I know I’m always the last in the batch to do a monthly update. But then again… So many things could change at the last minute?? I could read a book? Or two books? I could buy three more books??
…Which is precisely what happened this month!
So, some of you might have already heard me reciting this story, as I’ve doubtless done it a few times this week already, but for those who haven’t, I shall deign to repeat it again.
Anyway, here I was at the end of my October, so happy to have actually read more books than I’d hauled. For once! It’s the 31st, I am feeling quite safe in the knowledge that no unknowns will come my way.
Or will they???
Which is, as you might have guessed it, exactly what happened. I was out. There was a formerly unknown used book store. Things escalated from there. And I walked away with this stash:
I was both happy and unhappy… Happy to have snagged them, of course, and to have taken such an unexpectedly atmospheric bookstagram pic of them. Unhappy – obviously because it was JUST ONE BOOK over my read count! On the last day!!!
So I was hatching these plans of maybe reading a book quickly to make up for it and at least make it even (as you might remember from my previous Sunday post that I have been known to read a book a day lately), when at literally the last minute of the day an email with the subject along the lines of “Your Old Long Forgotten ARC You Can’t Even Remember You Requested Has Just Been Approved” (I do not claim it was this exact wording……)
At that point I called it a day, congratulated myself on the good effort and embraced my guilty TBR hoarding self.
And now let’s not dawdle anymore and get to business.
~ 5-Star Miracle Books Read ~
In October, I have read 12 books, but only these stood out, and they stood out incredibly. Library At Mount Char is an unbelievable book, imagine if Neil Gaiman and Stephen King sat down and co-wrote a book. It would be that! It’s equally dark, witty, imaginative and steeped in amazing mythology and symbolism. I could not pry myself away! Please, please read this book (handy buy link here). Review forthcoming, but considering how I stall with books I loved? You might have to wait for a while. Same goes for An Unkindness of Ghosts. I have already mentioned this wonder. It’s a monument to diversity, empathy, understanding, pain and inequality. It’s full of feeling and emotion. Please buy this book!
~ 4-Star Steady Good Books Read ~
Out of these, I would say my favorites are Weaver’s Lament and Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet. I have not reviewed Magic yet, but I will soon – it was a wonderful story involving fairytales and loads of cake. This month you’ll also be seeing the review for Diamond Age for SciFi Month 2017. Sweet Bean Paste as an endearing tale of friendship (…and also cake) which I’ll review in a few weeks too. Most of you will probably have already read the review for Quackery.
~ Okay Books Read ~
I will also be posting reviews this month for Doctor Who: 11 Doctors, 11 Stories and Central Station as part of SciFi Month 2017. In The Blue Hour was an alright book, but I feel like it won’t be too memorable. You can find my Goodreads review of it here.
~ Totally Meh Books Read ~
These are both old ARCs that I got off the backburner, but… This Calling Master basically only manifested a semblance of a story by about 70-80%, which was no fun. You can read the review here. And The Nix… After reading 4 3 2 1, I expected so much from The Nix (similar time, similar story), however, I was quite disappointed as the book dragged and plunged me into a slump (luckily, focused on just this one book) for over 6 months. You can also read my review of The Nix here.
~ The Stats! ~
Should I say I did quite well!! I read a lot of old ARCs (well, compared to other months…) and my Mount TBR is going steady. I should even make my Goodreads challenge! Yay!
~ On The Blog In October ~
I have amped my blogging game up in October, it seems, because I have posted quite a lot – 18 posts! Here they are, in case you missed them (minus the Sunday posts):
~ Books Hauled ~
We do not speak of this.
~ Next Week ~
SciFi Month is in full swing, so you should expect some good content from me. And to dilute it a little bit, there will be one touchie post as well!
As usual, I’m linking up with Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday post, also with Stacking the Shelves at Tynga’s Reviews and Mailbox Monday, Feed Your Fiction Addiction.
And that’s it for my October! What about you? Share your links with me in the comments!
I’m Evelina and I blog about books that made an impression on me. I love middle grade, women’s, scifi and some literary too.
You never know what comes your way on the last day of the month, haha. But looks like you had a good reading month regardless. Als yeay for Robin Hobb books!
Exactly! 😀 and Robin Hobb… Also bores me a little :/ but! I still need to find out how it ends 😀
Haha no you are NOT the last one I still have to write my October month in books… hopefully today 😉 As you said it’s running all the time and I had so many posts and interveiws to plan and write.
