What I’ve been up to in October 🎃 Visiting Japan for the first time!

Hello fellow bookworms 🎃 Happy Halloween!! October felt so far away and it’s surreal that the month is already over now! I was in Japan until the 15th and this made October the best month of the year so far 🥺 I really needed this break after the frustrations with my Master’s thesis this past year and I’m SO sad that the holiday is already over now 😭 I desperately need to visit Japan again, as I loved it so much and there’s still a lot to see!

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🔁 = Reread 💌 = Library Books ⌛ = Digital Arc

📚 = #ProjectBacklist 📖 = #DevourYourTBR 😊 = Buddy Read & Book Club

I read 20 books in October! That’s a bit surprising, given that I was on holiday for a large chunk of the month, but I also read 14 Mangas! I’ve read and enjoyed Manga before but after visiting Japan my love has only increased 🥺 I read the first 13 volumes of Komi Can’t Communicate because I loved the Netflix Anime adaptation and the Manga is just as amazing! I definitely want to catch up with this series by the end of the year. I also continued reading One Piece and I’m watching the Anime at the same time (there’s so much content to consume 😂) 💗 In the end, I did manage to include some spooky books after all, even though I didn’t read as many as I would have liked to – there simply wasn’t enough time!

I read 6 books out of my comfort zone this month! Despite being on holiday I managed to read a couple of Horror books (though My Roommate Is a Vampire is an Adult Paranormal Romance) 👻 I finally read Dead Silence and I loved it!! So creepy 😱

• Dead Silence (S.A. Barnes) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖
• The Haunting of Maddy Clare (Simone St. James) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚📖
• My Roommate Is a Vampire (Jenna Levine) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖🎧

• Your Lonely Nights Are Over (Adam Sass) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌📖
• Night of the Living Queers (edited by Shelly Page & Alex Brown) ⭐⭐⭐.5 💌📖
• Silver Nitrate (Silvia Moreno-Garcia) ⭐⭐ 💌📖🎧

1. One Piece Vol 3. (Eiichiro Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

2. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 1. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

3. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 2. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

 

4. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 3. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

5. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 4. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

6. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 5. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

7. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 6. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

8. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 7. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

9. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 8. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

10. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 9. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

11. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 10. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

12. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 11. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

13. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 12. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

14. Komi Can’t Communicate Vol 13. (Tomohito Oda) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

15. Dead Silence (S.A. Barnes) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖

16. The Haunting of Maddy Clare (Simone St. James) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚📖

17. My Roommate Is a Vampire (Jenna Levine) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖🎧

18. Your Lonely Nights Are Over (Adam Sass) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌📖

19. Night of the Living Queers (edited by Shelly Page & Alex Brown) ⭐⭐⭐.5 💌📖

20. Silver Nitrate (Silvia Moreno-Garcia) ⭐⭐ 💌📖🎧

Favorite Books 💕

👻Spooky 👻 Book Recommendations ~ Mysteries & Witchy Stories ~ Review: System Collapse by Martha Wells 👀 Murderbot’s having a mental breakdown and so am I

Spooky & Mysterious Shows to Watch this Autumn 👻🍂

For this section I’m sharing my Favorite Blog Posts of the Month 💗

• What is your Dream Bookstore? {Blog Discussion} (24hryabookblog)
• Mid-Year Book Freak Out 2023 | Better late than never, right? (Abi @ Scribbles and Stories)
• October Fright: Favorite Horror Books Read in 2023 & Talk Chisme to Me + October Fright: 2023 Releases by Latine Authors Perfect for the Horror Season (Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense)
• 2023 Reading Goals: 3rd Quarter Check-in! (Destiny @ howlinglibraries)
• Trick or Treat Round the Block Book Tag & #TopTenTuesday: 23for23 Recommendations (Dini @ dinipandareads)
• An Invitation to Blue Sky (Twitter Alternative) (Jenna @ Falling Letters)
• 5 Books with Unusual Formats for a Unique Reading Experience (Lay @ bookshelfsoliloquies)
• Blind Date with a YA Book: Fall Edition 🍂 (Marie @ drizzleandhurricanebooks)
• Top 5 books with pumpkins (Meeghan @ meeghanreads)
• The End of the Year Book Tag (Morgan @ morganisreadingagain)
• The Third Quarterly Wrap-Up | (probably) my favourite book of the year & The Best Fantasy Audiobooks (and ways to get access to them) (Sophie @ Me & Ink)
• 7 Middle Grade Halloween Books Recommendation 👻🎃 (Tasya @ theliteraryhuntress)

