Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

September and October 2026 Wrap Up

Wow, it’s been a while since I posted and I completely missed last month’s Wrap Up post so I’m putting the two months together. My husband’s computer broke and he had to use mine while waiting for a replacement, and then I got sick for a couple of weeks in October, so in between the two things and both of us having to catch up with all the work we missed, I’m feeling overwhelmed with all the backlog of things I haven’t done.

I’m not even sure if I will review any of the books I read the last couple of months, even though I didn’t read as much as I normally do. I guess it’s also the time of the year when I’m anxious and already thinking of the next year, so I’m anxious both about the backlog and setting up for the new year!

I’m also feeling a little pressured about finishing my reading challenges for this year. I’m usually very aware of them and try to finish them way ahead of time, but I’ve been in a slump the last few months and haven’t been reading as much as I normally do, nor purposefully reading books that fit into the challenges because of mood. There are still a couple of months left but I have so many other things to do too!! Get me a clone or a time machine or something!

Books Read in September 2026

1. A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
2. The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
3. The Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan
4. In The Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan
5. Within the Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan
6. Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

Books Read in October 2026

1. The Infinite Extent by Dennis E. Taylor
2. Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher
3. Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher
4. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
5. The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
6. Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston
7. The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
8. The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

Notable Books

The Memoirs of Lady Trent were wonderful and I was just completely immersed in them. I wasn’t able to read a lot of books in September, but I’m glad that I spent the month with Lady Trent and all her adventures. I love her voice and attitude, and I love the way the story flowed and how all the different elements of science, language, anthropology, and natural history in this world seem so plausible.

I also really enjoyed the first two books in the Saint of Steel series by T. Kingfisher. I’ve only finished Paladin’s Grace and Paladin’s Strength so far. I didn’t realize that each book was a different story featuring a different character with an overarching plot in the series; I love each story and I have fallen in love with the characters in both books so far, but it does interrupt the flow of the series for me a little bit.

The real standout for me these last couple of months is The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn. First of all, I finally read a full-length novel by Quinn! Second of all, what a great book to debut my love of a new-to-me author! The Diamond Eye is based on a true story about Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a female sniper during WW2 with 309 confirmed kills. What a badass! It’s fictional but it seemed like Quinn tried to stick closely to many of the known facts, and the made up stuff are things that could’ve plausible fit into what is known about her. Either way, this was such an exciting read and I loved it!

November 2026 TBR Intentions

I have maybe two books left for the 2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge, so I’ll focus on that. The 2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge is pretty chill and I’ve already read more than 12 books for that so I’ll consider it done.

I have been slacking with The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge and The Classics Club challenge but they run past the end of 2026, so I’ll read more if I can before the end of the year but if not, I’ll catch up next year! Fingers crossed.

1. The Girl With A Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean
2. Mythos by Stephen Fry
3. The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren
4. The Shippers by Katherine Center
5. Something by Margaret Atwood (I haven’t decided yet!)

How was your reading last month? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful upcoming month with lots of great books!