Congratulations on your month by the way I’m impressed!
Thank you! I’m glad I’m not the last :DD I hope you can write yours soon too!
Finding a good used book is always a reason to celebrate. No matter what the stats say! And I love your pic. You had a great month on the blogging from, here’s to an equally good Nov!
Thank you! Yeah, I am also pretty satisfied with that pic 🙂 thanks. You have a great month too, tackle that TBR 🙂
Whaha.. Life as a book loving blogger can definitely be tough. But I think you did pretty damn good. And your new books look amazing in that picture.. So you just had to buy them. It was necessary!! And that should count for something! 😉
Have a great week and happy reading!
Yes, I just had to! And they have a 3 for 2 deal, was I just going to get one? Nonsense 😀 so you’re right!!
No guilt over a late monthly wrap up! I don’t do one at all. And, that is a great Bookstagram picture. Nice job!
Thank you! Oh, I actually enjoy doing those wrapups because I feel like I’ve accomplished stuff, I get to count it 😀 hahaha
You had such a great month Evelina. I wish I could read a book a day. My TBR pile keeps growing because I’m such a slow reader. Library At Mount Char seems a really interesting book. A mix of Stephen King and Neil Gaiman? I think I’ll have to add it to my wishlist.
P.S. Don’t feel bad about getting those books at the end of the month. If you hadn’t bought more books than those you read, you wouldn’t be a bookworm. =P
Happy readings & Happy November! 🙂
Tânia @MyLovelySecret
Well… It does seem like my speeds went back down 🙂 I don’t even know what magic that was, them going up so much 😀
Library at Mount Char was amazing! Although it did have a lot of violence. So if you’re okay with that, you should DEFINITELY read it. It was a gem.
You are right about the bookworm thing 😀
One of these days I’m going to read The Library at Mount Char. I just wish I read faster! Looks like you had a great month, and Sci Fi Month should be a lot of fun!
Yeah, I think you would really enjoy Library at Mount Char, as much as I know of your taste 🙂 I hope you get to read it.
Books are so sneaky. They always show up when you’re least expecting them. It looks like you had a successful reading month. Happy November!
Sneaky is the right word indeed 😀
I haven’t even tried to match my books read against books purchased…but I should. Right? I do try to read as many purchased books as I can, via my Read the Books You Buy Challenge. So far this year, I’ve read 100 of those, not all purchased this year, but most of them.
I won’t even talk about how many I bought for the year, though. I think that deserves its own post.
Enjoy your week, and here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES
Well, you read quickly and finish your challenges before it’s even time, so I think you should be fine 😀 but you probably should match them just for curiosity! It’s so easy to lose track of how many you have on the Kindle, after all 🙂 and yes, maybe you should make that post! At the end of the year or something 🙂
If my Goodreads account is to be trusted, I only acquired two books (both ARCs) and finished five (two of which were ARCs) in October. I’m still slowly working my way through a large pile of ARCs released between September and November.
WOW. You are completely amazing. How did you accomplish that? Two books per month is something I can’t imagine 😀 go you!!
I just finished up our family budget for October. For the line item for books, movies, and music we spent all of…$10 (one kindle magazine subscription and some music for my wife). That has to be some kind of first for me.
I am SO committed to whittling down Mount ARC that I even did a State of the ARC post!
10 bucks! I congratulate you, my man, because this is amazing 😀 it’s also totally awesome you did a State of the ARC post! It’s still open on my phone, I have yet to read it because #time 😀 I think I’ll visit this evening 🙂 it’s so cool that you joined.
I am hoping to have a full stat at the end of the year but monthly I sort of bailed on it but plan to continue next year.
Looks like you read some really awesome books!
Have a great week Avalinah! Happy Reading! ox
Bailing out is also an option, if it’s too overwhelming. I’m also thinking of setting lower goals next year 🙂
Ok not only were those books a good deal but that is a stunning pic!!! Totally worth it!
Aww, thank you 🙂 I was also pretty happy with it 🙂
Glad that you had great reading month in October. I hope this month is the same. Enjoy your new books and have a wonderful week, my friend. ❤️
Thank you!
You certainly had a good reading October. I also enjoyed Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet and as for your last-minute haul – you have 3 cracking reads. Robin Hobb is ALWAYS worth owning and I also enjoyed Eligible. I hope you do, too:). Have a great week. My Sunday Post – https://sjhigbee.wordpress.com/2017/11/05/sunday-post-5th-november-2017/
Oh, I’m glad, cause nobody else on my Goodreads (for example) has enjoyed Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet, it seems! I was so surprised.
