On My Shelf: Books I Read in October 2025

If September was all about fiction, I made up for it in October with plenty of non-fiction reads.

January. February. March. April. May. June. July. August. September.

BOOKS I READ IN OCTOBER — THE SHORT VERSION

• If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now — Christopher Ingraham ★★★★☆
• The Comfort Crisis — Michael Easter ★★★☆☆
• The Story She Left Behind — Patti Callahan Henry ★★★☆☆
• The Trolley Car Family — Eleanor Clymer ★★★★★
• Wild Dark Shore — Charlotte McConaghy ★★★★☆
• The Brain at Rest — Joseph Jebelli ★★★★☆
• Softly, as I Leave You: Life After Elvis — Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, Mary Jane Ross *not rated
• A Truce That Is Not Peace — Miriam Toews *not rated
• My Friends — Fredrik Backman ★★★☆☆

• The Ritual Effect — Michael Norton ★★★☆☆
• Chester’s Miracle — M. Jean Pike ★★★★★
• The Joy Luck Club — Amy Tan ★★★★☆
• The Correspondent — Virginia Evans ★★★★★ (audiobook)
• We Do Not Part — Han Kang ★★★☆☆
• Awake: A Memoir — Jen Hatmaker *not rated
• Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir ★★★★☆
• High Season — Katie Bishop ★★★☆☆

BOOKS I READ IN OCTOBER — THE LONG VERSION

If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now: Why We Traded the Commuting Life for a Little House on the Prairie — Christopher Ingraham (non-fiction) ★★★★☆

This was an interesting read about how Christopher Ingraham started an online brouhaha when he wrote about Red Lake Falls and dubbed it “the absolute worst place to live in America.”

Well…he ended up moving there with his family and then wrote a book about the experience.

Most of the book was great and pulled me in, but I found a few chapters really dragged and some of the story-telling jumped around in chronological order which was confusing. My biggest issue was the amount of profanity which seemed wholly unnecessary.

Overall, though, a very interesting and easy read that I thoroughly enjoyed! (Lots of food for thought in terms of the tradeoff of living in different locations: urban vs. rural; white collar vs. blue collar; temperate vs. cold-weather climate.)

• Trigger warnings. Profanity.

The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self — Michael Easter (non-fiction) ★★★☆☆

I have mixed feelings about this book.

Things I liked: it offered a good reminder that we aren’t designed to be sedentary, constantly snacking, and looking for the easiest route from Point A to Point B (literally or figuratively).

Things I didn’t like: a wealthy man is able to leave his wife and children for a month to go into the Alaskan tundra to hunt caribou and live off the land. He loses tons of weight, pushes his body to extremes, and comes back rejuvenated. This is not accessible to the average person, certainly not a woman with children.

There was also a lot of talk about how our forefathers ate, organized their days, and were constantly in motion. But the world has fundamentally changed. We are not chasing tigers or living nomadically, travelling 1000s of kms each year by foot. My ancestors might have emotionally eaten, too, if they were constantly exposed to social media and lived in the modern age with all it’s stresses and pressures!!!

The swearing felt gratuitous at points and wholly unnecessary.

• Trigger warnings. Graphic descriptions of hunting animals for food. Regular profanity.

The Story She Left Behind — Patti Callahan Henry (historical fiction) ★★★☆☆

I wanted (and expected) to love this book but…blergh. I found it to be such a tedious read. The secret language was annoying and downright ridiculous. The resolution at the end was far too neat and did NOT leave me satisfied. I found much of the prose to be stilted and overwritten. The plot moved at glacial speed. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters (Charlie was my favourite). If I had known it wouldn’t get any better, this would have been a DNF.

Sadly, I couldn’t wait for this book to end. Which is disappointing since I LOVED The Secret Book of Flora Lea. On that note, while this is loosely based on a historical story, it felt like there was too much overlap with The Secret Book of Flora Lea (some of the plot points were extremely similar).

• Summary. Clara Harrington grew up in the shadow of her famous mother, Bronwyn, a child prodigy author who disappeared off the coast of South Carolina when Clara was eight. Decades later, Clara is now an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie, and wrestling with the ache of not knowing what really happened to her mother. When a British researcher (Charlie) contacts her claiming to have found her mother’s handwritten dictionary from a secret language she once invented, Clara’s curiosity wins out. She and Wynnie travel to London to uncover the truth, only to arrive in the middle of the Great Smog of 1952.
• Trigger warnings. Discussion of suicide.

