Well I completed 15 books in October, not as good as other months but still OK. Two I haven’t yet mentioned here because I was reading them for Shiny New Books and one I have yet to review (coming out on Wednesday, I think). I’m really pleased to say I’ve taken 8 books off the TBR for my TBR project 2021-22 (one DNF, the others read) so I only have 77/85 left to read and am nicely on target, especially given my Novellas in November project coming up.

Incomings

Some incomings first.

In print incomings, first I’ve had another lovely book from the British Library Women Writers series – Theodora Benson’s “Which Way”, then I had to get Dave Grohl’s “The Storyteller” as he’s such a favourite musician and person (and getting that triggered my TBR project – oh-oh!) and “King City” about the independent music scene in Birmingham arrived from Unbound. Jon Mills’ “Utility Furniture” is a catalogue of Utility furniture from 1943 with a long introduction – I have a much-loved Utility tallboy, which can indeed be found in the catalogue. Ali passed me Jane Rule’s “Desert of the Heart”, a lesbian classic novel, I had to buy Alex Haley’s “Queen” (915 pages!!) after reading “Roots” and I couldn’t resist “My Hair is Pink Under this Veil” by Rabina Khan – essays by a British woman who wears a hijab. “Make Mine a Double” by Ed Hodge is the story of St Johnstone FC’s double cup win in Scottish football, an odd choice for me until you know I did the transcriptions for it (and am thanked in the acknowledgements!) and Fannie Flagg’s “The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop” was a gift from my lovely friend Cari after a difficult weekend.

In e-books, I bought two from Amazon – Natalie Morris’ “Mixed/Other” is about the struggles of being dual-heritage in the UK and Kajal Odedra’s “Do Something: Activism for Everyone” is to help my continued search for how I can best support marginalised communities. Moving over to NetGalley, Zoe Playden’s “The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes” (published November) is the story of a 1960s court case involving a transgender person and his inheritance, Johann Hari’s “Stolen Focus” (January) looks at why we can’t pay attention and what to do about it, Zeba Blay’s “Carefree Black Girls” (October, whoops, should have read it in October!) is a collection of essays about Black women in pop culture, and Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s “Yinka, Where is your Huzband?” (March 2022) is a fun-looking novel about a South London woman with Nigerian heritage fighting against the Aunties’ expectations.

Currently reading

I’m currently working my way through Layla F. Saad’s “Me and White Supremacy” which is a challenging and interesting read but I am having to view it through the lens of my own way of operating in the world (e.g. I just don’t shout anyone down or tone-police anyone; I can of course see a lot of familiarity in other aspects of the book); Emma and I are enjoying Afua Hirsch’s “Brit(ish)” and her lovely readable way of writing as our readalong book. I’ve picked up Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason’s “Saga Land” to start off my Australian Reading Month (and because taking it off the TBR made room for some acquisitions) and I’m part way through the delicious “The Love Child” by Edith Olivier, which I’m reading for The British Library Women Writers’ series blog tour (review due out on Friday).

Coming up next – Reading challenges galore!

I’m taking part in three challenges this month. Nonfiction November sees us all reading non-fiction and talking about it on Mondays (first warning there are going to be lots of posts from me this month!). I don’t have a specific pile for this, as my two piles for the other two challenges include plenty of nonfiction, but I’ll be joining in with the prompts and adding some more if I have room.

Novellas in November is run by 746 Books and Bookish Beck and encourages people to focus on books (fiction or nonfiction, hooray!) that are under 200 pages. And without even trying or saving stuff up, I’ve got FIFTEEN! Ten are nonfiction, and all but two are included in my TBR project, so all good! I won’t list them all, but you’ll hopefully see reviews for all of them this month!

And finally, for AusReading Month, hosted by Brona at This Reading Life, I have two books (both nonfiction) to read (two!). “Saga Land” counts because Richard Fidler is Australian, even though he’s writing about a country on the other side of the globe to his home (thank you to Brona for spotting this on my TBR and letting me know). Sven Lindqvist’s “Terra Nullius” is an exploration of Indigenous Australian peoples and their treatment at the hands of White settlers and now, and will be a hard but important read.

Image of books

I will also have a few NetGalley books on the go but only the six … (mind you, I had three to read last month and read two of them)!

I will also have two review books to read (Annie Nightingale’s “Hey Hi Hello” and Theodora Benson’s “Which Way”, and my two Anne Tylers. But so many of the books are small, I’m bound to manage them all, right?!

How was your October reading? What are you reading this month? Have you read or picked up any of my selection? And important question: would you prefer to see lots of posts, each about one book, or fewer posts gathering a few books at a time from me, this month?