Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby. I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book. Here are my reads for October, 2019…

Pumpkinheads: A Graphic Novel, by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks – I was saving this one for October, and I gulped it down in one day and loved every second.  Would Josiah talk to the Fudge Shoppe Girl?  Would Deja get her snacks?  I had to know.  It was a delight from the first page to the last – sweet, charming, and cozy.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis – Our new tradition, to start off the school year, was family storytime.  Every evening we’ve all been piling onto the couch together and reading our way through classic children’s novels.  First up was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, because Steve and I both loved it as kids.  I’m pleased to report that the magic holds.  There’s not much to say about Narnia that hasn’t already been said, but on this read-through I was especially enchanted by the homespun details and the beautiful descriptive language.

Toil and Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft, ed. Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe – Spotswood and Sharpe continue to knock it out of the park whenever they collaborate on a short story collection.  As you all know, short stories are generally not my jam, but I do really enjoy these girl-forward, diverse and queer-positive collections.  The historical fiction stories were winners for me in this collection – I preferred them to the ones set in present day, although each story had its merits.

The Eagle of the Ninth (Roman Britain #1), by Rosemary Sutcliff – Sometimes you pick up a book and you know within the first paragraph that it’s going to be one of your highlights of the year.  The Eagle of the Ninth was that for me.  I found it so utterly captivating that I couldn’t put it down, and my only complaint was – I wish it was longer!  I could have accompanied Marcus and Esca on a dozen more adventures and not gotten bored.

Washington Square, by Henry James – Having never read any Henry James before, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect – but Washington Square was approachable and readable.  I enjoyed sinking into Gilded Age New York again (kept expecting to meet Edith Wharton’s characters in the streets and drawing rooms) and appreciated James’ dry wit and wonderful writing.  By the end I wanted to slap all of the characters, but I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what the author intended.

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, by Edith Holden – I saw this one on #bookstagram and knew immediately that it would be right up my street – and it was.  Other than the butterfly and moth illustrations (shudder) I loved pouring over Holden’s beautiful artwork and reading her diary entries from a year of wandering the fields and hedgerows of England and Scotland.

Slightly Foxed No. 63: Adrift on Tides of War, ed. Gail Pirkis and Hazel Wood – In a particularly busy week, the only reading material that held my attention was the current issue of Slightly Foxed, but it was a good one.  Even if I am not interested in the particular book that a given essayist is reviewing, I love the warm writing and sparkling literary commentary.  Also, I need to read Noel Streatfield.  It’s really beyond time.

The Secrets We Kept, by Lara Prescott – Sally, Irina and Olga were my companions throughout a stressful week of business travel, and they were good ones.  I loved their courage and fire, and it was particularly fun to read about Washington, D.C. in the 1950s.  (Prescott had clearly done her homework – the characters’ bus routes through the city all made sense, and there were shouts to D.C. institutions like the Hay-Adams Hotel and Hecht’s department store that told me she had either lived here or researched thoroughly.  Since one of my bookish pet peeves is incorrect details about D.C., I appreciated Prescott’s accuracy.)  I probably could have done without the third of the book that focused on Olga, even though she was a wonderful character – I just loved Sally and Irina, and their Cold War D.C. haunts, more.

Sula, by Toni Morrison – My first Morrison fiction (I’ve read some of her essays) was a good one.  I found Sula easy to follow and absorbing, if depressing.  Morrison created such a rich world with her words; we are so privileged to have them in the world.

The Blue Castle, by L. M. Montgomery – My book club’s read for this month (my selection!) was a re-read for me, and I loved it just as much the second time as the first.  I found myself delighting in Valancy’s wit and mischief (“Say damn.  You’ll feel better.”) and in her relatives’ shocked, stumbling reactions to her transformation.  And, as always, the nature writing spoke directly to my heart.

Poems Bewitched and Haunted, ed. John Hollander – Another re-read to close out the month and to celebrate Halloween – of course!  I love the Everyman’s Library poetry collections, and this one is such fun.  By turns spooky, wistful, and playful – I blew through it and just wished I was reading it outside, under a brooding sky and a gnarled tree with golden leaves.  That’s really the only thing that could improve the reading experience.

Eleven titles strikes me as pretty darn good for a month in which I worked about fourteen hours a day, every day.  What the list doesn’t show when presented this way is that the books were mostly front-loaded toward the beginning of the month; after my birthday, I was much slower in turning pages.  There are also a few easy ones on there – a graphic novel, a journal, and two re-reads – but hey, I’ll take whatever I can get.  It’s hard to choose highlights, because I had so many wonderful reading experiences this month.  Pumpkinheads was a delight from start to finish, and The Eagle of the Ninth took my breath away.  L. M. Montgomery is always a winner, and always a good choice for comfort reading, which I needed this month.  And I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to 1950s D.C.  It really was hard to go wrong this month!  For November, I’m looking ahead to cozy nights with a blanket, peppermint tea, and my favorite classics.  Catch you on the flip side!

What did you read last month?