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As the Halloween festivities turn into prepping for Thanksgiving, I find myself content with the amount of reading I did in October. I mainly started reading through the Harry Potter series but am looking forward to branching out on my to be read books list for November. Without further ado, here’s my list of what I read in October + what I hope to read in November.
1. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling
2. “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” by J.K. Rowling
3. “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” by J.K. Rowling
4. “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling
First, I apologize, since most of my reading till December is going to revolve around Harry Potter. Though not this heavily. A have ordered a bunch of new books and I’ve been itching to read them. So once I finish “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” by J.K Rowling, I’ll be reading a couple of other books. A palette cleanser so to speak.
Secondly, I am really enjoying the Harry Potter books and am really excited to review them soon. One thing I have noticed is that as per usual, the books are so much better than the movies. J.K. Rowling does such a wonderful job of world-building and really maturing her writing as her audience matures. We may have our gripes on some comments J.K. Rowling has made, but my focus here is the books as I’ve never read them before.
October felt like a very productive month of reading. I’m looking forward to continuing my reading streak. Now for my November to-be-read books.
1. “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” by J.K. Rowling
2. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” by J.K. Rowling
3. “Seven Days in June” by Tia Williams
4. “In My Dreams I Hold a Knife” by Ashley Winstead
5. “The Fortunes of Jaded Women” by Carolyn Huynh
Once I finish “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” I plan to jump into the other books on my to-be-read list. I plan to save “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” to read towards the end of November. Also seeing as how you would have to be very unaware to not know about Harry Potter, I’ll leave out the synopsis of each book. Below is a synopsis, of the other three books on my to-be-read list.
“Seven Days in June” by Tia Williams centers around two characters, Eva and Shane. Eva is a bestselling erotica writer and Shane is a reclusive award-winning novelist. Eva and Shane meet at a literary event where sparks fly, but the story hidden from everyone is that fifteen years prior, teenage Eva and Shane spent a whirlwind week falling in love. Despite pretending to not know each other, Eva and Shane have been writing to each other in their respective novels over the years. Spanning seven days during a Brooklyn Summer, Eva and Shane reconnect. This story focuses on two writers discovering a second chance at love.
“In My Dreams I Hold a Knife” by Ashley Winstead is a story about an unsolved murder. When a college reunion turns dark, six friends band together to finally solve the case and catch the real killer. A story told in dual timelines and a chilling college campus set as the backdrop, this story promises to take a much darker look at friendship, love, obsession, and ambition.
“The Fortunes of Jaded Women” by Carolyn Huynh focuses on the Duong sisters and their generations-long family curse. The family is cursed due to the family’s ancestor, Oanh, leaving her marriage for true love. A Vietnamese witch curses Oanh and her descendants to never find love or happiness. The Duong women would only give birth to women, never sons.
The current descendant Mai is well-versed in the curse. Divorced and estranged from her younger sisters, Minh and Khuyen. As well as her adult daughters. Mai finds herself craving guidance and so she consults her Auntie Hua, a trusted psychic who gives Mai an unexpected prediction. This year, her family will witness a marriage, a funeral, and the birth of a son, which will in turn reunite the estranged family for better, or worse. This story is a multi-narrative novel filled with levity and candor.
Final Thoughts
You might have also noticed that my to-be-read list is a bit all over the place. I currently only read a few genres (contemporary romance, thriller, mystery, and a select few of YA) and this is reflected heavily in my lists every month. Sometimes I pick books based on seasons, but most times I pick my upcoming to-be-read lists based on what has caught my interest.
That aside, I’m really looking forward to a bit of a break from Harry Potter but also finishing the much-loved series. I’ve been ordering books through PangoBooks (which is not sponsored but I highly recommend them for buying/selling books) and have been itching to read the books I ordered already. So I’m really looking forward to this November to-be-read list.
While October might be over, check out this list of spooky reads to round out your Autumn reading list. I’ll be posting a Holiday reading list soon as well.
Also, what’s your Hogwarts house? I’m a Ravenclaw. Don’t come for me.