October Wrap Up — My October Books

The moonstone By Wilkie Collins was one of my Victorian readings. I loved this Victorian adventure story! 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

We were a Mulbani family By Joyce Carol Oates has been on my TBR shelf for a long time. I loved it all the more so for reading in upstate New York last month. These granite hills and small towns with the combination of rustic yankee charm and reduced prosperity in a rust belt can be right off the shelves of Oates’ 1996 novel. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

May we be forgiven By AM Holmes took it out of the park for me. It was definitely my standout in October. I read it because it won the women’s award and I had no idea what to expect – certainly not the wild, funny and daring gallop it took me. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

The patterned mysteries Is a vintage mystery of the “Silver Age” (1960-1989) starring English literature professor Kate Pansler. I’m a fan of the series. 🌹🌹🌹1 / 2

The Conversation: The Power of Speech in the Digital Age By Sherry Terkel was excellent. I highly recommend it. This will make you hang up the phone and start talking to everyone, including yourself, especially the kids in your life, and even to the grocery store clerk. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

The mill on the wire By George Elliott was the second Victor I read. I loved it when I did not roll my eyes. Maggie’s main plot and her love triangle (square?) Were tedious, but the “filling” was thoroughly entertaining. Then the end almost ruined it for me. It’s like Elliott got tired like the rest of us with all the hand squeezing but he had no idea what to do with Maggie so he took the Victorian way out. Good grief! 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Butterfield 8 By John O’Hara, which I read to my ears and therefore is not in the picture. The U is in capital letters because it is an old phone number. Butterfield 8 was a bestseller when it was first released in 1935. I can understand why! It’s all sex, scandal and day drinking. Again with the melodramatic ending! 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Beauty Building: The Alchemy of Design By Michael S. Smith is an amazing coffee table book from Rizzoli Books. I realized when I heard Smith speak a few years ago. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Now it goes to review in November! Are you planning to read reference books this month? I set myself the goal of freeing up some space on my TBR shelves in this year’s review, so I read more review than I usually do in 2021. I will continue to read reference books in November, but no more than I have read.