It’s not really October, it’s actually March the 200th.

Coming as no surprise to ANYONE, it was all comfort all the time here. Because I just can’t even with pretty much anything right now.

Alexis Hall is a new favorite author; he writes MM romances, and even the ones that don’t work for me are still good and compelling (that would be the BDSM romance, which was kind of like reading an anthropological study for me, since that may as well be a foreign land to my brain).

I didn’t love either of these books as much as I loved Boyfriend Material, but they were still very enjoyable (even the one that felt like visiting a foreign land where I didn’t speak the language).

I did read a handful of new-to-me books, and although a couple of them worked for me, most didn’t. I feel kind of bad for those books, because there is a good chance it wasn’t the books, it was me. So if something looks interesting to you and I didn’t rate it highly, consider that it might just have been the wrong book for me right now.

Despite my lower rating, you may want to consider A Study in Honor. I didn’t love it, but that’s because it’s a SF dystopia, and I don’t like either of those genres. But the characters were great and I enjoyed the mystery as well as the Holmes & Watson riff.

And if you’re struggling like I am, I do have some recommendations for some of my favorite comfort reads. Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.

Romance, LGBT

Glitterland (2018) Alexis Hall (Spires) 8.5/10
For Real (2018) Alexis Hall (Spires) 7/10
Finders Keepers (2018) N.R. Walker 8.5/10
Galaxies and Oceans (2018) N.R. Walker8.5/10
Invitation to the Blues (2018) Roan Parrish (Small Change) 8/10
Raze (2019) Roan Parrish (Riven) 8/10
Two Rogues Make a Right (2020) Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks) 8/10
Something to Talk About (2020) Meryl Wilsner7/10
A Delicate Deception (2019) Cat Sebastian (Regency Imposters)
Passing Strange (2017) Ellen Klages
Elements of Retrofit (2017) N.R. Walker (Thomas Elkin)

Fantasy

Eight Skilled Gentlemen (1990) Barry Hughart (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox)

Fantasy, Urban

The Case of the Damaged Detective (2020) Drew Hayes (5-Minute Sherlock) 7.5/10

Science Fiction

A Study in Honor (2018) Claire O’Dell (The Janet Watson Chronicles)

Mystery

Death at La Fenice (1992) Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti) 8.5/10
Execution in E (2020) Alexia Gordon (Gethsemane Brown) 7/10

Audio Books

Last Watch, Audio Edition (2009/2010) Sergei Lukyanenko translated by Andrew Bromfield narrated by Paul Michael 8.5/10

Non-Fiction

Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America (2019) Christopher Wylie

Once more, I don’t feel up to going into the stats, except to say that I’ve already blown past my previous records for books read in a single year. I read 230 books in 2017, but as of today, I’ve already read 254 books. Which is insane, except that we are in a pandemic, and I did break my foot in May, both of which have kept me home more than usual.

So that’s October in books. Anyone read anything particularly excellent in October?