Read:
The Wainscott Weasel – Tor Seidler (Atheneum Books, 1993)
Life of M – Rachel Cusk (Knopf Canada, 2026) (narrated by the author)
Our Noble Selves – Kate Atkinson (Doubleday Canada, 2026) (narrated by Rupert Penry-Jones)
House of Day, House of Night – Olga Tokarczuk (Riverhead Books, 2025) (translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones)
Exit Party – Emily St. John Mandel (Harper Avenue, 2026)
Bad Friend – Tiffany Watt Smith (Macmillan Audio, 2025) (narrated by the author)
Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov (Vintage International, 1989)
Preaching to the Choir – Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tantor Media, 2026) (narrated by Emma Newman)
Did Not Finish:
Girls with Long Shadows – Tennessee Hill
My Person – Tea Mutonji
The Catch – Yrsa Daley-Ward
I listened to four audiobooks this month but DNFed three. I tried to persevere with Girls with Long Shadows but 30% of the way in it still felt like nothing had happened and after chatting about it with Melanie at Grab the Lapels and reading her review, I felt like I could safely give up.
I gave My Person and The Catch an hour of listening time each and then quit, both in the same day so maybe I was just feeling fussy. I didn’t love the narrator’s voice for My Person but it was the 30-something adult characters drinking too much and doing coke that did it for me. I didn’t like them and I didn’t want to spend time with them. If I had been at that party, I would have left. The Catch simply felt like it was a little too weird for me and maybe at another time, I’ll try it again.
Currently Reading:
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling
Live, Laugh, Love – Kristin Kobes du Mez
End Times Fascism – Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor
White Nights – Urzula Honek
The Pearl Farmers – Stacey Gordon
Thoughts:
I have reviews coming in the next couple of weeks for Preaching to the Choir, Exit Party, and Bad Friend, all of which I enjoyed but didn’t absolutely love. Our Noble Selves was probably the hit of the month for me (and the narrator was excellent) but I also don’t feel like I have a lot to say about it. I struggled with Pale Fire and am still thinking about it. I might try to do a post again on the books this month that I won’t fully review – is that interesting to anyone?
What’s Next:
This month turned out to be mostly audiobooks, library books, and e-books, so I haven’t made much of a dent on my physical TBR. I do have more e-ARCs I need to make sure I read but I also hope to strike off more titles that have been on my TBR for far too long. I had a box in storage while we were trying to sell our house this summer and now that it’s come back, I really need to read through and decide what I actually want to keep!
2026 Reading Goals:
98/100 books (8 in October)
Translated Works: 11/12 (House of Day, House of Night from Polish in October)
Pre-2025 TBR: 12/25 (none in October)
Goliaths: 8/6 (none in October)
Owned: 23/25 (none in October)
Current TBR: 192 (previously 195)
