Month in Review: October

Happy November everyone, aka, the time in which it is actually acceptable to start talking about Christmas. I have already seen my first Christmas commercial and I am just so excited!! Here's what I got up to in October:

What I Read:

The Glass Castle by: Jeannette Walls: 5/5 stars
Othello by: William Shakespeare: 3/5 stars
Top Ten by: Kate Cotugno: 4/5 stars
Turtles All the Way Down by: John Green: 3/5 stars
When Breath Becomes Air by: Paul Kalanithi: 4/5 stars

Favourite book: Definitely and wholeheartedly The Glass Castle. I remember my mom reading this book years ago, and it was just fantastic. Heartbreaking, but also motivating, uplifting, and inspiring. It doesn't read like a non-fiction at all and is just spectacular.

What I Blogged:

I got back to doing discussion posts this month! Check out Why I Don't Cry When Reading Books 

Favourite Blog Posts:

Cee talks Presumed Innocence and Believing Victims 
Veronika dives deep into the Life of the Blood Countess Elizabeth Bathory
Cait talks about Her Debut Novel!

Life Stuff:

Oh gosh, the beginning of this month was a breeze, nothing major to report, but the end, that's when things got way out of control.

Basically, my grandfather was vacationing in the US when he fell off of a 6 foot ledge and onto pavement. We first thought that it was nothing serious, as the hospital in the US said that all x-rays were clear and discharged him. But he was in excruciating pain. We ended up taking him back to Toronto to the hospital there, and what we found out was astonishing.

His head was basically hanging onto his spinal cord by a thread, at any moment in the car ride home it could have snapped and he would have died right then and there. He was extremely lucky to be alive. They did emergency surgery which would basically decide his fate, and THANKFULLY, everything went well. The surgeon said it was the most complicated surgery of his life. We were scared of paralysis, but he is now slowly learning to walk again and he can talk and feed himself. It will be a long road of rehab ahead, and he will never be able to drive again, but he is alive, and that is all that matter's.

It really shocked my entire family and all of us came home and spent the entire weekend with him. It was just really astonishing that the hospital in the US didn't find anything. But anyways, we're just looking towards the future. He is making such a fast recovery for somebody who could have died just weeks ago, it's a miracle.

On a better note, how was your October? Did you do anything fun for Halloween?

Emily @ Paperback Princess