My friends! My favorite reading month of the year is here! Victorian literature has blessed me in so many ways. It’s beautiful writing, it’s gorgeous atmospheres, it’s delicious characters, and it’s over-the-top dramatics! 🎃
I’m hoping to be posting here a bit more this month (daily?!🤞🏻) in celebration of a beautiful month here in the Midwest USA and Victober.
I love putting bits and pieces of the ephemera of life together. Whether that be in the form of a poem, collage, quilting (hope to get back to it someday), pictures, quotes, making soup, lists, journals, or sending moments through the post. I invite you to join me in whatever way you can. 🤎 Post here in my comments, write in your own journal, post something yourself in your online home, or just meditate in your heart. Let’s rejoice together about a ‘new month with no mistakes in it…yet.’ 😁
My first little verse and collage in honor of this momentous month! 🍁
Which spooky or Victorian book should I start this very afternoon? The possibilities are endless! 🍁
May your coffee be hot and your book long and wonderful!
Hello, Friends! Happy Victober Eve! 🖤🍂 Can you believe we are headed into the 4th quarter of 2026!? 😳😱♥️ Here are my favorite reads of July-August-September in short snippet reviews ~
Classics ~🍂
Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini – so, so good! A kind-of ‘gentleman’ pirate with a moral compass, and a Robin Hood-ish loyalty to his men and the less fortunate.
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh – fading English aristocratic family, questions of their Catholic faith, and deeply, poignant thoughts on change. I was pleasantly surprised by this book! Reading it with my two local friends made it even better!
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal- (reread) a heart-wrenching book I was craving about changing familial relationships, growing older, seeing with the eyes of a child, and living close with the land. Beautiful, beautiful book! The little granddaughter’s sassy attitude towards her grandmother bothered me a lot more this time through, just fyi!
The Virginian by Owen Wister – I finished another 50×50 read! I so enjoyed chatting with my buddy reader about this book. Unique POV’s, beautifully written, deeply intriguing characters. I ended up loving this! Brutal western cowboy violence, just FYI and conversations around the birthing of the American West.
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde – I’ll tack this in here, because this was a last minute listen as an early start to Victober! I absolutely loved this hilarious play about two British gentleman and the craziness that ensues from perpetual stretching of the truth.
Glass Roses by Britain Kalai Soderquist – If anyone wants a slight Victorian adjacent light romance, I recommend this one! It’s written in letters between two cousins. One cousin’s story is Cinderella-ish and the others Beauty & the Beast. I really enjoyed it!🥰😅♥️
Fantasy/Sci-Fi ~
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis -(reread) Great characters! Puddleglum, Eustace, and Jill are off on a Narnian adventure. A lion 🦁 included! ♥️ My four younger kids and I are going through the whole series together.
Firebird by Kathy Tyers – sci-fi Star Wars-ish story with unique world and great characters! Deeper conversations about what we believe truly affecting how we live. I read this as part of Sci-Fi September. The first is included free on Audible currently. I’m now reading Fusion Fire, the second in the five? book series.
Mystery ~🍂
A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear – despite the clunky, morally gray additions to this series, I still find Maisie Dobbs, a very compelling character and enjoyed the new chapter in her private investigator life.
The Bangalore Detective Club by Harini Nagendra – A young newlywed couple begins their life together and solve a mystery in 1920’s Bangalore, India. I really enjoyed this first and the second was good, too, definitely will be completing the series.
The Electric Detective by Peter Ward – A droid wakes up realizing she has been created to assist the police in solving a murder. Things aren’t what they seem! AI, technology, and moral questions arise. Fascinating and a little creepy. A touch of innuendo, just fyi.
Resort to Murder by Annie McEwen – Set in Wisconsin, I really enjoyed the family dynamics of running a small resort together! Great characters and the mystery was good too. The second was good, as well. I’m waiting to read on since they follow the seasons and the next have a snowy setting.
Gladwynn Grant Cozy Mystery Series by Lisa R. Howeler – Small town characters and intrigue! I loved Gladwynn and her grandmother! These were so sweet and gentle.
