This shop diary entry, much like my past posts will be a time capsule. It might be a little less jubilant than past entries, unfortunately. To say I’m drained after this week’s events would be an understatement. But this is a wrap up to reflect on October 2024 highlights, so I’ll do my best to reflect on last month’s reading, this month’s planned reading and business goals that have been achieved.
October 2024 Reads
October was a slow month for reading. I’ve been struggling with keeping up my momentum to read and write reviews for the site. My book reviews for September worked best when I took notes as I read, but I also found taking notes slowed down my reading progress. So it’s a catch-22. I’ll either need to rethink my reading goals for 2025 (to reduce the total) or try a new way to capture my thoughts in a timely manner.
Most Ardently was my favorite read of the month. It was a great audiobook to listen to. The narrator did a good job of inhabiting all of the characters and didn’t distract from the story, but rather enhanced the story with their voice acting. Typically I only listen to audiobooks for non-fiction titles, so I was really happy to have borrowed Most Ardently from the library as an audiobook. It can be hit or miss sometimes, highly recommend listening to audiobook samples before purchasing or borrowing from the library!
My other two reads for October were ARCs that I requested a few months ago. As I’ve said before I definitely need to read the ARCs when I first download/request them so that I’m truly in the mood to read them. Zodiac Rising and The Nightmare Before Kissmas were disappointing, for different reasons. I found Zodiac Rising to be too predictable, while The Nightmare Before Kissmas was overcomplicated. Both had political dramas as central tenants, only one of them seemed to need a political drama as a center point – Zodiac Rising. The Nightmare Before Kissmas, introduced drama and then dropped the ball with resolving the problem. AND it just ended like the writer forgot to come back to write the last chapter.
Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa
Alecia, Wallflower Bookshop Owner
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pride and Prejudice in any form is my weakness. So I knew it would take a lot for me to hate this book. The new perspective that Gabe Cole Novoa brings to the story was so lovely, original and I was in awe of the added value put into the story. I was really reminded of James by Percival Everett, another story where the author was able to find space in a classic to enrich and improve the tale.
November 2024 TBR List
Trying this one more time. Can I get back to reading 6 books a month? I’m going to believe that I can! Two of the books are audiobooks, so I’m hoping that will help me. Though, I’m writing this on November 9th and I should be nearly through 2 books at this point – and that’s definitely not the case…so, yeah.
Currently reading This Will Be Fun and The Message. Having fun escaping into This Will Be Fun – though, it would be nice if the grief of the main characters was mentioned a little less (insensitive of me, I know). I just feel like a twist is coming and I’m going to be upset with the conclusion if it comes to pass. There’s already been some foreshadowing and I don’t want it to happen. I’m definitely going to need to re-listen to The Message to help me write a coherent review. Multi-tasking while listening to a memoir, should not be done.
These last few ARCs I’m reading are the last of what I’ve requested for the year. Next year is going to be about reading backlists. Going to get through more of my TBR list.
Business Updates
October GOAL: make adjustments from first pop-up
I lined up another event in October and used the event to make adjustments to what I’d done for my first pop-up. Also, to give myself more time to focus on my pop-up event I took a look at my self-assigned tasks. Here are the updates I made in October:
- adjusted the editorial calendar to give myself more time to focus on events (looked at the algorithm to figure out what should stay and what should go)
- tried out a new newsletter format with Constant Contact – because WordPress’s newsletter formatting was becoming really frustrating
- for my second pop-up I pulled back on how many books I had on display (still working on the book quantities), reacting to customer requests in a more timely manner (i.e. the witch content debacle), and update signage to provide more information about our online presence
Business Goals FOR the rest of 2024:
- Applying to more Grants to secure funding
- Working on balancing my time. I recently started a new part-time job with the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, which is a great way to learn more about the bookselling industry – but having a “job” again is testing my ability to pivot. Lots of trying to figure out how to context switch over the last 3 weeks. It’s going to require practice, and I’m sure some weeks are going to be harder than others.
- Make sure I have more consistent events in 2025 – and I’ve started with signing up for bi-weekly events with a local farmers’ market through the end of 2024. Very exciting! It’s so great to be interacting in person with customers.
Subscribe to our newsletter to get monthly bookshop updates in your inbox.
Leave a Comment