We turned the clocks back an hour at the weekend. Sunday was spent telling each other that yesterday it had been such and such a time – a yearly tradition in this part of the world that always makes me smile. Suddenly we have only two months of the year left, and again I’m forced to remember how true it is that the years go faster as we get older. I have always had a slight fondness for November – which I know not everyone shares – fireworks, poppies for remembrance, Christmas markets starting up – I quite like it really.
October was an ok reading month – ending with a half term holiday spent by the sea and visiting glorious moorland. Restorative and wonderfully bracing, and the extra reading time thrown in just what I needed.
October began with me reading Early Spring a memoir of childhood and adolescence by Tove Ditlevsen, Early Spring faithfully recreates the sights and sounds of Tove Ditlevsen’s 1930s childhood environment. It was a childhood of great poverty, and loneliness and yet Ditlevsen grew up with a burning determination to write.
Staying with Relations by Rose Macaulay was the book which accompanied me on y weekend away to this year’s Bookcrossing convention. It is a book worth reading for Macaulay fans, and I enjoyed it, though I admit it is not as such a good novel as either The World my Wilderness, Told by an Idiot or Crewe Train. It tells the story of Catherine Grey a young writer who accepts an invitation to stay with her aunt, cousin and her aunt’s second husband and step children at her house in the Guatemalan jungle.
A Spark novel that I certainly hadn’t previously heard of, The Only Problem is a wonderfully entertaining novel. An academic writing a book on the Book of Job while his estranged wife runs around with French terrorists and a policewoman masquerades as a housekeeper – could any of this come from anyone other than Muriel Spark?
I had been looking forward to the second book in Olivia Manning’s Levant Trilogy, and The Battle Lost and Won really didn’t disappoint. Here we continue to follow the fortunes of Harriet and Guy Pringle and others in Cairo, as well as young Simon Boulderstone, a young officer fighting the war in the desert.
Seven for a Secret by Mary Webb was a book that I had had for years, never quite managing to get around to it. My A Century of books was the impetus I needed – and it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable read. Gillian Lovekin is eighteen as the novel opens, living with her father, on his farm in the Shropshire hills. Gillian is a very pretty girl, a head full of dreams and longings – including for men to lose their hearts to her. It is rooted in the Shropshire countryside of Webb’s birth, it tells the story of Gillian and Robert Rideout and the stranger who comes along and disturbs their rural community.
White Hunger by Aki Ollikainen is a powerful little novella from Peirene Press. A novel about survival, White Hunger takes us to the heart of the Finnish famine in 1867. Uncompromising description, and some quite lovely writing, stop this from being utterly depressing – but it does make for a tough little read.
Another World by Pat Barker like Seven for a Secret was only pulled from my shelves because of ACOB. It was the only book I had for 1998 – and I already knew I enjoy Barker’s writing. In this novel, the shadow of WW1 falls across three generations of one family. It is the 1990s Geordie a WW1 veteran is dying at 101 years old. His grandson and his second wife have recently moved into an old house with their various squabbling children and a spooky old mural is revealed as they start to decorate.
Symposium by Muriel Spark was thoroughly enjoyable. It starts with guests at a dinner party – introducing us to quite a number of characters all at once. The narrative moves back and forth in time – slowly revealing the past of one of the guests in particular.
My very small book group picked Vox by Christina Dalcher as our November read. I decided to read it quickly while away as I can’t count it for my ACOB and the last two months of the year will be a bit of a race to the finish. Billed as a re-imagining of The Handmaid’s Tale – we were all very excited. I don’t want to pre-empt my review too much but – yes, it is very compelling, very readable but it is no Handmaid’s Tale and should not be seen as such. Part speculative fiction part thriller – it’s an entertaining read, but I can’t say I have been blown away.
So here we are – November 1st. My plan for the next few weeks as I mentioned is to make good progress with the last sixteen books of ACOB. I shall, however be reading Curriculum Vitae for #readingMuriel2018 and Life Before Man for Margaret Atwood reading month.
I have just started reading The Diviners by Margaret Laurence. I believe it is strictly speaking the fourth in her Manawaka series of novels, and I have only read and the first and second, but as far as I can tell it doesn’t matter what order they are read in.
As always, I love to hear about what you have been reading and about your plans for coming month.
I love autumn, it’s my fave time of the year….apart from driving home from work in the dark!!!
There is definitely something about autumn the colours have been lovely this year.
Totally agree 😁
Lovely picture, Ali. There are compensations to the change of seasons and those glorious colours are one of them. Happy reading!
Thank you, and to you too.
Enjoying a weeks staycation and back into reading, as I hadn’t been for the month previously, so indulged a few easy reads at first and now built myself up to tackle Milkman which I’m currently reading. Happy reading for November!
Looking forward to your thoughts on Milkman, I definitely want to read that. I think my book group are considering it for our January read.
I always get some good book ideas from your blog including books I’ve not heard about before. I had a very good reading month with 11 books read. I gave five stars to Thea Astley’s Coda, Shirley Hazzard’s The Bay of Noon, The Hill Bachelors by William Trevor, and Curriculum Vitae by Muriel Spark.
You have had a good month. I am looking forward to Curriculum Vitae.
I like autumn but I’ve got a lot of work projects on and a lot of work at running events at the weekends so I hope I get my reading in! I managed 11 books this month, thanks to my own holiday at the start of the month, and aim to get all my Christmas and birthday present books read before THIS Christmas …
You have had a really good reading month. Gosh, imagine you getting all the Christmas and birthday books read before Christmas. 😉
A nice month of books, Ali! I like autumn too, though I could do without the rain! As usual, I have few plans – I’ve enjoyed what I read this month, particularly the books for the 1944 Club, and apart from trying to get in some German lit, novellas and Atwood I don’t quite know about November. Having said that, I’ll probably read none of those things…. 😉
I know, the best laid plans and all that 😂
The Margaret Atwood reading month will be great, shame I haven’t time to read more than one.
Sounds like you generally had a good month! I’m reading Vox at the moment, finding it compelling but not so much that I have to read it as fast possible.
I hope you enjoy Vox, it is interesting but certainly not faultless.
I actually started reading Vox… it started off very well but when I got to nearly halfway through I became bored and returned to the library! I just couldn’t process all the neurolinguistics stuff. Sorry to everyone who loved it 🙂
I didn’t love it, in fact had quite a few problems with it.
I reread The Diviners about a year ago: I still love it. But I wonder how well the romance (such as it is) plays out if one didn’t originally read it when 19 or 20, as I did.
How curious that you only had one book for 1998. Doesn’t that make you wonder!
Well it worked for me, touching and bittersweet.
Ali, I hope you enjoyed your time by the sea and visiting the glorious moorland. During my half term, I enjoyed a trip to London with friends. I only finished three books in October, but I did almost catch up my review back-log! Happy November reading. 🙂
I had a fabulous week thank you. Well done on the review back log, it’s easy to feel over whelmed. Happy reading to you too.
Thank you 🙂
A rather late entry for October. Apologies. I blame it on having too many brilliant books to read so I keep putting it off! Margaret Atwood was key for me with Oryx and Crake as a taster for Atwood Reading Month accompanied by Hartley’s Shrimp and the Anenome, LM Montgomery’s Anne of the Island, Vera Elizabeth von Armin and another memorable Persephone Richmal Compton’s Family Rounabout. All count for ACOB but I won’t finish for a log while yet.I bought Seven for a Secret and hope to read in December! Your recommendations are most welcome.
So glad you bought Seven for a Secret. Sounds as if your October was great, Oryx and Crake is fabulous for a start.