My October TBR
It’s a new month.
It’s my favorite month.
October is always beautiful. The skies are clear. The temperature is perfect. The trees are an explosion of color along the parkway. I plan a lot of hikes for this time of year. The leaves change color earlier at higher elevations, so I spend the entirety of October and the first week of November chasing those fiery leaves.
That chase means I’ll be spending a lot of time in the car on weekends. You know what that means?
Reading.
Here are five books I’m hoping to finish before Halloween rolls around.
The final of the four secret projects from Brandon Sanderson’s kickstarter is a Cosmere novel. Nomad, who is able to hop from planet to planet in the Cosmere, is stranded because he’s exhausted his supply of Investiture. He doesn’t know the language or the culture of the planet he’s stuck on. He’s caught up in the relationship between a tyrant and the oppressed. The people who live on this planet have to outrun the sun to avoid being melted.
I’m about two chapters into this. I have a couple of other things I’m working on at the moment, so I don’t have a lot of time to read it, but I’m already entranced.
I’m also devastated. It’s the last of the secret projects. No more quarterly Sanderson novels.
After I finish reading this book, I will be ranking the secret projects based on how much I enjoyed them. I’m hoping to have that post up next week or the week after.
2. Skyward Flight by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson
This book is a collection of novellas that take place in the Skyward series. The three novellas are Sunreach, ReDawn, and Evershore. Each of them are told from a different character’s perspective. Sunreach is told from Freya’s, also known as FM’s, perspective. ReDawn is told from Alanik’s perspective (I’m particularly excited about this one.) and Evershore is told from Jorgen’s perspective. To read Sunreach and ReDawn, you have to have read Skyward and Starsight. To read Evershore, you have to have read Cytonic.
I’m reading this collection in preparation for the release of Defiant on November 21st. It’s the final book in the Skyward series and I do not want to miss a single thing. I’ve preordered it. I’m just waiting for November to roll around. In the mean time, I’m going to be rereading as much of the series as possible.
3. Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare
Kel is ripped from his life and trained as a body double for Prince Conor Aurelian. The position, also known as the Sword Catcher, required him to be trained alongside the prince in combat and statecraft. Though the two are thick as thieves, Kel knows it is his destiny to die in place of the prince. Lin possesses magical abilities and is supposed to live behind walls in the city, but as a healer, she is allowed to venture out and tend to the sick. When her best friend, Mariam, falls ill and Lin lacks the knowledge she needs, she is willing to do the forbidden. Lin and Kel end up meeting the Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of the underground, and discover more about the kingdom than they ever knew.
Cassandra Clare found her niche with shadowhunters. I’ve read The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, and Lady Midnight. I’ve only read the first book of her most recent shadowhunter series and I was not a big fan. I found it to be the same plot chopped up and rehashed. I needed something different from her.
I’m hoping this is it. It sounds intriguing.
It comes out October 10th.
4. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Patricia Campbell has given up her job as a nurse to marry a doctor and become a mother. She finds her life to be small. With a never ending to do list, her only reprieve is her book club. They read thrillers and talk about true crime, as well as the rollercoaster of emotions motherhood can be. When a new man moves into town, they talk about it. When children start to go missing, they get suspicious. Patricia launches into an investigation about the man and the monster they’ve all welcomed into their neighborhood.
I’ve read Grady Hendrix before. I read We Sold Our Souls, and was not impressed. I gave it three stars and described it using the word “meh”. I found the characters to be flat.
But I’m willing to give him another chance. Plus, it’s October. Of course I want to read about a book club hunting a man they think is a vampire.
5. Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
I’m not sure how to summarize this book. The series is complex and there are so many layers that I can’t even begin to pull back without spoiling it. It’s the third book in the Stormlight Archives, a series I’m trying to get caught up on before the start of the new year. I summarized the first book well in my Way of Kings review and that will tell you what you need to know about the series without spoiling it. If you don’t feel like reading that, then I’ll say that the Stormlight Archives is a fantasy of epic proportions with a detailed universe, a hard magic system, and wonderful, dynamic characters. I finished Words of Radiance, Oathbringer’s predecessor, in the first half of September, and I’m finding that I really miss the universe. I’m eager to get back into it.
So, there you have it. Five books that I’m planning on reading in October. I know that three of them are Brandon Sanderson novels. I’m having a hard time with my anxiety and I’ve described his writing as mom’s taco soup. It’s warm, comforting, and fills me up.
I thought about putting a Stephen King novel on this list, but I have yet to read one that’s blown me away. His most recent work in particular I find to be mediocre at best. He is the king of horror, but I don’t have it in me to read it. Not right now. Do you guys have any suggestions as to which books of his are good?
I’m not sure what you all have on your TBR lists for October, but I’m certain that it should include the four short stories I will be posting throughout the month. Every Thursday, I’ll be posting a thrilling, suspenseful, scary, short story that I’m sure will tickle your fancy. It kicks off this Thursday with Madeline in “Violet Vertigo”.
Here’s a little snippet from the beginning:
“The woman was wearing a stained, tan cardigan tattered with holes. Her hair, though long, was knotted and matted. Her shoulders were hunched forward; there were pus-filled lesions on her back. The woman turned, looking over her shoulder. Madeline’s heart leapt into her throat.
Her eyes were gold. She had no pupils, no irises.
And when she grinned, it turned gummy. Her teeth fell out of her mouth and clattered onto the pavement, one by one, like citrine stones.”
Look forward to it.
I’ll link them here as they come out.
Follow my progress on my TBR list on Goodreads! Here’s a link to my profile.
What are you reading this month? Are there any releases that you’re looking forward to? Leave a comment!