Nonfiction ~🍂
The Opt-Out Family by Erin Loechner – very interesting look at a former social media influencer’s decision to pull out completely from it all! I liked how she presented her information. Personal stories and ideas for alternatives, but not a guilty formula.
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney -I really ended up enjoying this classic book lover’s ode to reading and book collecting. I loved learning about different women authors that may have inspired Jane Austen. A little of the author’s whining, but overall, I loved this!
Do Something Beautiful for God by Mother Teresa – daily quotes pulled from Teresa of Calcutta’s words. Highly recommend!
The Spirit-Controlled Woman by Beverly LaHaye – A bit dated, but powerfully convicting look at how Spirit controlled living can help us with our personal weaknesses and strengthen us to love like Christ.
Magical Realism ~🍂
Crosstalk by Connie Willis – (reread) I loved revisiting this book around a company with a secret project in development to connect romantic couples by mind emotional sensing. The MFC’s family is VERY annoying and the stress of a company environment can be a bit much, but this hilarious book brings up questions on autonomy and telepathic abilities. Innuendo and light language. What we think we want isn’t always right at all. Very cute and ridiculous fun. I reread this for Sci-Fi September.
Dream of Kings by Sharon Hinck – a fantasy retelling of sorts of the Biblical story of Joseph. Light dream telling feels slightly magical. I loved the slow discoveries of our MFC as she deals with grief, finding her place in a new land, and new, complicated friendships. Very slow, sweet romantic subplot.
A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd – a town with a snicker of magic. This is a heart wrenching story of a young girl who dreams of belonging. The writing was lovely and the longing so palpable. The townsfolk and family dynamics, so great and realistic.
I think those were my favorites from a summer of reading! I read so many great books, what a blessing. How about you? What were some of your favorite summer reads? 😍♥️ What things are you looking forward to picking up this autumn? 🍂 🎃 Goodbye, September ~ welcome, October! 🧡🤎🖤🍂🍁🌾
Here’s a look at my upcoming (October + Victorian Literature = Victober) Reading Possibilities! I also added a few more hopefuls. I usually don’t have such a specific pile of books to read because I’m a mood reader. Only Victober is special enough to warrant a special TBR plan! 😍🥰♥️There are specific prompts/challenges and I’ll try to hit those, but mostly attempt what I’m excited about!
Dark brown Box headings are the prompts for this year which I believe is the 11th Victober!
I’ve already begun Dr.Wortle’s School with my local friend’s bookclub. I’m very interested in Daniel Deronda, too!
I really want to get to this one sooner than later! If I can get an audiobook in from library, I’d love to finally get to this play! My Kindle is FULL of Victober goodness and I’d love to tackle a couple of these! I have even MORE hiding in there. 😍😫😂👀
I’m not going to add any buddy reads other than my local friends and maybe attempting to finish the group read! {I started Uncle Silas a few years ago, so hope to finish it!} I’m pretty full with outside commitments, so need to keep reading open.
I’d loooove to read this! It’s on my 50×50 list and Gaskell is legitimately an interest to me. She is my favorite Victorian author. In fact, many of these books are on my 50×50 list!
Hawthorne isn’t technically a Victorian, but he was writing in America during Queen V’s reign.
Many more lovely things to choose from on the stacks!
Other reads I’m very interested in for October! I have an ‘unread’ Ray Bradbury on my 50×50 list and I think The October Country would be a great listen. I bet an audiobook would add even deeper enjoyment to these creepy short stories.
I also have an ‘unread’ LM Montgomery collection from my shelf on my list. I think this one would be perfect! 🤩
A friend recommendation specifically for October!
Another friend or two? let me know that the newly translated Book 2 is now available at public libraries! I can’t wait! I’m a huge Kiki’sDeliveryService fan! Book and film!
I’m hoping to bake a special meal/treat for the family today and put out a few autumn decorations! We can’t do too much with remodeling, but it will be fun to a little charm. Maybe we could watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which is one of my fall favorites! Or one of the less creepy episodes of Over the Garden Wall. 🤣
Happiest Autumn, friends. 🎃🍂♥️🥰 we have a play and an apple orchard/pumpkin patch visit on the schedule. What are you excited to read, watch, do in autumn? 🍂
•loving the deep character studies in The Virginian•
Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me – a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.
