October Reading / Life
- For the second month in a row, I have two best books of the month…lucky me! Not only are Commonwealth and The Mothers my two favorite books of the month, but they’re also two of my favorites of the year.
- And, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things (ended up enjoying after being initially creeped out) and Miss Jane (just so-so for me, despite being longlisted for the National Book Award) rounded out my October fiction.
- My October in audio was all about sports. Age is Just A Number (Olympic swimmer Dara Torres’ memoir) and The Sports Gene educated me about the body as it relates to peak performance and got me to make some major changes in how I work out. Check out my Litsy account (@sarahsbookshelves) for mini reviews of both.
- I also read very different memoirs: Jennifer Weiner’s Hungry Heart (a win!) and Pat Conroy’s My Reading Life (not my favorite Conroy nonfiction).
- Finally, I was thrilled to be Kate at Parchment Girl‘s October Featured Blogger! Hop on over to hear about Friday Night Lights, comfort food, the classics I haven’t read…and, books I’m loving!
- Now, on to Nonfiction November! It’s ON after all and I hope you all can participate!
Best Book(s) of the Month
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (September 13, 2016)
Fiction, 336 Pages
Affiliate Link: Buy from Amazon
The Mothers by Brit Bennett (October 11, 2016)
Fiction, 288 Pages
Affiliate Link: Buy from Amazon
Most Popular October Posts
My Best All-Around, Go-To Book Recommendations
Ten Terrible Family Members of Fiction
The Girls on the Train Movie: Will it settle a conspiracy theory? (Spoiler Alert!)
Favorite Posts by Fellow Bloggers
- Naomi at Consumed by Ink reviewed Helen Ellis’ American Housewife, but I really loved her thoughts about what actually being a housewife (or stay-at-home mom) is actually like.
- I loved Beth Fish Reads’ creativity with her 8 First Sentences: What Would You Read? post.
- Allison at The Book Wheel’s list of 5 Chilling True Crime Stories are totally my type of Halloween books (I’m not into horror or ghosts).
- Jordan at Simply Adrift almost exactly captured my thoughts on what makes me want to read a book blog.
- Catherine at Gilmore Guide to Books‘ coined a fantastic new reading term with her Comfort Reading post.
I can already see at least three books that will make both of out top ten this year!
Yay!! I’m not surprised 🙂
I love the links to blog posts that you include in these posts! I’m always looking for new blogs to read. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
I’ve seen so many people talking about The Mothers in the past few days. It sounds like I’m going to be adding that one to my TBR list. Happy November!
It’s fantastic – one of my top 3 of the year!
I loved reading your interview with Kate! Creating time as a super power is the best answer I’ve heard yet – I don’t know why I’ve never thought of it. Maybe it just seems too impossible (like being invisible is actually a possibility).
I know I would love Friday Night Lights – I don’t know what’s keeping me from it. Oh, maybe time! 🙂
Thanks for including me in your ‘Favorite Posts by Fellow Bloggers’!
You’re welcome!
And you MUST watch FNL! Best show about marriage and high school I’ve ever seen.
Love your post….thanks for sharing.
Mothers looks so good.
Have a great evening and Friday.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
You’re welcome and please please read The Mothers!
The Mothers has made my list of contenders for my favourite new release this year (it’ll be a top 10 list, but it’s currently sitting at 13 books oh no). I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it considering I listed to the audio of it, but it just goes to show what a brilliant book it is.
Glad to know the audio is great! I always wonder about how books that are really driven by the writing will translate to audio.
the commonwealth was just recommended to me via the Skimm (do you get their emails? SO entertaining) I think their recommendations are hit and miss for me, but I’ve been hearing good things everywhere about this one.
Yay – I think you’ll love it! I don’t get The Skimm, but so many people tell me I should. Maybe I’ll go do that now!
Hola! I’m back in the land of wifi. Thank you for the shout-out!
The Torres book looks like a good one- think I will add it to my Nov NF reading. Yes, I am going to read non-fiction this year!
Not a book, but non-fiction- did you tell me about Touching the Wall? I saw it listed on Netflix and wondered if it’s any good.
Yay for nonfiction and Torres! I think you’ll like it.
I wasn’t the one who told you about Touching the Wall…haven’t heard of it but will check it out!
Looks like it was a really successful month for you reading-wise. I’m always impressed at people that can read so many books in a month. I’m supplementing my reading with graphic novels pretty liberally right now to catch up on my goal of 75 books this year!
Well, adding in audio has really helped my monthly total! My GR goal is also 75 books this year! I’m hit it already…again thanks to audio!
Mothers, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, and Common Wealth, are all on my short list, and here you are reading all of them in the past month. How wonderful that you liked what you read well enough that you couldn’t decide on just one for top place.
Terrific round up post Sarah. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I’m a little late to the game here but thanks for the shoutout!