October 2026 Book Blog Wrap-Up

Well, October went by so fast. I think it felt that way because I had work travel in the middle of the month, which threw off my internal calendar. Despite the travel interruption, I still managed to finish seven books, mostly thank to audiobooks. I made a decent chunk of progress with my first reading of Kingdom of Ash (no spoilers, please). By the time this goes live I’ll hopefully only have 250 or so pages left to read.

I also watched a lot of things this month, which isn’t like me. But I guess I just felt inspired, what can I say. And most of it was movies, which I don’t tend to do because they’re long and eat up my free time. Sometimes you just have to mix it up, I guess! Anyway, below is my October 2026 book blog wrap-up. It’s a long one, so just skip around to whatever sections interest you.

Book Reviews

I posted three book reviews in October. From earliest to latest they are:

Blog Statistics

Every month I share some statistics from Google Analytics because I think it helps put expectations into perspective for other micro-bloggers like me who are out there. These statistics are from Google Analytics 4.

My top five posts for total page views are (as of the evening of October 29):

STEMinist Romance Books: 323 views
Arthurian Retellings Reading List: 205 views
Dungeons and Dragons Romance Books: 107 views
November 2026 Book Releases: 79 views
September 2026 Book Blog Wrap-Up: 64 views

I’m a broken record here, but my monthly viewership continues to decline. It’s so sad it’s comical. I used to consistently get 7,000-8,000 views per month. Now I make half that, and that’s not an exaggeration. I’m also still getting most of my views from China, so I don’t know what the hell is going on with that, but I know I’m not the only one that’s happening to. AI searches and bots can honestly go fuck themselves.

Meanwhile, a huge thank you to my core community who continue to show up and keep this space lively. Without you all I’d 100% feel like I was writing to the void.

#BeattheBacklog

I finished two books I had on my TBR prior to 2026. Those books are THE WITCH’S HEART by Genevieve Gornichec and AS OLD AS THYME by Alix Nicoud.

Other Bookish Items

I finished seven books in October:

THE HALLOWEEN TREE by Ray Bradbury (audiobook)
MINOR DETAIL by Adania Shibli (audiobook)
LEVEL UP FOR LOVE by Lenora Woods (ARC)
AS OLD AS THYME by Alix Nicoud
WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE TREES by L.E. Bowman (poetry)
THE WITCH’S HEART by Genevieve Gornichec (audiobook)
BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (audiobook)

I also sold three more books on Pangobooks. I’m tired of having some of them around in my house, though, so I need to make an appointment to try and sell them to my local used bookstore.

Other Media Wrap-Up

JUMANJI: I’d seen this movie before, but when I was a kid. When I saw it pop up on Netflix in the “Gen X” movie category (even though this is solidly a millennial movie), I said why not. I think it’s been well over 20 years since I last watched it and I remembered very little of it. Given it’s a 30-year-old movie, I thought it was pretty good. It was way more stressful to watch than I remembered!

CONAN THE BARBARIAN: This movie was also in the Netflix “Gen X” category, which I agree with. I’d only ever caught small bits and pieces of it on TV when I was a kid, so this was a first watch for me. It’s definitely not going to be in my top 10 movies I watched in 2026! I didn’t think it was good at all, lol. It was way too long for what it was.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS: GLORIA STEINEM: This is a Netflix series where they’ve filmed an interview with a famous person and only release it when that person passes away. To be perfectly honest, I was underwhelmed by this interview. For someone who was the face of the broader feminist movement for decades, the interview questions could’ve been better. I guess I expected it to be more revelatory, but maybe I shouldn’t. In comparison, I thought the interview with Jane Goodall was excellent.

MICHAEL CHE SHOT IN MINNESOTA: This is a standup comedy on Netflix by one half of SNL’s Weekend Update cast. I haven’t watched his other comedy on Netflix, but I thought this one was pretty good. Some of it made me cringe a little bit because it’s not very politically correct, but I guess Che is a bit avant garde with some of his humor. The comedy special is only an hour long, so it’s not a big commitment.

WICKER: I saw this new movie in the theater with a few girlfriends. It was certainly entertaining and got some laughs out of everyone in the theater. I wouldn’t say it’s the most amazing movie ever, but I had a good time with it. The premise is absurd, but as the story progresses there’s definitely commentary on relationship dynamics and gender roles.

WILDWOOD: I took my husband with me to watch this the day after I saw WICKER. So it was a double feature weekend for me last weekend. This was fantastic. I highly recommend it to everyone. It’s all stop motion and everything is made by hand from individual plant leaf to bird feather to stop-motion tear. It took over a decade to make and I’m begging everyone to take some time to see it because this movie is art.

Non-Bookish Items

I went to Denver for a work trip, but was glad to come home. It’s always nice to see my Denver colleagues in person. But I appreciate the higher oxygen concentration and humidity of northern Virginia. I didn’t really feel the lower oxygen levels unless I was carrying my luggage around (I have a carryon backpack rather than a roller bag). My resting heart rate was about 10 bpm higher there, probably to pump more oxygen into my body, and my lips got super dry despite liberal application of lip balm. But in fun happenstance, while I was going through airport security to fly back to VA, I saw Jeff Goldblum in Denver’s Clear security area. So cool! He’d apparently had a concert in Denver (yes, he’s also a musician).

My garden is in its inevitable decline as autumn ramps up. I don’t know what’s going on with my lettuce, but it’s slow to grow. And the critters, I think, have been eating my beets. I never get any beets because animals and slugs demolish the plants when they’re little. 🙁 Meanwhile, my turnips and daikon radishes seem to be taking off as does my arugula. I intended to grow the root vegetables as a winter harvest crop, but the weather has been so mild that they might be ready earlier. Maybe I need to plant a second round…

Other than that, it’s mostly been business as usual. The last thing I’ll say is if you live in the U.S., VOTE BY NOVEMBER 3!