October was a complete disaster on the blog. Even though I posted my usual two posts per week, I really felt like I was on some sort of hiatus, doing the bare minimum. Somehow, I just didn’t find the time to read anything until the very end of the month (currently, I’m knee-deep into Babel and The Atlas Paradox and loving it!). So, here’s what I ended up finishing:

• Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (4 stars)
  This is the third installment in the Murderbot Diaries and while it wasn’t my favorite, the series is still excellent. I hope you won’t mind that I wait to review the books until I finish the series (up to the book it is out right now) and am able to do it in one go.
• LVOE: Poems, Epigrams & Aphorisms by Atticus (4 stars)
  I first encountered poetry by Atticus while I was in Canada and I still enjoy it. It’s not always as deep as others, but it leaves me with a nice and warm feeling.

As per usual, click on the covers to get re-directed to Goodreads, where you are always welcome to add me as a reading buddy! OR find me on Storygraph, where I have become more active this year. My own reviews you’re able to find by clicking on the titles in the list above, if there are posts for them.

I had built up quite a comfortable buffer for my reading challenges, which has gone entirely to waste these past two months. I’m still sort of on track with the number of books, but I highly doubt I will reach my (for me, quite ambitious) page count goal. Even with Babel and The Atlas Paradox, it’s a stretch.

 

October was once again a very busy month. We had presidential elections in my country, loads of my friends and family members had their birthdays and name days (yes, we “celebrate” those too) and in general, I feel like there was just always something going on. I’ve thought about this just recently, but I can’t even recall the last time I was bored. It legit doesn’t happen to me anymore. Once again, I’m sticking to the format of dividing up the month into segments and telling you about them separately.

Writing My Fantasy Novel

I have made ZERO progress. I’m not even sure I opened the document during October, if I’m being completely honest. It’s not that I lost interest in it, I just feel like I’m more in a reading rather than writing mood at the moment. However, having said that, it is NaNoWriMo. I have no intention of rushing through the novel, but maybe it will help me just work on it on a daily basis? That would be nice. But we all know I have the worst track record with sticking to NaNoWriMo …

I Still Have the Same Favorite Poet

Last month, I heavily teased that I fell in love with the writing of a certain poet, who kept his work out of the public eye. Funny story, the person is actually a former boxer now actor and while his Instagram is still private, he has decided to share some of his work on TikTok. Now, I quite enjoyed having his words all to myself (this is an exaggeration, he did share it with several hundred people before as well), but if you are curious and want to check out Kieron Moore’s poetry for yourself, you can do so here.

I Played Foretales

One of my favorite voice actors I share a birthday with (serious shout out to the legend that is Travis Willingham) promoted the latest game he did voice work for and I immediately wanted to check it out. I don’t have a proper gaming set up, I only have my laptop, that’s not really made for a lot of processing work. Regardless, Foretales is a really cool story-driven RPG card game. I enjoy games where my decisions have an impact on the story and certain paths are blocked or opened, depending on what I did prior. I have to admit that I sometimes got stuck on really silly things and was frustrated when I had to redo chapters, but overall, it was a lot of fun. You can find more info on it on Steam here.

My Weightloss Journey Continues

Again, feel free to skip this portion of the wrap-up. I know it’s a difficult topic for many and I get it, put yourself first!

As I keep at my regular cardio workouts and still haven’t gone on a diet – on the contrary, I think I’m eating more now than ever before and I notice it in my budget – I continue to slowly but steadily loose weight. The most important thing to me is that what I do remains something that is sustainable. There’s no use in starving yourself or overworking, just to go back to “normal” and reversing all that progress. I feel like what I’m doing does push me to go out more and definitely exercise and move more than I did previously, but I found the joy in moving and therefore it’s not so much of a chore, but rather something I feel incomplete without.

I’ve upped my workout time and often end up doing 30 to 45 minutes a day, but sometimes, when I just don’t feel like it, I end up only doing something for 10 to 20 minutes and that’s still enough. So, I’ve lost another 3 kg/6.6 lbs since the last wrap-up, which makes me feel confident that I can reach my desired goal by my 30th birthday.

Here’s the latest workout video I’ve been coming back to, especially with Taylor Swift’s release of Midnights:

This Spooky Season offered great Spooky TV!

There were so many great seasonal shows this last month! I loved the latest adaptations of Vampire Academy and Interview with the Vampire. Two very different shows, but both offering me everything I wanted from them. However, there is another adaptation that I feel got completely lost in the sheer amount of content that is being released as of late – The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself! The show is based on the book Half Bad by Sally Green, which I’ve read eons ago and can’t remember in detail, but still recognized in the show. It was fantastically paced, had super interesting character dynamics and would have been a perfect Halloween watch. I don’t see a lot of people talking about it, but I really wish more would watch it. It has some seriously f- up stuff happen it, but I would love to see what they do with another season.

MOST POPULAR POSTS OF OCTOBER 2022

I’ll never know how to express my utter love for everyone who keeps visiting this corner of the interwebs, even when I barely post any new content. I genuinely adore you! Here are the most popular posts of October.

1. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (Book Review)
   (originally posted in December 2020)
   No surprise there, right?
2. Should YOU Read “The Atlas Six”? (What I learned from my reread!)
   (originally posted March 2022)
   This actually makes a lot of sense, if you think about it being the release month for the sequel. I’m glad people find this post helpful!
3. Something Different: Duskwood (Game Review)
   (originally posted June 2020)
   No clue what sparked the resurgence of this post.
4. Are Chris Evans and I compatible (readers)?
   (originally posted July 2021)
   Yeah, why not? He’s always interesting I suppose.
5. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (Book Review)
   (originally posted October 2016)
   So, clearly I read this book way before it become a TikTok sensation and when I, myself, was still much younger. It’s the only Hoover book I’ve ever read and while I apparently enjoyed it back then, I’m not sure, I would still like it as much now? It’s wild to me that a post from 6 years ago is getting that much traffic.

ELSEWHERE ON THE BLOGOSPHERE

This is only a fraction of all the great content that my fellow bloggers put out into the blogosphere in October. Still, I hope you’ll give them a visit and share the love!

• Sophie read hyped dark academia books and gave us her thoughts on them, which is just right up my alley.
• Caro offered some great recommendations for what media you can consume during the spooky season.
• Marie celebrated her birthday and had a beautifully personal recap of the past year.

MY OTHER POSTS

TV SHOW/MOVIE RELATED

• Kat’s Weekly TV & Movie Recap #38
• Kat’s Weekly TV & Movie Recap #39
• Kat’s Weekly TV & Movie Recap #40
• Kat’s Weekly TV & Movie Recap #41

TRAILER POSTS

• Oct 3-9
• Oct 10-16
• Oct 17-23
• Oct 24-30

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I hope you had a wonderful spooky season and are now enjoying your November! Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? Any particular reading plans or otherwise? Let’s chat!