October Wrap-Up and TBR

This month has been a lot. I've been busy at my job, I've been rethinking a lot of things, and overall it's just been a difficult month for me. Hence, the reading has been slow. So slow. I've been so focused on other stuff that reading has been very difficult. However, I did read some pretty good books this month.

The Tooth by Shirley Jackson (★★★★★)

The Tooth is a short story by Shirley Jackson that follows a woman going to an emergency dentist for tooth pain. The edition that I was reading also has a bunch of other stories in it too, and I was able to get through them all in one sitting. Shirley Jackson is, in my opinion, the mother of horror, and I recommend reading anything of hers that you can get your hands on. Need I say more.

Mary's Monster by Lita Judge (★★★★.75)

Mary's Monster is a mix of graphic novel and poetry collection exploring the life of Mary Shelley and her most famous work, Frankenstein. I was hesitant going into this, as previously I've had negative experiences with YA fiction, but this book was brilliant. It was both emotional and beautiful. I highly, highly recommend this one as well, it was another one that I read in just one sitting. It's such an easy read, but it is really sad, so bear that in mind. Also, fuck Percy Bysshe Shelley.

We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets (★★★)

We Had to Remove This Post was a book that I picked up from my local library by chance, and I was drawn to the title. This book follows a young woman who works at as a content reviewer for a social media company, and what she witnesses on the job. What happens in the depths of the internet has been one of my special interests for a while now, so I had really high hopes that his book would interest me. And it did, to an extent. I was satisfied throughout the majority of the book but the ending.... I needed more. It felt very underwhelming, and I just needed more to happen. That could be the intention of the author, to reveal to readers their own darkness and evaluate what they watch, but it was very frustrating to read.

Whilst this month wasn't great for reading, I have already planned to read more for the upcoming months. Most of the books for next month are ARCs, provided by the publishers through Netgalley, and there will be plenty of reviews. I have also recently had a piece accepted for publishing in an upcoming horror magazine, which I am extremely excited about. Sorry for the lack of a TBR this time, I'm just trying to work on getting back into reading regularly.

Happy reading!

All the best,

Talia