October 2014 Wrap-Up

October was a very good reading month for me, which i was really happy about because NaNoWriMo is coming (here, as when this is set to go up, which is terrifying to think of). It helped that I really got into comics this month, I've always been interested in comics and I've ready some of them - but this month I found my local comic book shop and ended up going to one in Ithaca and found out Midtown Comics delivers (it's so bad - so bad, I can't buy anything in November, no time because of writing). Anyway - onto the list of things I read!

• The Thing on the Doorstep by H.P. Lovecraft (5/5)
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (4/5)
• The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan (5/5)
• The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus #2) by Rick Riordan (5/5)
• The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan (5/5)
• The Ultimate Guide by Rick Riordan (4/5)
• The Mark of Athena (The Heroes of Olympus #3) by Rick Riordan (5/5)
• The House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus #4) by Rick Riordan (5/5)
• The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus #5) by Rick Riordan (5/5)
• The Arrival by Shaun Tan (5/5)
• East of West, Vol. 1: The Promise by Jonathan Hickman + (5/5)
• East of West, Vol 2: We Are All One by Jonathan Hickman + (5/5)
• East of West, Vol 3: There Is No Us by Jonathan Hickman + (5/5)
• Chew, Vol. 1: Taster's Choice by John Layman (4/5)
• In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang (4/5)
• Ms. Marvel #1: Meta Morphosis by G. Willow Wilson (single issue comic) (4/5)
• Through The Woods by Emily Carroll (4/5)
• The Flash #1 by Francis Manapul (3/5)
• Captain Marvel, Vol 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick (4/5)
• Ms. Marvel, Vol 1 by G. Willow Wilson (4/5)
• Wytches  #1 by Scott Snyder (5/5)
• Wayward #1 & #2 by Jim Zub (4/5 for both)
• Alcatraz and the Scrivener's Bones (Alcatraz #2) by Brandon Sanderson (5/5)
• Fire and Stone: Prometheus #1 & #2 by Paul Tobin (4/5 for both)
• The Wicked and the Divine #1 by Kieron Gillen (5/5)
• Chew, Vol 2: International Flavor by John Layman (4/5)
• Injustice: Gods Among Us #1 by Tom Taylor (2/5)
• Hawkeye #12 by Matt Fraction (5/5)
• The Wicked and the Divine #2 by Kieron Gillen (5/5)
• Old Man's War (Old Man's War #1) by John Scalzi (5/5)
• 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad (2/5)
• Half Bad (The Half Bad Trilogy #1) by Sally Green (2/5)

I couldn't put a finger on my favorite thing I read this month, a lot of things got 5 stars or have just stuck with me. East of West is definitely something that's stuck with me, and I keep thinking about - the art is stunning at points, the quotes between the chapters I loved, and I'm looking forward to what's going to happen next. And the H.P Lovecraft I've been reading (I'm working my way slowly though a book of a bunch of his short Cthulu mythos stories).

Wytches #1 actually gave me a nightmare, which hasn't happened in literally years from a something horror and it kind of made me more impressed with it. Also - Wayward #1 & #2 are visually gorgeous, the colors alone are just so good, and the setting is so interesting. I've always found Japan interesting and I liked that, at the back, there was background stuff which I thought was a really good, fun idea.

Chew is ridiculous and I fucking love it for that. The Wicked and the Divine is gorgeous and so good I could feel myself becoming obsessed as soon as I finished the first issue. The Arrival was such a pretty and strange book. And - The Blood of Olympus, I had my own problems with it, but they were few then some had and I just became obsessed with Solangelo so it didn't even matter, anyway.

Also - I want to mention very quickly Alcatraz and the Scrivener's Bones - this is definitely not a series for everyone, but if you like Sanderson and his sense of humor then you need to check this series out. Ignore it's middle-grade, because middle-grade is fantastic, and just give it a shot. And then Old Man's War by John Scalzi - I keep finding myself loving Scalzi's books and not being even slightly disappointed by them. They're funny, you're never bored, the characters are people you'd want to meet in real life (well, most of them), and I wanted to just push Scalzi. 

Sanderson for fantasy, Scalzi for SciFi - read both of them and most likely you'll be ridiculously happy with your reading choices. 

Overall October was a good reading month not just in quantity, but also quality.  I've been wanting to read some of these comics for months and I'm glad I finally got to them. I have learned, though, I tend to binge read comics instead of just reading them. Which I don't think it's a bad thing, it kept me reading when at some parts I was just so burnt out and in series morning after The Blood of Olympus.

What did you read this month? Have you ready any of these books and what did you think?

October 2014 TBR + Some Questions For You

October - the month of Halloween. Where the weather starts to get chillier (in most northern hemisphere climates) and the leaves start to change color. Bad horror movies on TV, pumpkin favored everything, the month before NaNoWriMo (meaning all the NaNo prep possible), and a 24 hours read-a-thon and a 24 hour stream(s) for charity (Extra Life!). Wow, October is very, very busy when you put it like that.

Also The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan is coming out at the end of the first week of October and there's some other good books that I"m excited for, but mostly that one. I'm planning on rereading the Heroes of Olympus series in time for that one to come out. I'm also planning on posting some horror book recommendations to see how book recommendations go, and if anyone likes them.

I'm not really sure of my TBR, a shocking surprise I know, and I don't tend to stick with them. Though - I do know I'm going to try and read as much as I can, whatever it is, because NaNoWriMo in November tends to eat my reading time (though, this year I think I'm going to make time, since I've been writing quite a bit the whole year).

I do want to read some scary books of my own this month and maybe get some full reviews up. I have a few ideas as to what I might read, but I kind of don't want to share them. I might stop listing random books I could read and, instead, just start talking about what'll be happening in the coming month. So maybe "October TBR" is the wrong title for this post.... Though - Heroes of Olympus series reread, and I want to finish Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, too.

Stuff talked about:
Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon
ExtraLife
NaNoWriMo

Questions:

Would you guys like book recommendations? Either by genre or around a kind of theme (but that'd probably also be genre-d, mmh)?

Would you mind NaNoWriMo related posts?

How do you feel about weekly wrap-ups for 2015? I'd still do a monthly one to wrap everything up, but I would talk about the books I read more frequently.

I also have some other new stuff in mind and such. I've learned I just can't fully review every book I read, only a few do I really have enough to say about them to fully review. 

Do you like my mini review posts? Or would you like me to do slightly longer, but still kind of mini, reviews with the names of the things I'm reviewing in the title?

And that is a lot of questions to answer and I know there's not a lot of you and this is my blog - but I'm curious. It'd be really helpful to me if you'd answer even just a few of them, whatever you feel like you have thoughts/opinions about or the quick yes/no ones.