Sunday Salon: October Reading Reflections

I normally post my reading roundups in the first weekend of the next month and that was what I meant to do for October, but then I started writing a review which turned into a opinion/review that seemed suitable for a Sunday Salon post. I was three quarters done with writing that post when I realised that it was the first Sunday of the month so had the dilemma of using the post that was nearly done or the one I hadn't even started yet. I ended up going with that one since it was pretty much done, all of which is a pretty long intro as to why my round up is being posted half way into November!

October ended up being a good reading month with 18 books read, but I have to say it didn't look that way at the beginning because by the end of the first week I had only finished one book! Part of the reason for that was the fact that I participated in 3 readalongs during October and so those books were paced out through the month.

One thing that October was good for was blogging. I wrote a lot of blog posts during the month, and that included quite a few reviews which was awesome. Of course, then I went and bragged about having my reviewing mojo back and didn't write another one for 2 weeks so I am being very careful about how I write this post up now! I was very proud of myself there in the middle of the month as at one point I had reviewed everything I had read in October and nearly everything in September as well. Then I got a bit of a reading run on so now I have some outstanding but there's nothing unusual there!

So here is what I read during October:

A Visit from the Good Squad by Jennifer Egan 4/5
Jane Austen Made Me Do It Anthology 3/5
Imperial Highness by Evelyn Anthony 4.5/5
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen 4/5
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins 4.5/5
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson 5/5
To Darkness and To Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming 4.5/5
The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson 4/5
Sinful in Satin by  Madeline Hunter 4/5
The Soldier by Grace Burrowes 4.5/5
The Virtuoso by Grace Burrowes 4.5/5
Small Town Christmas Anthology 3.5/5
The King's Courtesan by Judith James 4/5
Too Good to be True by Kristan Higgins 4/5
Bring Me Home for Christmas by Robyn Carr 3.5/5
Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears 3/5
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman 4/5
Wife for a Week by Kelly Hunter 4.5/5

The only major challenge reading I did was for the RIP VI challenge. This year I participated in all three of the readalongs which I hadn't done before, and also read a number of books that qualified for the challenge.

Here is my RIP reading list for this year.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
To Darkness and to Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming
The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
White Time by Margo Lanagan
Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

I look forward to participating in next years RIP challenge.

In addition, A Visit from the Goon Squad qualified for both the Orange Prize Project and the Pulitzer Project - both ongoing reading challenges that I haven't read much for at all over the last couple of years.


Currently Reading

The Most Beautiful Walk in the World by John Baxter, Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik, The Legacy by Katherine Webb, Soulless by Gail Carriger

Reading Next

Not sure. Maybe India Black and the Widow of Windsor by Carol K Carr or Curse not the King by Evelyn Anthony