Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One. Wicked and funny on the subject of death and funerals and the expatriate Brits in Hollywood. Written 60 years ago, it is still pertinent with regard to American funerary practices — I’m not so sure about the practices of the expatriate Brits.
Anita Shreve, A Wedding in December. When life seems too full of unresolvable complications (see Nostromo below), it is good to read some Anita Shreve or Jane Smiley. Life is not easy, but I know this world. This is a high school reunion story. Two classmates marry 27 years after their first romance together. Cancer, divorce, stepchildren, middle age.
Janet Brunett Grossman, Greek and Roman Sculpture in Stone. This convenient illustrated reference book is related to my Greek Ancient Arts project. One of my lectures will be about the development and range of Greek sculpture. Reading this book has increased my respect for the technology they developed, as well as the incomparable beauty of the results.
Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found 
There. What do you read after you read Alice in Wonderland? Yes, you do. Somehow this time the joke began to wear a little thin, but I still love both books.
I have read and posted comments on the following books:
Honoré de Balzac, Lost Illusions, Part III: An Inventor’s Tribulations. Finished this very long Balzac. Free at last!
Alice Munro, The View from Castle Rock
Joseph Conrad, Nostromo
Ngaio Marsh, Final Curtain
Robert Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
You seem to have had a wonderful reading month in October! Congratulations! I liked the description of Anita Shreve’s book ‘A Wedding in December’ that you have given. I will add this book to my ‘To be read’ list. Janet Brunett Grossman’s ‘Greek and Roman Sculpture in Stone’ looks wonderful! I love illustrated reference books
I liked very much your comment on the book – “Reading this book has increased my respect for the technology they developed, as well as the incomparable beauty of the results.”