October was a busy month, which means it was a slow reading month. I only read six books in October, but I loved half of them.
I gave two non-fiction books and one fiction book perfect grades in October.
Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow was my favorite fiction book of October.
The book is about Charlie Davis, a 17-year-old girl who started cutting and other reckless behaviors after her father died.
When Charlie is released from an institution, she is once again homeless and must figure out how to create a life for herself without falling back into the dark place where she was before.
My two favorite non-fiction books were Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist and The Corpse Had a Familiar Face by Edna Buchanan.
While Present Over Perfect is written through a spiritual lens, it’s a book almost every woman can related to, regardless of her spirituality.
The book’s foundation is to live a meaningful life with real connections instead of trying to do everything and be everything to everyone.
The story is told through Niequist’s own life experience of realizing that it was time to stop pushing herself so hard and focus on what was really important.
I almost feel like I’m cheating by including The Corpse Had a Familiar Face on this list because I didn’t read it originally this month. I actually read the book years ago and loved it. It’s on this list because I reread it in October with students in my victims in media course.
The Corpse Had a Familiar Face is former crime reporter Buchanan’s story of covering more than 5,000 deaths for The Miami Herald.
Buchanan was one of the first female crime reporters in the late ’70s. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986 and left reporting full-time in 1988 to become a novelist.
Despite the age of the crimes described in Buchanan’s book, I still love it. My students enjoyed reading it too. You know you’ve picked a good book when the students express sadness that they’re done reading it.
These were my favorite books of October. I’m looking forward to the cooler months to cuddle up on the sofa with a cup of hot tea and a good book.
As always, happy reading!
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