October 2024 Reading Recap
Books about the fall of the patriarchy...
I realize it’s almost the end of November, but things this month were stressful, then bad, then busy, then I mucked up my shoulder, and now I am just finding the capacity to get this done. But since I’m a grown-ass lady and I do what I want, I can send an October reading recap the week of Thanksgiving.
My reading in October was pretty good! I broke my reading slump with books around dragons, leaned into a couple of spooky books, and read a couple of books about creepy houses. The one thing most of them have in common is women taking down toxic men, which certainly captured my mood last month (and for all the coming months ahead). Here’s what I read:
Witchy and Spooky Books
🎧 The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
I love the elevator pitch for this one, so I’m just going to steal it: “In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in this powerful novel of magic, family, and the suffragette movement.” This book was a little bit slow to get started, but once the trajectory of the story became clear I absolutely flew through it. I also think the timing impacted how much I liked it – there was something very centering about finishing a book about women’s anger and taking down the patriarchy at the end of October.
📘 Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
I can’t figure out how to summarize this one without giving away spoilers for the first book in Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House trilogy, so I won’t. Suffice it to say, you shouldn’t pick this one up if you haven’t read Ninth House! But if you have, I think it’s a satisfying second book that both stands on its own and effectively sets up the big conflict our heroine, Alex Stern, will need to face in the final book. I liked the way this book was about building community while completing a quest, and allowed Alex to really upend the class systems that the magic of this world is built on. Again, ladies taking down the patriarchy was a MOOD last month.
Mysteries About Old Houses
📘 The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
One of my slump-busting strategies was mysteries and thrillers. I’ve never read Rachel Hawkins, but after this book I am definitely going to read more! Two childhood friends reconnect in their 30s, and decide to go on a girls trip to Italy where both can focus on their writing projects. The villa they rent was the site of a gruesome murder in the 1970s, and the book goes back and forth between the two timelines. It was so good! I loved the exploration of art and writing, and the power stories have to shape relationships and our understanding of the truth. And also the murder of toxic men!
📘 Enchanted Hill by Emily Bain Murphy
Cora is a young private investigator working undercover to collect dirt on a wealthy newspaper magnate. But, her undercover identity is compromised when Jack, a former criminal (or is he?), arrives at the house with his own undercover story. Romance and shenanigans ensue! I love a good historical mystery, so I was excited to read this one. It was slow to start, but it picked up quickly once Cora and Jack began working together to unravel their various missions. Grab this one if you love Old Hollywood, old houses, and rich people getting their comeuppance.
Silly Books from My Library
📘 Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce
Riley is a theater kid stuck working at her dad’s game shop. There, she meets Nathan, a floppy-haired nerd who loves to play Dungeons & Dragons. The two hatch a fake dating plan to make other people jealous and end up falling for each other through the magic of role-playing and Riley’s quest to save her school’s spring musical. Silly and sweet, this was a delightful distraction. I’m glad I got off the holds list for this month! It also fits right into 2024 as my Year of D&D.
📘 Spider-Man: Animals Assemble! by Mike Maihack
I checked this one out from my library via the Libby app because I was at an event with a squirmy six-year-old who loves Spider-Man, and I thought it would keep him from tearing up the place while we were waiting. And it did! We both thought it was pretty silly, and he liked reading some of the sound effects and funny dialogue to me as much as he enjoyed hearing the story. Thanks, library!
I Still Love Dragon Books
🎧 Fourth Wing and Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
I kicked my reading slump this month by listening to Fourth Wing and Iron Flame (again) on audiobook. I truly don’t know what it is about these, but I love them so dang much, and my book club is now obsessed with the series too. This time I listened to the Graphic Audio adaptations (full cast, sound effects, etc.), and I’m torn on the format. Parts of it are fun, and parts are weird, and I think the format brings out some of the weaknesses in writing more than reading or straight audiobooks do. So, take that for what it’s worth!
Final Thoughts
I’ve spent a lot of time in November thinking about what comes next. In 2016 I was newly-widowed, and so didn’t have the capacity to fully engage with the world as it was. This time around I am in a much stronger place – I have even more community around me, and far fewer fucks to give. That means something.
The weekend after the election, David and I took a trip to Washington D.C. I was nervous about the timing, and as we were packing to leave I deeply didn’t want to go – I wanted to be home, around my people, so we could be in the Bad Place together.
But it turns out the trip was actually great. I connected with new friends, enjoyed some beautiful, sunny weather, and cried seeing the Gutenberg Bible at the Library of Congress. The rise of literacy through the printing press was amazing!
In the few weeks since, I’ve continued to feel moments of hopelessness, dread, and spite… but they are more tempered with a sense of capacity I know wasn’t there eight years ago. I don’t know exactly what that means, but I’m leaning into it when I can. I’m finding trusted voices to get information from, and thinking about the kinds of civic and community actions I can take in the years ahead. The next four years are going to be a terrible, unhinged, and hateful mess, but I am not going to be hopeless about our collective capacity to weather the storm.
I don’t really have anything wise to say, mostly I needed to just get all of that out for myself. I hope you are doing well and hanging in there, and that we can build community together.
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