Listening 🍂 ~ I have many things I want to listen to, especially from the Living Education Retreat. I’m looking forward to finding an uninterrupted moment so I can take notes! Looks like a wealth of knowledge here! I also want to try a recommendation from a friend, The Story Girl Podcast. I’m loving the audiobook of Firebird by Kathy Tyers. It reminds me of Star Wars, I’m liking the characters. We’ve been listening to this as a “call” to our morning time and we all agree it’s so invigorating and beautiful! 🤩
We own the Winter and Autumn collections in this series and really love them!
Watching 🍂 ~ I’m trying to limit Booktube to the weekends. My children recently watched The Sheep Detectives and said it was really good! I hope to try it this weekend?! Honestly, my brain space/power is SO low with all the outside things started!
Reading 🍂 ~ I just finished Murder on Bamboo Lane by Naomi Hirahara and it was a compelling police procedural mystery. A little grittier content wise, but I loved the writing. I liked the characters a lot even if a bit more overtly morally gray than I like. I’m slowly plugging away at The Virginian with my buddy reader and am loving it! Very well written and funny! I’m reading a couple chapters each morning of The Brothers Karamazov, and wow. 🤯 I’m also enjoying the second in a sci-fi series, Arabella and the Battle of Venus. We finished The Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden in my other group. Wow. 😮 It was dark, gritty food for thought. Not a favorite!
Noticing 🍂 ~ September is lovely, still summer-ish, yet shifting to autumn. The younger four kiddos and I went on a wonderful nature walk this week. 🤎💛🧡 It was so fun seeing old ‘friends’ again and noticing new treasure.
What are you listening to, watching, reading, noticing this week? 🥰 ~
Outside my window… ✨sunny and cool! Gorgeous! I wish I could mow/weed-whack but already have a lot going on. It’s been raining a lot and so I’m behind on yard work.
I am thinking…✨of my tween/teen girls class I’m teaching at church tonight! Our Charlotte Mason co op beginning tomorrow! Cleaning projects! Books to be read! 😅
I am thankful for…✨my new refrigerator! Even if it cut into remodeling budget. 🙃♥️👀
From the kitchen…✨I’m making sweet 🌽 corn for lunch and need to get sloppy joes in crockpot as we have church. I attempted a cake for my hubby and I’s anniversary this week. It was WAY more difficult (and too sweet) than I anticipated and was a bit of a flop. The kids ate it all, anyway! 😂♥️👀
The Summer Book by Susan BranchEgg whites! 👀
I am creating…✨reading journal 📓 spreads and filling in September pages ~
Found alien stickers to add! 😍♥️😂Working on these prompts! Working on these, too! Back to Hogwarts!Ditto! 😅✨My favorite readathon is COMING. I’m starting now! 🍂✨Dr.Wortle’s School is my first pick with my IRL bookclub! 😍I’m never going to read those all, but fun to dream! 😂
I am going…✨ nowhere until church, working on homeschool lessons, church lessons, cooking etc.
I am wearing…✨heather gray knockoff 😅 Arirang World Tour Tshirt and green cargo pants, sandals and pearl earrings. Probably will change into something different for church!
I am reading…✨many things, but mainly excited about The Brothers Karamazov and starting Victorian things!
Here’s where I’m at in Bros K! 😎🤣👀 I’m loving it!
I am hoping…✨ to get ahead on some outside responsibilities stuff, revive my lagging health goals, and work on helping with the next step in our remodeling. 🫣😅🥵
I am hearing…✨my hubby shuffling papers in his home office. 😅
Around the house…✨messes and mayhem! 😅♥️Two children just came back from taking garbage to our dump. We have dishes etc to catch up on and the refrigerator switch out. We have more school to tackle and a little church prep, still.
