October 2020 wrap up
Hello bookworms!! Welcome to the October 2020 wrap-up!!
Yes, I am posting this 2 days before the end of November, because I have been trash this month. Like more so than usual… what the hell is even happening?!
Honestly, I barely even remember what happened last week, let alone a month ago, so be prepared for a wild ride of a post!! I’m pretty sure all I did was watch Julie and the Phantoms twice (yes, the whole season twice), which is why I made a tag this month.
Oh, I had holidays. That’s right. I remember what I did now!! I had three weeks off work in October. We went to visit the parents-in-law when borders opened. Anyway, let’s talk about what I did in October!!
October 2020 wrap up
Surprisingly, October was a pretty good reading month!! This was definitely helped by Graphics-a-thon though, as I managed to get through a few graphic novels – although not enough to complete the challenge.
As I mentioned in my September TBR, I am still doing my N.E.W.T.s (?), in order to support Gintare and all of the amazing work that she put into it. But I’m now spreading it out over the rest of the year because I can. However, I haven’t looked at prompts for this since the start of October… So I’ll have to figure that out as I go… ?
SYMBOLS
Symbol |
Key |
Symbol |
Key |
Symbol |
Key |
| ⚔️ | fantasy | ⛱ | contemporary | ? | sci-fi |
| ? | historical fiction | ❤️ | romance | ? | crime / mystery |
| ? | thriller | ? | classic | ? | dark academia |
| ? | BIPOC author | ? | own voices | ?️? | queer rep |
| ? | mental health rep | ♿️ | disability rep | ? | graphic novel |
| ?♀️ | YA | ? | MG | ?? | NA / Adult |
| ? | physical book | ? | ebook | ? | audiobook |
| ? | DNF | ?♀️ | buddy read | ? | reread |
| ? | Beat the Backlist | ⏰ | ARC / review copy | ? | Aussie author / #loveozya |
| ? | N.E.W.T.s | ? | Graphics-a-thon | ? | friend pick |
Emoji table for reference
Book |
Author |
Series |
Symbols + ? prompt |
Rating |
Cover |
| Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow | Jessica Townsend | Nevermoor #3 | ⚔️ ?/?♀️ ?️? ? ? |
5 |  |
| Smoke and Shadow Vol 1 | Gene Luen Yang | ATLA #4.1 | ⚔️ ?/?♀️ ? ? ? ? |
3 |  |
| Smoke and Shadow Vol 2 | Gene Luen Yang | ATLA #4.2 | ⚔️ ?/?♀️ ? ? ? ? |
3 |  |
| Smoke and Shadow Vol 3 | Gene Luen Yang | ATLA #4.3 | ⚔️ ?/?♀️ ? ? ? ? |
3 |  |
| Princess Princess Ever After | Katie O’Neill | ⚔️ ? ? ? ? ? |
2 |  |
|
| Seven Days | Venio Tachibana | ⛱ ❤️ ?♀️ ?️? ? ? ? ? |
3 |  |
|
| Loud Mouth | Avery Flynn | Ice Knights #3 | ❤️ ?? ? |
3 |  |
| Where I’m Home | Erin Bowlen | Aiofe O’Reilly #2 | ⛱ ❤️ ?? ? |
4 |  |
| Instant Karma | Marissa Meyer | ⛱ ❤️ ?♀️ ? ⏰ |
4 |  |
|
| This Winter | Alice Oseman | Solitaire #0.5 | ⛱ ?♀️ ?️? ? ? ? |
3 |  |
| Fence: Striking Distance | Sarah Rees Brennan | Fence novel #1 | ⛱ ❤️ ?♀️ ?️? ? |
4 |  |
| Fortune and Glory | Janet Evanovich | Stephanie Plum #27 | ? ? ?? ? ⏰ |
4 |  |
Obvious favourite for October was Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend. I never know where Jessica is going to take this series, but it’s so good. I’m honestly just really happy that one of my most anticipated reads for the year lived up to expectations.
General
After working my guts out for most of this year, October was break time!! I remember a vague feeling of being relaxed (long gone now!!). And I pulled apart our pantry and redid it so that I have more shelving space.
The photo on the left is the before shot. You can see that the shelves only go halfway down the wall. The pantry itself is the cupboard under our staircase, and you can walk into it, but the shelves were also only 30cm (12in) deep. The photo on the right is the after shot. I put a mixture of shelving and drawers on the right side, and shelves on the left with a removable set of drawers. This is because there is a manhole on the left for electrical access. We also got an electrician in to put a new powerpoint. The whole pantry is so much more functional now!!
The only other thing we did was go visit my parents-in-law when the borders opened between our states. Because of bushfires from Nov 2019 – Feb 2020, and then COVID from March onwards, they hadn’t seen any family this calendar year. So it was just a really nice few days spent with them. We went for a day trip to the beach, but we just mostly hung out and caught up.
Gaming
In October I played a bit more of The Sims 4. I haven’t played the Star Wars expansion since September though.
I did play more Animal Crossing though (surprise) and even some Stardew Valley again.
Oh yeah, and my friends and I started playing Among Us… which really just means we have more in jokes, spam more memes at each other and generally cause havoc where ever we go.
TV and movies
Things I watched in October were:
- Romance on the Menu
- A Cinderella Story – Christmas Wish ?
- A Girl Like You
- Julie and the Phantoms (season 1) (twice) ?
- Emily in Paris (season 1)
- Little Italy
- Chasing Liberty
- Enola Holmes (rewatch)
- The Boys (season 2)
- Plus One
- The Holidate ?
The slow slide into Christmas movies definitely started in October this year!!
