Looking Back On October, and Thinking Ahead To November
Image sourced from Churchill JCR
Happy Halloween, everyone! What have you been doing this Halloween? Watching scary movies? Reading scary books? Trickin’ & treatin’? Or, hiding under the covers?
Me – well, I’ve almost ignored Halloween completely, barring the couple of hours of TV that I indulged myself in. I meant to read Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived In The Castle, or, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. However, I didn’t end up doing either (I have a valid excuse: I don’t have either of the books), and that pretty much seems to sum up my October.
I’m not one of those people who blogs daily. I don’t feel compelled to, and I don’t want to put myself under that kind of stress (I get stressed very easily). This is supposed to be a fun thing, right? However, I’m quite shocked about how little I’ve blogged this month (just the nine posts, excluding this one), and almost embarrassed.
Even my reading stats have been worse than usual this month, with me only finishing five books. To be honest, when I was home, I indulged myself in “comfort reading,” including many Roald Dahls, and both, the St. Clares and Malory Towers series. It was a welcome change, and I enjoyed that for a week or so. Being ill, and suffering from god-knows-what didn’t really help either.
Anyway… I did read some amazing books this month, with my favourite being a toss-up between Rebecca and I Capture The Castle. How are you supposed to choose one of those books over the other?
I do have some extensive reading plans for November, including:
Of course, as most things, nothing will go according to plan, and you probably won’t see anything on any of these books for the next few months (barring Susan Hill’s The Beacon, and that’s only because I’m half-way through that book).
Anyway, as I do feel slightly guilty about a very quiet October, I promise I’ll try my best to make it up in November…… wish me luck!
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another cookie crumbles 
I hope to read The Princess Bride in Nov, too! Don’t fret abt blogging freq – it’s your blog and you can do with it what you will. Ebbs and flows. I’m right now in a post idea frenzy and am going crazy trying to write it and schedule. But it’s good. I”m still having fun. :)
Yay! Would be fun to exchange notes on The Princess Bride. I absolutely loved the movie.
I have ideas for posts… just lack the time to write them! And then the moment passes…..
Don’t be embarrassed! I think I only blogged 4 times in October and they were mostly memes! Have you been reading Reading Matters blog? It was recently reviewed and now I’m also on the hunt for Shirley Jackson novels.
Thank you, Mae. Yep, I saw both the Shirley Jacksons on her blog, and it’s made me want to read them even more. Next Halloween, maybe :)
Hey I’ve been pretty slack too! Must be something about the month of October….
If you only read one of those books planned for November, make sure it’s The Princess Bride – one of my alltime favourite books ever!
My Halloween was spent sitting at home by myself drinking red wine and trying to do an assignment (but getting distracted by Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita)
Oh, really? Mish @ StageAndCanvas recommended it to me a few months back. Just got my hands on it recently, though.
Lolita is pretty scary in itself…. it’s one of those books that really freaked me out!
Red wine and assignments… hmm, good times!
Don’t feel embarrassed! It’s a pleasure to read your posts, whenever they appear. Good luck with your plans! From your choices I have read Mrs Dalloway (my first Woolf) and The Glass Room and look forward to your thoughts.
Thanks Claire, that’s very sweet of you.
I haven’t read any Woolf yet, and after all you guys have raved about The Glass Room, I can’t wait to read it.
It’s better to have a busy real life than a busy blog I find. ;)
I have mostly been reading sensation type novels lately, as well as a few cosy reads. I think your November choices look fabulous – Mrs Dalloway is lovely (and if you haven’t read Michael Cunningham’s take on it, The Hours, then you HAVE to afterwards, it’s amazing) and Full House is a wonderful Molly Keane – her best in my opinion.
Susan Hill doesn’t float my boat but I hope you enjoy The Beacon anyway. Enjoy your November’s reading!
Haha, true. ;)
I’ve heard a lot about Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, so I’ll definitely be checking it out soon after. I haven’t read any Woolf yet, so, I’m quite looking forward to it.
I just finished Full House, and thought it was amazing. Lady Bird is a fantastic character.
And meh, I see what you mean about Susan Hill now. Don’t think I’ll be picking up another book by her in a hurry.
Halloween: I watched Inglorious Bastards – decidedly scary! (and enjoyed some pumpkin shaped chocolate!)
Rebecca: Still haven’t started (bad Pam!)
The Glass Room: Really looking forward to your review (in a no pressure kind of way) as it sounds great!
Glad you’re all better Cookie :)
Inglorious Bastards – I wanted to see that, but then it wasn’t in the cinema anymore :( Hope you enjoyed it.
Also, hope you’ve started on Rebecca now? :))
I’m looking forward to reading The Glass Room. It’s the next book on my list, so…. the review should be coming soon.
As for being better – I just caught something again! Arrrgh! :'(
Don’t feel guilty about not posting. I don’t think it matters how often people post – it is quality, not quantity and you have the quality!
True – but, you know, I’ve been trying to do one post every two days! No more, no less, so… oh well. In the words of Jewel, sometimes it be that way.
There is something about October. I have blogged quite a bit, but read hardly anything: not a state of affairs of which I am proud!
I think you did really well under the circumstances of being poorly, and it was good of you to let everyone know what was happening. I make full use of your RSS feed, so the frequency of posts isn’t an issue, and the quality of your posts is always right up there!
Looking forward to your November reads.
Blame it on the month! I’ve not blogged so much, but did read loads of Roald Dahls and Enid Blytons which I didn’t blog about.
Thanks so much for the kind words :))
Don’t feel guilty at all! I tried to blog everyday during October for Blogtoberfest, and boy, was that a lot of blogging. Probably too much. Sometimes less is more.
The Princess Bride has been on my to-read list for *forever*. I hope that’s one you’re able to get to this month. Good luck with your November reading goals!
Wow! That’s pretty impressive.
The Princess Bride is going with me to Morocco, as it seems like a really good holiday read. I’m off in about five days, so reckon I will get to it, and I can’t wait! =)
Thank you.
I’m really interested in The Glass Room. I’ll look forward to your review if you get to it.
Yup, it’s next on the reading pile. Hopefully, I’ll get to it soon.
No need to feel guilty, as you say, this is supposed to be fun! :-) I find some months are just slower reading months, usually for no real reason. Hope you have a good November!
It’s fun! Like I said, I try and blog once every two days (~15 times a month). I should try and meet that… self-imposed targets and things.
Have a good November as well :)
Everyone is talking about The Beacon right now, almost makes you want to add it to a list of some kind…
Unfortunately I wasn’t so impressed…. :(
Interesting plot, but… it fell kind-of flat (in my opinion anyway)