September in review

September is always a struggle for me – readjusting to my routine of limited reading after the long holidays. This month I have been absolutely exhausted from the first day back, with a big busy weekend last weekend thrown into the mix. I am finding myself mindlessly slumped in front of the TV more and more these days, and nodding off over my book when I do pick it up. So I have read eight books during September – and some of them were pretty small. Thankfully they were all great, I am realising I need to read according to my mood more often – though that can be hard when juggling reading events and book group reads.

I began the month with a lovely old book that I bought following a review on another blog. Victoria Four Thirty – follows the fortunes of about thirteen different characters who all catch the boat train from Victoria station, destined to link up with the Arlberg-Orient Express – each of them with their own stories in different places. I began Jacqui and Eric’s #ReadingRhys week with Quartet, Rhys’s first published novel – which I had also suggested to my very small book group – we all loved it. Before my second Rhys novel I read Death in Profile by Guy Fraser Sampson on my kindle, a novel which pays homage to the Golden Age of crime. Good Night, Midnight by Jean Rhys explores themes very similar to those in Quartet, but it is a world that she portrays brilliantly, the writing is exquisite, though there is a sad bleakness to these novels which might not be for everyone, but I must say I enjoyed both Rhys novels very much. It was also lovely seeing so much appreciation of Rhys’s work during that week. Another kindle read, No Place by Katharine D’Souza was a lovely comforting read, probably comforting because it was set in a place I know well, my home city of Birmingham. It’s a novel that explores what it is to belong, the characters’ realistic  people you really care about. For phase 5 of #Woolfalong I read  Three Guineas, I had read A Room of One’s Own last year. I enjoyed the first two thirds very much indeed, the final third dragged a bit for me – still I found lots to admire in an essay which is still very relevant today, and which is naturally beautifully written. The Feast by Margaret Kennedy – another fabulous old book which really should be re-issued by someone – was my favourite book of the month. There is something about books set in Hotels – all those disparate groups of people thrown together. I finished the month reading a book I was only given last weekend at that bookcrossing weekend I wrote about here. Pigeon Pie by Nancy Mitford, effervescent nonsense, world war two spies and first aid posts during the very early days of the Second World War before anyone realised just how terrible everything was going to get. A review of that one in a day or two.

So October is here already, and I am looking forward to my next book group read and the 1947 club. (Remember what I said about juggling reading events and book group reads.) How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis is our next book group read, a collection of essays which takes a look at literary heroines such as Jane Eyre and Cathy Earnshaw. I have three books set aside for Karen and Simon’s 1947 club but if I am going to read them all I had better start early.

However, before I get stuck into those – I am going to read the first of two titles I was kindly sent by Dean Street Press’s new imprint: Furrowed Middlebrow – their collaboration with Scott from Furrowed Middlebrow blog has resulted in nine fabulous looking titles published on October 3rd. A Chelsea Concerto by Frances Faviell, is a memoir of the London blitz. A Peacock for the Footman by Rachel Ferguson was the other title I was sent which I may get to this month as well – we shall see. I am also planning on reading A Writer’s Diary by Virginia Woolf for #Woolfalong.

As always I would love to know what you’ve read this month that I should know about, and what your reading plans for October are.