I visited Japan for the first time! 🏯 I was super nervous about flying solo and finding nice people in the travel group, but I got lucky! The group was pretty small (around 15 people) and everyone was very nice, including our tour guide who did his best to make it an unforgettable experience. I mainly hung out with a woman I’d spoken to before on WhatsApp – she’s around my mother’s age and liked Anime/Manga! I really got on well with and and her best friend, who was also travelling with us 🥺 I’ll make a separate post about my Japan visit as there is so much to tell, but suffice to say I loved it 💗 Japan is such a beautiful country and I loved what I saw so far. I didn’t want to leave, as the 10 days flew by way too fast and I was the happiest I’ve been in a very long time 😭 I was proud of myself that I managed to go through with this despite my anxiety and now I really want to travel more in the future! I was never brave enough, because I didn’t want to go alone, but joining an organized group tour is a good way to travel without being completely alone. Idk if I’ll have such good luck with the group again, but it was so important for me to know that I can do it! 🥺

In the very of the month I got the grade for my thesis. I have to admit that I’m not happy with my grade as it doesn’t reflect the amount of work and time I put into it at all. It’s my worst grade and I’m mostly angry at my supervisor for making my thesis so difficult. I definitely know the weakpoints of my thesis and part of me wasn’t surprised of the grade at all, but it still felt unfair. I don’t know what I could have done to improve my grade, I literally did everything I could to make it good. Despite my anger, I’m mainly just happy that I’m finally done with my horrible supervisor and have my degree!

🎃 What I Watched in October 🎃

I barely watched anything because I was pretty busy, but I managed to finish the last season of Sex Education with my friend! I also rewatched my favorite Halloween movie 💗

• Sex Education (S4)
• The Nightmare Before Christmas (Movie) 🔁
• Currently Watching 📺 One Piece (S1), The Fall of the House of Usher (S1)

It’s November and I’m starting to get nervous 😱 How is the year almost over?? It felt like we just started 2023 and now I have to prepare for the end of the year already! Historically November has been my worst month of the year for some reason (why is it cursed??), but I really hope it won’t be as bad this year! Mainly because I have to start job hunting and the whole process is kicking my anxiety into overdrive 🙈 I don’t know how fast I’ll find something and when I do, I’ll have to find a new apartment and move all my things again! The ending of this year is going to be busy 😱  Luckily, I have the #ClearUrSht 4.0 Readathon to look forward to! It runs until the end of the year and is all about tackling your unread owned books 📚 My TBR will be coming next week 🥰

📚 #DevourYourTBR 📚

“Remember November is all about reading books you didn’t get to from your previous 2023 TBRs. This might be something you had on a readathon TBR earlier in the year, or a book you were so excited to purchase but then it sat collecting dust on your shelf.”

© DevourYourTBR

🍂 November TBR 🍂

One of my resolutions for 2023 is to start the month with a TBR of no more than 6 books! 📖 I’m going to read more than the books listed below, but I really needed to get rid of my overambitious TBRs!

 

• Thirteen Storeys (Jonathan Sims) 📚📖💗 (from my October TBR)
• The Library of Shadows (Rachel Moore) 💌📖 (Discord Book Club Pick from October)
• The Whispering Dark (Kelly Andrew) 📚📖 (Discord Book Club Pick for November)

• The Last Time I Lied (Riley Sager) 💌📖💗
• Home Before Dark (Riley Sager) 📚📖💗
• I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me (Jamison Shea) 💌📖💗🎧

What were you up to in October? Did you read any spooky books? Where would you like to travel? I hope you’re doing well! 🎃