Fall is not my best time to read. I didn’t read as many books as I did in the prior quarters. The fall months are my busiest at work and because of that I was often too tired to pick up a book. Plus, I discovered an online game that I got so hooked on that I often forgot to read. Also fall is a time for great TV shows to premier so I was distracted by those too. Basically these were the months of distractions because that’s all I engaged in. Anyways, here are what I read.
Books
Books by month
October
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter, book 4) ★★★★★
A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire, book 2) ★★★★☆
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness ★★★☆☆
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey (The Monstrumologist, book 1) ★★★★★
November
She by H. Rider Haggard ★★☆☆☆
Warren the 13th and The All-Seeing Eye by Tania del Rio, illus. by Will Staehle (Warren the 13th, book 1) ★★★☆☆
The High King by Lloyd Alexander (The Chronicles of Prydain, book 5) ★★☆☆☆
December
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (Akata Witch, book 1) ★★★☆☆
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter, book 5) ★★★☆☆
Favorite of the bunch
The Monstrumologist
Note: I’m not including the Harry Potter books here because I’ve reread them many times.
Least liked
She
Best stories
A Clash of Kings
The Monstrumologist
Best writing
A Clash of Kings
The Monstrumologist
She
Awesome cover
Akata Witch
Reading challenges hits
Book Riot 2015 Read Harder Challenge
A book published by an indie press: Warren the 13th and The All-Seeing Eye
A book published this year: The Rest of Us Just Live Here
Classics Club Reading Challenge
She
Notable experiences while reading
Many things happened but they’re too personal to post on here.
Magazines
None, unfortunately.
Noteworthy articles
I read a few articles, not as many as I did earlier this year and I didn’t keep track of them as well as I did earlier in the year either.
★“Hope Is the Enemy” by Dasha Kiper (American Scholar)
Kiper discusses her year spent caring for a patient suffering from dementia and what she observed of the disease’s effect on the patient and caregiver.
“Dementia not only affects the minds of its victims; it also creates a world so fragmented, so skewed and redundant—so indifferent to normal rules of behavior—that caregivers unwittingly become part of the madness.”
“And until that awful moment when the brain is overcome by lesions, preventing such compensation, it’s often difficult to differentiate personal idiosyncrasies from natural cognitive decline. Indeed, before dementia erases who we are, it shows us what we are—and who can say for certain where a person’s defenses end and his dementia begins?”
“A Critic’s Critic Quits His Day Job” by Craig Lambert (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
On noted critic George Scialabba’s retirement.
“Why Writers Run” by Nick Ripatrazone (The Atlantic)
“Reading While Black: Or, For Colored Children Who Considered Literary Suicide When the Rainbow Wasn’t Enough” by Ibi Zoboi (Reading While White)
“A Worrying Truth” by Catharine Morris (The Times Literary Supplement)
A book review of Worrying: A Literary and Cultural History by Francis O’Gorman. I found this article when I was obsessively worrying about something and was wondering if worrying is a form of compulsion and why do we worry.
“Why So Many Minority Millennials Can’t Get Ahead” by Mel Jones (The Atlantic)
Noteworthy podcasts
I just started listening to podcasts and I’m loving them. I thought it appropriate to include this category because these podcasts are book/writing/author related.
Maya Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, speaks with James Naughtie on BBC Radio’s Bookclub podcast.
Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things, interviewed on the Longform podcast.
Jazmine Hughes, associate editor at the New York Times Magazine, interviewed on the Longform podcast.
**If you have any book/publishing/writing-related podcast recommendations, please let me know below.**
Currently reading
I just finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and I should be reading Shadowshaper but I’m not in the mood. I’m still upset about Sirius.
Zezee with Books 
You read such great books! Akata Witch is definitely on my list as is the Patrick Ness. And I’m currently reading Shadowshaper, too, how are you liking it?
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Thanks! Akata Witch was good. I just loved that I could see bits of my culture and experiences in it. I actually haven’t gotten very far in Shadowshaper. I’m just a few pages in and it’s a bit dry but I believe it will pick up.
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I’m about halfway through now and love Shadowshaper! Hope you’ll find that it picks up the pace.
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I hope so too. 🙂
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You can’t be annoyed and not reading much when you read such big books! Clash of Kings is huge. It’s time I re read Harry Potter, it’s been too long. Great post 🙂
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Haha! I didn’t look at it that way. Thanks for providing a new perspective.
Rereading them is so good!
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I read She at university and I can remember fragments of it. The novel isn’t the sort to hold up particularly well in the modern age but it’s great for gothic/gender/post-colonial literary discussion.
As a movie blogger I did rather well and managed to watch lots of films.
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I agree. It doesn’t hold up well and the ideologies expressed often frustrated me but I appreciate the peek at how some people thought around the time the book was published.
That’s good you saw a lot of movies. I usually watch a good bit myself but didn’t get to do so this year. I still haven’t seen The Martian or Krampus or Star Wars, all of which I was looking forward to.
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