October Reading Recap

A month between posts. That's what this blog has come to.

Oh well. I'm back. I guess. I have things to write about, I was just going through a funk last month. Maybe November will be the month I get back on track. Maybe.

So let's start with a quick recap of what I read last month. Because while I wasn't blogging, I was reading. I finished five books last month that checked in at 3,179 pages. That brings the yearly total to 64 books and 22,765 pages (give or take a few since some books were Kindle titles without page counts).

So what'd I read? Take a look:

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
Allegiant by Veronica Roth

So yeah, a few re-reads last month in preparation for the release of Allegiant.

And now for the brief reviews, complete with number of stars given out on GoodReads. Follow me here if you’d like a more timely update on what I’m reading, what I think and what’s been added to my to-read list.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson ***
I picked this up because I really liked Devil in the White City. This one? It was OK, but not as good in my opinion. It was interesting to read about what was happening in Germany during Hitler's reign from an ambassador's perspective. The first half (the background/ buildup) was slow. The second half was much more interesting.

Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth  both *****
I really liked both of these. Do I need to say more? And like I said, they were re-reads.

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin  ***** 
OK, these books are intimidating mostly due to the number of pages. But they're so, so good. This one started a little slow, but right around the halfway point it picked up speed. Then it was non-stop twists and turns. So many good parts. By far, my favorite of the three books so far. 

Allegiant by Veronica Roth  no rating yet
I finished this a few days ago and I'm still not completely sure what to think. It definitely was the weakest of the three books in this series, in my opinion. The first 75 percent of the book was good, pulled you in. The ending? Well, I kind of knew something like that would happen, but I guess I'm still a bit in shock that the author went about it that way. Read it yourself and tell me what you think.

So 11 books and two months stand between me and my 75-book goal for the year. Good thing I have a stack of books just waiting to be read. What are you all reading?