.
   
   
   
5. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell (2018). This was a domestic thriller by an author I have been kind of mediocre on before this. You follow a woman whose daughter disappeared ten years before and was declared dead recently after her backpack and other personal effects were found in the forest. You follow the mother's perspective in the present as she starts a relationship with a man whose young daughter looks very similar to the girl who'd gone missing, and then varying perspectives in the past as the mystery plays out. There were multiple times I thought I had this book figured out and more twists kept coming. I read this book from October 15 to 19 and gave it an enjoyable 3.5 star rating.
   
   
   
6. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (2021). This book was intresting. It was nothing like I expected in the end but I really enjoyed it. This follows primarily three perspectives: an odd man who lives in the titular house and was suspected in the disappearance of a young girl ten years before (my reading this month ended up having a theme without meaning to), his cat who doesn't behave quite right for a cat, and then the missing girl's sister who has moved into the house next door and is trying to figure out what happened to her sister. The book was twisty and turny and I did not see the conclusion coming. I read this book from October 19 to 24th and gave it a 4 star rating. 
   
   
   
7. White Smoke by Tiffany D Jackson (2021). This book was described as The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out. It's about a girl whose mother has won a grant kind of thing so they get a recently remodeled house, all expenses paid in an effort to revamp this town. She moves across the country to this midwestern town with her mother, brother, step-father and step-sister. WEird things are happening from the very beginning and you get a sinister feeling that something very, very weird is going on in this town. I loved this book so much more than I thought I would and I am so glad this was Olivia Reads a Latte's patreon book club pick for this month because I never would've picked this up without her. I read this book from October 24 to 29th and gave it 4.5 stars. 
   
   
   
8. The Tent by Kealan Patrick Burke (2013). This was a novella I read for Camp Weekend Ween. It's by the same author as Sour Candy which I really loved. This book is about a family caught in a storm while camping on a mountain and a mysterious tent that is somehow alive. This book was great and I loved the outdoorsy setting. I read it on October 29th and gave ti a 4 star rating. 
   
   
   
9. Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (2020). This is a novella by the same author as My Heart is a Chainsaw and is about a group of friends who sneak a mannequin into the movies as a prank but then when the movie is over the mannequin gets up and walks away. What results is weeks of murder and terror with a surprising climax. I read this from October 29-30 and I gave it a 3.5 star rating. 
   
   
   

So those are the nine books I read in the month of October. I enjoyed everything I read, at least to some extent with My Heart is a Chainsaw being a clear favorite and In My Dreams I Hold a Knife being a mediocre least favorite. 

I also bought WAY too many books in October. Both Amazon and Target had their 3 for the price of 2 sales so I took advantage of both of those and with my work on the COVID unit I had extra cash to burn so I ended up spending a chunk of that on books as well. 

• The Shining by Stephen King (1977). I own a Kindle version of this but I found a paperback copy for cheap at Fred Meyers so I picked it up to add to my physical shelves as well. 
• Savage Lands by Stacey Marie Brown (Savage Lands #1). Kindle ebook from Amazon; dark fantasy romance. This was Chelsea's book pick for October so I picked up the first three in the series from Amazon but didn't end up reading them. 
• Wild Lands by Stacey Marie Brown (Savage Lands #2). Kindle ebook from Amazon; dark fantasy romance.
• Dead Lands by Stacey Marie Brown (Savage Lands #3). Kindle ebook from Amazon; dark fantasy romance. 
• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (2021). Hardcover from Book of the Month; historical fiction.
• Uzumaki by Junji Ito (2013). Hardcover from Amazon. Horror manga. 
• Echoes of Evil by Heather Graham (2018). Paperback mystery box book from Etsy; mystery.
• Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber (2021) (Once Upon a Broken Heart #1). Hardcover special edition from OwlCrate; fantasy. 
• Flower Crowns & Fearsome Things by Amanda Lovelace (2021). Paperback special edition from Target; poetry.
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (1962). Paperback from Target; classic horror.
• White Smoke by Tiffany D Jackson (2021). Hardcover from Target; YA horror.
• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (2021). Paperback from Amazon; romance.
• Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe (2021). Hardcover from Amazon; nonfiction.
• The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (2019). Hardcover from Amazon; fiction. 
• My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (2021). Hardcover from Amazon; Horror.
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz (2012). Kindle ebook from Amazon; YA contemporary.
• Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Saenz (2021) (Aristotle and Dante #2). Kindle ebook from Amazon; YA Contemporary.
• Dark Things I Adore by Katie Lattari (2021). Hardcover from Unplugged Book Box (XL Horror Box); thriller
• The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling (2021). Hardcover from Barnes and Noble; horror/thriller.
• Smashed by Junji Ito. Hardcover from Barnes and Noble; horror manga.
• Break Your Glass Slippers by Amanda Lovelace (You are Your Own Fairytale #1). Paperback from Barnes and Noble; poetry.
• Shine Your Icy Crown by Amanda Lovelace (You are Your Own Fairytale #2). Paperback from Barnes and Noble; poetry. 
• Carrie by Stephen King (1974). Paperback from Barnes and Noble; horror.
• Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow by Christina Henry (2021). Paperback from Barnes and Noble; horror. 
• Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson (2021). Kindle ebook from Amazon; nonfiction-memoirs. 
• The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling (2021). Paperback from Unplugged Book Box (Little Nightmares Box); romance.
• Nothing but Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw (2021). Kindle ebook from Amazon; horror. 
• The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (2021). Kindle ebook from Amazon; thriller
• Shiver by Junji Ito (2015). Hardcover from Amazon; horror manga.
• Sensor by Junji Ito (2019). Hardcover from Amazon; horror manga.
• Remina by Junji Ito (2005). Hardcover from Amazon; horror manga. 
• Fragments of Horror (2014). Hardcover from Amazon; horror manga. 

So that's it for my October books: both read and purchased. And yes I'm fully aware of the sheer number of books I acquired this month. On to November and one of my favorite challenges through the year. More blog posts will follow very soon. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle