I Actually Remembered How To Read // October Wrap Up

Hello, friends! October was the month I decided to start reading and blogging again. It’s definitely still taking me a while to get back into the swing of things so apologies on more than likely being behind with comments/blog hopping, but I’m enjoying being back so much! I can’t believe it’s November. I’m so sad Halloween is over, it’s honestly my favourite time of the year. I love the spooky vibes and aesthetics so much. I’m also sad because Halloween being over means Christmas is getting closer and I’m a massive Grinch and not looking forward to it whatsoever. Anyway, enough negativity (for now 😂) … let’s get in to everything that went on this month! Spoiler Alert: it’s a long post so shout out to you if you manage to get through it.

NEW / SECOND HAND

What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera // Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu // All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

FROM THE LIBRARY

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco // Legendary by Stephanie Garber // Bruja Born by Zoraida Cordova

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio // People Like Us by Dana Mele // Dear Martin by Nic Stone // To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Considering I hadn’t picked up a book in almost three months I’m pretty happy with what I managed to get through this month! I managed to complete 4 of the challenges for Spookathon (or all 5 if I doubled up)! Those books are marked with a 👻 emoji!

   

Brave Chef Brianna by Sam Sykes || ★★★★★ || This was such a cute comic about a woman who moves to a town full of monsters and opens up a restaurant. I really want there to be another volume!

Sadie by Courtney Summers || ★★★★★ || I don’t even know what to say about this book because it’s the reason why I started reading and blogging again. I listened to it on audiobook and it was INCREDIBLE. The podcast element felt so real and the story was so hard hitting and I wasn’t able to put it down. I actually received an ARC of this so I NEED to review it, but I don’t know what to say! [TW: paedophilia, sexual abuse, drug abuse, violence]

to make monsters out of girls by Amanda Lovelace || ★★★★☆ || Whilst this isn’t my favourite of Amanda’s poetry collections I still adored it so much. I’ll always love her writing.

Toil & Trouble edited by Tess Sharpe & Jessica Spotswood || ★★★★☆ || This anthology was hit and miss for me. I just wasn’t invested in the stories and was pretty underwhelmed. I should have rated it 3 stars but the stories I enjoyed I LOVED so much. My favourite stories in this were the ones by Nova Ren Suma, Emery Lord and Elizabeth May. They were so incredible and what I was hoping this entire anthology would be like. [TW: abuse, mentions of rape, religion]

   

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix || ★★★☆☆ || I loved the cheesy 80’s horror movie aesthetic in this book. It definitely held my interest. However, it just felt a bit tactless at times. Plus, y’know when women are written by men and it’s just ……..wrong?? Yeah, that was this. [TW: everything???]

👻 The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson || ★★★★☆ || You can see my full review here. I struggled with parts of this book because it was quite boring and slow, but I really enjoyed the ending. It wasn’t scary, but it was very unsettling! Watching this before the Netflix adaptation isn’t necessary, but I feel like it makes the experience better. [TW: suicide]

👻 Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill || ★★★★★ || THIS IS MY NEW FAVOURITE POETRY COLLECTION. It was incredible. I loved the take on fairy tales and just omg so good. [TW: mentions of eating disorders, anxiety, depression, abuse]

👻 Small Spaces by Katherine Arden || ★★★★★ || I loved this middle grade book so much. It honestly actually really creeped me out? I HATE SCARECROWS. It was so spooky and so much fun. I honestly haven’t had such a great reading experience in so long. Plus the friendship group was adorable.

  

Moonstruck, Vol 1: Magic to Brew by Grace Elis & Shae Beagle || ★★★★★ || ONE OF THE BEST AND MOST PURE COMICS I’VE READ. This has beautiful art and is wonderfully diverse.

👻 Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski || ★★★★★ || THIS BOOK FUCKED ME UP. If you enjoyed Sadie, but prefer more adult fiction then you’ll love this. It’s another podcast crime book and oh my god the crime felt so real I wanted to Google more about it. I don’t even want to say anything more because I feel as though the less you know the better it’ll be.

Gwendy’s Button Box by Stephen King & Richard Chizmar || ★★★★☆ || I read this book in less than hour because I couldn’t put it down! I didn’t fully understand it, but it was a really interesting concept. [TW: suicide, sexual assualt, mentions of child abuse, body issues]

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix || ★★★★☆ || This was a really fun read and it reminded me of Parks and Rec meets The Office set in a haunted wannabe IKEA store. I would love for it to be turned into a TV show. I really enjoyed the growth between the characters towards the end of the book.

