October 2010 Reading Wrap-Up

I truly can’t believe that October has ended and we’re almost in the long, cold, dark stretch of winter.  About the only thing winter is good for is reading – as well as my birthday, but I’m sure I won’t like that any more either soon! – and I have a lot of that lined up this winter.  Unread book numbers have been pretty constant since July, which isn’t terrible but isn’t great either.  I doubt I’ll make a dent in them this winter with the holiday season coming around, but I can dream, can’t I?

I read 19 books, which is a bit less than normal, but still an entirely satisfying month.  Here’s the breakdown:

Non-fiction

• Red Azalea, Anchee Min
• Chinese Whispers, Jan Wong
• The Lost City of Z, David Grann
• Neither Here Nor There, Bill Bryson
• A Voice from Old New York, Louis Auchincloss
• Sex on Six Legs, Marlene Zuk
• Cod, Mark Kurlansky
• The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion

Historical Fiction

• The Auschwitz Violin, Maria Angels Anglada
• The Gendarme, Mark T. Mustian
• Mistress of the Art of Death, Ariana Franklin
• The Wrong Blood, Manuel de Lope

Historical Romance

• Breathless, Anne Stuart

Literary Fiction

• The Passport, Herta Muller

Contemporary Fiction

• A Long Way Down, Nick Hornby

Fantasy

• Of Saints and Shadows, Christopher Golden
• Spirit Bound, Richelle Mead (YA)
• Angel Souls and Devil Hearts, Christopher Golden
• The Demon’s Lexicon, Sarah Rees Brennan (YA)

This may be the first month ever where my largest category of reading was non-fiction.  I think I like it!  I felt like I was learning a lot this month, and while it may have meant I read less fiction, I really found myself craving facts and history.  There are also a few memoirs in there, which I found quite interesting as well.

The clear favorite for fiction for this month is Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin – I still haven’t got my hands on the sequel, but it’s sitting in the library reservation basket and I’m just waiting for it to come in so I can get to it right away.

How was your October reading?  Are you looking forward to settling in with a book on the ever-colder November nights?