The Trolley Car Family — Eleanor Clymer (YA fiction) ★★★★★

I’m pasting my Goodreads review verbatim:

My first written review on Goodreads [clearly this review was written a while ago]. After 100’s of books, why now?

Quite simply, The Trolley Car Family is the book that sparked my lifelong obsession with reading. There were books before, and there have been thousands since, but this book will forever hold a special place in my heart.

It’s an unassuming story that moves at a slow and steady pace; there are no explosions, magical fairies or hidden treasure and, despite my admiration for Nancy Drew, nary a mystery to solve. But The Trolly Car Family is fun and comfortable. Reading this book feels like slipping on your comfiest pajamas and curling up in the nostalgic blanket of childhood, all in front of a raging fireplace…during a blizzard.

My tattered copy, gifted to my sister the year I was born, is a delight to me each time I return to it. I’m attached to every character: their good hearts and adventurous spirits. And who could resist falling in love with miserly old Mr. Jefferson who transforms from cranky milkman to self-assured dairy farmer, falling in love with Aunt Hannah along the way. Not me!

Now, all these decades later, to be reading this book to my children, who love it nearly as much as I did/do — well that’s pure joy.

Update: Oct 2025. I read this to my tween at bedtime and it was such a delight.

• Summary. After Pa is laid off, the Parker family decide to turn an old trolley car into their new house for the summer. They move to the countryside, bringing along their grumpy milkman neighbour from town, Mr. Jefferson, who — spoiler alert — ends up becoming one of the loveliest characters in the whole book. They make new friends, plant gardens, milk cows and figure out how to maintain their quality of life in the face of big changes (trolley cars are being replaced by buses — scandalous!).

Wild Dark Shore — Charlotte McConaghy (fiction) ★★★★☆

4.5 stars rounded down to 4.

I really enjoyed this book. I found the multiple perspectives engaging and relatively easy to follow (mostly because there wasn’t a huge cast of characters). A few of the plot lines felt wildly unrealistic, but I read it in a single sitting.

A tiny niggle — I cannot stand the name Dominic Salt.

Bonus points: they live in a lighthouse!

• Summary. Set on Shearwater, a remote island near Antarctica, this story follows Dominic Salt and his three children who are caretakers of the island’s seed bank. Once bustling with scientists, Shearwater is now abandoned except for the Salts, whose lives have become as bleak and isolated as the landscape itself. Everything changes when a mysterious woman (Rowan) washes ashore during a violent storm. As Rowan becomes entangled with the family, tensions rise and people have to decide between protecting secrets and protecting one another. There’s sabotage, loss, and just enough suspense to keep you flipping pages (or, in my case, reading it straight through in one sitting).
• Triggers warnings. Suicide, sexual assault, occasional strong language.

The Brain at Rest: How the Art and Science of Doing Nothing Can Improve Your Life — Joseph Jebelli (non-fiction) ★★★★☆

This was an encouraging read about the importance of rest, and included suggestions of various ways to incorporate more rest into our lives, along with a general summary of why we need to step back and savour our lives.

Nothing was groundbreaking or shocking, but it was full of simple facts and reminders, and I really enjoyed the book.

Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis — Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, Mary Jane Ross (non-fiction; memoir) *Not rated

I have never read any books about Elvis before, so was coming into this “blind.”

What a sad, tragic life story. The writing wasn’t amazing, but as always, I appreciate getting behind-the-scenes glimpses into celebrities lives and it’s yet another reminder of the many pitfalls of fame and fortune.

• Trigger warnings. Substance abuse, overdose deaths.

A Truce That Is Not Peace — Miriam Toews (non-fiction; memoir) *not rated

I’m not sure how this book ended up on my TBR list and, to be honest, I wanted to stop reading it many times. It was a deeply uncomfortable memoir, told in a fractured, raw tone.

In general, it goes through the deep trauma suffered by the author (a celebrated novelist) after the suicide deaths of her father and sister.

There is a lot of symbolism and depth to this book, much of which went over my head. While I don’t think I’d recommend this book to others, it was unique and emotionally compelling.

