October Reading Wrap-Up + Reading Challenge Results

October was an exciting month and honestly, I kind of wish there were two Octobers. There are so many other horror/spooky/just October-centric books I want to read. Will end up reading them anyway, but there’s just something special about reading Halloween-ish books up to and around Halloween.

You might recall a post some weeks ago about a reading challenge called All Hallows Read. Am glad to announce that it was a success! I completed the prompts but ended up choosing some very different reads for each. I’ll probably take a break on challenges though until the next major theme that fits. Probably Valentine’s Day since there are countless romances on my TBR. But without further ado, here were the challenges and the titles I finished for each.

+ choose ONE prompt of your choice – The Unquiet Grave – A Book That Features A Burial Ground – I read nine books this month and am glad to find that 8/9 of them fits each of the prompts here! A totally unexpected title happens to fit this one.

The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys (Review) is an elegant historical fiction read, not anyone’s first thought as far as ‘horror’ but there was one jarring and disturbing sub-plot that involves burials and bodies. Also love how the title The Unquiet Grave happens to also fit in well with the breaking of silence that is at the core of this read.

Do The Monster Mash – Anthology –  I had originally intended on picking His Hideous Heart, a collection of short story adaptations by Edgar Allan Poe. Instead, I finished Cruel Works of Nature by Gemma Amor (Review Link)

Many thanks to Amanda for the recommendation. It’s an extremely varied collection of horror short stories that really surprised me.

Halloween Town – Set In A Magical Place – I picked Spin The Dawn (Review Link) by Elizabeth Lim for this. 

The sequel is coming out Summer 2020 and has one of the most gorgeous covers ever. Glad to be on top of new series instead of years behind. Wasn’t expecting to be so thrilled at seeing the cover reveal. Definitely picking it up!

Pumpkin Picking – A long-time TBR choice – Yay, another one that I kept to my original plans and finished! The Shining by Stephen King.

For being so long (over 600 pages in its paperback form) this book was an effective page turner and I was pretty much glued after a certain point, for hundreds of pages. Can’t wait to explore more works by this author, still mindboggled on where to go next in the sprawling selection though.

Trick or Treat – Have someone else pick a book for you – Same as the Anthology pick, Cruel Works Of Nature, rec’d courtesy of Amanda. ❤ Thanks again!

I did go 2-for-1 in that category but here is another prompt I grabbed-

+ Choose One Prompt from Corpses Or Werewolves – Werewolves – Full Moon – Choose One Book Where A Character Undergoes A Transformation – While I didn’t mention so in my review, Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden (Review) fits this theme perfectly.

A Taste For Blood – Book With A Red Cover – I was going to pick Illuminae for this one then decided on The Beautiful then picked a total unexpected one that has a final release coming soon, Song of the Crimson Flower (Review Link)

This book has a witch rather than a vampire, but the literal red synonym in the title and lovely blood-red flowers seemed appropriate.

Immortal Being – A Gothic Classic –  Stuck with my plans and read We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson (Review)

It was a great read. I watched the film too and also adored it, perhaps as much as the book. Definitely featuring it in an upcoming Books To Movie Adaptations post.

Prince Of The Night – A Dracula Retelling –  I was planning to get Dracula by Manga Classics for this but didn’t pick it up in time. Turns out that one of my all-time faves, an episodic horror graphic novel (manga) by the name of Petshop of Horrors has a story in volume 4 called Dracula that reworks/remakes its plot with pretty direct reference. I re-read it for this challenge, and completed the final volumes of the series (ten altogether) October 31st. Will probably take a lot of time in crafting the review since I want to make it special.

Reflection – Read A Graphic Novel –  Though Petshop of Horrors fits this prompt, I also read the first of two large compilation volumes of Orange by Ichigo Takano (Review)

Orange is about as far from Halloween-related as you can get but at least the color orange is a Halloween color? lol, stretching it, but glad to have finished this title this month.

What We Do In The Shadows – Urban Magic –  I was originally planning to read an urban fantasy/romance for this, Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. I was surprised to find that a must-read of this month fits perfectly into this description, Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (Review)

Lucysnovelpurpose also made a wonderful bingo card for this #allhallowsread reading challenge.

Completed

• Posted A TBR
• Read 500 Pages
• Read A Book By A Female Author
• Wrote A Book Review – Always.
• Read A Book From The Library – Ninth House ended up being the choice for this one.
• Complete A Challenge
• Post A Bookstagram Pic – This is my Bookstagram, feel free to follow. ❤
• Read A Book With 400+ Pages – The Shining easily fits this.
• Read For 10 Minutes
• Burn A Candle While Reading – Almost didn’t do this one until one day toward the last week of October, power went out for about 8 hours. Had no choice but to read by candle light.
• Free Space (How about, read a book with a terrifying cover- for that I’d choose Cruel Works Of Nature.)
• Chose A Challenge
• Watch A Halloween Movie (For this one I chose The Haunting, 1963 version. It’s fantastic.)
• Read 3 Books
• Read 1000 Pages
• Listen To Monster Mash (More like when am I not listening to this, lol.)
• Rate A Book 5 Stars

Incomplete

• Take Part In A Reading Sprint (Does anyone know what this is? I probably should have asked in the original post for this one weeks ago haha.)
• Buddy Read (Was going to tweet looking to do one, but middle-to-end of the month I started feeling reading slumpy (not quite a slump but more like a warning of one?? lol) and didn’t. Buddy reads are incredible though and I look forward to trying another in December/Jan when backlog ARCs should be cleared out.)
• Buy Something Halloween-Themed (Came very close to doing this one in the form of some curious lovely Addams Family-themed pancakes, but didn’t.)

22/25 finished! I was not expecting to get so many.

Also read Persephone Autumn’s Depths Awakened this month, not Halloween-related, but was a nice change of pace.

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I finished 9 books in October, and 8 volumes of manga/graphic novels. 17 reads overall. I’m surprised at that number, as a break seemed appropriate/imminent near the end of the month. I will cover November reading plans in a separate post.

Have you read any of the titles mentioned here or want to?

How was your October as far as reading goes, find any new 5-star favorites?

Thanks so much for reading and as always, appreciate your time and thoughts. ~ Kitty