BOOK THOUGHTS
October 2025 Monthly Wrap Up
I read a lot in October because of a lull in my work schedule. Then November blew up and I forgot to post my monthly wrap up. Here's the list of the 19 books I read last month.
The Luck of the Bodkins by P.G. Wodehouse. Madcap fun on an ocean liner.
Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblewaite by Anthony Trollope. This is the only book I managed to read for Victober 2025 and I admit I was disappointed. I loved the both the Barchester and Palliser series. This is the first stand alone Trollope book I've read. The story was soppy and a real downer. Unlike most of Trollope's female characters, the heroine was a nitwit.
The Light of Day by Graham Swift starts as hardboiled detective fiction and ends as a melancholy love story. It kept me entertained throughout and thinking about it after.
Autumn by Ali Smith annoyed me until I loved it. It took me a while to get into the writing style and the story.
Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark, a brilliant, imaginative tale inspired by the Lord Lucan disappearance. I thought it was excellent.
The Fisher King by Anthony Powell. I’m glad I read it, but probably one for Powell completists like me. It's another shipboard story, so I had a theme going with the Wodehouse book.
Indian Summer by William Dean Howells. I reviewed this one in an earlier post, here. Howells was an American, so technically not a Victorian author, but he wrote in the late 1800s so this was Victober-adjecent.
Slightly Foxed, No. 87, the autumn issue of my favorite literary journal from Foxed Quarterly. I love these essays about backlist books, even though they lead to an ever-longer wishlist and tottering TBR stacks.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Definitely my fave of the month. I got this book years ago, when it first came out, but never read it. I am so glad I did! I don't like scary books, but I enjoy a story like this that is brimming with eery atmosphere and suspense.
From Harvest to Home: Seasonal Activities, Inspired Decor, and Cozy Recipes for Fall by Alicia Tenise Chew put me in an autumnal mood. After reading it, I was so inspired, I made a hydrangea wreath.
The Lonely Girl by Edna O-Brien. This is the second book in O'Brien's Country Girls Trilogy. I liked this one a lot because the two main characters are adults in this one, not children and teen agers like in the first one.
Some Lie and Some Die by Ruth Rendell, book 8 in her Inspector Wexford series. I love this series and plan to continue to plow through it.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore was my book club’s pick for October. Not my favorite, but I don’t like stories about teenagers. And I thought the ending was absurd.
The Shortest Way to Hades by Sarah Caudwell, the second book in her Hilary Tamar series. I read the first book this summer and was excited to find audiobooks of the other three books. Lawyers who drink wine, travel around Europe, and solve mysteries -- and the books are very funny. I love this series and wish there were more than four of them.
The Luck of the Bodkins by P.G. Wodehouse. Madcap fun on an ocean liner.
Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblewaite by Anthony Trollope. This is the only book I managed to read for Victober 2025 and I admit I was disappointed. I loved the both the Barchester and Palliser series. This is the first stand alone Trollope book I've read. The story was soppy and a real downer. Unlike most of Trollope's female characters, the heroine was a nitwit.
The Light of Day by Graham Swift starts as hardboiled detective fiction and ends as a melancholy love story. It kept me entertained throughout and thinking about it after.
Autumn by Ali Smith annoyed me until I loved it. It took me a while to get into the writing style and the story.
Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark, a brilliant, imaginative tale inspired by the Lord Lucan disappearance. I thought it was excellent.
The Fisher King by Anthony Powell. I’m glad I read it, but probably one for Powell completists like me. It's another shipboard story, so I had a theme going with the Wodehouse book.
Indian Summer by William Dean Howells. I reviewed this one in an earlier post, here. Howells was an American, so technically not a Victorian author, but he wrote in the late 1800s so this was Victober-adjecent.
Slightly Foxed, No. 87, the autumn issue of my favorite literary journal from Foxed Quarterly. I love these essays about backlist books, even though they lead to an ever-longer wishlist and tottering TBR stacks.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Definitely my fave of the month. I got this book years ago, when it first came out, but never read it. I am so glad I did! I don't like scary books, but I enjoy a story like this that is brimming with eery atmosphere and suspense.
From Harvest to Home: Seasonal Activities, Inspired Decor, and Cozy Recipes for Fall by Alicia Tenise Chew put me in an autumnal mood. After reading it, I was so inspired, I made a hydrangea wreath.
The Anti-Minimalist House by Massimo Listri. I’m on a quest to read all my coffee table books and I liked the title of this one. It is different than most of my home decor books because the author/photographer is Italian and most of the houses featured were Italian or French. Interesting, but a different look than the English and American house books I am used to. Lots of dark colors, especially dark red, and what I think of as baroque furnishings. Not literally from the Baroque period, but heavy and ornate.
NOT PICTURED
The Lonely Girl by Edna O-Brien. This is the second book in O'Brien's Country Girls Trilogy. I liked this one a lot because the two main characters are adults in this one, not children and teen agers like in the first one.
Some Lie and Some Die by Ruth Rendell, book 8 in her Inspector Wexford series. I love this series and plan to continue to plow through it.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore was my book club’s pick for October. Not my favorite, but I don’t like stories about teenagers. And I thought the ending was absurd.
The Shortest Way to Hades by Sarah Caudwell, the second book in her Hilary Tamar series. I read the first book this summer and was excited to find audiobooks of the other three books. Lawyers who drink wine, travel around Europe, and solve mysteries -- and the books are very funny. I love this series and wish there were more than four of them.
The Sirens Sang of Murder, also by Sarah Caudwell, the third book in the series.
A Grave in the Woods by Martin Walker. His Bruno series is getting on my nerves. This is the 17th book and I am happy there is only one more to go (at least until he writes a new one). I loved this series at first, really loved it. Bruno is a viallage policeman in France who loves to cook. Wonderful! But Walker adds interesting and charming characters in every book then can't let any of them go. Trying to work two dozen or so recurring characters into every story limits the available plots. The books are getting repetitive but this one put me over the edge -- Walker forgot to include a murder mystery! The bodies in the grave in the woods were from WWII and there was no perpetrator to aprehend.
A Grave in the Woods by Martin Walker. His Bruno series is getting on my nerves. This is the 17th book and I am happy there is only one more to go (at least until he writes a new one). I loved this series at first, really loved it. Bruno is a viallage policeman in France who loves to cook. Wonderful! But Walker adds interesting and charming characters in every book then can't let any of them go. Trying to work two dozen or so recurring characters into every story limits the available plots. The books are getting repetitive but this one put me over the edge -- Walker forgot to include a murder mystery! The bodies in the grave in the woods were from WWII and there was no perpetrator to aprehend.
Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz, book three in his Susan Ryeland series featuring a book editor turned amateur sleuth. Unlike the Bruno series, this one is still fresh and lively. I love it.
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