what i read in october: a monthly wrap up

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whoops, i have not been on my consistent blog grind.

Having to completely reorient my research thesis has completely taken over my life! Lowkey, I’m exhausted.

Anyway, October was a freaking wierd reading month – in that, I spent most of the month in a reading slump.

Yep.

I think because I was actually stressed the fuck out and needed to get my thicc ass into gear and actually work on my thesis.

Here we go. So I read a total of 9 books! Still pretty good, but not as high as the last few months. I read:

• 3 classics
• 1 nonfiction
• 3 fantasy (2 adult, 1 young adult)
• 1 dystopian
• 1 historical fiction

𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚊 𝚋𝚢 𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚋𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎

This was my first Isabel Allende book I have ever read, and I have since purchased The House of the Spirits. I absolutely adored the way Allende weaved her story together. The interconnections between each characters, the generational-type of story, the emotional turmoil and the romance, was exceptional.

The writing was so fantastic! I won’t summarise what the book was about, you can read the Goodreads synopsis for that. But this book was a surprise. Allende, in such a short amount of pages (it was only 300 or so pages!), weaves an intricate and a historically charged narrative about war, immigration and love. It hit me hard.

𝟺 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

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𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚋𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚊 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚢-𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚑

I loved this book. I had so much freaking fun reading about stars and black holes! Here is my full length review.

𝟻 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

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𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚋𝚢 𝚟𝚒𝚛𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚕𝚏

Wow.

I have been slowly trying to work my way through Virginia Woolf’s books because I absolutely love her writing. In August, I read Mrs Dalloway and fucking loved it with my whole heart. To the Lighthouse was slightly different but not all that different, if that makes sense. I think To the Lighthouse is one of Virginia Woolf’s books that has a moving plot. Things happen quite quickly (relative to her other books). I think Woolf has such a way of expressing the nuances of human emotion and behaviour, that it’s almost uncanny. I enjoyed the use of light in this book, the symbol or metaphor maybe, of the lighthouse. Not my favourite Woolf book though, but enjoyable. Would not recommend to readers unless you have read Woolf’s prior works.

𝟹.𝟻 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

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𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚋𝚢 𝚓𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗

I’ve been making my way through all of Austen’s books this year, and Octobr was my Persuasion month! I love Anne with all of my heart and I love her story. Persuasion is my second favourite Jaen Austen book at the moment, behind Emma. But it is in second position only just as I previously read Northanger Abbey and fell hard for that book also. If you haven’t read Austen’s books, please do! I think as a starting point, Persuasion or Northanger Abbey would be a great start!

𝟺 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

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𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚍𝚘𝚖 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚔𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚒 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚌𝚘

This was a slight disappointment. I posted a full review. Read that here.

𝟹 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

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𝚊𝚕𝚙𝚑𝚊 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚋𝚢 𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚒 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚑

I needed comfort so I re-read Alpha Night and fell in love with Ethan and Selenka all over again.

𝟻 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

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𝚟𝚘𝚡 𝚋𝚢 𝚌𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚕𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛

I hated this book. Don’t particularly know why, just that it tested my buttons. The main character, whatever her name was, was so frustrating. I did not connect with this book at all. Ugh. I actually have a small paragraph of me ranting so i might post that soon.

𝟸 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

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𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚢 𝚓.𝚛.𝚛. 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚎𝚒𝚗

This was fun and so cozy to read. I read this book for the first time in October, following me reading The Hobbit for the first time sometime earlier this year. I will always love Bilbo the most – sorry – but I enjoyed this book. There was a lot of walking and descriptions of forests, but I think that’s just part of the Lord of the Rings reading experience. Definitely continuing the series – I need to know what happens to Sam (and Frodo, but i love Sam)

Lowkey love Strider, I’m not going to lie.

𝟹 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

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𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚞𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚋𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚢 𝚓𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜

I just think Henry James’ writing is not for me. It’s mediocre. So so mediocre. And similar! Granted, I’ve only previously read Washington Square – but come one! I feel like I’ve read the same story twice? Even though they’re quite different. There’s no depth to the characters. His writing is dull. I still have The Portrait of a Lady to read though.

𝟹 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

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And that’s it! I hope it’s okay that I haven’t written that much this week. I have been super busy because of uni!

Let me know what you have read in October! I am hoping to post a November TBR soon, but I have no idea when I will get the time to do so haha!

Until next time, happy reading!

All the love,

allie

xx

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