October 2020 Books

♥ The Exorcist ¹ by William Peter Blatty - As good the third time around as it was the first.

* Dracula ¹ by Bram Stoker - I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this. It had been in my Audible wish list for a while and then once it became part of the "Included" for free with my membership I downloaded it and dove right in. Brilliantly written and conceived, also providing a new word to add to my vocabulary: epistolary. (An epistolary novel is one written as a series of letters, diary/journal entries, etc.)

Awful Auntie ¹ by David Walliams - This was cute but definitely not my fave David Walliams book.

* Who Stole Halloween? by Martha Freeman - Saw this at Baldwin's Book Barn and decided I needed a fun little Halloween read. This one was about missing neighbourhood cats (one of whom was called Halloween) and the two super sleuths that unravel the mystery. 

* The Grapes of Wrath ¹ by John Steinbeck - I knew this wasn't gonna be a happy tale but the writing was spectacular, the narration superb, and the cast of characters were so real. It was so dreadful what people like the Joad family went through in the Dust Bowl but thank Christ for writers like Steinbeck to weave their stories into all the generations to come.

♥ 'Salem's Lot ¹ by Stephen King - Read (or rather listened to) this last October and couldn't wait to give it another go. I still had to fast forward any scene with little Randy's monster of a mother. She is one of the most vile creations of fiction and just thinking about her makes my blood boil. I absolutely loathe her. Regardless, everything else about the book is pure perfection.

* Not My Father's Son ¹ by Alan Cumming - I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into with Alan Cummings' memoir but I am so glad I listened to it. I intuited that his father was gonna be a real son of a bitch and that Alan's childhood would not be strewn with happy memories and stories of cuddling with his Pa watching the telly and I was right. But this book was less about his bastard of a father and more about Alan the man and how he took the nothing and became something. Just loved it.

* The Alchemist ¹ by Paulo Coelho - I got this specifically because Jeremy Irons narrates. 

Island of the Blue Dolphins ¹ by Scott O'Dell - This was one of those books that I remember kids reading when I was in grade school. It was interesting but didn't bowl me over in any kinda way.

Holding ¹ by Graham Norton - I couldn't wait for this to be over. I was so unimpressed.

Duchess By Design by Maya Rodale - An historical romance book that I think I snatched from one of those Little Free Library boxes. It started out interesting then slowly dissolved into a mess of boredom.

♥ The Secret Garden ¹ by Frances Hodgson Burnett - When I was but a slip of a girl my parents bought me this book. I never got around to reading it, for some reason. I always pushed it aside thinking that I'd read it later. When I saw that it was available in audio format I knew I had to give it a listen. Oh it was so good. And the 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame version with Derek Jacobi, Gennie James, and Barret Oliver was quite faithful to the novel, although I preferred the book's ending. 

¹ - audiobook

² - abridged version

* - liked

♥ - loved

Any unmarked titles were, in my opinion, so-so.