Books Read in October

October was an interesting reading month for me. I had one book started (an audio with my husband) that we haven't finished yet, one book I set aside and decided not to finish (a rarity for me), and the rest spooky, creepy stuff to round out my RIP XI Challenge and the Halloween season!

So, it looks like I didn't read much, but it's a little misleading:

• A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (WI), adult fiction
• The Hunt by Megan Shepherd, teen/YA audio
• Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman (PA), adult audio fiction

• The River of Kings by Taylor Brown (GA), adult fiction (reviewed for another pub) 
• Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton (East Indies) - nonfiction - Did Not Finish
• The Drowning by Rachel Ward (UK) - teen/YA fiction

 
So, officially, I read just 5 1/2 books in October (I did review the unfinished one but won't count it in my total at the end of the year) and almost all of it was dark and creepy. I read one nonfiction and the rest fiction, with a mix of adult and teen/YA and two audiobooks. I think my favorite was The River of Kings (due for release in March), a unique novel that combined adventure, a modern-day family drama, suspense, and historical fiction.

Progress on 2016 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary - updating my Reading Challenges! I read 2 more TBR books in October for my Read Your Own Damn Books Challenge - that's a total of 19 so far this year (and many more to go). For the Monthly Motif Reading Challenge, October was (of course) Things That Go Bump in the Night month - most of my books last month fit, but I chose The Drowning since it involves a ghost. I added 1 new nonfiction book to my 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge, but no  classics for the 2016 Classics Challenge (I did start an Edgar Allen Poe book but didn't finish it until November). For my Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge, I added a book set in the East Indies. I am also tracking the states my books are set in, even though there is no Where Are You Reading challenge this year, and I added Wisconsin and Georgia last month. And I added 4 more books to my RIP XI Challenge, to finish it off with 8 total.

Finally, I filled 16 spaces on my monthly Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not my best month but not bad (you can join the fun any month without officially joining a challenge). Here's my Bingo card for October:

 

My books filled these spaces:

A Reliable Wife - Shelf-love book
The Hunt - Sci fi, diversity, new job
Girls on Fire - Monsters (I took that one figuratively), troubled teen, character who reads, sarcasm, cop/fireman
The River of Kings - free book
Nathaniel's Nutmeg - Diary/journal, library book, illness
The Drowning - Ghost, nurse/doctor
Free space

What was your favorite book read in October? Did you read dark & creepy stuff, too?