One of my favorite things… ✨the golden, blues, browns, and greens of September! 🌾🍂🍃🌻
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week…✨ Homeschool co op! A movie night with my 7 yo! “Relaxation” this weekend. 😅♥️
Happy September 1st! We are prayerfully and slowly getting into the groove this week with our autumn homeschooling schedule which kicks into high gear next week. I’m still holding onto late summer though. September has the potential to be a favorite month, EXCEPT if we get extremely humid weather. 🥵 Like yesterday. 😂
My last read for the Keep Me in Suspense Bingo Board. It’s actually turning out to be deeper and more introspective. The mystery is a bit slow and lackluster but the interpersonal relationship dynamics between the older father and his daughter, a 40 yo nun, is fascinating! Welcome, Early Autumn mugs! A favorite spot ☺️♥️Charlotte Mason Co-op prep! Book mail! 📬💌📦📖Very sweet new-to-me series! Husband and wife in small town! The wife is a wee-bit manipulative, but I loved the first for the most part. From Instagram! August was a great month! 🥹🥰😍♥️ I’m amyofhearthridge on there, too, if you use IG! Hubby and I went to Chicago for a quick 1 1/2 day trip! He surprised me with a ticket to see BTS. 💜
Korean pop band! It was an fantastic show!
So proud of myself for making a half eggplant and half noodle lasagna! 😅💜 Next time I need to figure out a better way to prep the eggplant. It was a bit salty.
Hope your week is starting on a high note. I’m still holding onto all the inspiration and beauty from this past weekend. I’m hoping still to make a vision/inspiration board for our new school year! ♥️
I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the LORD’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.”
Outside my window…it looks sparkly and sunny after a wild, gorgeous thunderstorm later yesterday!
I am thinking… of getting some laundry going so I can hang it on the line! Also about the books I found in a Little Free Library yesterday! I need to take some back to it. Do you ‘owe’ certain LFL’s books? 😂. I do this all the time.
I am thankful for…all the beautiful stories I have access to and for my little Delft mug my daughter bought me for my birthday! She found it at a garage sale.
From the kitchen… I am hoping to throw ham, rosemary, and potato soup into crockpot as we have church tonight!
I am creating… new reading journal pages! Last month, I decided to change the way I was doing my monthly spreads. Instead of printing off every book cover, I’m just making a monthly header page, a read list/readthon/buddy reads page, and then I want to do review pages for my favorites! I’d like to decorate each favorite’s review and then write out more thoughts etc, rather than just the small, teeny area around the book covers. I get a lot of inspiration from these two amazing reading journal artists: Manda Made and Michala’s Cozy Life ~
This little space dessert postcard a penpal sent to me is perfect so I made it into a “tip-in” for Sci-Fi September’s prompts. Zoom in if you want to see the darling illustrations on it!Here’s how I set up the monthly page now. I’m trying to use all the stickers and washi I have currently before buying too much more! Going to be printing off the Back to Hogwarts Readathon Game Board and placing it here! I may print of this Autumn Bingo Board too! My reading will go significantly down as school begins.
I am going… to my in-person bookclub this week! We are finally finished with Brideshead Revisited and I think it’s my turn to pick our next read! Now to narrow it down! I might make my friends read a Victorian novel 😈 with me since we are so close Victober! Or I could be nice and choose something lighter as we are all homeschooling moms. 🤔
I am wearing… probably my black pants and a Tshirt for the morning. It all depends if I end up lawn mowing today. The grass is super wet.
I am reading… a MILLION things. 🤭🫣 I always try to read too much right before school begins! 🙃 I really am trying to finish a few mysteries that I’m reading for the Keep Me in Suspense readthon. I’m super interested in finishing Moby Dick. You can’t read it fast, but over all I am loving it. The wordsmithing is top notch. I’m SO excited to be starting TheBrothers Karamazov with my daughter. I’ve heard amazing things about it. An online friend (hi, Elizabeth! 👋) recommended A Snicker of Magic and I just started this morning after reading my Bible and ADORED the writing of the first chapter. I’m also loving my reread of The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. The little granddaughter Sophia is sorta mean to my favorite character (the grandmother) 😖🥲 and that’s bothering more this time through. It’s so, soooo beautiful though! 😌🥹🥰
I am hoping… to continue my clothing purging project! I was so proud of myself for going through my socks & underwear. Ha. Now to my two younger boys! 😬🫣 My 12 yo grew significantly this year, so I want to make a list of needs to check for at thrift stores!
