October Roundup

I feel like I was overcome with the Halloween spirit this month, and the books I started in September were pushed to the side for some more seasonal reads.

My reading has also slowed compared to September. I feel like the closer it gets to the end of the year, the busier I get! I’m still working my way through some of the books I started, but I’m hoping to have reviews up on those in November!

Anyway, here’s the October roundup!

Halloween Short Stories

This covers a lot of ground, but there are some great ones like: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, to name a few. I feel like short stories like these can tell a fully realized narrative while still being brief.

I’ve always really enjoyed stories like these, and they are quick reads to help add to the season.

The Phantom Prince by Elizabeth Kendall

I had this book sitting in my Audible library for a few months, just waiting to be listened to. I really liked this book and having Elizabeth and her daughter read about their own experiences at the end was so moving and haunting to hear.

Having them be a larger part of this terrifying and awful story of Ted Bundy is what really made me like it and give it a 4/5. Elizabeth acknowledging that when she first wrote it back in 1981 her state of mind was drastically different to how she is feeling now in 2020 really added the most context as a reader/listener.

As I said in my original review, it’s also very important to note that as outsiders to the situation, it can be easy to say, “How can you not see what’s happening?!” But as readers, we were not there nor were we part of his web of lies and manipulation. Elizabeth was also a victim of Ted Bundy, but in a very different way.

Chase Darkness with Me: How One True-Crime Writer Started Solving Murders by Billy Jensen

This was a book I have loved since it came out and will forever hold a 5/5 rating from me. When you think of an investigative journalist or a “crime-fighter” I’m sure you imagine someone in a trench coat, holding a magnifying glass and they spend their spare time sitting in a car, watching an area. Billy Jensen shows us how cold cases are solved in the modern day.

It’s another book I think about a lot in my everyday life, and whichever way you choose to read it, you’ll definitely enjoy it, even if true crime isn’t a genre you venture into that often.

Horror/Halloween Classics

For me, these include Dracula by Bram Stoker, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Personally, Coraline is the creepiest, but all three are perfect for October, or another time of year where you want to be creeped out or read about monsters.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

This 5/5 book has a special place in my heart and on my bookshelves. Michelle McNamara has such a strong voice in this book, even though she sadly didn’t get to finish it herself. She thoughtfully and thoroughly told this story while also including her life story in between.

Throughout this book, I found myself double checking my locks and looking out my windows. Before The Golden State Killer was caught, he truly lived like a poltergeist: suddenly appearing in people’s homes and wreaking the worst kind of havoc.

I listened to the audiobook and read the physical copy I have, and I fully expect this to be a book I return to again and again.

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I now realize my October reads were filled with quite a bit true crime. But I'm okay with it because they talk about some real-life terrifying people.

Do you have any suggestions you have based on the books I’ve shared already? Leave any comments or suggestions below!

Happy Halloween!