Hello everyone! I’m so sorry I have missed a couple weeks, but the start of uni really kicked my ass and I was very much booked and busy, however, I have managed to get ahead and on top of things so I am back posting at an at least semi regular basis. As I have been missing for a little while, I thought the best post to start with would be a reading wrap up for the books that I read in October. I feel like the books I read were either 10/10 or wtf did I just read, so this should be interesting, lets get into it!
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
RATING: Five very enthusiastic stars out of five
When I tell you I have owned this book for like five years I am not kidding, but I finally picked this one up in the hopes that it would give me all the autumnal vibes and I was not disappointed. Fantasy is my favourite genre, but I feel like it has been disappointing me recently. V.E. Schwab is pretty hit or miss for me; I always love her writing, but sometimes the actual story falls a little flat. A Darker Shade of Magic, though, is not Schwab’s (probably) most popular series for no reason- I LOVED this book, it contained everything I love about fantasy and I was very much impressed.
Everything I know about love by Dolly Alderton
RATING: three slightly confused stars
I listened to this book on Auible, and I’m not 100% sure how I feel about it. I am getting into memoirs recently and so I wanted to try this one out having seen it literally everywhere, and it was definitely a fun listen with lots of cute messages. My first slight issue with it was the random satirical e-mails and recipes etc that were thrown in which just didn’t read very well or flow with the actual book at all. I also just feel like I didn’t relate at all, there was just a lot of repeated stories about wild nights and doing drugs and getting absolutely off-your-face drunk and I just think that particular aspect of Dolly’s life was repeated way too much to be at all enjoyable. As I said though, sprinkled in were some decent elements that I did enjoy, and my lack of enthusiasm is definitely potentially my fault for being so incredibly boring and usually being in bed by 9.
All’s Well by Mona Awad
RATING: two incredibly confused and slightly dizzy stars
This book started with promise, we follow a theatre professor suffering with chronic pain as she tries to stage a production of All’s Well That Ends Well. The first section of this book looked like it had the potential to present a really interesting take on pain and how the experiences of women with pain are often dismissed. The magical realism element of this book also started off quite well and I was enjoying it. Somewhere along the way, though, things literally just descended into complete and incomprehensible madness. I feel like there is some sort of literary meaning to this, but it just really was not enjoyable to follow at all as it got repetitive and nonsensical. I understand there may be meaning to this, but it basically meant that we lost touch of the first 70% of the book and finished up just completely baffled and with no real conclusion. Definitely a good read if you want to feel like your on drugs without actually having to buy any drugs.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
RATING: not sure, but I am throwing up
And then we went from slightly weird to I am about to feel physically sick and I want to gouge my eyes out. I have seen this book pop up so many times and I loved the title so I felt like I had no choice but to give this one a read. I wish I didn’t to be fair. This book follows an internet chat room conversation between two women and it just gets more and more gross for no apparent reason. This book just gave the vibe of constantly saying repulsive shit for no reason other than to repulse you and it is the only thing I have read that literally just left me gagging. I don’t mind gore in books at all, but I just thing the graphic gore and vileness of this book was there for no reason, it kind of just felt like torture porn. That being said, it was definitely gripping and it was quite bizarre how I wanted to just keep reading to see how insane things got. I think with a little more development this could have been really good, but as it stands everything seemed meaningless.
Know my Name by Chanel Miller
RATING: five stars, no question
And then this memoir came to save what was looking like a rough month. Know my Name is a memoir by Chanel Miller, an incredibly talented writer who was the centre of the Stanford Sexual Assault Case. I listened to this on Audiobook as it was narrated by Chanel, who did a beautiful job, I was completely hooked and I truly feel like she told her story in the most incredible way. Hearing her voice crack, the confusion, the anger and the growth that Chanel went through is so so admirable. She is not the victim that society wants, who is quiet and apologetic and accepts what happens to her, she knows what she is standing up for and puts all of her points forward so eloquently and she also made me cry on the train so thank you.
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
RATING: five stars
As it was October, I was in the mood to be spooked, and this book just gave me exactly what I was craving. The Silent Companions follows a newly widowed woman who moves to her late husbands estate and is greeted by some very spooky dolls who do some very spooky bits around the house. Honestly this book gets five stars just because it gave me what I wanted, I had a lot of fun reading it and I was definitely genuinely spooked at parts of it, this is a great read for if you want a classic but still unique horror with all the gothic vibes.
And that is all for the books I read this October. I hope you enjoyed this little catch up and hopefully I can get back to a more regular posting schedule. Let me know if you have read any of these books and what you think of them, and also if you have any recommendations for what I should read next! Speak soon ❤
Between the pages 