October 2022 Wrap Up: hello goodbye!

~reading

How many books that I planned did I read?

I planned 6 and of those, I read 4. In total, I read 16 books. So…. clearly I went off track a bit. xD

The Plan:

The Result:

LOOK AT THAT, A BINGO! Meaning, I used one of each of my categories and symbols: still to be read, in progress, abandoned, and completed! Let’s dig in…

So of course, since I’ve already put together my November TBR with several of these titles on it, I had some hold overs. Primarily Morning Sun in Wuhan (which is now reviewed and published!), and The Night Ship which I’m still working through (slowly…).

For books I finished, I went on two different binges: graphic novels, and nonfiction (and in at least one case, a combination of the two with Commute!). I have so much nonfiction in my TBR that sounds so fascinating and interesting, and I just made it a priority in October and I’m so glad I did because they were great!! I also have made it a habit to browse the “New Nonfiction” shelves at the library and that has yielded some great finds. In fact, Strange Planet, Commute, and The Office BFFs all came from there!

My topics were similarly split. Some were kind of dark or grim: Commute dealt with societal harassment and one woman’s taint from men and abuse early in her life; Jokes To Offend Men also touched on inequality and the daily sufferings of women; Something Happened To Ali Greenleaf is a story about a girl who was raped and the girl who knew about it; Sign Here was a bit silly at times, but overall told a pretty painful story no matter the ending.

Maybe it’s no surprise then that the other side of my reading was jokes by Jerry Seinfeld (Is This Anything?) and self-discovery in new places (Pride, Prejudice, and Turkish Delight) and teen romance with the boy she always knew who also happens to now be a mega k pop star (Seoulmates).

Anyway, a lot of these were great and it was a surprisingly excellent reading month. Especially considering the “Life” portion of this post.

Reviews posted in October

• ARC Review: If You Could See The Sun by Ann Liang (10/11/22)
• Review: Zeus is a Dick by Susie Donkin
• DNF Review: Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore
• ARC Review: Jokes to Offend Men by Allison Kelley, Danielle Kraese, Kate Herzlin, & Ysabel Yates
• Review: Sign Here by Claudia Lux

~stats

• My reading was 27% nonfiction this month
• My top genres were Graphic Novel (6 books), Romance (5), and Young Adult (4)
• I mostly read books that were reflective, funny, or adventurous
• My average rating was 3.16
• I traveled to Turkey and Greece. In the United States I went to California, New Jersey, and New Hampshire.

~life

My love and I went on our fledgling tradition vacation to Orlando, Florida this year! We did all the roller coasters and Halloween Horror Night events and stayed at a mega-posh hotel because we booked last minute and it was all that was left. We ate so much delicious food and walked 15 miles a day and slept bizarre hours as we got up at 11am, napped at 7pm, and were out again from 9pm to 2am.

So in short, we were very tired and I had very little reading time. xD And yet, finished 16 books. 🤷‍♀️

I honestly don’t really remember much else that happened in October because the vacation at the end wiped any previous frustrations from my mind (as intended). Came home happy to be home and have some time to relax. In comparison to being constantly on the go, working my familiar job every day was super easy in some ways!

~blog

I didn’t do a whole lot with the blog in October, to be honest. There was a lot of blah days and of course the time away. It shows in the counts below, because overall everything is a bit of a dip from the average.

• Views: 6054 (down ~400 from last month but still unfathomably high to me)
• Likes: 150
• Comments: 58
• Followers: 389 total @ end of month, 12 new in Oct

I also got a little WordPress congratulatory notification for getting 50,000 all-time views on the blog. Whoo hoo, I guess? At that point, the number is just so high it’s hard to really place it in my mind. But I’ll take it. 🙂 Glad y’all are here.

Here are some of my favorite posts I worked on this month, in case you missed them!

• What time is it?? The 1000th time!
• Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’ve Read In Other Countries
• Something unusual has happened

And here are some of my favorite posts by other bloggers!

• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne by Holly @ Nut Free Nerd (made me want to read it again!)
• WIP Wednesday for 19 October 2022 by Nicole @ Book Wyrm Knits (I’M SO IN LOVE WITH THE POKESOCKS!)
• Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Read On Vacation by Michael @ The Book Lover’s Sanctuary (“succumbed to the setting” 😊)