The October/November ’16 Overview
At the beginning of this month I set out to read 4 books for the aptly called ‘Booktober’ challenge and I wanted to write a post about the books I managed to read. I actually forgot to include ‘Hot Milk’ in my tbr since it was the October Undercover book club read, so I would have had to finish it this month as well. So my goal was 5 books, I read 6.
October
I thought I would not just list the books, but also let you know the amount of stars I gave it on Goodreads (X out of 5) and what I thought in a quick 1 or 2-sentence review.
This month I read (in finishing order):
‘The Taming of the Shrew’ by William Shakespeare ****
I really enjoyed ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ it starts with the most absurd and elaborate prank I have ever read and I have retold it to anyone who would listen. It took me a while to understand where it was going, but at the end I understood the ‘taming’ part of the play and I thought it was very cleverly done.
‘Sharp Objects’ by Gillian Flynn ****
I enjoyed ‘Sharp Objects’, it was the perfect kind of creepy for me and the characters have stuck with me even when I finished the book. It was not as well ended as her other, newer, novels but overall it was a good read. I also wrote a blogpost on Gillian Flynn (see here).
‘Hot Milk’ by Deborah Levy **
‘Hot Milk’ was this months pick for my Undercover Book Club, but I did not enjoy it as much as some of the other people. I felt like it was a really good book if you got the references and themes, but I just did not get it and I felt like true enjoyment of the book was just a little out of reach for me.
‘Lola Carlyle Reveals All’ by Rachel Gibson *****
I love me some Rachel Gibson (expect a post sometime in the future) and this was an A+ creation. It hit all the right notes for me, although the ‘sad’ part was not as sad as usual.
‘Being There’ by Jerzy Kosinski ***
‘Being There’ is the November read for the Undercover Book Club. It had a nice premise and was well written, but even for a 105 page story the plot got old very quickly.
‘Vinegar Girl’ by Anne Tyler *****
‘Vinegar Girl’ is the November read for the Bored to Death Book club. I LOVED this. I had to get into it at the beginning, but when I finished I could not help but be amazed at the skill with which Anne Tyler weaved the original Shakespeare play into a new novel. Very well done and expect a more elaborate blogpost on this soon!
November
Besides rating and shortly reviewing my past reads, I thought I would also put forth the books I plan to read in November. I already finished my two book club reads (‘Vinegar Girl’ and ‘Being There’), but I will probably read the December picks this month when it is clear what they are.
- ‘The Club Dumas’ by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (Undercover Book Club pick for December)
- ‘The Green Road’ by Anne Enright
- ‘The Improbability of Love’ by Hannah Rothschild
- ‘Mansfield Park’ by Jane Austen (am about a third in and it is time to finish it)
Tune in next month to see if I managed to finish them all, or if I got distracted and read some other books instead. I think I want to make this into a regular post, so I am trying out this structure for now. Let me know what you think in the comments below!