October Wrap: a month of video games & movies!

It’s the start of a new month, which means it’s time to wrap up the old one!

October wasn’t an easy month for me, sadly. It’s usually my favorite month of the year, but as many of you already know, I hit some really low mental health points for the first half or so of the month and also spent the first 3 weeks in the final stages of the worst reading slump I’ve had in YEARS!

Thankfully, things started to look up towards the end of October, after I finally gave in to the slump and let myself spend a couple of weeks doing nothing in my free time but family time, watching cooking shows, and playing Stardew Valley. I always dropped almost all of the books I had been reading, and have adopted a new rule: I’m no longer allowed to have more than 4 current reads at a time! I think it’ll help a lot to avoid feeling overwhelmed and burnt out.

Anyways, I definitely read a lot less than normal this month, but that’s okay. I’m finally starting to feel back to myself, and I learned some really important things over the last 2 weeks about myself, my place in this community, and self-care (all good things!). I’ve got this. ♥ On to the wrap-up!

Completed Reads:

EMOJI KEY:
✨ = review copy | ? = monthly TBR | ? = reread |
? = graphic novel/manga/comics | ? = poetry | ? = POC rep |
? = LGBTQ+ rep | ? = disability and/or MI rep |
? = audiobook | ? = Kindle Unlimited

In order from 5 stars to 1…

1. Silver in the Wood | ✨? | ????? | RTC
2. Dreams of Lake Drukka & Exhumation | ✨ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | review
3. Bird Brain | ✨? | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | RTC
4. Dead Meat: Day 1 | ✨ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐? | review
5. Frazzled: Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom | ?? | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | RTC
6. Sheets | ? | ⭐⭐⭐? | RTC
7. Night Trap | ? | ⭐⭐⭐ | RTC
8. Birthday Girl | ? | ⭐⭐⭐ | review (from 1st time reading)
9. Boxers | ?? | ⭐⭐ | RTC
10. Llewellyn’s Little Book of Empathy | ✨ | ⭐⭐ | RTC
11. Unicorn Magic | ✨ | ⭐⭐ | RTC

DNFs…

• The Mindful Place of Calm | ✨
• No Longer Human | ✨??

Watched this Month:

Evidently, October was the month of rewatching old favorites ?‍♀️

• Saw (2004) | ? | ?????
• Saw II (2005) | ? | ⭐⭐⭐⭐?
• Saw III (2006) | ? | ⭐⭐⭐⭐?
• Saw IV (2007) | ? | ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Saw V (2008) | ? | ?????
  • I don’t even know how many times I’ve seen this film series, but it never gets old. I didn’t quite finish the series rewatch but I’ll probably rewatch the rest in November.
• 47 Meters Down (2017) | ⭐⭐?
  • This was genuinely awful. The sharks were the only good part. I WAS ROOTING FOR THE SHARKS THE WHOLE TIME.
• The Visit (2015) | ? | ⭐⭐⭐⭐?
  • I hadn’t seen this in a while and had forgotten how hilarious it is.
• Haunt (2019) | Shudder | ?????
  • This. Was. AWESOME.
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) | ? | ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • I hadn’t seen this since I was a kid, and it was really interesting to rewatch it and realize how many common horror film tropes were more or less created by this weird, gore-filled, low-budget 70s flick!
• Scream (1996) | ? | ⭐⭐⭐⭐?
  • I learned this week that my spouse had never seen this one, and we had to fix that immediately, of course. Ahh… my love for Matthew Lillard springs eternal.
• House of 1000 Corpses (2003) | ? | ⭐⭐⭐?
  • I like this movie a little more every time I see it… even though it’s really a little bit awful. What can I say? I’m a sucker for Rob Zombie, Sid Haig, Sheri Moon, and Bill Moseley.

Listened to this Month:

• Ice Nine Kills — ‘The Silver Scream (Final Cut)’ album
• Parkway Drive — I’d never gotten into them aside from ‘The Void’ before, so I just hit shuffle on their Spotify page a lot and found a bunch of new favorites.

Played this Month:

• Stardew Valley
  • Like… a lot. I think Steam had me at having played maybe 40 hours before October started, and I checked right now, and it’s at 134 hours. ?

My Favorite Non-Review Posts of the Month:

• October TBR
• 5-star predictions for October, November, & December
• 10 spooky books on my TBR
• Mental health discussion/life update
• 10 favorite horror reads of 2019 (so far)
• Halloween tag

My Favorite Posts from OTHER Bloggers This Month:

• Cassie @ Let’s Get Galactic’s list of horror authors to read if you love Stephen King & tips for editing bookstagram photos
• Ellyn @ Allonsythornraxx’s top 10 favorite Doctor Who episodes
• Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books’ guide to organizing your life as a book blogger & tips for making it as a book blogger
• Laura @ thebookcorps’ Ninth House review
• Mogsy @ The BiblioSanctum’s Imaginary Friend review
• Sionna @ Books in Her Eyes’ The Monster of Elendhaven review
• Heather @ The Sassy Book Geek’s favorite book aesthetics
• Kelly @ Another Book in the Wall’s guide to removing stickers from books
• Grimdark Dad’s We Sold Our Souls review
• Meaghan @ Words Gremlin’s Beyond the Black Door review
• Lauren @ Northern Plunder’s Witchcraft review
• Alana @ The Bookish Chick’s All the Things We Do in the Dark review
• Heather @ Heather’s Reading Hideaway’s The Miracles of the Namiya General Store review

— destiny ♥

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