October was a decent reading month. Nothing too amazing, but nothing bad either. I actually got around to all of the books on my spooky reads list except one! (I'm still reading Halloween Party so even though I'll probably finish it today, it didn't make October's list.) As usual, click on the book titles to read my Goodreads reviews.
French Milk, by Lucy Knisley. I love travel memoirs, but this one was a little disappointing. It's a graphic novel style memoir, but it's more of a diary than anything: pages of what they ate and where they went. If you've never been there and don't really know what she's talking about, it doesn't mean much.
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, by Alan Bradley. I enjoy this series so much...it's just begging to be made into a BBC mini-series. This one felt a little different, with the focus on the de Luce family and Flavia and her mother's mysterious past. The things that were revealed didn't really surprise me, but I'm very curious to see how it will carry over into future books.
The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, by Claire Legrand. It's far from the best middle grade book I've ever read, but this one was a perfect October read. It was creepier (and quite a bit grosser) than I expected, and I would have loved reading it as a kid. It was a bit longer than was necessary...things were drawn out at times.
Bed-Knob and Broomstick, by Mary Norton. I'd had this book since elementary school, and I finally got around to reading it. It was okay, but nothing special. Even though it was very short, it still didn't hold my attention. I would like to try reading The Borrowers at some point, though.
Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen. I'm so glad I finally got around to rereading Northanger Abbey! I enjoyed it so much. It was a lot more Austen-ish than I remembered, and it made me smile. I need to reread at least a couple of her novels each year. Also, I had forgotten how incredibly annoying, simpering, and obnoxious Isabella Thorpe is. She might just be one of my least favorite characters ever.
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1, compiled by hitRECord and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I randomly stumbled across this book on Book Outlet (a dangerous place to browse) and thought it looked cute. It really is a tiny book...it only took a few minutes to read. An interesting concept, but not as amazing as I'd hoped.