Best Books of October
As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at doing this.
So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.
These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from October.
Grave Expectations (Alice Bell): My only regret is that I borrowed this book, but I will buy a copy because I still chuckle to myself when I think about it. This was big, campy fun, and I am so glad the characters are returning for a second book because I adored spending time with them.
One Puzzling Afternoon (Emily Critchley): This book blew me away. I’m not generally drawn to historical fiction, but this book is perfectly structured. The modern day story follows a woman with dementia, and the jumpbacks give the reader information on the woman’s teen years. It is beautiful and aching and heartbreaking. All at once.
The Last One (Will Dean): This was a weird one. I had been looking forward to it, but the story had so many holes that the holes became the focus more than the plot. I’ll try another book by this author in the future because I liked the writing.
Good Bad Girl (Alice Feeney): I usually love Alice Feeney books, and I’m still listing it here because maybe someone else will like it more than I did. This one just didn’t do it for me because I couldn’t connect with any character. Maybe my expectations were too high because I loved her other books so much.
The Christmas Guest (Peter Swanson): This book was bonkers in the best possible way. I am not a Christmas fan and usually wouldn’t choose a book like this, but Christmas is kind of beside the point. The time of year makes part of the plot possible, and it’s such a great twist.
What did you read last month?
4 comments
I felt the same way about Good Bad Girl. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t love it and I had some real questions about the believability of the ending. I did read and unexpectedly love Mrs. Nash’s Ashes. Dual timelines and some very likable characters. I loved it and was sad when it was over.
Someone was asking me recently about Christmas book recommendations — I’ll have to mention “The Christmas Guest” to them!
I finished 4 books in October, most of them for online book clubs, all rated 4 or 5 stars on Goodreads:
* “Over the Top” by Jonathan Van Ness of Queer Eye. I probably would have gotten more out of this one if I’d actually seen the latest incarnation of Queer Eye, but it was enjoyable nevertheless. I found it hard to read about his addictions, but I appreciated his exuberant spirit, his sense of humour — and his constant references to figure skating! lol It would probably work really well as an audiobook.
* “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie” by Alan Bradley — the first in a series of 10 (so far!) mysteries starring Flavia de Luce, an 11-year-old detective with a passion for poison, growing up in post-WW2 Britain. 🙂 I first read this book 10 years ago and suggested it for a recent book club. Fortunately, the readers there seem to enjoy Flavia as much as I do. 🙂 She is a delight, AND there’s a movie in the works!
* “The Reason You Walk” by Wab Kinew, a rapper turned journalist turned politician, who was recently elected premier of my home province of Manitoba — the first Indigenous provincial premier in Canadian history. I learned a lot from this one, and I’ll be watching with interest to see what he & his government do.
* “The Blue Castle” by L.M. Montgomery. I’ve re-read this book many times over the years, and it never fails to delight. One of my favourites, not just of LMM’s novels, but of any book I’ve read ever.
As always, I love these posts because I end up looking up the books others have read.
I read six (SIX) books in October, which is a big deal for me. There were some excellent books.
“Birnam Woods” by Eleanor Catton (a Booker prize winner) was a real page-turner, and I can see it as a good movie or TV series.
It was quickly followed by Richard Osman’s latest, “The Last Devil to Die.” He’s great fun, always makes me laugh out loud, although I’ve predicted the outcome in his last two books. But it barely matters, as his characters are all so much fun.
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin was fascinating to me – as I’m not a gamer. But thoroughly enjoyed her book about gamers and tech start-ups and romance when no-one says what they actually think/feel.
Jodi Picoult’s “Mad Honey” was as always thought provoking, and topical, about trans issues, and how friends, parents, schools, society. etc cope with it all. I’ll read anything she writes, even though this was co-written.
I read Lisa Manterfield’s “All Our Lies Are True.” Like your books, it’s lovely to read novels from people we know, who’ve been through the infertility wringer, and are doing well in a new field.
And finished the month with Prince Harry’s “Spare,” having waited months for a library copy! I enjoyed it, found his perspective both interesting (a behind the scenes look at his life) and very sad too.
Just finished The Christmas Guest based on your recommendation! I enjoyed it tremendously!
Looking forward to “Best Books of November”!!!