WHAT I READ IN OCTOBER 2022

I’ve been dying to share this post, namely because I read what I think (so far) is my favorite book of the year!!! So let’s dive right in. Here’s what I read in October 2022:

TOO PERFECT by Allan E. Mallinger & Jeanette De Wyze

4/5 Stars

This is alllllll about perfectionism and what happens when that level of control takes over a person’s life. Perfectionism has really held me back in life. In some ways I love it, but it’s been something that I ultimately see as a negative because it controls me in a not-so-great way. Perfectionism is, ironically, quite a messy business and can look different for different people. I saw myself in a lot of the stories shared by the authors (even when I didn’t want to) and it helped me see some of the behaviors I do subconsciously in a different light. I wish the book had been a little bit more about tactics for overcoming the various issues, but overall I thought it was a good read. (And might be even more helpful to read if you have someone in your life who suffers from perfectionism/control issues.)

NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT by Annabel Monoghan

5/5 Stars

Here it is!!! The book I can’t stop talking about!!! I want everyone to read it. I feel like this year I have read just too many books that felt boring or crazy pessimistic. (I think the pandemic is taking a toll on recent releases.) Nora Goes Off Script was the perfect novel. Truly. Great characters. Great story. Great setting. It’s a bit like a Hallmark Movie without being as cheesy. Just a GREAT romance. I don’t want to give too much away, but if you read and loved The Idea of You, I think you’ll like this one too. The premise is that a screenwriter for made-for-television romances writes a new script based on her own divorce. It’s being turned into a movie, filmed at her house, and the lead heartthrob actor ends up staying for a week extra to decompress. Just trust me, it’s so good.

OUR MISSING HEARTS by Celeste Ng

3/5 Stars

Okay… So I almost felt like there was something wrong with me, not the actual book, for not loving this book. I love Celeste Ng’s other novels and I couldn’t wait to dig into this. I fully accept that I may just not be ready for a dystopian-but-real-life novel. Think Handmaid’s Tale. I just felt sick to my stomach the whole time and had a hard time connecting with the characters, unlike how I usually feel about her writing. It was easy to see where Ng got her inspiration while reading (current anti-Asian hate, the pandemic, internment camps, the Holocaust, etc.) and I think I just wasn’t ready for it.

VAGINA OBSCURA by Rachel E. Gross

4.5/5 Stars

Everyone needs to read this book!!! It was recommended to me by a friend from college on Little V’s bachelorette trip. She couldn’t stop talking about it and my interest was piqued. Especially since having a baby, I’m kind of like, “Why don’t I know anything about my own body?” Reading this made me feel better in that the female body is often misunderstood and under researched. It breaks down the female body, the unjust treatment and research of women, what it means to be a woman, etc. It’s so good and, most importantly for a non-fiction book in my opinion, interesting. I found myself texting quotes from the book as I was reading to various friends with, “you need to read this.” From menstruation to sexual pleasure to IVF, it covers so much about the vagina and the rest of the “characters.”

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