40. Murder in the Vicarage

By Agatha Christie (305 pp, ebook)

I have never read an Agatha Christie and one of my writing teachers, Connie Willis, said Christie was a good writer to study so I finally read one. I liked the character banter and a story written and set in the early 1900s but I did get a little bit of character fatigue. Especially for such a short book. Also the resolution wasn't that clever but also I'm a person who has watched a zillion hour long mystery type shows. Did love Miss Marple's debut.

39. Boyfriend Material

By Alexis Hall (432 pp)

This is a new-to-me romance writer. I loved Glitterland and this one seems to be a fan favorite so I bought it for myself while doing book xmas shopping. It's fake relationship story with a scruffy guy who hasn't quite figured himself out and a put-together barrister. Fun, easy read for a lazy weekend.

38. The Haunting of Tram Car 015

By P. Djèlí Clark (144 pp, ebook)

Another book that I don't know how I got but fired it up for October. Set in a magical Egypt where a bureaucrat has to deal with possessed public transportation. Fun story. I plan to track down more from this author.

37. The Ruins

By Scott Smith (384 pp. ebook)

I read this years ago when it first came out and grabbed when it was on sale so I could read it again. I remembered it as a horror page-turner which is 100% correct. I didn't quite remember all the body horror - yikes. Another great October creeper. The movie is on HBO but I think I'm too much of a fraidy cat and we don't have enough pillows to hide behind.

36. Forest of the Damned

By Lee Mountford (284 pp ebook)

Another one of those: how did this get on my ereader books? Was it recommended? Was it on sale or freebie and looked interesting? Your guess is as good as mine. But it's October and I wanted horror so I fired it up. It's a creepy Blair Witch in the forest sort of thing o nly with lots of gross, disturbing imagery. Delivers the chills.

35. Puffs or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic

By Matt Cox (132 pp)

This is a play that was recommended by me because I'm trying to adapt a story I wrote into a play and I have a lot to learn. It was helpful for learning and I would probably enjoy seeing it performed.

34. Normal People

By Sally Rooney (270 pp, ebook)

Look at me reading 6 books in one month -- even though one was a play and one was a novella -- still, I feel so accomplished.

I heard about this book because of the tv series and it looked like something I would like but I wanted to read the book first. Wow. At first I was a little put off by the writing style, I'm not sure how to describe it. Dry? Spare? But once I was drawn into the story, I didn't notice it. It's about two young people in Ireland, growing into adulthood and the strong, sometimes unhealthy, bond (obsession?) between them. The characters are so good, their pain and confusion about dealing with life feels real. They are terrible at a communication, however, and at times the dynamic of getting defensive and argumentative over a simple statement was aggravating. (But not unrealistic.)

33. A Psalm for the Wild Built

By Becky Chambers (ebook, 160 pp)

If a book was a hot bowl of soup and a buttered roll on a rainy evening -- this would be it. I have read three other Becky Chambers books that I enjoyed, particularly A Closed and Common Orbit. This one is set in a earth-like world where robots became self-aware and disappeared. Humans have a technolgy free, but peaceful existence. The story is about a person who finds themself unhappy with life and decides to become a tea monk which is like a wandering therapist who visits different villages and makes tea and listens. They head into the wilderness and it is the first meeting between robot and human in ages. They are both delighted. It's super cute.

32. House in the Cerulean Sea

By TJ Klune (ebook, 393 pp)

This came highly recommended and I loved it. It's a kind-of Harry Potter world where magical children are managed by the government in terrible orphanages. The story is about an uptight bureaucrat caseworker who is sent to an island orphanage to sort-out what's going on there. It's very sweet and funny. Perfect reading for a long air flight.

31. Daisy Jones & The Six

By Taylor Jenkins Reid (400 pp, ebook)

I have been wanting to check out this author and a book about a 70s rock band on the rise sounds like a perfect match. Unfortunately, it is told in the style of an oral history which is a format I am not a fan of. Parts of it I liked but at times it dragged for me and I had a really hard time connecting to the characters.

30. The Piano Lesson

By August Wilson (136 pp)

I'm trying to learn about playwriting and Tracy recommended August Wilson for good character banter. This is set in Pittsburgh after the Great Depression and involves a family piano. The brother wants to sell it and use the money to buy the land his slave ancestors worked on. The sister doesn't want to sell the piano because it is an important family heirloom with family faces carved it by their great-grandfather when they were slaves. It is really good.

29. Nightshifted

By Cassie Alexander (365 pp ebook)

I am not the best audience for paranormal/urban fantasy. I want to be but it seems like often it doesn't work for me. This book starts out super fun -- a plucky nurse who works in the secret basement of county hospital tending to vampires and were-creatures and gets sucked into a vampire mystery she needs to solve and crosses paths with shapeshifters and zombies and powerful creature families. I enjoyed reading it but after awhile I had a hard time keeping track of world-building. Would read another in the series.