october wrap-up

Welcome to another monthly wrap up here at Stardust and Words! October was extremely busy for me, I visited five different states and bought a ton of books in all of these different independent bookstores, so I was a happy clam. It was also busy school-wise, so I only got to ten books this month, with three reviews posted. Hopefully my reading will pick up in November, because it is less busy and because the holidays are always a time when I end up reading a ton! Hope you all had an amazing October and have an even better November :)

1. More All-Of-A-Kind Family – Sydney Taylor ☆☆☆

In the second book of Sydney Taylor's classic children's series, Ella finds a boyfriend and Henny disagrees with Papa over her curfew. Thus continues the tale of a Jewish family of five sisters-Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie-and little brother, Charlie, living at the turn of the century in New York's Lower East Side. Entertaining and educational, this book brings to life the joys and fears of that time and place.








 

2. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott (reread) ☆☆☆☆☆

Following the lives of four sisters on a journey out of adolescence, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women explores the difficulties associated with gender roles in a Post-Civil War America.

3. Happy Endings Are All Alike – Sandra Scoppettone ☆☆☆

In 1978 Sandra Scoppettone, who would soon become a well-known mystery writer, published the story of Peggy and Jaret, two high school girls madly in love but find themselves the target of a violent plot to punish them for who they are. Part mystery thriller, part love story, Happy Endings Are All Alike was only the third young adult novel featuring lesbian characters and was a commercial and critical sensation. 

4. When the Moon Was Ours – Anna-Marie McLemore ☆☆☆☆

When the Moon Was Ours follows two characters through a story that has multicultural elements and magical realism, but also has central LGBT themes—a transgender boy, the best friend he’s falling in love with, and both of them deciding how they want to define themselves.

To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist, and rumors say that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees, and for how little anyone knows about his life before he and his mother moved to town.

But as odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. And they’re willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up. 

5. Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) – Leigh Bardugo (reread) ☆☆☆☆☆ 


Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge
A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager
A runaway with a privileged past
A spy known as the Wraith
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz's crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.

6. Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) – Leigh Bardugo ☆☆☆☆☆

 Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and left crippled by the kidnapping of a valuable team member, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of magic in the Grisha world.

7. Iron Cast – Destiny Soria ☆☆☆(1/2)

It’s Boston, 1919, and the Cast Iron club is packed. On stage, hemopaths—whose "afflicted" blood gives them the ability to create illusions through art—captivate their audience. Corinne and Ada have been best friends ever since infamous gangster Johnny Dervish recruited them into his circle. By night they perform for Johnny’s crowds, and by day they con Boston’s elite. When a job goes wrong and Ada is imprisoned, they realize how precarious their position is. After she escapes, two of the Cast Iron’s hires are shot, and Johnny disappears. With the law closing in, Corinne and Ada are forced to hunt for answers, even as betrayal faces them at every turn.

8. Me and Fat Glenda – Lila Perl ☆☆ 

She's fat. She's loud-mouthed. She's pushy. She's opinionated. She's prejudiced. She has a "creative" way with the truth. She is madly in love with your sixteen-year-old brother. All the other kids in seventh-grade hate her and she hates them. Her mother has a petition going to try to force your family out of the neighborhood. . . . And she's your best friend! There's no one like Fat Glenda. In Lila Perl's 1972 comedy, while Sara has to cope with her family's unorthodox ways and the town's prejudice against them, it's her new friend Glenda who Sara has to really watch out for. For Glenda has a secret, and everyone in town knows it . . . but Sara!

9. Milk and Honey – Rupi Kaur ☆☆☆☆☆

milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. It is about the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose, deals with a different pain, heals a different heartache. milk and honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look

10. Taking Terri Mueller– Norma Fox Mazer ☆☆☆

For as long as I can remember, It's just been Daddy and me. I can't remember my mother. I was told she died in an accident when I was four, and that's all I know about her. I don't understand why there isn't even a picture of her. The other thing I don't understand is why we're always moving -- different towns -- with no explanations. I know something is wrong. It begins with my birth certificate-- my only link to my mother.
Then I overhear a conversation: "Tell Terri the truth."








what did y'all read in October?

xx
Caroline