intertextu[allie]ties | issue 4

what I read, watched, and listened to in october 2024 (plus a new excerpt from my novel-in-progress!)

hello, dear reader.

As my grandmother’s beloved Lucy Maud Montgomery famously wrote, “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” 🍂

This month is autumn at its zenith, the season’s crown of burnished gold and ruby. And, like the leaves, life has regained some of the colour it lost in September. I queried some new literary agents for my debut novel; Michael and I started ballroom dance lessons; and I got back into the creative writing groove. 

While all the above kept me fairly busy, I still found the time to read, watch, and listen to some great art – like a Halloween-inspired music mashup I had on replay for weeks and a historical mystery novel set in the Adirondacks that kept me gripped from start to finish. Read on for my October recommendations! 

✍️ Allie

Some of the books, movies, and music that kept me company this month!

All reviews are out of five stars.  

This month, I read 3 books:

1. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | As soon I saw this book described as “the family dynamics of Succession meets the intrigue of Liane Moriarty,” I knew I had to read it. When Barbara Van Laar, the misunderstood teenage daughter of a prominent Adirondack family, goes missing in the summer of 1975, it looks suspiciously like another disappearance – that of Barbara’s older brother, Bear, who vanished under similar circumstances fourteen years earlier. Threading together multiple points of view, The God of the Woods is an ambitious novel that blends mystery and historical fiction with domestic thriller and police procedural elements to create something truly spellbinding. Clocking in at fourteen-and-a-half hours (which translates to nearly 500 pages), this is officially the longest audiobook I’ve listened to! 

2. Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World by Eve Rodsky | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 | Eve Rodsky’s first book, Fair Play, laid out an innovative system for rebalancing household responsibilities to promote more equitable partnerships and free up more time for all. She soon heard, however, that individuals still reported feeling like something was missing. This led Rodsky to discover that the answer to this call within oneself is creativity and it is essential to everyone’s wellbeing. She dubs this critical time we must all take for ourselves “Unicorn Space,” which Rodsky defines as “the active pursuit of creative self-expression doing the thing that makes you uniquely you.” Despite the cutesy name, Rodsky makes a compelling case for why we should all prioritize Unicorn Space and provides a clear roadmap for how to build it into your life – including solutions to the various hurdles, internal and external, that keep us from claiming our Unicorn Space.

3. Graveyard Shift by M. L. Rio | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | M. L. Rio’s 2017 debut novel If We Were Villains became my entire personality the summer I first read it. Now, seven years later, Rio is back. Graveyard Shift, a novella (are novellas having a comeback?), follows a ragtag group of five insomniacs who enjoy a nightly smoke in the local college’s cemetery. One evening, they discover a freshly dug hole that wasn’t there the night before, drawing them into a nocturnal investigation that sheds light on some of the strange occurrences that have been happening around town these past few weeks… While this has many of the modern Gothic underpinnings that I loved so much in If We Were Villains, I found myself wishing by the end of Graveyard Shift that it had been tightened up into a short story or expanded into a novel. Either way, it just made me that much hungrier for Rio’s next offering!

All reviews are out of five stars. 

This month, I watched 8 movies – none of which really blew me away. Even though I gave The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance four and a half stars out of five because it was an objectively great picture (and Jimmy Stewart’s voice is like chicken soup for my soul), I don’t think it will join my all-time favourites list.  

1. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 | Full review. 

2. Shall We Dance? (2004)* | ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 | Full review. 

3. On the Town (1949) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Full review. 

4. Black Hawk Down (2001) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Full review. 

5. Trap (2024) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Full review. 

6. Practical Magic (1998) | ⭐️⭐️.5 | Full review. 

7. Restrepo (2010) | ⭐️⭐️ | Full review.

8. Killer Heat (2024) | ⭐️⭐️ | Full review. 

Here’s hoping November is a stronger month at the movies! 🍿 

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Although I’m currently watching three shows (season seven of Love Is Blind, season two of Industry, and season seven of The Great Canadian Baking Show) and am veeeeeeery close to finishing two of them, I didn’t complete any this month and therefore cannot truly review them. That said, I am enjoying this season of Industry so much more than the first and The Great Canadian Baking Show is delightful as always. 🧑‍🍳

When I love a song, I can listen to it on repeat for days, sometimes weeks, at a time. For instance, I had “I’m Just Ken” on a loop for almost the entire summer of 2023. (It was, incidentally, number one on my “Top Songs of 2023” Spotify Wrapped playlist). 

This month, I discovered a mega mashup featuring a litany of modern pop hits like “Look What You Made Me Do” by Taylor Swift and “Unholy” by Sam Smith and Kim Petras to name a few – all connected by none other than the Phantom of the Opera title song. Feast your ears! 🎧🔊🎶

Honourable mentions include two other mashups that make use of that iconic Phantom theme: 🦄 this one mixes it with Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” while 🔥 this one blends it with Lady Gaga’s “Judas.”

At last, I managed to shake my post-COVID brain fog and pick up my proverbial pen again. In more good news on the writing front, a group application I submitted along with two other writers for a one-week residency at the beautiful Jampolis Cottage (isn’t it pretty?) was accepted! So, I have seven full days of distraction-free writing in this idyllic setting waiting patiently for me in January 2025. 🎉

Until then, I offer you an excerpt from a chapter of my novel-in-progress that I wrote in October:

“Oh?” It takes Dr. Khan an impressively short time to school his expression into polite curiosity, the sharp surprise that appeared on his face gone in a blink. “How did you meet, then?” 

“It’s…” Erik swallows, the events of last night feeling dream-like in the light of day. His fingers flex nervously on his knees. He’s afraid his therapist will point out something he missed that will make meeting Christine into an event that is, somehow, not the best thing that’s happened to him in a long time.

At last, he settles on, “Complicated.” 

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October memories: Corgi cuddles 🍁 Apple picking 🍁 A walk with friends

With November right around the corner, I was curious if any of you are stocking up on specific books, movies, or television in preparation for the colder months ahead? If yes, I’d love to hear about them!