October Wrap-Up and November & December Bookish Plans

Is it truly November already? Where in the world did October go?!

This month was fun and busy! I read 7 books and participated in the 24 Hr Readathon. I read The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly, The Martian by Andy Weir, Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, The Pied Piper of  the Undead by Michael Whetzel, No Way Out by MJ Ware, Jem and the Holograms #1 by Kelly Thompson, and Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum by Stephen Prosapio. I enjoyed most of my October reads - I really loved both The Martian and Station Eleven and highly recommend both books.

I love this time of year, but I also tend to get overly ambitious and wind up stressed. So.. I have a few things planned, but not enough to overwhelm me. If I get to more, then yay!

I am currently reading Asylum by Madeleine Roux. I am LOVING it. I just started it yesterday and it is great. I will be finishing this up soon if I keep this pace... and I will likely jump right in to the sequel, Sanctum. The 3rd installment, Catacomb was just released in September and I am thinking I will be reading that one too. Like I said- I am really enjoying Asylum and Roux's writing style and I think I'll like this series as a whole. These 3 are what I am starting off November with.

As for the rest of November and December....

I'm (quite obviously) joining in the Estella Society Harry Potter Readalong. Was it even a question as to whether or not I would join? So, the beauty of this readalong is that it is a "Free Range Readalong" - meaning no time table... just, read Harry Potter between Nov 1st and January 31st. You can also read all or a few. I am going to skip Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets (because I just read both with my students) and will be reading years 3 through 7. I also am putting my own personal goal on this- I want to finish the series reread by Christmas.

I thought about joining NaNoWrimo, but then I realized a few things: I don't think I will have the time and I don't work well when I plan to join in something last minute. Which leads to me not meeting a goal, which leads to me being cranky. I don't want to be cranky. So instead of joining NaNoWrimo, I am instead going to set a personal writing goal. I am writing a memoir right now in lots of disjointed pieces... just getting my ideas out in little chapters- basically snippets of time. I want to write up a few specific moments (When My Head Hit The Door, The Second Concussion, Where'd My Windshield Go?, That Time Everyone Saw My Underwear, and Running In Stilettos).... intrigued yet? Hahahah

I plan to read a few books that were on my pile for October that I didn't get around to (there's quite a few)

J: A Novel by Howard Jacobson
Compared to Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World, so obviously I need to read it- those are two of my all time favorite books. Literally, that is all I read about J - I picked it up solely based on those comparisons (so let's hope it lives up to those bold statements!)

Accomplice by Eireann Corrigan

A young adult novel I have had collecting dust for years. Figured it was time to bring it out -- two friends plan a fake kidnapping scenario to gain national attention, but then they get way more than they bargained for.

Barry Trotter and the Unauthorized Parody by Michael Gerber

Handed to me by one of my students.... I have never read any of the Harry Potter parodies, so I figured it was about time I did- especially since a student gave it to me to read! I wanted to read this to break up my 24Hr Readathon but ended up not feeling the need to switch to comedy... so, I think it will be fun to read after I finish my Harry Potter reread.

Emma and Treasure Island from the BabyLit series

I love these books. They're so cute! Gotta write up a review and post it here soon.

Edgar and the Tree House by Jennifer Adams

Another adorable little book that I need to write a review on... it is cute, wait until you see it!

 In addition to those above, my NetGalley shelf is pretty full. I am hoping to read a few off my shelf that have been gathering virtual dust. I will likely read the spookier stories that I recently grabbed.

And last but not least - I really hope to meet my GoodReads goal, but I don't think I will this year. I got pretty behind during summer with wedding planning, the wedding itself, and our honeymoon.... we'll see if I can make it up. I'm currently only at 64%, which puts me "17 books behind schedule". I wanted to read 85 books this year and so far I've only read 54. Not so sure I can read 31 books in the next 60 days, but I'll give it a real effort!


So, I hope you all have some good bookish plans for the upcoming months! Have a great rest of your day!



write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow