lately with lila october 2024 | slow & spooky

Hey there, friends, it’s me again! Happy Election Day to all my fellow Americans, I hope you don’t find today too anxiety inducing (although I know here in the Washington, D.C. area we are all quivering with excitement and nerves whilst waiting to find out who our new presidential “neighbor” will be). Anyhoo, US elections aside, I hope you’re all doing well, and if not then I hope brighter days head your way soon! Sorry I kinda did a bit of a vanishing act for October, the month was a tad busy for me and it kept me from reading and blogging a lot. Nevertheless, I did manage to consume some good entertainment media and to have a bit of fun, so let’s check out exactly what went down!

what i posted

what i’m currently reading

I’m still meandering my way through A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft, but I’m definitely enjoying the slow journey. I’m about 60% of the way through the book and just reached a major plot point, which is intriguing considering there’s still 40% of the book left. I also gotta say: I’m loving the slooooow burn of the academic rivals-to-lovers romance in the novel. It’s definitely not the focus of the story, but it feels well-paced and authentic, which I feel like is rare for romances and romantic subplots these days.

I also started reading A Dark and Secret Magic by Wallis Kinney about a week before Halloween (which was very timely), and so far I’m really enjoying it! It’s a semi-cozy, witchy, contemporary romantasy, as far as I can tell? I haven’t gotten too far into it, but it’s been fun!

what i plan on reading

Honestly, I don’t have many bookish plans for November aside from finishing the books I was reading in October. *sigh* Such is the life of a slow reader…

what i watched

After literal years of waiting for and anticipating its release, I finally got to watch Agatha All Along! So far I’ve watched episodes 1 – 5 of the series, and I’m happy to say that I’m really enjoying it!! I loved everything about WandaVision back when I first watched it, and Agatha was such a vivid part of that miniseries that I immediately knew I’d love to see more of her character. Fortunately, I was correct in that assessment! I loved learning more about Agatha and getting to see her interact with people beyond the WandaVision-verse. Although Agatha All Along is a vastly different style of series from WandaVision, I found myself loving it just as much.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

what i listened to

In addition to listening to my monthly playlist, I also got back into listening to the Books Unbound podcast and instantly remembered how much I enjoy it! Listening to the hosts, Ariel and Raeleen, talk about books honestly feels like gabbing with friends, even though I have drastically different reading tastes from both of them. I’ve been following Ariel and Raeleen for about ten or eleven years now, since back when both were popular booktubers, and over the years they’ve become two of my dearest “comfort creators.” I’m so glad the two are still good friends and decided to create Books Unbound together, as listening to/watching the podcast has been a great way for me to relax!

what i bookmarked

for bookworms

Cornelia Powers wrote a great piece for Literary Hub entitled “The Tyranny of the Best-Of List: On Navigating Book Lists with OCD“

Athena discussed the fascinating topic of how different fantasy novels deal with the topic of death

24hryabookblog wrote about ARCs, reading culture, book reviews, and books as a “commodity”

My fellow book blogger Marie’s debut novel finally hit the shelves!!!

Caro continued her bookish astrology series with books for Libra placements

Louise shared Black horror books on her October TBR

Veronica paired werewolf books and music, as well as vampire books and music, ghost books and music, and witchy books and music

Olivia explored what fantasy stories can teach us about cozy homemaking (Video)

Elle recommended a hundred new horror novels

Tiana wondered, “is the horror genre dying?“

Ally did a deep dive into romantasy (Video)

Cornelia rounded up ten spooky books for autumn 2024

The reader at Bookishcore suggested perfect October reads

Kari shared how to do pilates while you read (Video)

Alicia highlighted Latine-authored anthologies

Chiara shined a light on underrated romance novels to cozy up with this fall and books to read while sipping pumpkin spice lattes, as well as spooky YA books for Halloween season

Living for Literature walked us through an explanation of the alternate history subgenre

Lou talked about her favorite books with LGBT+ representation

Ellyn showed off more of her bookish Pinterest boards

Elle explained the importance of horror

Caro gave us some spooky book recommendations

Maria shared enchanting and mysterious reads on her fall TBR

Abi documented reading the hyped book The Serpent and the Wings of Night, as well as her 24 hour readathon experience

Becca shared a beginner’s guide to reading classics (Video)

Alice suggested some books featuring ghosts (Video)

Caley spotlighted books to awaken your inner witch (Video)

the pumkin files ranted about the horrible vampire books she’s read (Video)

Meg attempted to read every book by a Real Housewife (Video)

Azhangia shed light on must read books for autumn (Video)

Chandler talked the state of Kindle Unlimited romantasy (Video)

Krysta talked about not missing being involved in bookish hype and discussed the point of writing when we have AI

Elli recommended perfect books for rainy days or spooky nights

Liv showed off books about houses haunted by more than just ghosts

Charlotte shared books on her TBR that appear to no longer be releasing

Aria listed books for thought daughters

Jillian remembered books she was assigned to read in school

Stephen groused about the most hateable book characters

Caesar recommended books similar to Disney+’s Agatha All Along

Becky gave us book recommendations for fantasy readers who want to jump into horror

Sophie showed off her favorite non-fantasy books, gave us a beginner’s guide to adult fantasy, and documented how many ebooks she could read in 24 hours

Problematic FMC asked, “what even is ‘literary fiction’?” (Podcast + Transcript)

Anna explained what makes a book scary in her eyes

Eustacia reviewed her stay in a book-themed Japanese hotel

Meeghan highlighted all the books Isaac reads in the Heartstopper Tv series adaptation

Simone shared vampire books for Halloween

Emma recommended the best books to read for Halloween

Jenna talked about her family read of Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar

Emma showed off 35 books celebrating Puerto Rico and its cultural heritage

for fun

sarahserif explored the world of American Girl‘s Samantha Parkington (Video)

Babbity Kate brought us an even longer deep dive into American Girl’s Samantha Parkington (Video)

More American Girl shenanigans went down as Julia Christina tried living like Molly McIntire (Video)

what i did in october 2024

October was a mix of a hectic and chill month, weirdly enough 😅 First up, we had our annual Section 8 home inspection, which was incredibly stressful. In preparation, my mom and I deep cleaned our entire house, and it was so much work. Fortunately, we managed to get everything squared away and passed the inspection, so we’re all set for another year. The only downside is that deep cleaning the house triggered my allergies and asthma and I’ve been hacking and wheezing ever since. I finally recently went to see my doctor about my allergies and asthma because it had gotten so bad, and they gave me some medication to clear it up. Fingers crossed that it works!

Then, I also went to a Turkish cultural festival in D.C. with my good friend and had a great time. We brought some food with us and had a little picnic of sorts on the National Mall before heading over to the festival, where there was lots of music and dancing and more food and a bazaar. It was so much fun to wander around and exerience all of the sights, sounds, and smells of a different culture!

Last but certainly not least, at the end of the month I performed in my choir concert. I had such a fun time and my solo went really well! The local high school and middle school choirs performed with us, and it was so cute to see all the kids have fun singing too.

what i’m hoping for in november 2024

This November promises to be slightly more interesting than usual as my 30th birthday falls exactly on Thanksgiving this year. I don’t have any birthday plans as of yet, but I’m hoping to make it special somehow. I am planning on getting together with friends over the fall break, though, so I’m looking forward to that.

spill the beans, friends!

• How was your October?
• Did you read, watch, or listen to anything memorable?
• What are your plans for the upcoming November?