7 Books We Read in October

October was a tough one.  I just COULD NOT get it together and read!  The pickings were slim last month, and I apologize.  Better luck next month, I guess.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.  This book took me all month to read.  I can’t even explain it.  It was enjoyable.  I quite liked it, but I just COULD NOT find the time to just sit down and read it in a big chunk.  I feel like a lot of the story was lost on me that way.  By the time I got around to the end when the mystery was all coming together, I had forgotten some of the characters.  Ridiculous.  This is the first book in the Flavia de Luce series.  I’ve heard so much about it that I have been intrigued for quite some time.  My library has the series.  An 11-year-old chemist detective makes quite the main character.  Honestly, I thought the chemistry would play a bigger role, but it may have and I forgot.  Good grief.  Anyway, I will be reading the next one for sure.

Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart.  I listened to this one because it seemed so interesting.  It’s the historical fiction story of Constance Kopp, America’s first female deputy sheriff.  This book starts out with Constance and her sisters riding along in their carriage when they are hit in the side by an automobile driven by a local factory owner and mafia man.  All the sisters want is money to repair their carriage, but what they get is a whole lot of trouble and many more life lessons in self defense and investigating.  This book would be a quick read.  I’ve heard that a narrator can make or break an audio book, and I totally believe it.  I wasn’t a huge fan of this narrator, but it was still intriguing and a fun listen.  This one was the Audible Deal of the Day at some point and I grabbed it for cheap while I could.  It is the first in a series, so I will most likely be visiting the next book soon.

 

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick.  I listened to this one also.  This is about Arthur Pepper whose wife died a year ago and he has decided to start going through her belongings.  He finds a charm bracelet in a boot and wants to know more about the different charms.  This investigation leads him on a wild and unexpected ride, but he finds out more about himself than his wife.  I loved this.  I listened to it in the car, cleaning my kids’ rooms, doing laundry, anytime just to get through it.  It was so interesting and I would’ve binge read it had it been in print in front of me.

 

 

Home is Where My People Are by Sophie Hudson.   I read another of Sophie’s books last month, and in true form, this one did not disappoint as a fun, fast read.  Sophie is funny

and easy to relate to.  I identify with this book more than the last one because this one talks about moving all over from state to state and finding new people wherever you go and hanging on to the dear ones from the home before.  Everywhere we’ve moved, I’ve found dear sweet friends, and when we move, although I may not talk to them as often, I’ve hung tightly to some of those treasured friendships.  This book also had some tear-jerking moments, so heads up.

 

 

 

Let’s All Be Brave by Annie Downs.  I picked this one up for $1.99 on Kindle this month.  I’ve been wanting to read it for ages–ever since I borrowed a friend’s copy of Looking for Lovely.  I love Annie’s life story.  I feel like she can write this book from experience and urge others to take that leap of faith with confidence.  I am slowly going through it with our college small group right now since I see many of them on the cusp of large decisions and uncertainty if they’re strong enough to do the things they really are passionate about.  Great read.

 

 

Ali’s Reads

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling.  Congratulations to Ali for making it into the Harry Potter Book Club!  This is a life long dream of hers, and she is elated.  She loved this book with all the fantasy and adventure.  She stayed up many a late night to get this read.  So happy for her.  And proud to see her reach a goal.  I listened to this on audio from my local library while she was reading it, but she beat me to the end.  Confession: I’ve never read this series.  I know, I know, but when it was released, I was in high school and clearly past the age of acceptance on reading something like that.  It was a fun listen, and I will go on to book 2, but I honestly don’t see what all that hubbub is about yet.  Maybe book 2 will make me fall head over.

Marvin Redpost: Kidnapped at Birth by Louis Sachar.  I picked this book up at the Goodwill Bookstore and she read it at school and took an Accelerated Reader test on it that day.  I’d say it was a little below her reading level, but any book is a good book at this age.  She recommends it to first and second graders she says.  That Louis Sachar writes some good ones.  This is the first in the series, turns out.