• Trigger warnings. Frequent strong language, frequent discussions of mental illness and suicide.

My Friends — Fredrik Backman (fiction) ★★★☆☆

I know I’m in the minority on this seemingly universally beloved story…but by the end, reading this book felt like a complete and utter slog.

I really liked some of the characters (especially Louisa and Joar) so that’s why I kept reading, but this book was much too long for my liking. Getting to the resolution, which fell a bit flat for me, seemed to take forever and there was some cliffhanger-type suspense that also frequently did not live up to my expectations.

I feel like this is a book that could have been phenomenal (Backman is a gifted writer), but simply got bogged down with too much detail and filler. But maybe that’s just me…

• Summary. A world-famous painting of a group of teenagers looking out to sea is up for auction. Young foster child, Louisia, is deeply attached to the image because of the three tiny figures sitting at the end of a pier. Through a series of bizarre coincidences, Louisa, ends up inheriting this priceless painting and goes on a mission to uncover the stories of the teenagers on the pier and the friendship that inspired the artwork.
• Trigger warnings. SO MANY. Domestic abuse, sexual assault (implied), parental death, substance abuse/overdose, petty crime, profanity.

The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions — Michael Norton (non-fiction) ★★★☆☆

Meh. I was hoping for more! I am fascinated by routines and rituals and was SO excited to get my hands on this book.

It felt watered down, generic, and most of the anecdotes weren’t overly engaging. I did really enjoy the chapter, ironically enough, on rituals surrounding death and grief. If the whole book had been as interesting, I would have been hooked.

I also felt the relatively constant institution-dropping of his role at Harvard a bit unsavoury.

The book was fine, but disappointing, especially about a topic that can be so rich and engaging.
And not that this ultimately matters too much (and if you read the book you’ll understand the symbolism), but I also don’t like the cover (or ANY of the cover iterations). Again, I feel like it could have been much more engaging.

Chester’s Miracle — M. Jean Pike (Christian fiction) ★★★★★

Jean has done it again! What a wonderfully uplifting novella, released right before Christmas. Based on a real-life support dog (named Chester), I enjoyed every page of this festive book! It’s Christian fiction at its best; a story that simply and clearly points readers to Christ.

• Summary. Aimee Perkins is headed to rendezvous with the boyfriend she met online — for Christmas Eve! Things take an unexpected turn before she gets there when Aimee rescues Chester, an aging service dog about to be put down. En route, her fairy-tale date unravels. A blizzard hits, her boyfriend disappears (his number’s disconnected and his profile’s gone), and Aimee ends up stranded and terrified on a snowy mountain road. Just when she thinks all hope is lost, she’s rescued by Marty, a gentle, big-hearted mountain man who’s been looking for love. And Chester get’s the chance to prove he’s still in the business of saving lives.

The Joy Luck Club — Amy Tan (fiction) ★★★★☆

4.5 stars rounded down to 4.

This book is incredibly sad. It’s also brilliant. I thought the way Tan unravels the various characters and plums the depths of mother-daughter relationships, especially in the context of cultural nuances, was wonderfully done. Seeing the layers of the past being slowly removed was fascinating and it was a great reminder that we often have no idea of the level of trauma people (including our own parents) have experienced.

There were some parts of the story that I found confusing and I did CONSTANTLY have to flip back to the first few pages to keep the different family pairings straight, but I really enjoyed this book. Gold stars to Engie for hosting a Cool Bloggers Book Club focussing on this book.

• Summary. The book follows four Chinese mothers and their American-born daughters as they navigate love, loss, and the impossible gap between generations. The mothers fled China carrying trauma and hope, while their daughters grow up in San Francisco trying to live American lives without fully understanding their mothers’ sacrifices. The novel moves between voices and timelines, gradually revealing the everyone’s histories and the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters.
• Trigger warnings. Some profanity; miscarriage and infant loss; war.

The Correspondent — Virginia Evans (fiction) ★★★★★

This book is everything a book should be. It pulled me in (I listened to the audiobook — a rarity for me — and having the different narrations was stunning), and left me IN PIECES at the end.

It gives you a bit of everything: I laughed out loud, I (almost) cried. There is a lot of heartbreak, but there is also plenty of levity.

