Happy November! October flew past, but I’m enjoying the nice weather and some relaxation now that the busyness of October has ended. I hope you all had a nice month, and here’s a little update on how mine went. 

I’m super excited to go on a little vacation this month. I haven’t taken one in more than a year, and it’s way overdue. Lately, I’m feeling a bit stifled and stressed at home, so getting out of the house and taking a little time away from my caretaking duties should really make me feel less burnt out. I don’t know if any of you have helped to care for an aging parent with physical limitations, but it’s so tough. 

I’m still dealing with fatigue, and a medication side effect that makes me so tired that I spend more of the day sleeping. That isn’t much better than the fatigue itself, but I’m still trying to work with the doctor, who got back to me with an idea that might make the side effects less. The most important thing is that I haven’t given up hope, and still think things will get better within a couple of months.

During October, I was scheduled to go to a market with my friend, but it got canceled. Instead, we went to a few stores, and I finally pulled the trigger on getting my septum pierced. I’ve wanted to get it for a long time now, and it was one of the least painful piercings I have ever gotten. I also made some progress on my holiday shopping—there’s a lot of people to buy for, and I try to start as early as possible. 

Aside from all the regular monthly jazz, I have made a lot of progress at reading ARCs, both NG and publisher/author ARCs, so I’m going to try my best to get caught up by the end of the year. Isn’t it nice to be able to start the year with a fresh slate? Hopefully I’ll find out what that’s like, because it hasn’t happened in quite some time. Here are some of my blogging and reading highlights for October:

• I’m still getting close to 5,000 visitors and nearly 6,000 views monthly. 
• I’m still getting some new followers each month, and that also introduces me to some really awesome blogs.
• I went through a bunch of ARCs in October, and focused nearly all my reading on that.
• Three of my October reads were nonfiction—a cookbook, a book on witchcraft, and a book about dog training.
• I only had one DNF in October.

Here’s my breakdown of monthly/cumulative totals for October: 

October Totals:

• Books read: 11
• Books DNF’d: 1
• Pages read: 3,371
• Hours listened: 12.53 hours
• Average pages: 108.74
• Average hours listened: 0.4 hours

Genres Read in October:

• Contemporary: 1
• Cookbooks: 1
• Fantasy: 6
• Historical Fiction: 1
• Psychology: 1
• Spirituality: 1

Backlist vs. New Releases:

• Backlist books: 0
• 2024 releases: 11

Fiction Vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 8
• Nonfiction: 3

Format Read:

• Print: 1
• Digital: 7
• Audio: 3

Age Range:

• Adult: 5
• YA: 5
• MG: 1

My favorite book of the month was Night Owls by A.R. Vishny.

Here’s what I read in October:

• The Comfy Cozy Witch’s Guide to Making Magic in Your Everyday Life by Jennie Blonde (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
• Night Owls by A.R. Vishny (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
• Betty Crocker Found Recipes: Beloved Vintage Recipes Worth Sharing by Betty Crocker (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
• When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary by Alice Hoffman (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
• How to Train Your Dog with Love + Science: A Dog Lover’s Guide to Animal Behavior and Positive Reinforcement Training by Annie Grossman (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon 

• The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard (The Luminaries #3) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
• The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

• The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart (The Hollow Covenant #1) (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
• The Judgment of Yoyo Gold by Isaac Blum (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

• The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London #9.2) (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
• The Kiss of the Nightingale by Adi Denner (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon

• Taking Up the Runes: A Complete Guide to Using Runes in Spells, Rituals, Divination, and Magic by Diana L. Paxson 

I hope you had an awesome October, and can’t wait to hear how your reading went. If you have a monthly wrap-up link, leave it in a comment so I can pop by!