What Shannon Read: October 2023

Hey, hi, how’s it going? We had a great October and in looking back in my phone photos, I realize it was kind of a whirlwind.

We celebrated my son’s and soon-to-be daughter-in law’s birthdays as well as my niece’s birthday. I hosted a sleepover party for one of my best friends. We carved pumpkins and we hosted our regular crew for Halloween night. All in all, the social scene was jammin’.

Here’s a pic of the crew that went to see the Eras movie together. Special thanks to my amazing sister-in-law who treated!

And the hits keep comin’ with Thanksgiving just around the corner, my birthday party coming up, and Christmas not far behind. Phew.

I’m trying to remember to live it all in the moment, rather than always thinking ahead to the next event.

That’s the brief life update—now on to the books!

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What Shannon Read in October

I read six books in October, but Goodreads says I’m six books behind on achieving my reading goal for the year (which is 75 books). I have decided I do not care and will be reading only as many books as I please. 🙂

Here are some notes:

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

This is a modern classic I’ve been meaning to read, so when my newly formed book club chose it for this month, I dug right in.

In a few words, I’d describe it as engrossing, disturbing, and, OK, moderately hopeful in the end. All in all, this is a classic for a reason. The writing surpassed that of all the books I read this month and the story ripped my heart out and handed it back to me on a post-apocalyptic platter.

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

A serial killer strikes a sorority house in 1970s Tallahassee. Bet you can guess what this one is based on.

Great writing and the story was gory and troubling, as one might expect. But it’s grounded and not sensationalist, which I appreciated. It came across as literary fiction rather than murder porn. Knoll is awesome at creating 70s vibes.

Trouble: A Midlife Reckoning by Claire Dederer

There is a dearth of good memoirs about midlife out there, so I, approaching midlife, read all I can get my hands on. I started my midlife crisis early because I’m a go-getter.

In this memoir, an intelligent woman runs out of energy at midlife and is also exceedingly horny.

I sympathize with the way Dederer compares the midlife experience developmentally to that of a teenager. It’s a thought I’ve had more than once myself. Both teenage girls and midlife women go through a lot of similar stuff—figuring out who you are at a crossroad in life while dealing with physical, emotional, and mental changes that offer both limits and opportunities.

I liked that this memoir just laid out Dederer’s experiences without offering a real resolution to the whole midlife crisis thing. She doesn’t claim to have answers, just tells us how she’s coping. It’s very real in that way because, really, no one has a tidy resolution for the big feelings one deals with in this season of life.

The Girls by Emma Cline

I’m late to the party on this one. It came out to much acclaim several years ago. I was in the mood for some reading about cults, as one sometimes is, and this fit the bill. It’s the story of a young woman who falls in with what is essentially the harem of a minor 60s cult leader.

Excellent 60s vibes. I felt like I was reading in sepia. Weird thing to say, but you know what I mean?

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Cheesily titled self-help, but good science on habit formation and change. I liked the information, but I didn’t like Clear’s tone. He’s maybe a bit pompous? Or something. I just didn’t vibe with the voice at all.

Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft

This was a super fun romp about a lady grifter, Bea, whose mother taught her how to be a con artist. She pretends to be someone she’s not and traps herself a rich man and marries him.

Meanwhile, she battles with a formidable nemesis, the man’s childhood best friend who is determined to expose and destroy our lady grifter.

I rooted for the con-woman protagonist the entire time and was pleasantly surprised by the wham-bang ending after which Bea very much deserves the description “stone cold fox.” Much fun was had by me.

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That’s it for October! See you again at the end of November. 🙂