Everything I read in October
Short reviews from a month of reading on trains, planes and beaches
I’m finally home, after nearly a month away.
I took the train from Manchester Airport to the small town where I live on Tuesday afternoon. The further north we travelled, the harder it rained. It was pouring by the time we arrived. I dragged my suitcase through puddles on the 10-minute walk from the station and worried about how wet everything was getting. When I got home, the boiler wasn’t working and the batteries had gone in both smoke alarms.
(Turns out the boiler just needed re-pressurising. Cheers YouTube. I now feel like a fully qualified heating engineer ready to take on the world.)
Still, it’s nice to be home.
I’ve slept in my own bed for three whole nights which has been fantastic. I’ve done my laundry, cooked this chorizo casserole for Isaac (with sweet potato and carrot mash - really trying to get the veg in), snuggled up on the sofa and watched an old episode of Shetland (but new to us because I’m always 10 years behind everything, drunk many cups of tea while working from the dining table, had an 8-hour long catch up with Claire, been speed reading ahead of book club on Saturday and even gone to the gym.
I think it was my first proper gym visit for two years. I went because I’m injured (and, clearly, I think we can see why I’m injured…) and also because I really needed to move. A month of holidaying and American portions combined with barely running have left me feeling very bleurgh.
Today I have the sort of DOMS you tend to get when you wake up muscles which have been asleep for several years. But I actually quite enjoyed the whole experience (it was very quiet and clean and surprisingly nice for a £15/month job). If you’re going to relaunch your gym career, then I think a rainy autumn week is the time to do it. Plus Claire wants me to join adult gymnastics with her and that probably requires some strength.
Something else that happened in the last week is that it was the 10-year anniversary of me setting off to run around the British coast. 1st November 2015: a date that’s forever etched in my memory.
Can you believe that it’s been a whole decade? I absolutely can’t. Literal madness.
I figure that the 10-year anniversary of the adventure that changed my life is probably worth writing about. I’ve started something, a reflection on the last decade I guess, and you’ll get that next week sometime.
But this week it’s some book recommendations. I spent a lot of time on trains, planes and… beaches in October, which meant I read more than I normally would in a month. And some of them were really great books, that I’ve been raving about in person and now online too. Enjoy!
Everything I read in October
Please don’t expect any particularly intellectual or insightful critique of these books. I don’t like analysing books in that way. I just like to read books I enjoy, so here are some reasons why I enjoyed (or occasionally didn’t) these ones.
In chronological order…
Love Untold by Ruth Jones
This was a hand-me-down from Isaac’s mum. I was really excited when I saw it was by Ruth Jones (writer and star of Gavin and Stacey) and if I’m honest finished it feeling a little bit disappointed. It was a nice read but I think I just expected it to be a bit… sharper, maybe? The Amazon reviews are great though so maybe that’s just me.
I enjoyed the fact that 89-year-old Grace was the central character and that she was still sea swimming at that age. My remaining grandparents are all a similar age, currently experiencing a lot of health problems/general decline and witnessing that doesn’t make me look forward to old age so much.
Here’s hoping I might still be sea swimming in 50 years time, instead.
The Girls by Emma Cline
I picked this up in a charity shop on the Isle of Man. I didn’t have any change and the man at the till told me to just take it, so this reminds me I owe the British Red Cross a donation.
It’s about a 14-year-old who ends up absorbed into a cult in the 60s and then some terrible things happen. It’s loosely based on the story of the Manson murders. I thought it really evoked the feeling of the time and place - it weirdly made me wish I’d been a more adventurous teenager.
The author got a $2million advance for this book after a crazy bidding war. I don’t know if I loved it that much but it was good, although pretty dark.
Unsticky by Sara Manning
This was so fun!!! I saw it recommended by Caroline O’Donoghue as being the ultimate chick lit (or something to that effect) and I agree.
Set in the early noughties fashion world, I loved this take on the supposedly very toxic dynamic between broke fashion assistant Grace and her art dealer sugar daddy Vaughn. Except is it actually any more toxic than loads of rubbish relationships that don’t involve a contract?
Simultaneously made me think I should make more effort and not always wear a fleece, and grateful to have a job where I can always wear a fleece.
Happy Families by Julie Ma
I had low expectations for this and ended up loving it. I only picked it up because I needed a 5th book to get the 5-for-£2 offer in my local charity shop. From the cover I thought it was going be sort of generic crime thriller and took it as a holiday beach read I knew I wouldn’t mind leaving behind.
Except it was great! It’s about three-generations of a Chinese family living in South Wales, and you essentially learn some generations-old family secrets (nothing too gruesome though). I thought it was really funny and I loved all the characters, especially Ah Goong, the grandfather, even though he should have been the least likeable.
I just looked it up and this only averaged 3.6/5 on Amazon whereas Love Untold averaged 4.5. This just reconfirms, as a writer, that it’s fruitless paying too much attention to Amazon reviews. There’s no accounting for taste.
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Heard lots of good things about this, paid full price for a copy at Heathrow Airport, read it all in one sitting on the way to America, LOVED IT. Albeit loved it in a sad, hurt-my-heart sort of way. It hit a few nerves, honestly, and I thought the author just portrayed those feelings of absolute hopelessness in such a brilliant way. I cried into my soggy aeroplane dinner reading this (making it even more soggy).
This is Not a Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan
This is the only non-fiction on the list and another Heathrow purchase. It’s screenwriter Abi Morgan’s account of her partner failing to recognise her after being in an induced coma for six months. He remembers having had a partner called Abi for two decades, he just doesn’t think that this woman standing in front of him is her.
The problem with some memoirs is that someone might have an interesting story to tell, but they aren’t necessarily an amazing writer. Obviously that’s not an issue here, given Abi’s profession, which is partly why it’s so brilliant. I admired how open she was about the ugly feelings you have in this sort of situation.
The other problem with memoirs is that sometimes you forget you’re reading non-fiction and you want the author to tie up the story with a nice bow and a happy ending. Except that’s not how real life works, obviously. Definitely not an easy read.
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Yet another Heathrow buy and neck and neck with The Wedding People as my favourites on this list. I always seem to be drawn to books set in Ireland. Maybe because it’s so close, geographically, yet a place I definitely don’t know enough about the history of?
Set in the 1970s, during The Troubles, it tells the story of Catholic schoolteacher Cushla falling in love with Michael, a Protestant barrister. What stood out was how huge, heartbreaking plot points just get dropped into the story, taking you by surprise. I kept having to go back and reread a few lines, thinking ??? did that really just happen.
Turned out this was timely reading because the TV adaptation is coming out on November 9th. This Sunday! I’d really urge you to read the book before watching, if you haven’t already.
Here’s hoping for a reading-heavy November too (which it will be if it doesn’t stop raining!). I’ve currently got two books on the go which is absolutely unheard of for me. I’ve had to pause The Goldfinch (good so far but very long) so I can read this month’s book club pick, The Housekeeper and the Professor (also good so far and luckily very short!).
Have you read anything great recently? Let us know in the comments!
I, like almost everyone, loved The Wedding People too. I’ve just read Heart the Lover by Lily King which left me with similar feelings- that gut-punch of a really awesome story. It’s about a decision made in her 20s which has huge repercussions later in her life.
Reading recommendations: “All the colours of the dark” by Chris Whittaker (the best fiction book I have read this year so far) about to be challenged by “The naked light” (Bridget Collins) which I’m most of the way through. Her last book “The silence factory” was my top read last year too. Happy reading!