I am hearing… kids getting popsicles from dad for breakfast?! 🤭🫣😂🙃
Around the house… piles, piles, piles. 😒
One of my favorite things… my deck garden, Idlewild!
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week… Bookclub, continuing all my class prep for various autumn teaching responsibilities. Our own homeschool, homeschool Charlotte Mason co op, local mom’s homeschool group, and church teen girl’s group! Asking the Lord for peace and wisdom for all these things.
Here is a picture thought I am sharing for you…
How’s your week going? Anything coming up for you? What are you reading or creating? Anything neat you are watching or listening to?
Imagine that you’ve been spending the last few minutes watching a blue jay hide a cache of seeds in a tile roof. Or imagine that yesterday, out on a walk, you passed a dog barking angrily at you. Or think about a special time when you learned to roller-skate, the first time you went to the circus, or a day when a friend moved away.
All of these events are part of life-yours and mine-and when they happen there is always something inside of me that wants to turn what I see or hear into a poem. The picture stays in my mind long after the blue jay has flown away or the dog stops barking. I begin to search for the words that will form themselves to make a picture I can share with others, the words that will re-create themselves experience for someone else.
~Myra Cohn Livingston, Poem-Making Ways to Begin Writing Poetry
I’m furiously working on our homeschool coop lessons and am LOVING this book I found for our older students. It makes me want to prioritize my poetry writing again! ♥️How’s your homeschool prep coming along? Are you all looking forward to autumn? 🍂
It’s taken me until today (Friday) to feel a little more relaxed! 😌 I realized I was trying to “force” myself and the kiddos to relax. Ha. 🙃😂 We were able to pop into our lovely small local library and browse. A couple of my kids have been enjoying the summer reading program, so we picked up some more picture books. I’m sure missing my wonderful, curated living books which are packed away, as you know, for continued remodeling. I may treat myself later by pulling out a few bins of our history period we are studying this coming school year. It will satisfy my itch to be among my ‘friends’ for a little while. My 14 yo daughter chose after the library to get an iced matcha and my two boys chose ice cream from our little drive in diner. We love the local hippy coffee shop with cheerful vibes and the fun diner. Our area has SO much natural beauty, too, and we have a couple of places we plan to haunt soon.
Our lovely friends let us chrysalis babysit and we got to watch three Monarchs hatch this week. 😍♥️🌿🦋 Such a rewarding experience!
We spent the afternoon at a nearby lake and I truly felt myself relaxing. The cool wind and toasty sun, flickering through the trees was perfect. I’ve been wanting to reread my Summer Book by Susan Branch and I was able to slowly savor her lovely illustrations, quotes she collects, and recipes. I love her work so much! It made me excited to be a home keeper again. 😍☕️✨🌻 One of my favorite things was sitting on the fishing dock with the sun beating on me. The weather was perfect. We also saw a pair of Belted Kingfishers flying low over the water. 🥰🥰🥰🥰
I did a little journaling set up! I like doing little goals sheets, not religiously or anything, but to give myself a pretty way to track my habits etc that I’m continuing to work on. I’ve done these little symbol keys before! They are fun! ♥️
I made a massive Brain Dump List and some other to-do things because it helps me to focus and calm down without all that rattling around in my brain. I’m also figuring out a way of curating the quotes from my reading that I want to jot into my commonplace. I read a lot and mark my books up, but I want to figure out how to better choose quotes! I loved this video about recently on this topic. I’m letting Jane Austen’s Bookshelf simmer before choosing favorite quotes to add out of the ones I marked.
I’ve been on a Booktube watching break and it’s interesting how many other things I get done and how much actual reading I get in! 🤣 I finished The Opt-Out Family and I must say it may be so far one of my favorite things I’ve read this year. I’m going to slowly go back through it, as I want to note ideas and passages better. Highly recommend! ♥️✨
Finished my reread! Love Miss Austen so much! This isn’t a favorite of hers for me, but the 2nd half was such a wonderful character study. ♥️✨
Slowly catching my breath • little pockets of goodness • catching up with things and people needing attention • trying to press into the Lord’s peace~ ✨🌿☕️♥️
