October Wrap-Up

Hello Everyone,

and welcome to my October wrap up! It was a good reading month, and between reading things both for school and for fun, I read a total of 9 books. Some of these were great, some a little less great, but without further ado, here are the things I read in October. As per usual, they are in the chronological order I read them.

• Mistborn: The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson. I finally gave in and decided to dive in this world. The Mistborn Trilogy is one of the most famous adult high fantasy series and for a good reason. Sanderson is a master at world building and characterization, and I throughly enjoyed this first installment. It wrenched my heart, and I could not wait to read the second one. 5/5 stars no doubt.
• La Storia, by Jerre Mangione and Ben Morreale. This is a non-fiction survey of the Italian American Experience, from before the great migration of the 1880s. This book was well written even though a bit repetitive, and it gave a good overview of both the history and the culture surrounding the Italian American community in the US. I gave it 3/5 stars.
• Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs. I finally read this, and it did not disappoint. I enjoyed this YA book, and I am planning on picking up the sequel in the future. I felt that there was not a well developed characterization of the people featured in the story, however, I heard it gets better! I gave it 3.5/5 stars.
• Rosa: The Life of an Italian Immigrant, by Marie Hall. This book is the biography of a woman, from her childhood in Italy until she dies in Chicago after migrating in the country. This was a heart-wrenching tale of hardships and hope, and I wold advise anyone to read it. I gave it 4/5 stars.
• Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire. I was so excited to pick this one up, because it had been in my TBR since it came out. However, unfortunately I was disappointed, and I think the reason why was the length. This is a short book, and for the topic it explores, I felt like it was a bit superficial. I did really enjoy the writing though. I gave it 2.5/5 stars.
• The Well of Ascension, by Brandon Sanderson. This is the second installment in the Mistborn Trilogy. There is not much to say, except that I loved it. 5/5 stars.
• Goblin Market, by Christina Rossetti. I loved this poem. Other than the fact that Christina Rossetti in an extremely intriguing figure, her writing and ideas were revolutionary for the Victorian period she lived in. This poem talks about desire and the role of women in society, and it was extremely fascinating. Definitely 5/5 stars, and I am excited to read more by her.
• A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray. I had such high expectations for this one, and unfortunately I did not like it. The narration was superficial, the characters were really unlikeable, the historical setting and the language were not accurate to the time period. I might be over-critical about this because I am a sucker for anything Victorian, however this was not that good. 1.5/stars.
• Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition, by Norman Itzkowitz. And finally, another non-fiction read. This text was a very good overview of Ottoman history, it was precise but not overly-conceptual. It was a good read for anyone interested to know more about the history of one of the biggest empires ever existed. 3.5/5 stars.

These are all the books that I read in the month of October. Please let me know if you have read any of these, and comment down below, so we can discuss it. As usual, any reviews that I have done are going to be linked to the title. Thank you for reading!

Until next time,

Keky