Almost every scenario I can think of that signifies the word lush has books in it somewhere. Either I’m sipping a coffee and reading a book or packing books to take with me on a trip or traveling specifically to one place just so that I can go to a particular bookstore. Or simply carrying a book around with me just in case I get a free moment to tuck into it. As detailed in last year’s 31 Days series, a life without the joy of reading is really no life at all to me.
Here’s what I am planning for my lush reading life to look like this month.
Book Clubs
I’m talking about books with a lot of people in October (I mean, even more than usual). This month’s list includes my usual 6-7 selections plus some extras because Martha Wells is going to be in town at Patchouli Joe’s mid-month, and also there’s a discussion group about one of last month’s (month before?) book club reads at the same bookshop the next night, so I want to finish it and the next 2-4 (they’re pretty short) in the Murderbot series. I’m also reading a book with our Neurodiversity Professional Network at work. Plus, two different book discussion groups through the public library (my usual one and then another new one that meets at local bars) are talking about psychological thrillers/mysteries this month, and I couldn’t decide which book I wanted to read, so I narrowed it down to two.
- The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
- The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
- The Neurodiverse Workplace by Victoria Honeybourne
- Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
- Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
- The Guest List by Lucy Foley
- Exit Strategy, Home, Network Effect, and Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
- The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
- Lute by Jennifer Thorne
- When Life Gives You Vampires by Gloria Duke
- Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi
Reading Challenges
The list above is enough to keep me busy, but I’m still intent on finishing most of my reading challenge books this year (stay tuned for more about this later in the month), and there’s Dewey’s readathon coming up later this month, so I’m not daunted by a long reading list for October.
- POPSUGAR – The way I decided which two thrillers to read for the library discussions was that they both meet certain prompts for this challenge. Strangers on a Train (sorta) meets the prompt of a train, plane, or cruise ship setting, and The Guest List features a party (i.e., a wedding).
- Book Riot’s Read Harder – a horror novel by a BIPOC author – The Good House by Tananarive Due, and those from last month that I haven’t quite finished yet.
- GirlXOXO – The keyword I chose is “witch” – A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.
- The 52 Book Club – Finally finishing up the book that’s been on my TBR the longest – The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I’m also getting really close to finishing this particular challenge, so that’s exciting.
Just Because
I got excited about these and can’t wait to read them…so I’m not gonna.
- Unwind by Neal Shusterman
- Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
What are you reading this month?
M. Suzanne Terry 
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