Number of books read: 10
Number of rereads: 4
Number of physical books: 3
Number of ebooks: 0
Number of audiobooks: 7
5* reviews: 1
4.5* reviews: 0
4* reviews: 3
October ended up being a much better month than I expected. I finished everything with a bit of time to spare. I mostly did this by listening to multiple audiobooks when I was at work. I’ve always wondered how people read way over 10 books per month and I guess this is one of the ways. If you stick to shorter audiobooks, then you can get through so many in a week. It’s really something that I should do more often. But, what about this month? Here’s how my reading went over the past 31 days.
TOWARDS ZERO BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
Kickstarting the month the best way I know how. With a classic Agatha Christie novel. This is one that I’ve never quite been sure about. It’s always stuck in the middle of the road for me. Not quite the best but definitely not the worst. I decided it was worth giving it another shot to see if I could finally work it out. Still not sure.
This book had sat on my TBR for ages, so I decided it was finally time. I needed a B title for my reading challenge. I had high expectations for this one. Mostly because of the dragons. I’m always going to be interested in an alternative universe that sees dragons and humans living together in 1950s America. Could it live up to the image in my head? Not at all.
OCTOPUSSY AND THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS BY IAN FLEMING
I had originally bought the audiobook version of this book because it was narrated by Tom Hiddleston. When I started listening, I became uncomfortable with his accents and had to send it back. His absolutely over-the-top Jamaican and Asian accents were straight out of the 70s. It was so disappointing. The book itself wasn’t that bad considering it’s a bunch of short James Bond stories.
EMPRESS & ANIYA BY CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS
Why did I read this? Well, for one thing, it was free with my Audible account. Then there was the fact that it started with E and I needed to cross that letter off my reading challenge. Finally, it was short. The fact that it was a YA novel from the writer of Queenie, a book that I’d be underwhelmed by, was just something I had to accept. I do also love a body-swap narrative.
Next up was this classic novella. I needed another O title and this seemed like a pretty good option. It’s such an interesting and thought-provoking read. I can’t believe that Camus manages to address so many ideas in such a short book. This will force you to question humanity and society.
CASE STUDY BY GRAEME MACRAE BURNET
This was one of my most anticipated reads of this year. Since reading His Bloody Project in 2016, I was looking forward to seeing what the author would write next. Turns out, it was bloody amazing. This is such an exciting and really engaging novel. It’s metafiction but on a different level. Like a fully immersive fictional experience. It’s so difficult to describe but is definitely worth reading.
THE PALE HORSE BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
A standalone Christie novel that’s perfect for October. This novel has hints of Macbeth and other witchy traditions. It’s a bit off in terms of pacing and format but I can forgive it. It’s a very interesting and entertaining novel. This is an Agatha Christie crime novel with a slight edge. Not quite what we expect but still worth a read.
BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMB BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
“Was it your poor child?” So asks the creepy old woman at the centre of this spooky Agatha Christie novel. I say spooky but it’s actually not as terrifying as it should be. It starts off really well but definitely gets a bit tiresome as time goes on. I’m not a huge Tommy and Tuppence fan anyway but this is a weird one. Still worth a read.
SEEPING MURDER BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
Another spooky Agatha Christie got Halloween. A young newlywed woman is haunted by a murder that she had no knowledge of. How does she know so much about a house she has only just seen? There’s only one person who can help. I’m not a massive Miss Marple fan but I do enjoy this one. It’s definitely one of the better ones.
REPRIEVE BY JAMES HAN MATTSON
TBD
I wanted to end the month on a spooky note and this seemed like it had a lot of potential. Set in a terrifying escape room haunted house experience, I was sure this would have me spooked. Did it? Not as such. I’ll be posting my review later in the week.
ALL MY FRIENDS ARE SUPERHEROES BY ANDREW KAUFMAN
I first read this book in February and I absolutely loved it. So, when my virtual book club was looking for a feel-good suggestion for this month’s read, I put it forward. Although, it had already been the runner up for our February meeting because we were doing a love theme. I just hope everyone else likes it.
Yipee ki-yay, motherbooker 
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