October flew by and, somehow, it's now November 3rd. Honestly, I don't know how that happened! With less than two months left in the year, 2025 is almost gone. Crazy. Anyway, I only managed to read two bookish books in October:

The Garden Just Beyond by Lindsey Leavitt—I talked about this middle-grade fantasy in last month's post. Its main character is very bookish. Her attic room/library is her sanctuary.

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani—I reread this adult novel about a woman living in the titular small, Southern town, who learns that the man who raised her was not her biological father. This shocking revelation sends her on a quest to find herself that pushes her to look beyond the confines of her mundane life in rural Virginia. 

Ave Maria Mulligan loves to read. Her best friend drives a bookmobile, where the two exchange heartfelt conversations, advice, and reading recommendations.

For November, I'm going to keep working through the books I want to finish before the year ends. None of them are overtly bookish, at least not that I know of, but the one I'm reading now does have a bookish element, so I'm going to count it, even if it's not a big part of the story. I'm getting desperate here! Ha ha.

Everyone in This Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson (coming March 17, 2026)—I've got an e-ARC of this book, the third full-length novel in the always enjoyable Ernest Cunningham mystery series. (It's actually the fourth installment, but Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret, the third, is a novella, albeit one that is on the longer side.) Before puzzling murders started finding Ernest, his job was penning how-to books about the craft of writing murder mysteries. Now, he's a memoirist, entertaining readers by recounting the real-life murders with which he's been involved. Thinking he might be able to make actual money as a private detective, he is trying to secure a bank loan in order to launch a business. After multiple rejections, he is summoned to an out-of-the-way bank by its co-director. To Ernest's surprise, the executive asks him to solve a mystery—the man's co-director has disappeared—in exchange for the loan. Before our hero really has the chance to start his reluctant investigation, he finds himself being held hostage by a nervous bank robber. Then someone is murdered. The bank is on lockdown, with no way in or out, so the killer can only be one of the hostages. Who did the dirty deed? And why? It's up to Ernest to find out before he or, worse, his fianceè, becomes the next victim.

This series is clever and funny. I've enjoyed all the books and, not surprisingly, I'm loving this one so far.