October was another busy month, although I did at least manage to post on my blog a little. I had a long weekend in Ilkley for a literature festival and you can see my write up of the events I attended here. It was a great weekend away, and if it was a little chilly, I did manage to see the Northern Lights one evening – somewhat unexpected for Yorkshire. I’ll be honest – it wasn’t quite as vivid as this image suggests, but was visible to the naked eye.
I spent the end of the month in France. My other half drove, and we nipped over the border into Belgium to visit a brewery, before heading down to Chantilly which we used as a base to take a day trip into Paris where I finally got to visit Shakespeare and Company! We also did a lunch cruise on the Seine, which was excellent. From there, it was south to Fontainebleau for my other half to do some bouldering while I enjoyed the fresh air and read a book or two.
I managed to do some reading amongst all that, and even posted a couple of reviews. As ever, I’ll try to do better in November, but it’s another busy month…
Read in October:
- Black Summer by M. W. Craven
- The Curator by M. W. Craven
- Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff
- Saltblood by Francecsa de Tores
- We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
- Medea by Rosie Hewlett
- The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre
My favourite books of the month
Other Blog Posts
I also shared my Spell the Month in Books post for October.
Books acquired
By book haul for the month, including a lovely French edition of Le Petit Prince.
And that’s my bookish month! I hope you had a good one, and that next month is even better! Happy reading! 🥰
Jo's Book Blog 
Aw, Le Petit Prince. The nostalgia. Do you read/speak French?
I can see why you put yourself on a book buying ban for the month 😂.
I’ve never actually read it before, in any language! 😂
I did French at school (quite some time ago now!) and I’ve been learning through Duolingo for the (almost) two years. I definitely read it better than I speak it, and my hope is that while I might not understand every single word, I’ll understand enough to get the gist of it, and I can then look up the bits I don’t understand. I’ll save it for Christmas though I think – I’m not sure t’s one for my commute to work!
Yes, well – imagine what would have happened if I didn’t! 🤣
Hi Duolingo buddy! I’ve been studying Italian on that thing for … three years now, I think. I haven’t yet made the plunge into buying books in Italian to read though. I should.
🤟🏻 (I can’t find a high five emoji, so I’ll give you a rock on instead!) I’m quite excited by this project, although that’s before I’ve started reading it! But I’m hoping that by starting with something relatively basic I can perhaps work my way up to more advanced novels. Not a short term goal by any means, but maybe one day.
Sounds like you had fantastic month Jo, and saw the Northern Lights! x
Thanks, Nicki – it was great. And yes – unexpected, but amazing! x
The crackd mirror was so good!
Isn’t it though? I loved it!
That was a lovely month Jo, and you saw the Northern Lights! I’m still desperate to see them.
Thanks, Jill – it’s been a great month. And yes – I went to Iceland in January, but it was too cloudy for the Northern Lights, and it turns out that all I really needed was a trip to Yorkshire! 🤷🏻♀️
You can’t go wrong with Yorkshire ( not that I’m biased) xx
Looks like you had busy but fantastic month. I want to see northern lights once in my life. Hopefully we can plan trip next year. Wish you a great November.
Thank you, Yesha – it was definitely busy, but in the best possible way.