Bookcast Episode 130: October Wrap-Up + Nonfiction November Kickoff

I’m back at the mic talking about my October reads, Nonfiction November, and everything I’ve been watching lately. October was peak GLOCKtober with a stack of Steve Cavanagh legal thrillers, a few romances for balance, and a political memoir to wrap it up.

I share what I’m reading now, including A Devil Went Down to Georgia by Deb Miller Landau and A Forever Kind of Love by Farrah Rochon. I also run through my Mess and Murder lineup for Nonfiction November, packed with books about chaos, justice, and true crime.

There’s a quick rundown of my TV and movie queue, new releases like Calculated Risk and Decorative Gourd Season, and a reminder to check out the Black Readers Appreciation Event happening November 5–8.

Full show notes are at booksbydlwhite.com/bookcast/130. 

Transcript

DL White [00:00:14]:
Well, hello, hello. The prodigal daughter returns. I really am trying to be more what is the word consistent about recording this podcast, but some weeks I just ain't got it. So I come when I got it and I got it today. So here we are. Welcome back to the Bookcast. This is my platform for sharing short fiction and updates on life as a self published author of romantic fiction that centers black love. I am your host.

DL White [00:00:45]:
I am DL White. I'm an Atlanta based author of novels, short stories, fanfiction works. But I'm a reader first, so we always talk about love books. We start with the Book Report and then we get into what I've been reading, what I'm looking forward to reading, what I've been watching. An exciting reader sender event coming up. Today is Sunday, November 3, 2025. How is it already? November. Somebody please tell me that it was a sunny day in Atlanta, but now it's dark at 5:58pm And I don't like it.

DL White [00:01:19]:
I don't like it. Anyway, it's perfect reading weather. I have cool beverage here, so I encourage you to grab a. I don't know, a snack, a drink, whatever, whatever you need. And let's dig into this week's episode. We begin, as always, with the Book Report. I made a small but strategic adjustment to my Goodreads goal. It was getting a little unwieldy and I feel like I may have girl bossed too close to the sun.

DL White [00:01:54]:
With a goal of 175 books ready. Truth is, October got a little away from me and I fell way behind. And I was like, hey, look, I can change my Goodreads goal if I feel like it. So I did. I lowered it to 165 to keep things manageable throughout the end of the year. I'm sitting at 138 out of 165, so I'm right on track. And honestly, if I keep my head down through nonfiction, November, I will be comfortably ahead again. It's not a race, it's not a contest.

DL White [00:02:24]:
It's just me tracking what I'm gonna read. Technically. My goal usually 150 every year. And then I try to see how far above that I can get. So I might raise or lower it depending on where I am in the process. But I'm well ahead of where I intended to be. So, you know, it's just gravy at this point. I'm gonna go through what I read in October.

DL White [00:02:51]:
I can never remember what I talked about the last time I was on the mic. So if these are repeats, apologies, but I like talking about the books. So I finished 13 books in Octo. It was Glocktober. And it was full of good crime fiction energy. Lawyers, liars, people who don't know when to stop. Steve Kavanaugh owned my month. I read the liar 5050 twisted.

DL White [00:03:20]:
Two kinds of stranger, the accomplice and the plea. All part of the Eddie Flynn series. They're so good. Steve is the man. Steve is the man. If you like your courtroom series or courtroom scenes with a side of chaos, last minute reversals, there's always like. He always starts every book. I think I said this last time, he starts every book with ain't no way men, Ain't no way you're winning this case.

DL White [00:03:45]:
And he pulls it out every time. And I just love it. There are very slow burn legal dramas, so if you need some slap, slap, slap. It's not like a. It's not like a murdery thriller. A legal thriller is very methodical. More like a procedure procedural. I love it, love it, love it.

DL White [00:04:03]:
So once I have solved enough fictional crimes to qualify for my own badge, I pivoted to romance for a bit of a breather. I read the latest Love and Scrubs Remedy by Shay Davis. That, that, that series has me in a chokehold. I love a medical romance, and I'm digging that whole series. And then Five Dates by Alexandra House. Short, fun, satisfying adult fiction. Over Yonder by Sean Dietrich gave me something quieter, a heartful. And then I wrapped the month 107 Days by Kamala Harris, which she calls a political thriller.

DL White [00:04:42]:
It's not, but it was good. I love. I like a little juice. I want some behind the scenes. I want some stuff we didn't see or hear in multiple interviews. And so I did get a little bit of that with 107 days. It was a good read. So to sum it up, 10 Glocktober titles, two love stories, one political memoir.

DL White [00:05:07]:
Very balanced chaos. That's how I really like it. I'm currently reading A Devil Went down to Georgia by Deb Miller Landau. This is a true crime account of race, privilege, and the murder of Alita McClinton. This is. It was an interracial marriage happened here in Atlanta. Buckhead, to be exact. And that, that grabbed me right away.

