My October reading list is my effort to get back to reading at least two books per month and expand my bookshelf to multiple genres. This list includes authors that are both known and new to me, and topics ranging from sci-fi to non-fiction. I’ve also deliberately included the newest books in long-standing series. Like Netflix, when I find a new author I’m always happy when they’ve got another dozen books in the same series that I can read. Otherwise, I might be waiting at least a year before I see more of their work. So without further ado, here’s your October reading list for 2020.
This post includes affiliate links. I may receive a commission if you choose to use them to make a purchase. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here. Thank you for your support!
Jones’ Charley Davidson series is the paranormal answer to Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum.
Leading lady Charley Davidson is the world’s only grim reaper. The ability to see and speak to the departed lends a certain advantage when you earn a living as a private investigator and official police consultant. When Charley isn’t helping ghosts wrap up their business on Earth and pass to the other side, she’s helping her father, a detective, solve cold cases.
Add to the mix that she’s dating the (inevitably) devastatingly handsome son of Satan (yes, that Satan), and a handful of prophecies about how their relationship impacts the survivability of the planet, and you’ve got a busy heroine. Always just one step too far into other people’s business, Charley often finds herself in sticky situations that her sarcasm and charm can’t always get her out of.
These books are quick, easy reads, full of laugh-out-loud one-liners. But do beware. If you’re 100% over the trope of the female lead who’s pretty clueless about her own power, being led around by sexy men who melt her brain and always seem to know more than she does, then this series isn’t for you.
I found this series many years ago and read as far as Jones had written at the time. I picked it back up this month and am currently on book seven. If you’re new to Charley, start with book one here. Jones wrapped up the series with book thirteen. Plenty to fill up your October reading list and then some!
This season’s Fall Box and Members’ Picks Box are full of fall favorites! Get $10 off yours now! Click Here and enter code FAB10 at checkout!
Note: The link above is an affiliate link and I may earn a commission if you use it to make a purchase. This is at no additional cost to you. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here. Thank you for your support!
At the end of this month, Butcher releases book #17 in the Dresden Files, a series about Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard. You can preorder a copy here.
A science fiction series, Harry Dresden’s story grew and expanded to encompass so many new realms, subplots, and characters beyond the limited scope it started with. This has definitely been a good thing and kept the stories fresh and interesting, but the books do build on one another so you’ll need to start with the first book, Storm Front.
For a plot summary of Battle Ground, I went straight to the author’s website for you:
Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of vampires. The fallen angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders.
But this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way.
Harry’s mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will change Harry’s life, Chicago, and the mortal world forever.
If you don’t know what half of that means, go grab a copy of book one here. Bet you’ll still get to seventeen before it drops on the 29th.
All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and the Myth of Equal Partnership purports to explain with data-driven clarity exactly how inequitable the split of domestic labor is between partners.
While the title suggests this analysis is geared toward parental duties, I still think this will make an interesting read for child-free couples. I speak to women daily (and I do mean daily) about how they feel responsible for taking care of everything, doing all the thinking and planning, and generally keeping the household running. With or without children involved.
On the book’s page on Goodreads I read several insightful reviews. One woman states that this book should be mandatory reading for any woman who one day plans to have children with a man. Others note that this book is less about shaming men, and more about calling attention to the wildly unequal division of labor, and all of the ways in which men are able to avoid responsibility while society condones it. With chapter titles like “Successful Male Resistance”, how could you not be intrigued?
2020 has been a year of calling attention to social inequality all across the board. This isn’t about starting a war, or patting ourselves on the back and saying, “See? I told you so!” It’s about finding new and better ways to keep communicating issues that many of us are already aware of and want to draw more attention to.
Add it to your book list and pick up a copy here.
Tana French is one of my favorite authors, hands down. A friend of mine introduced me to her work a couple of years ago. A writer of captivating crime fiction, French’s stories take you to a place that competitors in the genre just, well, don’t.
Her newest book will be out October 6th (plenty of time to fit it into your October reading list!) and you can pre-order it here. A deviation from the Dublin Murder Squad books that make up the core of her work, this novel features a newly retired Chicago cop who moves to an Irish village for some peace and quiet.
But even though he’s ready to leave his policing days behind, they follow him to his new home when he’s called upon to help find a missing boy.
Don’t be deceived by the seeming simplicity of the plot. French’s novels often feature seemingly simple ideas like missing persons or cold cases, but the twists and turns she takes are always unexpected.
If you’re someone who has grown tired of the thriller genre because you find yourself predicting everything before it happens, give French a try. I promise she will surprise you. It’s why I keep reading her.
You can read great summaries of all of her other books here.
I first read The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware in early 2019 at the recommendation of a friend. After that I quickly read the rest of her books. What I like most about Ware’s books is that they definitely fall into the intellectual thriller category, without going so far as to have me sleeping with the lights on.
Except for The Turn of the Key. That one got me.
My other favorite thing about Ware’s books is that she’s definitely not a formula writer. Each of her books is different enough that you wouldn’t know they were written by the same person. There is always some kind of mystery or deception involved, and certainly a healthy dose of thrill, but otherwise each story is unique. My personal favorite to date is The Lying Game.
One by One seems to be Ware’s rendition of the infamous And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. In Ware’s variation, a group of co-workers are snowed in during a retreat weekend to a ski chalet. Cut off from the outside world with a killer among them, their numbers begin to dwindle.
If you like this plot, definitely check out An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapeña as well. Similar in that a group of people are snowed in and slowly killed off, but different in that it’s a group of total strangers. (Or is it?)
No matter what genre you gravitate toward, I’m sure you’ll find something on this reading list to put on your nightstand this month! I’m always interested in hearing what you’re reading, finding amazing authors I’ve never heard of, and picking up new books. Please leave recommendations below!
