October 2026 Reading Wrap Up
Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!
Sorry for the late post, everybody! If you've been around for a while, you'll know that the last week of October is always kind of hectic for me (what with my birthday and then Halloween), but this one was extra chaotic because I started a new job as well, so time literally just blew past and before I knew it, it was November 3rd. So, happy Election Day everyone! I hope you all are getting out there and VOTING!
Okay, let's talk reading. October, for me, was both good and bad in terms of reading. Good, because I managed to read 7 books: 3 novels and 4 manga volumes. Bad, because I DNF'd a pretty popular book, and I didn't manage to finish either of the massive tomes that I had started in the month. It's so frustrating when that happens! But oh well, nothing I can do about it now. Hopefully I get finish them in November.
Let's just get into the wrap up, shall we?
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Novels
1. Son of Nobody by Yann Martel
Age range: Adult
Format: Physical
Star rating: 3.25 stars
Page count: 334 pages
Day(s) read: 10.02 - 10.03
Final thoughts: This is a quasi-pseudo mythology retelling following a historian who discovers an unknown epic about one of the Greek fighters at the Trojan War. We get snippets of the "lost" epic as well as parts of the historian's life. I'm putting a quick disclaimer just because it was slightly confusing to me before I read it: THIS IS ALL FICTIONAL.
I found that I liked the parts of the epic poem far more than the vignette-style remembrances of the historian going through his tumultuous discovery of said poem. I didn't really care about his life or what was going on in his marriage. I just wanted to read about this unknown soldier who had a bone to pick with one of Priam's sons. I think this book is meant to be devastating and heartbreaking, but I felt rather detached from the emotional aspect. I'm not going to lie, I kind of wish I hadn't bought this, or at least hadn't annotated it so I could return/resell it. Oh well.
2. Vicious by V.E. Schwab (REREAD)
Age range: Adult
Format: E-book
Star rating: 5 stars
Page count: 397 pages
Day(s) read: 10.09 (ONE DAY READ)
Final thoughts: With the release of Victorious, I decided I needed to reread books 1 and 2 in this series, especially since I've only ever read them once, and that was 8 years ago (7 in the case of Vengeful). I am so glad I came to that decision because let me tell you, I remembered practically nothing from these books aside from the barest of bones of the plot. I very much enjoyed my reread of Vicious, I absolutely flew through it and loved every second. It does such a great job of setting up the characters and establishing the core conflicts of each. I was also just having a silly goofy time reading about Victor and Mitch being domestic with each other and Sydney. I wholeheartedly believe that this is one of the best examples of found family in literature.
3. Vengeful by V.E. Schwab (REREAD)
Age range: Adult
Format: E-book
Star rating: 4 stars
Page count: 478 pages
Day(s) read: 10.10 - 10.19
Final thoughts: When I had first read Vengeful back when it came out in 2019, I gave it an automatic 5-star rating because that's just who I was at the time: my favorite, auto-buy authors would get 5-star ratings on every book that they published. This time around, I put on my critical thinking hat so I could remove any sort of bias I had. My conclusion was this: Vengeful is still a great book, but not quite 5-star material for me personally. I didn't particularly care for Marcella, her characterization isn't what I typically gravitate towards. To me, Marcella felt almost cartoonishly evil. She didn't really have any motivation outside of revenge, and once her revenge was complete she just...didn't stop? I much preferred June as a character, and I'm excited to see how everything will end in Victorious.
Manga
1. Witch Hat Atelier vol. 2-5 by Kamome Shirahama
Age range: YA
Format: Physical
Star rating: N/A
Page count: 749 total pages
Day(s) read: 10.02 (ONE DAY READ)
Final thoughts: I have officially caught up to the end of season 1 of the anime, plus an extra volume into brand new territory. I already feel so protective over these characters, Coco and Riche especially. I appreciate how confident Agott is while also recognizing that a lot of it is bravado. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Qifrey is not all that he seems, but I guess I'll just have to keep reading to find out!
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Total page count: 1,958 total pages
Favorite book of October: Vicious by V.E. Schwab
DNFs this month: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Unfinished books this month: Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
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And that's it for spooky Autumn month! Now that I live in Michigan, I'm expecting Winter to start pretty much in November. A lot of my neighbors say that it starts snowing usually around Thanksgiving. I'm both extremely excited, and slightly dreading it (I love the snow, but I don't love driving in it).
Until next time, friends!
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