DL White [00:05:35]:
I've been meaning to read this actually since last nonfiction November. I just didn't get to it. And I am regretting that because it reads really fast. It's very fast paced. There's no wasted, you know, backstory. It's like it's a creative nonfiction, so it reads like a novel. Really enjoying it. I'm listening to it on audio thanks to hoopla, and I'm actually almost halfway through right now, so probably I don't think I'm going to finish listening to it tonight.

DL White [00:06:07]:
It's a lot to listen to before bed. Before I go to bed, I'm going to start A Forever Kind of Love by Farah Ran. This is going to be a second read for me, but I'm going to listen to it because it is coming out in audio thanks to. It's not Bloom, it's. Dang it, I forgot the publisher. Now it's a new, very new boutique publisher. The name totally escapes me. I'll remember it at 3am Anyway, a lot of Farah's backlists that were Kimani titles that she got her rights back to eons ago and just never had time to get them back out.

DL White [00:06:41]:
They were purchased and they're coming back out again in ebook and audio. And I Can you hear the smile? Can you hear the smile? Because I have been begging Farah for these books. I told her, send them to me. I will help you convert them from whatever you got into epub. Like, I mean, I've got time. She was like, oh, you know, I'm working on something. And so here's the something that she was working on. And I am.

DL White [00:07:10]:
I'm so pleased. It's not Bloom. It's dang it. I'm going to have to look it up. And I can, because this is my podcast Forever Kind of Love. Farah or Sean. It is coming out through. It originally came out in 2012 and it is coming Honey Blossom Press.

DL White [00:07:37]:
I was close. It's something with a flower. Honey Blossom Press is putting out a Forever Kind of Love in ebook and audio. I think it's the same as it was when it came out in 2012, but it's just been so long since I read it that I don't remember much of the story. And so it's gonna be like a new read. I'm so, so, so excited. And there's no reason I can' juggle a grisly true crime case and a sweet romance at the same time. So it's November, if you didn't notice.

DL White [00:08:09]:
It is November. Today's November 2nd, and I'm really freaked out by how fast time is going by. So it's nonfiction November, which is the only month in which I concentrate on nonfiction. And of course I'm gonna weave in a romance and a thriller here and there. Because that's how I deal with not really being a nonfiction reader. But if I read nonfiction, it' of two categories, mess and murder. So let's talk about the mess I am reading. I'm splitting my reads into mess and murder.

DL White [00:08:40]:
Mess is about human humans being human power, greed, culture, the way people twist themselves into knots. Murder is, you know, murder, crime, justice, the darker side of human behavior and sometimes the like, the courtroom showdown. I love all of that. If it's a scandal, I'm into it. So let's talk about the mess that we're reading. Systemic How Racism Is Making Us Sick by Lyle Liverpool I think I had this on my list last year and I just didn't get to it. This is a data driven, accessible look at how structural racism shapes public health outcomes from birth to death. Love in the Time of Self Publishing by Christine M.

DL White [00:09:21]:
Larson. How romance writers, especially indie authors, hey rewrote the rules of publishing, marketing and success. I'm looking forward to that. Colored Insane by Diana Martha Lewis. A historical examination of how racism and slavery influenced the treatment and labeling of mental illness in America. Really looking forward to that. I love anything about like an asylum or like mental health. Anything like that.

DL White [00:09:46]:
Black White Colored by Loretta Malloy Noble. A journalist uncovers her family's ties to a violent uprising in the Jim Crow south and what it reveals about race and legacy. Everything I Need I Get from youm by Caitlin Tiffany A poplar culture pop culture deep dive into how online fandom, especially teenage girls, built the social media landscape we now live in. And I say this often, to know me is to know that I am a fan girl. I'm an NSYNC fan. From the rooter to the tutor, from the head to my toes. So I'm looking forward to kind of digging into that and recognizing my fangirl ways. And then A Road to Jonestown by Jeff Gwynn It's G U I N N.

DL White [00:10:26]:
I am assuming it's Gwyn. A meticulously reported biography tracing how idealism curdled into mass tragedy and one of America' infamous cults. I do love me some Jonestown. So digging into murder, of course. I'm currently reading A Devil Went down to Georgia, a riveting true crime story exploring race, money and the 1987 murder of a prominent black woman in Atlanta high society. True vine by Beth Macy. The true story of two black albino brothers kidnapped into a traveling circus and their mother's decades long fight to bring them home. American Predator by Maureen Callahan.