Also, in case you have somehow missed it, I am now fully addicted to Julie and the Phantoms. It’s taking over my life. I watched the full season twice in October and I have no regrets. Expect this to be regularly repeated in the coming months.
Music
Hi, my name is Meeghan, and I’m a Julie and the Phantoms stan. I think I just listened to the soundtrack on repeat all month. This is my life now. And I am Luke’s smile level of happiness about it.
I don’t know that I will ever stop being amazed that I am now hosting Top 5 Tuesday. The October topics were Hallowe’en inspired, and this is what we did:
- Top 5… black and orange books
- Top 5… books with ghosts ?
- Top 5… books with witches
- Top 5… creepy characters
I also finally did my first challenge check-in for the year (hurray!) and I was pretty pleased with the results, especially since I haven’t been looking at prompts at all. Apart from this it was a pretty slow blogging month.
I am pretty caught up on blog-hopping, which is fantastic!! These are some of my fave posts from your blogs in October:
- Paige at Reading Paiges wrote a list of witchy books to get your in the mood for the spooky season
- Kal @ Reader Voracious looked at Storygraph as an alternative to Goodreads
- The Orangutan Librarian also checked out Storygraph, but also compared Bookstooge and Library Thing
- Gorgeous Clo @ Cuppa Clo wrote about quality of blog posts over quantity, AND another post on raising your engagement (Clo is just out here trying to make us better bloggers, and I keep forgetting to post things…)
- Shealea @ Shut Up Shealea gave us a list of Filipino diaspora authors to get behind
- Veronika @ Wordy and Whimsical made a list of amazing friends to lovers trope books
- Emma @ Emma Reads shared some of her favourite happy books
- May @ Forever and Everly wrote a post about how she uses Notion (which is honestly for all of us who like the idea of bullet journalling, but can’t deal with either a physical journal or doing up spreads)
- Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books gave us 10 underrated YA contemporary books
- And The Orangutan Librarian also wrote a really interesting piece on whether or not Book Twitter actually reflects the views of the reading public.
Finally, I want to give a HUGE shoutout to one of my faves, Kat @ Novels and Waffles for making one of my all-time fave TV shows into a list of recommendations. This series made my little heart so happy. There are book lists for waterbenders, earthbenders, firebenders, and finally, airbenders.
How was your October?
16 Comments
Kristina
Ohhh that pantry turned out so good! Happy to hear you had a great vacation; thankfully you had a moment to go see some family before the world broke again. ?
Well, as we’re ending November.. I hope your December will be wonderful my dear!
meeghan
Thanks Kristina!! I hope my reading in December is better too ??
Kristina
OOf same ??
Clo @ Cuppa Clo
Aaaah ilysm thank you for sharing TWO of my posts <3 Honestly I'm writing these posts as a reminder to myself to sksk sometimes we all need that gentle reminder that it's ok to take our time on things and also tips on raising engagement are always welcome I think. Particularly when it comes to seeing how others go about it. Loving the pantry too! It looks so neat and organised *swoons*
meeghan
Hahaha, thanks Clo!! I watched a lot of The Home Edit and got inspired!! ?? I got all new matching containers for my baking stuff and put labels on them and everything!!
Veronika @ Wordy and Whimsical
I really should give Julie and the Phantoms a chance – I’ve seen people hype it up on twitter and now you mention that you saw it twice. It looks like a show that could be a really great comfort watch for me. My favorite in October was The Haunting of Bly Manor – it was so beautiful and I can’t wait to rewatch it. Was Holidate good? I’m planning on watching it sometimes in December. Hope your November is going well, Meeghan! 🙂
meeghan
Veronika, I want you to know that I watched it twice in October and twice in November. I play the soundtrack all the time. Julie and the Phantoms has taken over my life. But also, it’s amazingly and wholesomely adorable. It is the best tv show I will ever recommend. But I’m also going to be devastated if Netflix don’t renew it. ?
meeghan
Oh, and The Holidate was also good, but in a cheesy, cute Christmas movie way. Although I hated the Aussie guy’s accent. It’s so overdone!! Hoping you had a great November too!! ?
mistysbookspace
Love the pantry makeover!! In November I became obsessed with Julie and the Phantoms. I have watched it 3 times within like a 2 week period and I have listened to the entire sound track like a thousand times at this point. Like that show has completely taken over my life at this point pretty much.
meeghan
YES!!!!! Misty, I’m so happy!! I’ve watched it 4 times now and am in the middle of my 5th watch. I’m obsessed. I bought a Sunset Curve tshirt from Red Bubble. It’s all I listen to on Spotify and my YouTube account opens to a bunch of JatP stuff.
Also, I made a tag based on it!! You should totally do it!! I can tag you if you like?! x
mistysbookspace
I’ve watched it 3 times but I’m already wanting to watch it again. My YouTube feed and full of Julie and the Phantoms videos from rehearsals to clips from the show etc. It’s all I’ve been listening to as well. I’m going to have to get me a shirt if my husband will let me lol I’ve bought a lot of stuff already. I will be doing the tag. I have a whole post dedicated to JatP coming in December which will include the tag.
meeghan
YAAAAAY!!! I love how much you love it!! ??
mistysbookspace
I love how much you’re loving it too. You are the only person I’ve seen talking about it.
meeghan
I made a bunch of my friends on Instagram watch it. And I know that DB’s Guide to the Galaxy has seen it because we chatted about it on Twitter. I think we need to just keep screaming about it and others will come out of the woodwork!! Or be encouraged to watch it too!! ??
mistysbookspace
Yeah I’ve been talking about it non stop and don’t see an end to that coming anytime soon lol.
meeghan
This is a valid life decision, and as a fellow JatP stan, I support you in this. ?????