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Do y’all remember how terrible my September reading was? Well, my October reading more than made up for it…in quantity and quality! This is the big, buzzy book season I was hoping for…I guess I just had to wait
I read 10 books this month…much better than the 5 I read last month)! And, I got audiobooks back into my life in a big way…thanks to library holds coming in! I’ve realized that nothing makes me prioritize my audiobook over podcasts like a library due date!
Winners
- FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE MONTH:
A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne and Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman (my review) - A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler (my review)
- Bad Blood by John Carreyrou (Audiobook)
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
- From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein (Audiobook)
- Sadie by Courtney Summers (my review)
- Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs (Audiobook)
- The Witch Elm by Tana French (my review)
Losers
- Driven by Julie Heldman
DNF’s
- Virgil Wander by Leif Enger (my quick thoughts)
Best-Selling Book (via my affiliate links)
It’s a tie…
- A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler (my review)
- Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman (my review)
Announcements
- Nonfiction November kicked off this week! Join us for a month of celebrating nonfiction! Details here.
- Personalized Book Recommendations and the Superstars Facebook Group are available to anyone who supports Sarah’s Book Shelves on Patreon!
October Quality and Recommendation Sources
Reading Quality
October 2018
- % Successful Books Attempted (includes DNF’s) = 90% (totally makes up for my 33% September stinker!)
- % Successful Books Finished (does not include DNFs) = 82%
2018 Year-to-Date (through October)
- % Successful Books Attempted (includes DNF’s) = 61% (above my 43% success rate from 2017)
- % Successful Books Finished (does not include DNFs) = 85%
Successful Recommendation Sources
- Annie Jones from From the Front Porch podcast (The Witch Elm, A Well-Behaved Woman, Waiting for Eden)
- Liberty Hardy from All the Books podcast (Small Fry, The Witch Elm, Bad Blood)
- Susie at Novel Visits (From the Corner of the Oval, A Well-Behaved Woman, Waiting for Eden)
- Amazon Best Books of the Month (The Witch Elm, Waiting for Eden)
- Read It Forward’s Favorite Books of the Month (From the Corner of the Oval, Waiting for Eden)
- Amanda at Gun in Act One (Sadie)
- Ann at Books on the Table (Waiting for Eden)
- Catherine at The Gilmore Guide to Books (From the Corner of the Oval)
- Cup of Jo (Sadie)
- Jaclyn Crupi (Sadie)
- Jan Belisle, Blog Reader (A Ladder to the Sky)
- Kelly Massry (A Well-Behaved Woman)
- Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness (Bad Blood)
- Library Reads (The Witch Elm)
- Ottavia at Novels & Nonfiction (Small Fry)
- Rebecca Schinsky from All the Books podcast (From the Corner of the Oval)
- Tina at TBR, etc (From the Corner of the Oval)
- The Millions Great Second-Half Book Preview (The Witch Elm)
- Tyler Goodson, Manager at Avid Bookshop (The Witch Elm)
- Author Will Schwalbe in Books for Living (Bird by Bird)
If you’re interested in tracking these types of stats, my “Rock Your Reading” Tracker does all the heavy lifting for you! Enter your book details and it automatically compiles everything into Summary Charts in real time! Go here for more details.
November Releases I’m Excited About
The publishing industry starts to wind down in November and December…not publishing many new books. Consequently, I sort of stop paying attention to new releases in those months, so I only have one for you today. But, it’s a fantastic one!
A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne (November 13)
Most Popular Posts
Posts Actually Published in October
Book of the Month October 2018: What Book Should You Choose?
What I’m Reading Now (10/15/18)
October 2018 Books to Read (and Skip)
Overall Posts
Book Club Recommendations
Am I the Only One Who Didn’t Love Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine?
Behind Her Eyes and THAT Ending: Spoiler Discussion (#WTFthatending)
Favorite Posts by Fellow Bloggers
- There’s been lots of talk about how blogs are dying…but, The Art of Simple thinks they’re making a comeback. I think they never really went away!
- Thrilled to hear from Cait at Paper Fury that I’m not the only one on board with some book blogging trends (namely, GIF’s and reading challenges).
- Read it Forward shares some simple tips to work more reading into your life.
- The Uncorked Librarian teaches you how to start a kicka$$ #bookstagram account.
- I love when I hear about two great authors who are real like friends…this time Ann Patchett and Barbara Kingsolver (from Musings).
- Ann at Books on the Table doesn’t post that often, but every post she does share is jam packed with interesting information stellar book recommendations. Here’s her list of books she’s read this Fall.
How was your reading month?
So glad you had a stellar month! You’ll be happy to know I have two nonfiction books going now, one on Kindle (that I actually got from the library) and one on audio. Hope November is equally great.
I’m glad you had a good reading month! Mine was uncommonly good, too. A lot of my favorite authors had fall book releases, so that helped. Have a great November!
Oh fun! Love when that happens!
Yay for a good reading month! I think I need to pick up a Well Behaved Woman.
Thanks for the mentions! I had a great reading month too. I just finished Unsheltered (Barbara Kingsolver) — overall, I liked it, but I thought it was a little too overtly political. I’m about to start The Witch Elm. Happy Halloween!
You’re welcome! And I think I’ve decided not to read Unsheltered. I was toying with it, but don’t like it when my fiction feels like a political agenda. I don’t mind issues if they’re organic part of characters’ lives, but don’t like them to feel heavy-handed. I’ve never read Kingsolver before and think I’ll start with something from her backlist instead.
So glad you’ve had an amazing month. I’ve been seeing Sadie everywhere and might just pick it up.
It’s refreshingly different!
Thank you so much for the mention! I really appreciate it ; ) I am also glad that you enjoyed the post!