While this will publish according to normal schedule, I’ve written this a few days early as I’ll be on vacation by the time you read this. So, there’s only about ten days’ worth of content to catch up on. But there’s been some great stuff during this time that I can’t let go unmentioned here. So here we go!
Roundup
Music
While there haven’t been many high-profile releases the past while (note: by the time this post is published the new Florence + the Machine album will have been released), but there’s still been some amazing music. Chief among this is Hayley Williams’s new album, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party. While it’s not exactly my preferred genre, it’s an incredible album and I think it could be a dark-horse contender for album of the year. We’ve also had some great new music from newer artists, like Maggie Lindemann, NoSo, Sigrid, and Henry Moodie.
Songs
- “Fruityloop,” by Lily Allen
- “Divine,” by Saint Motel
- “Reunite,” by Allie X (leave it to Allie X to bring the harpsichord back!)
- “Elizabeth Taylor,” by Taylor Swift
Albums
- Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, by Hayley Williams
- When Are You Leaving?, by NoSo
- i feel everything, by Maggie Lindemann
- mood swings, by Henry Moodie
- There’s Always More That I Could Say, by Sigrid
Reading
In the bookish world, October is commonly known as ‘spooky season’, and many readers gravitate towards darker fare. I don’t read a lot of either horror or thrillers, which are the paradigmatic genres of the season. This is less because I’m afraid of them (though I am a highly sensitive person, it’s sights and sounds that impact me more, so I have to be careful of what tv/movies I consume more than books), than because I generally find these genres disappointing. Thrillers just tend to lack payoff for me, and horror is hard to end in a satisfying way. But I do try to engage the spirit of the season in my own way. Here’s a roundup of my recent reading, spooky or otherwise:
Non-Spooky
- Ordinary Saints, by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin (2025) (More to come on this one, rest assured!)
- The Sapling, by Marc Bendavid (2025)
- A Room Over a Shop, by Anthony Shapland (2025)
- A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, by George R.R. Martin (1998-2012, omnibus 2015)
Spooky
- The Ghoul of Windydown Vale, by Jake Burt (2022)
- The Hollow and the Haunted, by Camilla Raines (2024)
- What Mother Won’t Tell Me, by Ivar Leon Menger (2022, transl. 2024)
- Taaqtumi, by various writers from Canada’s Arctic (2019)
- Wylding Hall, by Elizabeth Hand (2015)
In Focus: Seasonality in Reading
Every year I find seasonality seeping more and more into my reading life. In this post, I talked about ‘spooky season’, and recently I’ve written a lot about ‘literary awards season’. Last year, I implemented a new end-of-year season, in which I dedicate the last two weeks of the year to either holiday fare or to re-reads, and I’m excited to do it again this year. (This in turn creates a six-week season in between November 1 and December 15 in which I try to clean up the books I want to finish before the end of the year.) While it generally doesn’t do much for me, many readers also have a special ‘Summer reading’ season, with lots of fun and easy reads ideal for the cottage or beach. Commemorative months (such as reading Black authors in February, Asian authors in May, or queer stories in June) can also be a helpful way of diversifying one’s reading.
While I’m never do any season to the exclusion of other reading, I find they’re an easy way of bringing diversity and intention into my reading without being too prescriptive. Even for literary awards season, which does offer specific titles to read, I simply don’t read the books that don’t appeal to me. That said, I don’t go out of my way to find new seasons; I don’t want my reading life to turn into an elementary school classroom, newly decorated every month! For me the seasons have just come about naturally, which is why I like the term ‘season’ to describe them. Like the seasons themselves, they colour our activity without determining it.
Matthew Root 