How I Feel About Books: October 2025

Thursday, October 9, 2025

Against the Currant by Olivia Matthews

Against the Currant by Olivia Matthews

I read this book for the September Cozy Mystery Book Club and really appreciated the conversation we had about it, which you can view here.

I love culinary cozies and have a secret dream of opening a bakery despite not being an amazing baker myself, so I loved Lyndsay’s character. Her family was also really supportive and interesting. They were introduced really quickly without me being able to discern them, and even later on I kept forgetting which uncle was married to which aunt, etc. But I also understand they were established to give plenty of potential storylines for later in the series.

However, I don't think I'll be reading the rest. One reason is that the library doesn't have any later books, but also, this one was probably 100 pages too long due to repetition. A lot of things were repeated: the bakery smells, the support and closeness of the family, the suspects and their motives. I don’t think things need to be spelled out that much.

Overall, the book pulled me in and gave me the clues I needed to solve the case along with Lyndsay, so I liked it for a book club read. And I liked the author's mystery and how she pulled it off, so I'm going to give another of her series a try to see if it's less repetitive.

Monday, October 6, 2025

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume

Along with Margaret, this is one of Blume’s books that I re-read most in childhood. I loved Sally because I also imagined stories and acted them out while playing, and I hadn’t seen that represented in a book until I read this one. This edition included a note from Blume explaining how this is her most autobiographical book, and I believe that explains why I'm drawn to this author's work overall, and keep re-reading this book in particular.

Something made me think of it recently and I wanted to re-read it. I often used to randomly think of the hibiscus flower Sally put behind her ear on the first day of her new school in Florida. I remember thinking how glamorous it would be to live in Florida for a year. At the end of middle school and the first year or two of high school, my family would go spend a week or so in Florida at the end of summer. Coming back home and going to school always felt like such a letdown, and I often thought of this book, wondering who I'd be if I had the chance to go to school in Florida for a year. Of course, that daydream involved me turning into a complete beach bum and laid-back popular kid, which never would have happened, but isn't that the point of daydreams and living many lives through books?

Overall, this book still held up and was really engaging to me. I definitely remembered the feelings of childhood due to situations in the book, and also loved how it's historical fiction in a way as well. Reading it now, I did identify a bit more with the mother worrying about her children, and I didn't see the move as glamorous as I thought as a kid - more fraught and necessary. It was actually really interesting to read it as an adult and identify with the mother while still feeling transported back to childhood and reliving my memories of reading this decades ago.

Sunday, October 5, 2025

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week snuck up on me this year, in the light of *gestures around*. While I don't have anything fun or interesting planned, it's always a good time to share resources:

American Library Association's Banned Books Hub

Want to be (more) depressed? Look at the numbers: