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October, October
October, October | Katya Balen
317 posts | 4 read | 21 to read
A classic in the making for anyone who ever longed to be WILD. October and her dad live in the woods. They sleep in the house Dad built for them and eat the food they grow in the vegetable patches. They know the trees and the rocks and the lake and stars like best friends. They read the books they buy in town again and again until the pages are soft and yellow until next year's town visit. They live in the woods and they are wild. And that's the way it is. Until the year October turns eleven. That's the year October rescues a baby owl. It's the year Dad falls out of the biggest tree in their woods. The year the woman who calls herself October's mother comes back. The year everything changes. Written in Katya Balen's heart-stoppingly beautiful style, this book is a feast for the senses, filled with the woodsmoke smell of crisp autumn mornings and the sound of wellies squelching in river mud. And, as October fights to find the space to be wild in the whirling chaos of the world beyond the woods, it is also a feast for the soul.
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bookandbedandtea
October, October | Katya Balen
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I'm caught up. I can barely believe there are only 2 months left. 🙀

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StayCurious
October, October | Katya Balen
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For the first time in a long time I had a good reading month! I whipped through Megan O‘Brien‘s Talon Security and Ride Series 2nd Generation- I couldn‘t get enough. But I think my favourite read of the month was The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches that I read with #LittensLoveRomance - Hoping to keep up the reading momentum this month.

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DGRachel
October, October | Katya Balen
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16 books finished for October and very few were spooky season reads. Oops. In my defense, though, there was a surprise new Smiley, and that overrides just about all other considerations.

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ElizaMarie
October, October | Katya Balen
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Great things this month!
#OctoberReCap

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DGRachel
October, October | Katya Balen
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I‘ll do my official wrap up later, but I keep up with my #bookspin board all month. I bailed halfway through my bookspin, didn‘t get to the #doublespin, but still managed a #bookspinbingo by 7:30 last night.

SilversReviews Love the ghosts!! 3w
TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Fantastic month!! 3w
26 likes2 comments
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kelli7990
October, October | Katya Balen
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I had 67 Netgalley books on my Oct TBR. I read 9 of them and then on Oct 25, my dog passed away and I decided to mood read for the rest of the month. There was no way I was going to read all 67 books on my Oct TBR and a lot of them were nonfiction books. Nonfiction requires more brain power and I‘m not in the mood for that anymore so I‘m going to mood read in Nov and probably in Dec too just so I can read whatever I want.

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kelli7990
October, October | Katya Balen
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Here‘s what my October TBR looks like now at the end of the month. I implemented my color coding system again. After my dog Toppy passed away on 10/25, I added a new section called Not Right Now which means I‘ll read the books later but not right now. I‘m not in the right headspace for nonfiction anymore. This was too much. This is 67 books. There was no way I was going to read all of these books this month.

kelli7990 Now, I get to ghost my Netgalley TBR and mood read. My Netgalley ratio sucks and I‘m going to be letting a lot of publishers down because I won‘t be reading and reviewing the ARCs but I need more time and I have too many ARCs to read. I just don‘t think I‘m in the mood to read my ARCs right now but the publishers can wait. Right? Surely, they‘ll understand. (edited) 3w
18 likes1 comment
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Kshakal
October, October | Katya Balen
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🤓🤓🤓

LeslieO ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅ 1mo
KadaGul 💯 💯 💯 💯🫶 1mo
44 likes3 comments
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Suzze
October, October | Katya Balen
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I‘m so behind! I think I missed this totally the last month or two. Here‘s my list for October. I didn‘t look at which numbers were spun, so I‘m off to find out. Wish me luck, there are a couple I‘m hoping for.
#readyourkindle OCTOBER

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kelli7990
October, October | Katya Balen
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Here‘s my list of Netgalley ARCs I have to read in October. A lot of them are Read Now books. This is more than I had to read last month. This is 67 books. Can I read them all this month? I don‘t know if I‘ll be able to read all of them this month but I‘ll try my best. This is more than what I read in a month. I downloaded all of them so I can still read them if they get archived. I definitely overcommitted to ARCs but I want to read them all.

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Gissy
October, October | Katya Balen
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I died when I saw the books you picked, so perfect for this season. Loooove the books. I saved the stickers because someone, daughter, wanted them but they will be part of my journal, so pretty. The candle smells so good😌and the tumbler was also saved, daughter again😆that means that we found it so pretty as well as the bookmark and card. Thank you so much @julieclair for this beautiful #FFF box. I love every single item🥰🍁🤎🍂🧡🍁💛

Avanders ♥️♥️🍁🍎🍂 it‘s so nice that you and your daughter enjoy opening these together! At 7, buggy still enjoys opening the packages with me too 😁😘😘 2mo
Gissy @Avanders Yes, my daughter is chronologically an adult but she has some limitations which means that I have a child/teenage/adult all together in one amazing person😂 2mo
See All 8 Comments
Avanders Aww sounds pretty nice and probably fun (though surely sometimes challenging ;)) to have it all together! 🥰♥️ 2mo
julieclair I‘m so glad you liked everything, and that there were some items your daughter loved as well. Double win! 🧡🧡🧡 2mo
Chrissyreadit 🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡 2mo
Gissy @julieclair Yes! Those tea flavors are so good😋 2mo
Gissy @Avanders Challenges? Yes😅 2mo
35 likes8 comments
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Gissy
October, October | Katya Balen
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My beautiful wrapped #FFF box from @julieclair 😍

My daughter opened the box...of course😂and some of those pretty stickers were “recycled” on her water bottle🤣

The gifts were so beautiful wrapped that I thought they deserved a post🧡🧡🧡

I‘m drinking at this moment one of those delicious tea, pumpkin spice 👌😋

@Chrissyreadit @Avanderd

TheBookHippie 🍁🍂♥️🍁🍂 2mo
julieclair 🧡🧡🧡 I‘m glad these made you smile! And I love that your daughter was able to reuse the stickers! 2mo
Chrissyreadit 🍁🧡🍁🧡🍁🧡 2mo
Gissy @julieclair ☺️ 2mo
33 likes4 comments
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DGRachel
October, October | Katya Balen
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I am too impatient to wait for the #bookspin numbers to create my October TBR. This is mostly library books and buddy/bookclub reads, with space holders for #bookspin and #doublespin. I have my official list and I couldn‘t help myself - I created a second list of just spooky season reads and will have unofficial bookspin and doublespin books, too.
EDIT: updated with bookspin/doublespin selections

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Kshakal
October, October | Katya Balen
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Looking forward to this month‘s tbr!! 🤓

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Kshakal
October, October | Katya Balen
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September went by in a blink of an eye… here is to October and spooky season! #wickedwhispers @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eggs Thank you Kerri 💞 2mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thank you 🖤 2mo
25 likes2 comments
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MatchlessMarie
October, October | Katya Balen
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Part of my October TBR. Will post my #ReadYourKindle list next. #BookSpin #HauntedShelf #SkeletonCrew 👻

Emilymdxn I really hope you love paybacks a witch! 2mo
PuddleJumper 💜💜 2mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2mo
MatchlessMarie Also apparently I can‘t count so I just added a free space for number 5 lol 2mo
37 likes4 comments
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rachelsbrittain
October, October | Katya Balen
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Sharing in case anyone wants a fun October themed bingo game! #OctoberBookBingo

julesG Looks fun. I'm giving it a try. 2mo
22 likes1 comment
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OutsmartYourShelf
October, October | Katya Balen
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My list for October's #ReadYourKindle I only managed 1 read from September but it turned out to be a really good read.

@CBee

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Yuki_Onna
October, October | Katya Balen
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1. right now - reread of American Gods by Neil Gaiman
🍂🍁🍂
2. Chai Latte, Pumpkin Spice everything - coffee, latte, muffins, pancakes...
🎃🥧🎃🧋
3. long walks, scattering nuts for animals, watching spooky movies, spooky reads, Litsy swaps and games
🍂🍁🍂
4. Pumpkin Spice!
🧡🎃🧡
#HauntedShelf #HexesandCrows #Halloween #autumn

julieclair I love how you list Litsy swaps and games as a fall tradition! It‘s really true! 2mo
Catsandbooks Pumpkin pancakes sound absolutely perfect! 2mo
30 likes2 comments
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5feet.of.fury
October, October | Katya Balen
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#hauntedshelf TBR
#bookspinbingo
@PuddleJumper @Jadams89 #FrightClub
The spooky, the stabby and the supernatural. Can‘t wait!
🧡💀🧛🏼👹🎃

Jadams89 Great list 👻💚 2mo
PuddleJumper Can't forget the stabby! 🔪🔪 2mo
BarkingMadRead Love the background! 2mo
35 likes3 comments
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Charityann
October, October | Katya Balen
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Here‘s my ambitious TBR for October! There are multiple readathons and bingos I‘m participating in, including #hauntedshelf -you can still sign up for that here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe7g2cbAys_w6B9G5HHloV6kRr1yQvXVOptseGn...

Also, you can check out my blog post if interested to see the readathons I‘m participating in this fall.⬇️

47 likes2 comments
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robinb
October, October | Katya Balen
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The #birthdayfairies are excited to celebrate this lineup of awesome Littens on their special days next month!

Want a little extra #birthdaylove on YOUR special day?

Send your name, Litsy handle and birthdate to litsybirthdays@gmail.com , and add some extra celebration to your day. 🎉

🎈💜🎈💜🎈💜🎈💜🎈💜🎈💜

squirrelbrain ❤️🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉 2mo
julesG 🥳🥳🥳 2mo
42 likes2 comments
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Yuki_Onna
October, October | Katya Balen
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My October TBR list. I have no chance of reading them all as I'm a slow reader, but those are the ones I'm excited about and am going to be choosing from.
I made a list of 48, as that's 24x2 and therefore fits for the #TwinPeaksReadingChallenge

The first 20 are my #Bookspin list for #October
I'm also participating in #Spookoween
#31by31 with the goal of reading at least 31 hours in October,
#GottaCatchEmAll and #PumpkabooHunt
🍂🍁🎃🍂🍁🎃

TheSpineView Good luck and just enjoy! 🖤🎃🧡📖 2mo
julieclair I actually enjoy having a list that‘s impossibly long! It gives me flexibility and freedom of choice. 😉 2mo
See All 8 Comments
PuddleJumper 🎃🎃 Longer lists give you more freedom for mood reads! 2mo
Librarybelle Yay!! 2mo
Yuki_Onna @julieclair @PuddleJumper That\'s the secret plan behind this list 😉 I\'m a huge mood reader 😊🎃 2mo
Catsandbooks This is awesome! 🙌🏼🐦‍⬛🧡 2mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 2mo
28 likes8 comments
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LiseWorks
October, October | Katya Balen
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julieclair I love that you‘re doing these ahead of time! 👍 2mo
23 likes1 comment
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LitsyEvents
October, October | Katya Balen
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Repost for @LitsyBirthdays

“October! October!
There‘s magic in the name-
A clear sky, a blue sky,
And sunsets all aflame.” -D. Maitland Bushby

The #birthdayfairies are excited to celebrate this lineup of awesome Littens on their special days next month!

See original post at https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2776594

AnnCrystal Happy Birthday Littens 📚🎂🍰🥳💫💝. 2mo
40 likes1 comment
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LitsyBirthdays
October, October | Katya Balen
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“October! October!
There‘s magic in the name-
A clear sky, a blue sky,
And sunsets all aflame.” -D. Maitland Bushby

The #birthdayfairies are excited to celebrate this lineup of awesome Littens on their special days next month!
Want a little extra #birthdaylove on YOUR special day?

Send your name, Litsy handle and birthdate to litsybirthdays@gmail.com , and add some extra celebration to your day. 🎉

🎈💜🎈💜🎈💜🎈💜🎈💜🎈💜

robinb 🎁🎂🎁🎂🎁🎂🎁 2mo
BarbaraJean Look at that all-star Litten birthday lineup!! 🎉 🎂 🎉 🎂 🎉 2mo
squirrelbrain 🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉❤️ 2mo
See All 6 Comments
julesG 🎉🎂🎊🎉🎊🎂🎊 2mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Happy birthday 🎊🎂🎁🎈🎉 2mo
BookmarkTavern Happy birthday! 🎈🎂🎁 🎊 2mo
30 likes6 comments
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DebinHawaii
October, October | Katya Balen
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Thanks to #Scarathlon I had a very productive reading month for October. Still working on my event totals to be posted tonight.

I finished 34 books which included 9 audiobooks, 3 children‘s books, 4 horror anthologies, a short story & 3 leadership books for work.

Standouts were The Change, Hemlock Island, Slewfoot, Weyward, The Ivy Tree & The Viper‘s Nest (the latest book in the Sam Quinn series).

I will be posting my November TBR soon.

Andrew65 Awesome 👏👏👏 13mo
Clwojick Such a colourful spread of books! Well done! 🖤🖤🖤 13mo
40 likes2 comments
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Andrew65
October, October | Katya Balen
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October was a very up and down month for me. A great start, a poor ending and not much consistency.

I did finish 32 books for #Scarathlon and on a positive note read over a 1000 pages more than for #Scarathlon2022

Happy to reach November and get in to some different genre of books, once I finish the 1 book unfinished from October.

Thanks to my team #Magicalmonsters and everyone for the support, hope to post my totals tomorrow @Laughterhp

Laughterhp Wow! 32 books! Great job! 13mo
Read4life Great job! 🍁👻🎃 Thanks for participating in #Falling4Books 13mo
See All 11 Comments
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 13mo
Andrew65 @Read4life Thanks for hosting 😍 I will do my final posting for it tomorrow, been a busy day. 13mo
Andrew65 @Laughterhp Thanks. At halfway I was on track for 35 but things got in the way. 13mo
Andrew65 @TheAromaofBooks Thanks 😁 13mo
TheSpineView Still an excellent month! 13mo
AnnR @Andrew65 - That's a great month of reading! Really! It was fun being on the same scarathlon team. 🎃🎉👍😍📚 13mo
Catsandbooks Awesome job! 👏🏼 🧡🖤 13mo
DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 13mo
80 likes11 comments
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kelli7990
October, October | Katya Balen
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I‘m sharing the stuff I received in the mail in October.

Photo 1 - Preordered from Barnes & Noble
Photo 2 - Preordered from Barnes & Noble
Photo 3 - Book sent to me by Riverhead Books
Photo 4 - Preordered from Barnes & Noble
Photo 5 - Ordered this Evergreen Trail Journal from Taylor Bradshaw with creative exercises in it. I‘m looking forward to trying them out. I want to start writing again. I used to write and I enjoyed it.

kelli7990 (Continued in comments) Photo 6 - Ordered this Evergreen Bundle from Taylor Bradshaw that includes a personalized journal with my name on it and pressed flowers inside, the Evergreen Sessions signed cd, a teabag and some cool postcards 13mo
9 likes1 comment
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TheBookgeekFrau
October, October | Katya Balen
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Ugh what a Horrible reading month 😣 First a sick toddler, then a sick household, then me with a damn sinus infection all adds up to a LOT of time laying on the couch binging Cake Boss and almost no reading 😔

bookandbedandtea Oh no! I hope you're all feeling better now. 💗 13mo
TheBookgeekFrau @bookandbedandtea The younger half certainly are 😂 Me and the Mr. are almost there 💕 13mo
bookandbedandtea Figures! 😒 I'm glad you're *almost recovered 😊 13mo
See All 6 Comments
TheBookgeekFrau @bookandbedandtea Thank you 😊😊 13mo
bthegood Glad everyone starting to feel better 🙂 13mo
TheBookgeekFrau @bthegood Thank you 😊 13mo
20 likes6 comments
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BarbaraBB
October, October | Katya Balen
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#OctoberStats

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
The Young Man
All the Acorns on the Forest Floor

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hotel Iris
I Have Some Questions for You
Do You Remember Being Born?
Monsieur Linh and his Child

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Walking the Americas
When we Fell Apart

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Diary of a Void
Binti

⭐️⭐️✨
We Were Liars

DNF
The Flame Throwers
Should we Stay or Should we Go
Land of Milk and Honey

CatMS I really liked "We Were Liars" unexpected ending. 13mo
Megabooks So glad you loved Acorns too! 13mo
BarbaraBB @Megabooks Really loved it 🥰 I am on the lookout to read more by her 13mo
67 likes3 comments
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kelli7990
October, October | Katya Balen
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Today, I‘m sharing the books I read and what I watched this month. I used Fable for my reading wrap-up and used the Likewise app for my movie wrap-up. I participated in #scarathlon for the first time this year and I had so much fun. I‘m looking forward to next year. I feel like it got me in the Halloween spirit.

Books I DNF‘d

🎃The Amish Matchmakers - Beth Wiseman

🎃Crimson Lake - Candice Fox

#HHC

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Emilymdxn
October, October | Katya Balen
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One of my bucket list items for #scarathlon was getting new stationery in autumn colours and I worried these wouldn‘t arrive in time but here they are! #sleletoncrew

IndoorDame Cute!!! 13mo
38 likes1 comment
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Gissy
October, October | Katya Balen
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#Scarathlon photo challenge Day 16
#October
This is a way to express what this month represents to me....scary spooky read, Yes 👻

I received this print this month for my birthday from @Chrissyreadit loved it!!! 😍

Chrissyreadit 🖤🖤🖤 13mo
25 likes1 comment
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SomedayAlmost
October, October | Katya Balen
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Outstanding October Read-a-thon-28 hours. (Kid‘s books not pictured.) Considering the kind of month I have had, not so bad. #readathon #Scarathlon #spookybooks #TeamWhoYaGonnaCall

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BeckyWithTheGoodBooks
October, October | Katya Balen
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This middle grade novel about a girl named October living in the woods with dad. When her dad is injured, she has to go live in London with her mom. I‘m definitely adding it to my Scarathlon 2024 TBR! #scarathlonphotochallenge #october #blackcatcrew

BookwormAHN Good plan 🐈‍⬛️ 13mo
18 likes1 comment
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peanutnine
October, October | Katya Balen
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Lin3han
October, October | Katya Balen
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A double photo for #scarathlon #photochallenge and painting a ghost canvas! I had so much fun doing this for my bullet journal! #creepinitreal #cir

TheBookHippie This is wonderful ! 13mo
StayCurious Oooh I love this! 13mo
Lin3han @StayCurious thank you! 13mo
Lin3han @TheBookHippie thank you!! 13mo
13 likes4 comments
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SomedayAlmost
October, October | Katya Balen
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October at a farm near us in Mass. Photo challenge: October. #Scarathlon #photoprompt #TeamWhoYaGonnaCall

FlynnDewey I bet it smelled wonderful in that tent. Very autumny. 13mo
17 likes1 comment
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Bookworm54
October, October | Katya Balen
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I hadn‘t heard of this book before looking for some #ScarathlonPhotoChallenge inspiration, but it sounds great! And not only is #October in the title, it is the MCs name!

Another one to add to my tbr 😂

#Scarathlon #MagicalMonsters

36 likes2 stack adds
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vonnie862
October, October | Katya Balen
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dabbe 🧡🖤🧡 13mo
26 likes1 comment
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BarkingMadRead
October, October | Katya Balen
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This month‘s page in my Christmas Countdown calendar. #scarathlonphotochallenge #october #teamcryptkeepers

AnnR Interesting traditions.🕷🕸 13mo
31 likes1 comment
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Chrissyreadit
October, October | Katya Balen
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#scarathlon A compilation for points: 2 items from my bucket list- Halloween clothes, Fall train ride with my mom and Owen- this was Oct 1st- leaves were still pretty green- and our train had a table for our picnic. Watched Rosemary‘s Baby- (i‘ve watched a few other movies but forget to take pictures) Also 433. words for week 2 game. #hhc

dabbe 🖤🧡🖤 13mo
Gissy 🍂🍁🤎🧡💛🤎 13mo
63 likes2 comments
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Littlewolf1
October, October | Katya Balen
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I‘ve been on vacation so I‘ve got lots of things to post, so definitely more to come. However, wanted to start with the fact that I have received both my #HauntedHollowSwap and #AllHallowsReadSwap. I will be shipping right now before the end of the week for both.

wanderinglynn Yay! 🎃👻🧡 13mo
13 likes1 comment
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RainyDayReading
October, October | Katya Balen
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Stack for #OutstandingOctober this is definitely ambitious but I hope to get through as many of these as I can. The stack is so big because I‘m not sure what exactly I‘ll feel like picking up but these are all possibilities. Seems like I‘m forever trying to get through library books so I can read the books I actually own 😅 #magicalmonsters @Andrew65

AnnR Wow, that's quite a stack. Good luck! I understand what you mean about library books versus the ignored books we own. There are just so many choices and limited time to read. 🙂 13mo
Andrew65 Great to have you with us, good luck 😁 Impressed with your reading stack. 13mo
31 likes2 comments
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CloakNQuill
October, October | Katya Balen
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@TheAromaofBooks October #BookspinBingo
I'll make the board some time tomorrow.
HAPPY OCTOBER 🧡🍁👻

TheAromaofBooks Yay!!! 14mo
17 likes1 comment
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Kristelh
October, October | Katya Balen
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TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 14mo
9 likes1 comment
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BookwormAHN
October, October | Katya Balen
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#OctoberPhotoADay
October 1st Hello October
#Scarathlon #BlackCatCrew

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AllDebooks
October, October | Katya Balen
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My favourite month always leads to daydreams of ditching society and retiring to a woodland glade where I can fully embrace my wild side.

LiseWorks What a beautiful place and photo 14mo
AnnCrystal 💕😍👍 gorgeous. 14mo
42 likes2 comments