Books I Read in October

Halloween night here in Australia and the end of yet another month so time to post about the wonderful books I've read. Yes, Halloween has encroached on Australia, which is weird to celebrate when it is spring and not fully dark out until 8pm, but I participate mainly for the little kids. So I spent two hours this afternoon (roughly from 4pm until 6pm) sitting on our front verandah admiring the creative costumes and handing out the treats. It was a pleasant surprise to see so many children thank me and only choose one treat with little or no reminder from their parents or myself. Monkey and I went out earlier in the day for some added fun, but you will have to wait patiently for my weekly review to see all about that. Given the number of photos I took today, along with my regular weekly photos, it could be a few days before I get the post written and published. So, with all that said, time to discuss all things books!

Reading this month felt somewhat difficult and slow, though I did read six books independently which is fantastic. I can't quite figure out why this month felt so different to me, except that I'm perhaps feeling the pressure of the end of the year, and there are a LOT of books I want to read before then. I'll start in the top left corner and work across.

"Remarkably Bright Creatures" by Shelby Van Pelt was a wonderful book and I have no idea why I waited so long to read it when numerous people have recommended it to me. It was very nearly a five star read and the story was refreshing. The way the author wove all the characters together over the course of the story will stay with me for a long time.

The next four books were all read for various challenges in my 52 Book Club that I take part in. The main challenge each year comprises of one prompt per week which challenges you to read outside your comfort zone, or just find new books that you might not otherwise try. There are also numerous side challenges which I participate in as well. "A Study in Scarlet" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did double duty fulfilling prompts for two challenges. "In the Name of Sharks" by Francois Sarano was a wonderful non-fiction look at sharks and their importance in the health and vitality of the ocean. I chose this book to fulfill the prompt "inspired by the top grossing movie from the year I was born" which, as I was born in 1975, was Jaws! "Along Came a Spider" by James Patterson was chosen for the Mystery Genre challenge. It was the second book of his Alex Cross series that I've read and I'm thoroughly hooked. Thankfully, my main library has copies of the entire series and will automatically purchase the newest book when it is published. "Partners in Crime" by Agatha Christie was another challenge choice - this time an Agatha Christie themed challenge - and was my most disappointing read for the month though I didn't hate it so still awarded it three stars. I don't know quite what I didn't like about it. Maybe her short stories just aren't my cup of tea. I'll have to see what I think once I've read another book of her short stories. Finally, I finished off the month with a buddy read with my mom. Together we read one chapter per day of "Flinders" by Grantlee Kieza and discussed our thoughts via WhatsApp. I thought I knew quite a bit about the man who mapped Australia, but Kieza always delivers with more knowledge about a person. A delightful read and I thoroughly enjoy buddy reading.

It is always fun to finish off my monthly book related post with the fun graphics Storygraph creates for me. It was a fabulous month and I'm excited for all the new books I will read and finish in November.

 

Term Four: Week Two ~ Finding Our Groove

 As is our custom, week two is all about getting fully into the groove of a new term. We focused on reading this week, but Munchkin also finished his first math chapter, and there were discussions about writing assignments as well. No longer are there exciting photos of their work.

Our read aloud collage for the week. We finished off the last of the picture books we picked up when we attended the 55th birthday morning tea. I loved reading "The Wonkey Donkey" to the boys when they were little but never realised it became a series of books. Not all of them were wonderful, the last one became a fart humour book, but the first three were in the style we fell in love with in the first book and were well worth reading. The three David Wiesner books were a recommendation from a friend, and of the three "Hurricane" would have to be our favourite. Finally, the two books featured at the bottom I read silently to myself. I knew the boys wouldn't care for the Dolly Parton book, and they have no idea who Marcel Marceau is. I will probably re-borrow that book next year when Munchkin does his focused study of WWII as it will be a great addition and we can follow it with clips of Marcel Marceau performing.

My Duolingo achievements for the week.

It has been awhile since Munchkin and I spotted any lonely Lime bike helmets. We spotted the one on the left when we went grocery shopping on Monday and it is a favourite spot for people to leave them. Wednesday afternoon we went for a walk and discovered this "bike" on the side of the road and decided it belonged with our "lonely lime bike" collection. It left us scratching our heads about the things people do.

Monday afternoon I did some repotting of plants. First I weeded and separated the two pineapple plants.

Then I put hubby's chilli plant in a larger and sturdier pot.

Pretty flower photo from our afternoon walk on Wednesday.

I took a solo trip to the libraries on Friday. No book haul stack photo this week. I was hot and bothered when I got home and just started sharing out the books straight away. Besides the new books for me (right side) there were books for Monkey and books for Munchkin. Hopefully I'll be more organised with my photos in a fortnight. I have my work cut out for me in the next few weeks and really need to STOP borrowing books for myself.

I enjoyed three colouring sessions throughout the week and have completed three of the five colours for this picture.

I enjoyed two long reading sessions on Saturday. I focused on these books during my morning reading...

Then enjoyed these in my evening session. I even worked out which Ron Chernow book I'll read next. The last chapter of Mark Twain that I read for the day focused on his time spent with Ulysses S. Grant and it fascinated me, so when I finish this monster I will start that one. I do love Chernow's writing style and the depth of information in his books.

A fantastic Wordle week complete with a couple of three word guesses.

Term Four: Week One ~ Frustrated Beginnings

 Here we are at the beginning of term four and thus the final term of the 2026 school year. Time has flown. Though nothing dramatic happened this week, it was a frustrating start. I had several books planned for reading aloud that for various reasons didn't happen. One book we started, only to have to pause because someone reserved it and we couldn't finish it in time. Another book is on reserve for us but is a month overdue so I'm not holding my breath that it will actually be returned. Finally, another book that we are buddy reading with my mom is slow in arriving for her. As I said, frustrating, but at least we know we'll be able to start that one eventually. Additionally, there was a second copy of the book that is overdue, but the person who had it on loan damaged it with water so severely it had to be destroyed. One of the librarians has put in a purchase order for a second copy but we don't know IF it will actually be ordered, nor when. People frustrated me in general this week. 

With all of that said, we still managed a lot of reading this week and started several other read alouds that we are already really enjoying. You can look forward to hearing more about those as we finish them towards the end of the month. In the meantime, we also read several of the picture books I picked up at the special 55th anniversary event during the holidays. The stand out books in this selection would have to be "Gruffalo Granny" and "The Book of Turtles" but they all had redeeming qualities.

Monday was a pupil free day for public school children and I gave the boys the day off as well. I took a trip to the shopping centre in the morning for our groceries, and the boys spent the late afternoon/early evening washing two of our neighbours three cars for them. The left photo shows the brand new footpath/sidewalk that was laid over the holidays. This photo shows that the new portion is significantly wider than the old part and it is really nice having that extra space now. I walk this stretch of footpath every time I go to the shopping centre.

"Love is in the Air"

I spotted some sky writing fun Saturday morning while busy with my weekend chores.

Saturday evening Monkey headed off to our friends house to attend a homeschool formal dinner and dance. These were the approved photos that were sent to me before they left for the event.

Photo Credit: Mrs K

I had a week full of achievements in Duolingo.

I started two new colouring projects this week. One in my geometric book and a third page in my Querkles book.

Two shopping trips - Monday and Friday

A good Wordle week!