What I read this month: October 2025

This was a good month for physical books! I had some time off that aligned perfectly with the last installment in the Book of Dust series.

This month I added a new step to my bedtime routine. I've started reading poetry—from a physical book— before turning off the light. I've never been able to read poetry on Kindle and I miss reading physical books, so this felt like a good gateway back into it.

Jackstraws by Charles Simic

I bought this collection in college before going to see Simic speak, but I've never actually read it all the way through. I had some poems marked that I particularly liked 20 years ago, and it was interesting to see what spoke to me then, compared to what struck me now.

Unfortunately, my favorite Simic poem isn't in this collection, and generally I found these poems didn't hook me with their profundity or beauty. But there were a few that did strike me and make me pause, and plenty of individual lines or stanzas that felt worthy of underlining.

My poetry-brain was rusty when I started this collection, so I'd say Part I didn't do much for me, but as I warmed up and remembered how to experience a poem, I found myself enjoying it a lot more. As such, I found myself enjoying the poems in Parts II and III much more.

The Rose Field by Philip Pullman

Oh, I have so many thoughts and feelings about this one! The final novel in the Book of Dust series, The Rose Field picks up right where The Secret Commonwealth leaves off. I should have probably reread TSC, but I found I remembered most of the important plot points as I went along.

This was a joy to read. I love Pullman's writing style, which is both straight-forward and full of imagery. It's vivid without being purple. The story also followed this series' usual style of being full of adventure, dread, and excitement while also diving deeply into philosophy, introspection about the human condition, and commentary on religion and politics. The Book of Dust is definitely more geared toward adults than His Dark Materials.

I loved every moment of reading this book. My biggest complaint is the ending. In fact, I immediately looked up whether there would be a fourth book, not because I felt the ending was unclear, but because there are so many loose threads left abandoned. As it turns out, this is the final installment, and I've had to take a couple days to come to terms with that.

After reflecting on it, I can understand why some threads are left untied. In real life, things are rarely wrapped up neatly, and this book strives to capture the human experience. I can get on board with the idea that this is where we leave Lyra (and the other characters), and her story continues on without us. But there are two points, both having to do with Lyra's extended family, that I feel weren't fleshed out enough. For one, the passing mention of her maternal grandmother is never explained (and this may be something from TSC that I forgot about, to be fair), and for another, the sudden change in (and Lyra's acceptance of) her enemy Olivier Bonneville.

These small plot holes aside, I've taken the view that the first three books (His Dark Materials) follow a very clear arc, and the latter three (The Book of Dust) are more about exploring how Lyra has changed because of her childhood adventures and how the world around her has continued to decay. We got glimpses of that in HDM but it wasn't the central focus of the story, because Lyra was so young. In a way, The Book of Dust series provides a snapshot of Lyra's world alongside Lyra's story, and we don't get a perfect resolution because this isn't a story about overthrowing a corrupt government—it's a story about being a person living in that particular world.

All that's to say: I loved this book, I can't wait to reread the entire series (all six novels), I wish we could have a series about where Will is now, and I'm so glad I bought this book in its physical form because there is really nothing like turning real pages while immersed in a story like this.

Ali