As someone who loves to write letters and grew up watching my mother send long handwritten notes to friends and family week after week, this book struck a nerve.

I also appreciated how you see the flaws in the main character, Sybil. She didn’t get everything right. Her actions did have repercussions — some of them incredibly serious.

I rarely listen to audiobooks, but do think this book was greatly enhanced by having different accents/characters. I’m not sure if it would have been a 5-star book for me if I had been reading it in paper format.

(Hands down Theodore was my favourite character!)

• Summary. Sybil Van Antwerp is a woman who writes letters to make sense of her life — to her brother, to her best friend, even to famous authors and university presidents. She writes Joan Didion. She writes her next-door neighbour, Theodore, she writes a customer service representative at an online DNA testing site. She writes to make sense of her strained relationship with her daughter. Through her letters, we see her deepest joys, regrets, and the complicated ways different stories interconnect.
• Trigger warnings. Some profanity, child loss, mental illness, attempted suicide, infertility.

We Do Not Part — Han Kang (historical fiction) ★★★☆☆

This book is beautifully written and giving it 3-stars simply reflects my own inability to fully appreciate the cultural and literary nuances. The second half of the book is written in a dream-like perspective and I found it increasingly difficult to follow. Again, I suspect that is on me.

For me it was not an easily “accessible” book but FULL of symbolism and cultural nuance.

• Summary. A novel set against the backdrop of the Jeju Uprising in Korea. Kyungha’s friend, Inseon, is involved in a woodworking accident and asks Kyungha to go to Jeju Island to rescue her pet bird, Ama, who has been left behind without food and water. Kyungha goes to Jeju in the middle of a horrible snow storm and starts to work through personal and historical trauma.
• Trigger warnings. Graphic details about the Jeju massacre; descriptions of medical trauma.

Awake: A Memoir — Jen Hatmaker (non-fiction; memoir) *not rated

I’ve had complicated feelings about Jen Hatmaker for a while, and her most recent book continued that trend!

This memoir is written in the wake of her sudden (and very public) divorce after she discovered her husband (a pastor) was having an affair. It jumps back and forth between her conservative Christian upbringing and current life.

Something about her writing has always struck me as inauthentic and off-putting, but I would consider this to be a memoir that will have very different impacts on different people.

• Trigger warnings. Some profanity.

Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir (science fiction) ★★★★☆

This was a great book. I don’t typically reach for science fiction but this was incredibly well-written. It makes complex concepts in mathematics and physics feel accessible to the everyday person.

That said, the middle section dragged a bit (a common theme for me), and I found myself skimming more than I’d like.

The ending was very satisfying and redemptory and I’m looking forward to watching the upcoming movie.

• Summary. Ryland Grace (a middle-school science teacher) wakes up alone on a spaceship, light-years from Earth, with no memory of who he is or why he’s there. As his memories return, he remembers he’s humanity’s last hope: the sun is dying, and if he fails, everyone on earth will soon freeze to death. Then he meets Rocky, an alien (who doesn’t speak English!) from another planet facing the same crisis. Despite their species’ vast differences, the two form an unlikely friendship and work together to solve the mystery threatening both their worlds.
• Trigger warnings. End-of-the-world scenarios, very limited profanity.

High Season — Katie Bishop (fiction; thriller) ★★★☆☆

I really enjoyed the first half of the book, but by the end it felt cumbersome and the ending was…blah. I actually guessed the punchline within the first few chapters (without knowing all the nuances).

Oddly, I felt like I connected with multiple characters at the beginning, but that connection faded and I felt less and less attached to them as the book went on.

• Summary. Twenty years ago, seventeen-year-old Tamara Drayton drowned in the pool at her family’s glamorous villa in the south of France. Her six-year-old sister, Nina, was the only witness and she told police she’d seen their babysitter, Josie, push Tamara under the water. Josie was convicted of murder, and the Drayton family fell apart. Now an adult, Nina’s not so sure she got it right. Her memories of that night are blurry (at best) and when a true-crime documentary crew announces plans to revisit the case, she’s drawn back into the world she’s tried to forget.
• Trigger warnings. Frequent alcohol consumption, substance abuse, sexual assault, profanity.

Your turn.

• Any commentary to add regarding any of the books mentioned above?
• If you read The Correspondent, who was your favourite character?
• Best book you read in October?