October Reading Wrap Up 2024
September was actually a good reading month in the beginning. I was determined to get through some new releases, my towering stack of library check-outs, and a reread of Conversations with Friends before Intermezzo came out at the end of the month, so I had a ticking clock over my head to read towards. That was helpful in motivating me even when some books felt like a slog. I also conquered some big books in September like Long Island Compromise, which came in at 444 pages. It felt and looked way longer than that, honestly. That book as well as All Fours really did not hit the mark for me, but Blue Sisters certainly made up for that, and I really enjoyed my Conversations reread. I read all of these books in such quick succession.
The trouble started between finishing Conversations and Intermezzo. I lost a few reading days just casually reading Normal People again because I didn't want to be in the middle of something new when Intermezzo released. Then I braved driving into town with the main road entirely ripped up for repaving to claim my copy, and for some reason, I felt like I couldn't read it. I took it outside and stared at it a while. I read the first page and sort of felt like I was losing my mind. None of the words made sense in my brain. I read that first page over and over dumbfounded. It wasn't until a few days later when I saw an Instagram post saying that even after reading the whole book that first chapter of Peter's was horribly hard to read that I felt better. I pushed through to Ivan's much more readable chapters, but it was seriously slow going. I spent two weeks not really reading it but not reading anything else because I felt so much pressure to just finish it and also to figure out how to like it. Truly, it took knowing I was leaving for Europe with only a backpack in 4 days to finish the second half of the book. I read 150 pages in one day right before I left in a panic to not have to 1) bring a hardcover book with me 2) abandon it half-finished until after the trip or 3) buy the Kindle book. I got it done, and the second half of the book is so much better than the first. It's made me curious to reread it knowing what to expect, if I'll be able to resonate with it on a more emotional level with the newness of it out of the way.
In all, I read four books in September, and I'll link all the reviews below if you need to catch up.
So that's where the last week of September reading and the first two weeks of October went. The things I do for Sally Rooney... That's a joke, but I'm glad that I'm out of that reading slump. Before I left for the trip, I was delusional that I'd be responsible and not buy books abroad so I wouldn't have to carry them all home. That was a lie. Book haul from the trip coming soon. But when I left, I felt responsible as I charged my Kindle, and like a genius when I realized that I could convert my credit card points into Amazon gift cards that I could then buy Kindle books with. I find Kindle books outrageously expensive for what they are and usually only use my Kindle with the library, but for the sake of the trip, I wanted books that wouldn't expire, and I also didn't want to have to wait in line and have them pop up unpredictably. Also, I'm now very excited about this way to get "free" books.
On the plane, I suddenly had a ton of options to choose from. I decided to start with Colored Television since I'd had to return it to the library unread right before the trip. The beginning wasn't my favorite, but it got much better as time went on, and I really enjoyed it. I finished that one in Edinburgh and then moved on to Evenings and Weekends, since it was set in London. It ended up being the perfect read for that leg of the trip as I was staying on the same road as two of the characters! That made it more fun. London has such a strong literary culture, and it was so fun and productive to get to read in community with others on the train, on the underground, and at the cafes. I also ended up reading the short story collection Let's Dance at the same time, just picking up a story or two at night or before I started writing. The only thing that got in the way of my reading on vacation was the amount of writing I did! I spent so much time in London sitting at a cafe working both on my novel and on a short story portfolio. This trip really gave me my spark back, and it was fun to revisit London a decade after I first encountered it.
Buying books and visiting so many bookshops also made me eager to read because I was reminded every day about how many books exist in the world that I'm excited about, and it's made me want to devote the time to getting through all of them (even though that's impossible). I have so many books both on my Kindle and now on my shelves that I'm looking forward to reading, and that's always great motivation. I now also have a running list of books I want to read after that too. I have most of November off work since I'm ski instructing this winter and have to wait for the snow to come, so I'm hoping to take reading and writing seriously, like my new full time job, to fully take advantage of this time. My only work at the moment are a few writing assignments that I've secured from pitches and helping to lead an afterschool program once a week, sharing a love of creative writing with elementary school kids. Those initiatives feel quite on-brand for the theme of November.
I hope to also spend the next week or two writing and sorting through all the blog posts I want to share from my time in Europe, my reading, and my past weekend at the Jackson Hole Writer's Conference, which was a whirlwind while jet lagged. So stay tuned for some hopefully fun and different blog posts on here that I'm super excited to share.
October, I also finished four books.
September and October Blog Posts:
Which Sally Rooney Book You Should Read Based on the Specific Time of Your Life
Chatting about The Book of George
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake review
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