Books I Read in October

October was crazy. School work started heating up in a big way (major project due today, now I get to move on to writing those term papers). We had massive amounts of rain nearly every weekend, which put a damper on things (pun intended). And then there was Halloween.

Continuing our tradition of children's book themed family costumes, this year we went with Curious George and the CUTEST little Man in the Yellow Hat of all time (do you see those delicious thighs?). To round out the theme, my husband and I "dressed up" as H.A. and Margret Rey, but our costumes were hardly photo-worthy.

Between the costume parties and requisite pumpkin patch trips and crazy/frantic dash to finish research projects, I actually got a fair amount of reading done. Yay for audio books during the commute!

Dracula by Bram Stoker - This was my first successful attempt at seasonal reading! And I enjoyed this book immensely. Full review here.

A Room With A View by E.M. Forster - I've been feeling the more classic reads lately, and this is one I've had on the to-read list for ages, so I finally knocked it off. It started off rocky for me in Italy. I wasn't sure I was going to like the book much, but once the characters all got back to England I settled in and started enjoying it. Forster reminds me very much of a British Henry James or Edith Wharton, but with a happy ending, which was nice. Generally recommend.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe - I read this one for class. Yowza, is this ever a snoozer. There are definitely some fascinating cultural and social things going on here, but Defoe does not transfer well to a modern audience. I'm glad I've read it, but I don't ever want to have to read it again.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion - This was my second attempt at seasonal reading for October, without slipping into the actual horror genre (zombies count for Halloween, right?). So, it was fine and I enjoyed it, but like I said, I'm kind of feeling the classics recently, so this contemporary stuff didn't fit my mood. As far as zombie tales go, I appreciated the unique twist and perspective offered here, but I did not appreciate the copious use of swear words. I recommended this to my husband (who has a thing for zombies), and I would watch the movie with him if he ever wants to, but it didn't really do much for me.

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie - And so back to the classics I go! After my sister mentioned that this was her all time favorite book ever, I thought I should give it a read. And wow. I mean, I knew the story of Peter Pan, because who doesn't know the story of Peter Pan? I've seen the movies. But THE BOOK IS SO MUCH BETTER! In fact, this book is utter perfection. I need to own a copy of this book, and I need to read it aloud to my boys, but they will not understand it until they are grown ups (because truly, this is a book for grown-ups). But I also never want them to be grown-ups, I want them to stay young and live in Neverland and have adventures forever, but I also need them to grow up because if there is anything this book illustrates, it's the tragedy of staying young forever (even though we all think it's about the tragedy of growing up, that's not actually true). Now I'm waxing too long in this summary, and I probably need to give this book it's own proper review some time, because there is so much to be said. In short, read it. Completely perfect.