I read seven books in October and really enjoyed all of them. It was a good reading month.

1.

I mostly read this in September but the last two chapters carried over into October. I learned a few things from this book, but most of it I either already knew or will never understand. Still you have to love his almost-cocky writing style. The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.

2.

Originally written in Swedish, this book is huge, and slooow, and I almost quit. Halfway through, I kept thinking I couldn't do this anymore. And my gosh am I glad I didn't quit. This is a GOOD book. It's a character book. And the book develops them with so much detail, by the end you either hate them or adore them and they're explodingly real.

3.

There are two Evan Hansen books. One is the musical script, and the other is a novelization. I wanted the script, but accidentally ended up with the novel. I actually enjoyed it.

At first, it felt weird and clunky. Like in the part where Evan and Jared write the emails, it took the exact words from "Sincerely, Me" but rearranged them so they didn't rhyme. It was awkward. However, I ultimately found it to be good and enjoyable. I had listened to some, but not all, of the DEH soundtrack, and not in order, so I had just the basics of the storyline, but now that I've read this book I can listen to any song out of context and know what's going on.

4.

I knew I would love this book. I was so supremely confident that I would love this book, I ordered it from ThriftBooks instead of trying to get the city library to call it in. IT WAS SO WORTH THE MONEY. I freaking adored this book and I'm so glad it's on my shelf for rereads. I love child perspectives written for adults and this one was especially good. This was the stream-of-consciousness of a 9-year-old girl. Fantastic.

5.

Yes, I read it on Wattpad exactly two years ago, and no, I barely remembered anything about it. I seriously adored getting to read it in book form and spend two satisfying evenings revisiting these people who have my heart. I can't wait for more.

6.

I got this book because I was curious about Indian reservations and MY GOSH IT'S SO GOOD. I had to read a bunch of Sherman Alexie's short stories for school and I hated them so I had no positive opinion of Sherman Alexie but with this semi-autobiographical novel I think I fell in love with him. I'm kind of incoherent about this book still. It is eye-opening and hysterical and important.

7.

This is published internationally as Don't Tell the Enemy and is a new U.S. release through Scholastic. It was my only Kid Lit Exchange book of the month. When I saw it, I thought, "Great, more kids unrealistically saving the day." And it was nothing like that. It was real, gritty, and depressing. I swear the ending felt like Mockingjay. You gotta hand it to the author for doing that in 200 middle-grade pages, while making it both believable and informative.

That concludes October and I'm looking forward to the books waiting for me in November. I'm going to the beach this month which means no NaNo writing for a few days, but a lot of reading in the car.