Actually, Robin Hobb slightly bores me, but… Since I’ve already started reading the series, I just want to know what happens 🙂 and it was cheap xD hahah.
Wonderful wrap-up Evelina! Still super curious about Library At Mount Char and An Unkindness of Ghosts after your super huge praise for them. 😀 Definitely will have to look into those when my TBR permits it! 😀 Glad to also see you’re doing super well on reading as many books as you can before the end of the year! Here’s to an awesome month of November. 🙂 Happy reading, Evelina!
Lashaan, you absolutely MUST read The Library at Mount Char. In fact, I order you to, basically 😀 as much as I know your taste, I am sure you will enjoy it (also, I can’t wait for your review of THAT.)
I hope you have an awesome reading month too, and thanks for visiting 🙂
Oh no…the dastardly newly discovered used book store strikes again. LOL Guess that means don’t leave the house until the next month officially begins. And what a haul I must say! I always laugh when reading your posts. I can almost hear your wicked giggles while putting them together. LOL
Actually, you’re right. No going out on the last day of the month, at least not into town 😀
I am so glad I make you laugh 😀
The GIF at the end after your Books Hauled made me laugh right out loud hahha. Love it. So true though, right? And very exciting that you had two amazing 5-star books this month! They both sound really good! I love how organized you are with your stats, too! If someone asked me how many books I reviewed on Goodreads this year, I think my answer would be “between 1-382” because who even knows? (Well, you do, that is the point I guess haha.) Anyway, hope this month is a great one for you too!
Hahah, I’m glad it did 😀 when you’re looking for GIFs, you never know what you’ll find… But when I saw that one.. I was like, YES 😀
Oh yes, I’m all about organized 😀 I would be happy if I could make lists upon lists for everything! Like, even dishes done (and the amount of dishes done…) Water glasses drunk… xD xD a little bit of pedantic OCD and whatnot. But it helps in life, I guess 😀 (except for when I freak out about how nobody has their shit organized at work or something xD)
Way to go on steadily busting down Mount TBR! My October reading stats were kinda bad compared to previous months, but hopefully I’ll get back on track in November! 🙂
Hopefully 🙂 good luck!
You have such lovely graphics everywhere I turn! And as a former English as a foreign language teacher, I must ask you how you read and write so very well in English if Lithuanian is your first language. I lived about five years of my life in Latvia, and even when I spoke it well, I never could read or write very smoothly or accurately. Then again, I didn’t start learning it until my twenties, and never had formal classes. But on the OTHER other hand, many immigrants to the United States are in English speaking schools and English speaking… Read more »
Aw, thank you, Wendy 🙂 I do try 😀 have you tried using canva.com? You might find it’s quite easy to make graphics with that nifty little tool 🙂 As for English… Um, well, I don’t know, I sort of always spoke it. English cartoons since age 6. But then, I’ve always had a knack for languages… In my best years, I was able to speak 7. I’m sure they’ve deteriorated by now. They sort of do when you don’t use them. Oh cool, you lived in Latvia! That’s pretty close! Well, this is simple. You’ve practiced Latvian for 5… Read more »
I have tried to learn some Lithuanian–my children are from there, and my grandfather was too. I found that it is harder than Latvian, because Latvian is very phonetic and also has a reliable pattern of stress in the word. But it seems that Lithuanian, like English, can just put the stress anywhere, so you can’t just know how a word sounds from looking at it. Yes, the cases in both Latvian and Lithuanian are bewildering to English speakers, but once you figure them out, they are not so bad. I still make many small mistakes when I speak, but… Read more »
Oh!! That is so cool! We have part of the same heritage! That is awesome. Yes, Lithuanian is terribly tough to learn – in part also because it has just no resources, basically. It’s such a small land with so few people, the general response to someone trying to learn it is often “O.o wow, really? Why..?” instead of providing the person with good material or any actual help 😀 Yes, Lithuanian pronunciation and stress syllables are, I’m sorry, but they are BS. Even for me. That’s the only thing that Lithuanian students, even the best, consistently fail at when… Read more »
uwahhhh
Which part are you referring to? 😀
Nobody can resist the powers of a good deal at a used book store!
