October is over and I’m not sure if to be happy or sad. It was a difficult month, coming back to full-time regular work after six weeks of travelling was not easy. Especially if I spent the last Saturday in September on the beach only to come back to a Sunday in the UK that required a blanket in my living room.

Reading-wise definitely a slow month. I just looked at my stats at Goodreads and it just is not my year in terms of the speed of reading. Too many distractions, I guess. The same happened to my blogging, instead of a regular flow I’m writing now in bursts of several posts in one day that I schedule. I do not complain, life is good and a lot of things are happening, they just eat out the time to slow down and focus on a book. As with everything, it’s a matter of balance.

The change of time depressed me a bit because now there is no way for me to leave work when it’s still light. Also since coming back, I started exercising again which means getting up at 6:30, and changing the time did not help with that, it is still dark at 6:30! But at least I get endorphins dose from the exercise. So all is well, the routine is coming back, which in this case is a good thing.

One of the nicest things about October was my bookshop-crawl aka complete madness. It did help me settle back in London after my travels and to start liking it again. Also buying 21 new books did help me read more, I just cannot wait to read them all, so I make time for it.

How was your October? How are you preparing for the festive season?

65. When I Hit You: Or the Portrait of a Writer as a Young Wife – Meena Kandasamy (r)
64. The Right Amount of Panic: How women trade freedom for safety – F. Vera-Gray (r)
63. A Question of Blood – Ian Rankin
62. Flights – Olga Tokarczuk (r)

Photo by Violetta Kaszubowska