October Wrap Up & November TBR

Disclaimer: I have previously received PR products from Picador and Penguin. Images used in this post contain A Thousand Ships, which was published by Picador. Books mentioned that are published by a company who has previously sent me PR products will be marked [PR relationship].

The months are just flying by at the minute aren’t they? Seems like only last week I was posting another wrap up/TBR post. Much like last month, I’ve read less due to having a full-time job now, but I’m pretty happy with what I read! Let’s look at the stats:

Books on the October TBR: 7
Books Read in October: 7
Books Read from the TBR: 6
Books Read Not From the TBR: 1
Left on the TBR: 1

1. [PR relationship] The Female Persuasion – Meg Wolitzer. 3 stars.
   This one technically wasn’t on the TBR, it was one from my September TBR that I’d almost finished when October started, so I’m including it in this roundup although I only read a little bit of it this month. I love books with feminist themes, but this one was extremely in-your-face, and I do prefer a bit more subtlety, but it was a decent read.
   You can find my review here.
2. [PR relationship] Come Along With Me – Shirley Jackson. 4.5 stars.
   I read this to review it for #ReadBySpooktober over on Instagram. It’s an unfinished novel by Shirley Jackson, a gothic writer most well-known for her short story The Lottery. I really enjoyed the themes that this introduced and the atmosphere Jackson created, and I wish there were more than 30 pages of it!
   You can find my review here.
3. The Dutch House – Ann Patchett. 3.5 stars.
   This wasn’t what I was expecting it to be, which is mostly my fault rather than the book’s. I really enjoyed the characters in this book, and I loved that there was a building used as the focal point of the book, with the characters orbiting around it in a sense.
   You can find my review here.
4. [PR relationship] Dracula – Bram Stoker. 4 stars.
   I’ve not written a proper review for this, which is a bit of a shame because it would’ve been perfect for Halloween, but I decided to read it after I’d already scheduled other things in. It was really interesting to read for me though because of how ingrained it is in pop culture, and it was really interesting to see how my ideas of Dracula lived up to the actual story!

5. Girl – Edna O’Brien.
   This is a really heavy book about the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. I’ve not given it a rating on my blog, but I did on GoodReads because you’re so pushed into rating there. It was a very eye-opening book, though ‘enjoyed’ isn’t the word to describe the reading experience.
   You can find my review here.
6. [PR relationship] Gingerbread – Helen Oyeyemi. 2.5 stars.
   This one didn’t hit the mark for me, and a warning that in another of Oyeyemi’s book there’s a transphobic subplot, and there’s also some kinda questionable treatment of bisexual characters in this book. The atmosphere the book creates hit the mark for me, but the way it was told wasn’t for me.
   You can find my review here.
7. [PR relationship] What I Talk About When I Talk About Running – Haruki Murakami. 4 stars.
   My only nonfiction read this month, and it’s about running! Except really, it’s about writing. Though, really, even the parts that are about writing are actually about running. I loved the duality between writing and running in this book, and it contained some really useful advice for anyone who wants to build habits, and undertake long projects with only themselves and their willpower for motivation (ie, writing a novel, or running a marathon).

I had every intention to read the final book of [PR relationship] 1Q84 at the end of October, but I lost my purse and basically spent an evening in full panic mode and because of that, I didn’t manage to finish it! I’m working through it, and it’ll be in my November Wrap-Up I’m sure. So that’s what happened to the last book on the October TBR.

So, over to my November TBR. There are a couple of gifted books I’ve received from various places that I want to get read, and I think there’s two for me to read in November. Then, once I add in my book club books, we have:

3. [PR relationship] Hard-Boiled Egg and the End of the World – Haruki Murakami (Murakami Reading Group)
4. [PR relationship] Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie (Let’s Get Classical Book Club).

I want to read a couple more than that, but not too many, because I don’t want to be over ambitious! I think 6 books seems reasonable, and then maybe I’ll get to a 7th if I’m lucky. I’m going to pick a couple from my Ten Books Tag list, because I want to get through those before the end of the year!

5. Weather – Jenny Offill
6. [PR relationship] A Thousand Ships – Natalie Haynes.