I think you are correct about this one 😀
I do love an unplanned book haul. I usually just pretend they don’t exist until the next month.
😀 I must have been too honest for that, although actually my mom even suggested it to me 😀 (she was in the bookshop together with me xD)
Girl, you put me to shame! You’ve been so consistent with blogging and reading your ARCs!! Good job 🙂 Also, I am totally on board with posting monthly recaps late. I never write mine until the month is actually over. I’d rather spend that extra time trying to read more!
Aw, thanks 🙂 yeah, I have been consistent, although I’ve been thinking of posting less, because ugh… So much writing and it sort of gets you nowhere 😀 time just flies and there’s suddenly nothing left!
“We do not speak of this” – hahaha!
😀 glad you appreciate 😀
So… The Library at Mount Char was in my TBR already [hummm did you make me put it there] BUT now I read.. “imagine if Neil Gaiman and Stephen King sat down and co-wrote a book” and I’m squinting at it like… HOW DID THAT BOOK MAKE IT THERE?? since I can’t read either Gaiman or King??? this should be interesting. Maybe if they wrote a book together I would be able to read it 🙂
Hahaha… Yeah, if you can’t read either of them, maybe the book is not for you 😀 the book is VERY, VERY violent. And very mythological. Different perspectives, a lot of lies, a lot of layers. Very dark, but redeeming at the end. If you don’t like those things though? Then it’s definitely not for you 🙂 it’s a lot like The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, only more adult. So I feel like it might not be for you 🙂
oh my dear I though you knew me! [she quiets a sob] I love dark and violent and lies and all that edgy stuff. It’s their writing style that kills me 🙂
Really? :O I would have never figured someone would dislike King or Gaiman because of their writing style! You must be unique 😀 I think it’s probably the writing style I enjoy the most 🙂
Unknown used book stores are the best! I just discovered one in our little town, since I drove down a wrong street lol, and I can’t wait to go there next week when I have a free moment. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I get as lucky as you did!! Here’s hoping your November is just as wonderful as October!
Oh that’s so cool! I hope you find something great there 🙂
Wow, you had a great reading month. I read The Library at Mount Char when it first came out. In the beginning, I thought I would hate it. However, you know it’s really stuck with me and I’ve recommended it a lot. I had trouble with the animal cruelty in it but I’m pretty sure I rated it 4/5. It’s nice to see someone else had read it because I kind of think it’s underappreciated.
Yeah, I know what you mean. There’s a lot of violence in that book in general, but I think it paints a picture and it wouldn’t be the same without it. The humor also helps deal with it. I was surprised I didn’t freak out at all the details like I normally do. There must be something about that book. I also think it’s… well, not under-appreciated, but just not well known at all? It’s such an amazing book. Luckily, a Goodreads group I’m in was reading it, although I had already bought it earlier this year, but I wouldn’t… Read more »
Ha ha ha. You make me laugh. 🙂 I’m sorry about the hauling vs reading ratio… But really, what sort of bookworm would you even BE if you hauled LESS than what you read? That’s just crazy.
But yay for catching up on ARCs!
Hope your November is going just as well!
You are right about the hauling 😀
Yay for Robin Hobb! It’s totally worth gaining more books than you read when Robin Hobb is in the mix. I approve.
Haha 😀 Robin Hobb bores me sometimes, but I just really want to finish that series 🙂
Gorgeous photo of your books. Hopefully you can add them to your list this month. Have a wonderful day.
Thank you 🙂
I have The Nix and I felt the same way about the book. I totally set it aside for “later” which I doubt will ever come. I loved The Library at Mount Char but I admit it was a bit confusing for me, I have it 4 stars. I am still on the fence about Central Station. You did really great this month. We are close to the same amount of books read for the year (at least on the review side, I review right away so my stats look a little different). I am still hoping to get to… Read more »
Yeah, I’ve almost made it now 🙂 thankfully! I’m glad you read Library at Mount Char, even if it was puzzling, 4 stars is still a very good rating 🙂
Is your Nix an ARC too? I think you should probably just DNF and call it a day 🙂 the Year of the DNF 😀 heheh.
I adore your description of Library At Mount Char–you made it sound so interesting that it’s going on my TBR. A mix of two master storytellers–Stephen King and Neil Gaiman–is not one to pass up.
Wow, it’s not even a review yet, I’m really glad that I’ve made such an impact 🙂 you won’t regret it though. It’s such a great book! Hope you like it 🙂