   

welcome to ghost town by Gretchn Gomez || ★★★★★ || I’ve been loving and following Gretchen’s poetry since it was just a part of her blog. I loved her first collection and I loved this one. It’s extremely honest and raw.

Zodiac Starfore, Vol 2: Cries of the Fire Prince by Kevin Panetta || ★★★★★ || This was a great follow up to volume 1! The fire prince was such a fun villain and this series continues to remind me so much of Sailor Moon. I love it.

The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed || ★★★★★ || Wow. This book was such a hard read. It wasn’t perfect, but it made me feel so many things and addressed so many important issues I couldn’t rate it anything less than 5 stars. It made me so upset, angry and inspired. I loved the characters so, so much. [TW: rape, sexual assault, mentions of child abuse, underage drinking, racism, homophobic slurs, ableist slurs, misogyny, religion]

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw || ★★★☆☆ || This was probably my most disappointing read this month. I thought I was going to rate this book 5 stars, but it just fell short for me. I adored the atmosphere and the concept, but it was so predictable. I knew what was going to happen right away. The characters weren’t very well developed and the romance was the LITERAL worst.

I didn’t really do a whole lot this month??? My mental health kinda spiralled down so I just kinda went through the motions of waking up and going to class.

A few days before Halloween a girl from my TAFE class and I went to an event at Sci-Tech. I don’t know if Sci-Tech exists anywhere else in the world except Perth but it’s like a science museum/discovery centre? Anyway, it was like an 18+ event so there was alcohol and a bunch of like weird/creepy things like bones, blood and edible insects (and yes, I ate them! They actually didn’t have a taste??? but the thought made me be like nOPE NEVER AGAIN lmao). We listened to a talk by a forensic psychologist who spoke about decomposing bodies and then there was an event at the planetarium which is like the coolest thing ever (it has a simulated universe in real time) and I’d honestly never felt so insignificant in my life lmaooo after that I went back to my friend’s place and spent the night. We got drunk and watched Nailed It! and Christine McConnell. She also did my make up for the event! Neither of us got dressed up a ton because I was saving that for actual Halloween, but I was going for “a witch from American Horror Story: Coven” vibe.

Halloween still isn’t really celebrated in Australia, but we seem to be adapting it more and more every year which makes me SO happy. I helped my younger cousins dress up a little and we handed out candy to a bunch of kids and then I took them trick or treating. There weren’t too many people in our suburb handing out candy, but they still managed to find a few houses! My outfit was supposed to be a more darker version of my one for the Sci-Tech event, but I accidentally ended up looking like a murdered Taylor Swift back for revenge and I’m honestly not mad about it?????? I don’t know what it says about me as a person, but I absolutely love covering myself in fake blood lmaoooooo

In regards to class I have so many assessments due and absolutely no motivation to do them lmao I’m procrastinating doing one right now hAH We’re doing a workplace health and safety unit and it’s legit the worst and it’s killing my soul and destroying me.

  

 

I wanna preface this by saying that I’ve only finished Christine McConnell and Don’t Watch This. Christine McConnell is honestly one of the best things ever. It made me so happy. Plus the creatures are hilarious, especially Rose. Christine is so skilled and I love that she took such a unique take on a “reality show”. I found out about Don’t Watch This when Queer Eye posted a clip of the Antoni episode on their instagram (which was A LOT to take in). It was such a fun/bizarre horror shorts anthology. I had to take a break with Hill House because it was kinda messing with my head. I’ve only seen one episode of Sabrina but I’m definitely interested in watching more. I was worried I wouldn’t like it because I wasn’t a huge fan of the comic and I think Riverdale belongs in the trash and I know they’re set in the same “universe”. It pleasantly surprised me though and I really hope it keeps it up! Lore has been so, so interesting. The episode about Bridget Cleary was devastating.

I did a post recently about 15 songs I’m in love with, but here’s a few more I’ve enjoyed!

And here’s my October Favourites playlist on Spotify if you’re interested!

How has your October been? Tell me about it!

Like always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on anything I mentioned.

I hope you all have a fantastic day and an amazing November.

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