I can’t believe it’s time to write yet another round up post. October wasn’t super packed with stuff, so I got a lot of good reading time in. The highlight of the month though was definitely heading to my favorite bookstore, R.J. Julia, and seeing Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis discuss their newest book Invisible Murder. The book is the second in their Nina Borg chronicles, the first being The Boy in the Suitcase (which I reviewed here). Hearing them discuss the research that went into the book, their travels through Hungary, and the tragic stories of what life is like in Hungary for gypsies was harrowing. I’m excited that I have some background on the real life instances that parts of the book are based on. It’ll only add that much more to my reading of it.
Me and two of my best friends Kate & Ashley!
We also participated in our second read-a-thon of the year! Todd and I made it through an hour longer than our first read-a-thon and completed more books as well. We considered it a success and are already looking forward to the next one in the spring.
Besides the read-a-thon our month was spent celebrating our birthdays and Halloween! Our birthday celebration consisted of Todd, me, and 12 of our friends hitting up downtown New Haven for pizza and beers. Following dinner we took the group saki bombing! Those unfamiliar with the term – you take a glass and fill it about halfway with beer (preferably Japanese beer) and then balance a shot of hot saki on top. You bang the table, let the shot drop in the beer, and then chug down the rest. (Sounds gross but is actually really delicious!) It was a fabulous celebration and I can’t wait till next year!
Our Halloween party was as always a ton of fun. Todd’s home-brewed pumpkin beer was a huge smash. (Such a smash all 5 gallons was drunk in one night!) Everyone went all out on their costumes this year! (Todd and I were newsies) I’m already anticipating how we’re all going to top ourselves next year.
October was a fantastic reading month! I met my second reading goal of the year of 160 books and have decided to up the goal to 200 books by year-end. As of today I’m at 176, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can make it through 24 more before year-end. I completed 19 books in October with my favorite being The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley (my review is here). Great great great book. I really hope y’all will add it to your to-read piles.
The staff has been diligently working on getting through a whole slew of books this month. Adam’s been reading the historical fiction novel Deal With The Devil Part II and recently posted his review for it. His next review is for a young adult mythology book, Pantheons. Todd’s been reading a new thriller novel Targets of Deception and the fiction novel Believe Like A Child. Christine’s been reading a short story/poetry anthology called Everblossom. Jess is reading the memoir Taking Flak, while Charlie’s been working on a review of the film The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I do also want to inform all of you about the addition of another staff blogger for the Reflections team, Sam! Sam’s been working on a young adult dystopian thriller, The Tube Riders. You can find out more about Sam and her reading tastes on The Staff page!
Let us know what you read last month and what books we should be adding to our to-read piles! As always, happy reading!
Reflections of a Book Addict 