So the new school year kicked off this month and that means only one thing: chaos. Life is therefore very full again after a nice, lazy summer and I’m firing on all cylinders just to keep up. Being busy has its recompenses though and one exciting thing I did this week was give a talk about libraries to around 250 people. That’s the largest captive audience I’ve had to date! Happily they humoured me while I strode about the stage for an hour, dizzy with the glamour of having a microphone in my hand and a platform for my idiocies. I may not be invited back.

I’ve also had some interesting books in the post this month – I don’t really do #BookHauls but I’m hopeful that I’ve got a few gems to discover. It’s been a while since I’ve accepted review copies of new titles as time is so very short and my bookshelves are so very full, but the feeling of receiving a hot-off-the-press book in the post is still just as exciting as when I first started blogging. Hopefully I’ll be able to share a little about some of the books with you over the next month as I give them all a try.

Besides running to check my post every ten minutes and delivering incoherent library sermons, I’ve also been working on updating the layout of Bibliofreak.net. More specifically, I’ve been working with someone much wiser than I to make changes. This is pretty scary as in the past I’ve always made changes to the layout myself and, as I’m sure any blogger will testify, handing over your baby to someone else is wont to set the pulse racing. Happily, I think the new design will be ready soon and I’ll be able to unveil it to you all. Don’t be too excited though, it’ll still be, like me, all monochrome simplicity.

Before I get onto what I’m reading at the moment, I’ve got a semi-literary question for you guys: Darcy or Heathcliff? Such a seemingly innocuous question has caused me all sorts of arguments this month (only the fun kind) as it turns out that the people who I surround myself with are overwhelmingly a bunch of wrong-headed Austen-fanciers. Clearly these people don’t see the appeal of a maniacal sociopath roaming the moors when they could have a nice moody chap in a big house. Inexplicable.

Having been a bit snidey about Austen there, I will actually be picking up one of her books this month – Persuasion. It is the last of her published novels that I have to read and I will be interested to find out where it fits with the others. I am sure someone will be able to tell me whether I should expect to enjoy it or not.

My main read this month, however, is going to be something much more modern. While I was in a library recently my eye was caught by a bright yellow cover with naught but one word on it: Lolito. Being a tremendous big fan of Nabokov’s Lolita besides minimalist cover design, I inevitably carried the yellow beacon home with me for further investigation. Released in 2013, Lolito is a novel by young writer Ben Brooks and follows the story of teenager Etgar Allison as he breaks up with his first ever girlfriend and starts an e-fling with a much older lady. If you’ve read my debut novel you’ll know that young men and web sex are kind of my thing (in a manner of speaking) so I was intrigued to see how Brooks, a fellow youth of the digital age, tackled the issues.

Finally, having stuck up a couple of Kafka reviews on the blog so far, I thought I’d revisit my first Kafka – I imagine where most people start – and write something on The Metamorphosis and all its beetle-goodness. If you know anything about Kafka it is likely either Gregor Samsa’s plight or the opening of The Trial. In either case, after this month I should have something for you.

So that’s my intended October reading mapped out for you. What will you be reading this month?