DL White [00:11:04]:
A chilling account of Israel Keyes, a calculating murderer whose crimes exposed holes in modern law enforcement. The Barn by Wright Thompson. Part history, part true crime, unearthing a long buried killing to reveal the tangled racial and political history of the Mississippi Delta. A Better Ending by James Whitfield Thompson. A brother's personal and emotional investigation into grief, truth and obsession as he searches for answers in his sister's death. Courtroom 302 by Steve Bogueira It's B O G I R A. I'm assuming it's Bojira. A journalist spends a year inside Chicago's busiest criminal courtroom chronicling justice, bureaucracy, and humanity in real time.

DL White [00:11:53]:
Really looking forward to that one. I love I love Courtroom and Without Consent by Sarah Weinman. The story of women and lawyers who fought to make marital rape illegal and how that bottle reshape to US Law. If I finish half this list, I'll call it a win. If I finish all of it, I will need a nap and some fiction with kissing by December, which I'm already looking forward to in December. I typically read all holiday shorts all the time, so I'm really looking forward to recovering from nonfiction. November in December. My TVQ this month looked a lot like my bookshelf.

DL White [00:12:31]:
Heavy on investigation, trauma complex, women who refuse to stay quiet. On Netflix I binged Unbelievable. All eight episodes in one weekend. Like actually in one night because what the heck is her name? I can never remember her name. Toni Collette. Oh my goodness. Wow. I cannot remember that woman's name because it's close to another name.

DL White [00:13:04]:
Anyway, all eight episodes. Caitlin Deaver and Merritt Weaver. Why did they rhyme? Were really good. In this one, Toni Collette did the damn thing. She showed up. She acted like her life depended on it. Very good. Very good series.

DL White [00:13:23]:
This was a series on. What was this? This was a woman that was accused of making up her own sexual assault. And because the detectives that investigated did not do a good job of that, he went on to assault other women. Until two women in two different police departments in two different counties started noticing the similarities and joined up to find this guy. And it turns out that this guy's first victim was the girl that detectives accused her of lying. And so it was actually really good. Then I queued up untamed. Just one look.

DL White [00:14:12]:
A House of Dynamite psychological type stuff. I did not. House of Dynamite was good until it wasn't. I'm just gonna leave that there. I feel like people need to experience it the way I experience it. Just go in blind and then watch it and then once you get to the shoot me a line because what was that ending? That. That ending was very frustrating. And then I wrapped Diplomat season three, which I think I talked about.

DL White [00:14:41]:
Allison Janney and Bradley Whitfield. Look, I remembered his name. I remembered his name. Fantastic. Fantastic. Already waiting for season four. Keri Russell can hold an international crisis together but cannot heal a failing marriage. And we are just having a good time.

DL White [00:14:58]:
Watching her try this show had me by the balls. Can't wait to talk about it with people. Watch it. Hurry up. And then I watched into the Fire, the Lost Daughter. We talked about that one Wayward, which also has Toni Collette in it, and my father, the BTK Killer, all varying degrees of disturbing. Perfect. I'm fun at parties.

DL White [00:15:24]:
And then meanwhile, my weekly routine kind of keeps me grounded. I am currently getting into Tracker, which airs on Sunday. Watch Watson, which airs on Tuesday. Brigitte Minds airs on Tuesday. High potential. I don't know what day it airs. I just watch it back. And then Elspeth and Matlock both air on Thursdays.

DL White [00:15:45]:
And then my comfort, rewatch any day now. I don't know if you guys remember, this show was on the Lifetime network in the 90s. It stars Annie Potts and Lorraine Toussaint as lifelong best friends. Lorraine returns to Birmingham, Alabama after her father, who was a prominent attorney, passes away and he takes over his law firm. I had forgot all about this show until someone on Threads mentioned it. And then I was obsessed with it and I found it. It airs on a network called Start tv, but Philo picks it up. And so that's where I get all my.

DL White [00:16:18]:
All my, like one off channels that I don't get through my TV streaming subscription. I have Hulu Live tv, but it doesn't pick up like Women's Entertainment or BET or Lifetime. And so that's where I pick up all the other shows and it picks up all those like, you know, Start TV type channels. And so it. There's four seasons and I've been watching a couple of episodes a night. I'm still on season one. And of course, this is back in the era when there were 22 episodes a season. So, you know, I am having a ball, really getting back into that.

DL White [00:16:55]:
I love me some Lorraine Toussaint. If Lorraine is in it, I'm watching it. Lorraine Toussaint and CCH Pounder, my girls. I'm in. Let's talk writing and new releases, because that is the most exciting, exciting part. So it's been kind of a busy fall on the writing front. I'M actually done writing for the year, y'. All.

