October in review

I’m a couple of days late with this month’s roundup because I have been away for the last week. I arrived home a few hours ago, and before getting down to writing this, I finished my first book of November, The Silence of the Girls – started at the end of October, but it might as well go into the November pile.

Where September crawled by, October flew – and as you can see from the picture above, I am still not reading very fast. I have given up all hope I think of getting back to the kind of reading rates I used to enjoy, but as long as I am enjoying what I read – then I am happy.

I started the month reading Moor Fires (1916) by E H Young – a favourite author. Moor Fires was E H Young’s third novel and is definitely not typical of her later work. Still, for fans of E H Young’s work it is well worth reading. The novel set on a stretch of wild moorland, where twin sisters Helen and Miriam Caniper live with their stepmother; Notya and their two brothers. The sisters are twenty as the novel opens, and clearly very different. Helen is a domestic being, she loves her home and the moorland and has no wish to be anywhere else. Miriam longs to escape, she enjoys nothing more than to torment the young men who come in her way, proud of her looks and quick to make fun of others.

Nina Bawden’s Anna Apparent (1972) came next – another author I have read and enjoyed many times before, and this was another good one. Bawden is so good at portraying complex relationships within families. In this novel Bawden considers the question of nature versus nurture and the effects of childhood trauma. Who exactly is Anna? The carefully nurtured daughter of an adoptive mother, the younger second wife of Giles, casual lover to Daniel? While she is all of these things in time, she is also an individual. Anna’s view of herself is disrupted in the wake of a tragedy.

Karen and Simon hosted the 1930 club and my first read for that was A Shutter of Snow (1930) by Emily Holmes Coleman, a classic of American literature, It is the story of a woman’s two month stay in what was then called an asylum following the birth of her child.

My second read for the 1930 club was The Mysterious Mr Quin (1930) by Agatha Christie – well you can’t go wrong with an Agatha Christie. It’s a book of stories – though it is presented almost like a novel. Each chapter is a different story in which Mr Quin will turn up eventually. It’s a thoroughly engaging and entertaining collection, in which the reader must suspend disbelief as coincidences abound. Christie really does flex her storytelling muscles nicely with these stories, taking us from English country houses to the South of France and Corsica. While many stories feature the unravelling of mysteries of the past, other stories concern matters in the present, several pieces having a supernatural quality.

Girl, Woman, Other (2019) by Bernardine Evaristo was my standout book of the month. A worthy booker winner – I found it compulsively readable, a novel of modern Britain and some of the women who make it – their voices ring out clear and strong from every page. Twelve wonderful humans, mainly women, mainly black, scattered across the UK in town and country, who call this nation home.

The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton (1973) was sent to me by Virago books, a fabulous collection for this time of year. Delightfully chilling stories that never quite descend into horror, they bear witness to Wharton’s own fascination with hauntings, bewitchments and spirits. From childhood Edith Wharton had been terrified of ghost stories, and in these stories, she has channelled her fears in tales which expose the faults in us mere mortals; betrayal, grief, greed and the misuse of power. 

The Light in the Dark (2018) by Horatio Clare is a book I have had a long time, I first bought it in hardback, now the paperback is out. It is an absolutely glorious book, beautifully written. Look out for my review next week.

I ended the month reading The Silence of the Girls (2018) by Pat Barker – my book group’s choice. I finished it an hour or two ago, my first book of November it won’t be my favourite book of November, but it was compelling, and I will be interested to discuss it with my book group.

So on to my plans for November, my plans are fluid, as my reading mood is proving rather fickle. However, November is chock full of reading events – which you might aware of.

#MARM (Margaret Atwood reading month) hosted by Buried in Print and Consumed by Ink – is high on my agenda all being well. There is a read-a-long of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments for anyone who is interested in that. As well as the two novels I have tbr, I have several Atwood I would like to re-read, but Maddaddam and Hag-seed are novels I have meant to get to for a while. German lit month is again hosted by Lizzy at Lizzy’s Literary Life, and I have a book that should fit that and #novellasinNovember – so I think I might just start with The Artificial Silk Girl (I can’t remember who hosts Novellas in November, I’m sorry). It is also Non-fiction November (again I can’t remember who hosts that) and I have lots of books of essays on my shelves – I am hopeless at reading much non-fiction, so I have pulled one collection off the shelf – though whether I actually get to it, is another matter. Of course, I have other non-fiction books, and many other novellas, so we’ll see how the month goes.

I also have a couple of review books and a collection of stories I would like to find time for – but I have probably selected more than I can manage – I wonder how many of these will end up in the row of books I actually read in November? Anyway, lots of excellent reading events to join in with if that’s your thing.

What brilliant things did you read during October? Anything I should know about? Are you joining in with any of the reading events?