October and November Books

I think I gave up on the year about a month ago for all intents and purposes. Especially concerning reading. Here's my last book post from September. Honest to goodness, I feel like I could finish the year strong if some of my library holds would come in!

October and November were not stellar reading months. I DNF'd probably a dozen books. I had pictures but I don't know where they are so here's what I did finish:

The Wife Upstairs  It had some serious Verity vibes (it was written after Verity) but was very twisty in its own way. It looked like I had downloaded it on Kindle Unlimited years ago and never read it? I paid $3 for it this time since my subscription isn't active. Anyway, it was fine. Not her best but it passed the time. 

Intensity. A few months ago, I came across a reel on Instagram with a guy recommending several "older" thrillers he's read and he praised the quality of them compared to what's out there today (*cough* The Intruder). His hook was hey, I bet there's not even a wait for them at the library! Joke was on me: I waited months for this ebook. 

Anyway, I tried 3 of the books on the list and this is the only one I finished and actually enjoyed. It was a crazy story and I wrote about it in a recommendations post a few weeks ago. I will say, it's exactly like watching a movie: once you start reading it, you can't actually put it down. It's almost like it wouldn't make sense to stop halfway. 

The Intruder. Meh. Not her best. It took me a month to finish this because I didn't care? Yes, there's twists and there's a formula but I didn't find any of the characters super sympathetic? 

I was reminded that The Housemaid is coming out as a movie this month and I'm super excited about that. 

Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed. This is a fascinating book. I cannot recommend it enough. I like Maureen Callahan a lot and she is a TRUE investigative journalist (*cough* Candace Owens). She wrote American Predator, one of the best true crime books I've come across. And the way MC goes at the Kennedy family in this book...it's impeccably researched and all the untold stories that the modern romanticizer of that era just doesn't know. So, so good. A perfect book to read over a winter break! 

Here's where I stand:

And here's a funny reading adjacent story: I loosely follow this influencer-type person on Instagram and she's all about saving money. Same, right? So she posted "did you know you can download ebooks from your library straight to your kindle from Amazon and then you don't have to buy them?!"....

I thought it was a joke. But no. That was brand new information to her. 

Some of us have been doing that since, in my case, 2015. 

It just drives home the point of don't believe everything you see on the internet and social media is just the highlight reel. 

It would follow that everyone trying to sell you advice isn't as smart as you think they are. Next thing we know, some influencer will be telling us about "this thing called Netgalley".