DL White [00:17:14]:
Girl, I am done writing for the year and I will not be picking up the pen until February. You know what I'm saying? I am very excited about that. Calculated Risk is now available in ebook on Kindle Unlimited and an audiobook narrated by me if you are interested. Calculated Risk is only in kindle unlimited for one term. It's a 90 day term, it is coming out in December and then it is going wide. So if you want to read it as part of your Kindle Unlimited library, you should snatch it up now just so it doesn't get out of hand. It's not very long. It's like a three hour read.

DL White [00:17:52]:
If you would like to listen to it in audio. I did voice it myself so booksbydlwhite.com audio has all of my audiobooks. I did go through all of my links today to make sure everything's all up to date. Of course those links are gonna lead you to my bookstore, but on every page is where you can pick it up at any retail store if that is your fancy. But I would of course, if you care, ask that you buy them direct because that is the most profit for me. But. But my books aren't available anywhere that I don't want them to be. So if you prefer to they're not on Audible.

DL White [00:18:36]:
I did remove my books from Audible because the pay is terrible and I'm just. I'm tired. I'm tired of Audible. Nobody can even find them in Audible anyway. So they're available everywhere except Audible, including Chirp. Some are on Evergreen Everand they kind of cycle through. They're also on Spotify for the moment, but if they don't stop running ads on frozen situations, we're gonna rethink that. So anyhow, also, if you're ready for something perfectly autumnal, Decorative Gourd Season will start showing up at retailers this week.

DL White [00:19:14]:
I'm taking my time with distribution, but it is live right now at my website. By the time you hear this, it will be live on my website. Bit D Gourdcision DLWhite I wish I could speak. I went to the dentist on Friday and I got some crowns and so I'm lisping a little bit because I got new teeth. But not horse teeth. They're just regular looking teeth that look so much better than what I walked in there with. Anyway, if you go over to decorative board season booksbydailwhite.com decorativegourdseason I'm gonna right after I record this, go and update links on that page so you'll be able to find it easier. It's currently only live at my website and it will start distributing to the retail sites this week.

DL White [00:20:08]:
I am not in a hurry so you know, if you want it now, get it from my website. If you want it from Amazon, et cetera. It'll be there eventually. And so that's pretty much it for new releases. I do have one more release this year, Layover, which is my it's only one bed holiday novella that'll be out early December. I don't have a date yet because it's not even been edited. So it's done, it's just not edited. I wanted to get Gourd Season out first and I'm just, I'm happy with how it came out.

DL White [00:20:47]:
It's short, steamy, sweet. It's just a good a good shot for the autumn season. I've never done a harvest novella before, so happy about that. Probably not doing that one in audio because it's very short. But I am voicing them myself now, so I mean maybe so that is pretty much it for the writing. Before I wrap up, mark your calendars for the Black Readers Appreciation Event or B R A e. It happens November 5th through the 8th, that is this coming week. I have three free books and one free audiobook available.

DL White [00:21:26]:
But keep an eye on the site because some titles will only be free for a single day, while some will last the whole week. So visit B R A E website for details and bookmark it so you don't miss out. This will also be in my show notes and I'm going to try to link it to my link in bio page tonight before this even goes out. But if it's not B R A E website, I probably actually won't link that until this. The sale is actually live because telling you ahead of time doesn't really do anything because they're not on sale yet. But I will get that linked up before they go on sale. This is such a a great way to celebrate Black readers. Discover new authors, stack your TBR for free.

DL White [00:22:10]:
Please spread the word, get everybody on over there to grab books by black authors and I hope you guys just have a ball. Like this is our this is our stuff. Your Kindle. So please, please patronize the site. Do some downloading, do some shopping, look around at website sites. We do this for our readers. That brings us to the end of today's show and I want to thank you all so much for spending time with me today. If you enjoy this episode, I implore you, please share it, rate it, leave a comment, wherever you're listening, Apple, Spotify, Stub, Substack, YouTube, all the places.

DL White [00:22:49]:
Thank you so much to those who listen, those who always comment, those who always post my episodes and hype me up. I love you all so much. Full show notes, transcript and links will be at booksbydlwhite.com bookcast130 and on my substack@authordlyhite.substack.com just tap on podcast and there I'll be. You can support this podcast by buying the books@booksbydlwhite.com shop or buymeacoffee.com booksbydlwhyt white. You can make a one time or recurring donation. You can also do that@bookcast.buzzsprout.com you can also join my newsletter at booksbydlwhite.com link in bio where you'll find every link I have mentioned today. Thank you so much to my supporters over on Bus Sprout who keep this mic on. I desperately, desperately desperately appreciate you.

DL White [00:23:41]:
The book cast is written, produced and edited by me, D.L. white. Theme music and sound effects are provided by Pixabay. Have a superlative week. Be well. Read something good. I'll talk to you soon. Bye Bye.