Bookott is where I share what I read last month and invite you to share your thoughts. Get it? Bookott? Like boycott, but with otters? Nevermind…
October 2025 was packed with books from writers I’ve been reading for decades. Some of these authors force me to reread their books again and again because they’re so promising, inspiring, or downright fun. It seems fitting for fall, but I’m a little mad at myself for not saving Follett’s book for the holidays.
I should add, I don’t buy books much anymore. As someone who read upwards of 100 books annually, that shit was getting unnecessarily expensive. I don’t need to read new books as they come out, so I just add them to the library queue and wait.
If your local library has a digital option like Overdrive, Libby or Hoopla, get on board. It’s free, easy to set up, and I like the apps better than Kindle. Or, if you want, you can still read in or on a Kindle. Plus, you can get movies, audiobooks, magazines and more.
Breaking Free from Emotional Eating
by Geneen Roth
I’m always reading something for mental health. For October, I’m reading this book (again). Published in 2003, I read it back then, and periodically revisit it. But, since I do have to periodically revisit it, maybe it didn’t cure me. And maybe my time is better spent elsewhere.
That said, it’s an insightful book with some good ideas for emotional eaters. It’s just that reading a book doesn’t change a habit. I’m still fat. I’m still overeating. As much writers believe they can help people adopt new habits (myself included), I’m not sure how often they actually do long term.
So maybe I need to put that one down for good.
Circle of Days
by Ken Follett
I’m not trustworthy when it comes to Ken Follett, because I’ve been reading his work since I was a teenager. Starting with “Eye of the Needle,” everything he writes has characters clearly defined as “good” or “evil.” Impossible situations they have to overcome. And insight into history that is perfectly believable, even if it’s absolute nonsense (it’s usually not).
I enjoyed Follett’s latest. He explores the lives of humans around the time Stonehenge was built. I have no idea if he consulted historians (he certainly did) or psychics. I bought it hook, line and sinker either way.
Read it if you like fast paced conflict, uncomplicated but interesting characters, and just enough history to make you feel less dumb.
The River Is Waiting
by Wally Lamb
The first Wally lamb book I read was “She’s Come Undone” back in the 1990s. So I know that everything he writes is emotionally intense and downbeat. This latest from him was no different.
It explores what happens to addicts when they make terrible mistakes and end up in prison. Unlike Follett (who is plot-driven), Lamb is character driven. His leads are often complex, even if the bad guys are less so. This book moved at a fast pace and left me rooting for a hard-to-love protagonist.
Read it if you can handle having your emotions wrenched, enjoy complicated characters, and aren’t afraid to cry at the end.
Heartwood
by Amity Gaige
A Read With Jenna pick, this book started out interesting. It’s about a woman hiking the Appalachian Trail who disappears. It switches between four points of view (or more) to unfold clarity around the case.
About halfway through, I found myself skipping sections just to get to the end. The book can read unevenly, with some parts hilarious and others more poetic. Though the characters felt reasonably developed, the story had too many moving parts for me. Gaige could have removed a perspective or two to tell a cleaner story.
I did finish it. I wouldn’t have if I didn’t care about the characters (I’m ruthless like that). But I don’t think the book is going to stick with me.
Read it like I did, when nothing else is available at the library and you want a clever story with plenty of suspense, a lot of characters flipping, and a skimmable storyline.
The Correspondent
by Virginia Evans
I wanted to love this book. Just look at those friendly birds on the cover! But I rarely enjoy books in the letter or email format. Especially when that’s the whole book. If I was in a different frame of mind, it might be more my speed. But I quit at 12% even though the material is well written and this book gets stellar reviews on Amazon.
If you’re still curious, it was a PBS top summer book and long listed for a few awards. It just wasn’t for me in this time and place.
All The Way To The River
by Elizabeth Gilbert
I love Elizabeth Gilbert so much. “The Signature of All Things” is one of my favorite books of all time. But I just couldn’t get into this memoir. It’s a book about her lover and how Liz (my close, personal friend) coped with the loss of her.
The summary is so intriguing: What if your most beautiful love story turned into your biggest nightmare? What if the dear friend who taught you so much about your self-destructive tendencies became the unstable partner with whom you disastrously reenacted every one of them? And what if your most devastating heartbreak opened a pathway to your greatest awakening?
But, at least right now, this book wasn’t for me. I gave up in less than 10 pages. Sorry, Liz. I still love you. Maybe another time.
Memorial Days
by Geraldine Brooks
I enjoy this writer and should make a special note of “Horse“, which was complex and beautifully written.
I started this book with all the promise of hiding in my loft on a rainy afternoon. But from the first chapter, it read too much like Joan Didion’s National Book Award Winner, “The Year Of Magical Thinking”. Intentional? Maybe. Maybe this book was an homage to Didion. Whatever the reason, it felt like too depressing of a story to commit to.
Combine that with the awkward switching back and forth in time and I put the title down at under 10%.
That’s a wrap. I started a few other books, but they held my attention even less than those I passed on. In the fall, I’d rather be outside admiring red and gold things and enjoying all the sunshine without all the heat. I don’t spend as many hours in my leather chair with my favorite dog sipping tea and soaking up lives more exciting than mine.