October was packed full of fun, informative, spooky, and community-building events. Not only did we celebrate Latinx Heritage Month, Banned Books Week, Indigenous People’s Day, and National Coming Out Day by highlighting books celebrating those voices and cultures, we also hosted events designed to inform and engage.

Earlier in October, we listened to Jim Tankersley, author of Riches of this Land, in conversation with Lisa Lucas, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation for our True Story! Book Club. His book and the conversation explored new economic and political reporting and research to bust myths about the decline of the middle class and explore the road to its revival. We also had the honor of hosting Pulitzer Prize winner Carlos Lozado in conversation with Allison Punch to discuss his book What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era. The conversation explored how the books written on and during the Trump era reflect the failures of his critics to see the same blind spots and resentments that resulted in his presidency, and also highlighted the books illuminating a changing America.

We started to get spooky early in October, with our virtual Fiction Book Club, reading The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson. This book flew off the shelves and continues to do so, offering a creepy vibe and exploring a woman with power living in a puritanical society. We were fortunate enough to have the author herself join us for the event! For our Sci-Fi Book Club event in mid-October, we discussed Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. This groundbreaking (and paranormal) YA novel explores trans Latinx identity and is a huge step forward in making fiction more representative. We also held our inaugural Spooky Book Club, with Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit and Obsession by Sarah Weinman. Another bookshop favorite, this essay collection veers away from the typical true-crime trope of “dead-white girls” and instead includes stories where the women are as likely to be the perpetrators of the crime as the victims. Rounding off our Book Club Events was the ever-popular Bad Romance Book Club, discussing Sweet Talkin’ Lover and Like Lovers Do, both by Tracey Livesay. 

In spite of social distancing and the virtual nature of the world in 2020, we were able to host a couple of fun community events. The first was our All Hallows Read-a-thon, either socially-distanced or online. We posted reading challenges, photo contests, and awarded prizes for sharing pictures and word counts. By having everyone include #OTBspooky we were able to stay connected, even if we can’t yet hug. 

Finally, we held our very own flash-fiction Spooky Writing Contest! With over a dozen submissions, it was monstrously hard picking the top 5 entries to read their piece during our spooky Zoom event. With over 50 people in attendance to listen to the finalist stories be read by their author, we lifted our spirits (oh my gourd, pun intended), got scared, laughed, and had a great time. The winner was voted on and received a $100 gift card to spend with us! 

We can’t wait for all the fun events happening in November and beyond. Stay tuned for more!  

Blog contribution by Laura Rose Schwartz. Edited by Shannon McCarthy.