Autumn in Southern California always feels a little like spring in New England to me. Here, instead of purple crocuses pushing up through the grimy snow, the first of the rains makes flowers bloom that have been dormant over the dry summer. It feels like a new start, and it leaves me feeling like joining in.
So, I’m starting November feeling an urge to clean my house from floor to ceiling, declutter my closets, and dust off and reevaluate my goals and priorities. My birthday coming up likely contributes to that need to start fresh. It’s not technically a milestone birthday yet, but it is a perfect square, and that seems significant, even as I recognize that the reckoning of one’s age—and time itself—is a construct. As a member of a species that makes its own meaning through narrative and connections, I’m comfortable with finding meaning in lots of different things.
October also brought some unexpected but time-consuming joys that kept me from dissociating into fiction as much as I usually do during spooky month. For a while, I chafed at not having time to immerse myself in horror novels completely for the month, but eventually I realized that December is a great month for delving into fictional dark places, so I could enjoy the fun, unplanned activities not directly related to my TBR during October while putting my horror reads on the calendar for the month with the shortest days of the year.
It also helped that one of the fun things I did this month was attend a horror-themed workshop for audiobook narrators that provided connections and serious play that left me feeling excited to build my skills and embrace new challenges, which is probably also contributing to my sense of spring as November begins.
As much as other things kept me from reading, I still read a fair amount and enjoyed all of it immensely. Here’s what I read in October:
October Completed Books:
My favorites from October:
- The Unworthy by Augustina Bazterrica
- Diavola by Jennifer Thorne
- I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney
Currently Reading:
- Final Girls by Riley Sager
- We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad
- Nemesis by Agatha Christie
To-Read for November:
In addition to my StoryGraph, you can see my Litsy profile for status updates throughout the month.
Imperfect Happiness 