Wrap up – what I read in October

October has been a very productive month from the readings point of view. I managed to read a total of 8 books, and I came to like so much the majority of them! I have to admit though, that I have been a bit naughty, and despite my Autumn Reading List (that you can see here), I diverted from it and read some other books that were not part of my original plan. I can't help it really, if I see a title that seems interesting I just have to read it, and I am ending up putting on a side those books that I had previously planned to read. Enough with the rambling though, here is the list of my October readings, and what I thought about them.

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Han Kang, The Vegetarian

One of my best friends gave this book to me saying it was a short booklet, quick to read and spooky enough to be read the month of Halloween. I really didn't know what to expect, as I couldn't imagine how a book about a vegetarian could be “spooky”, but after reading it I realised what she was meaning.

Protagonist of the book is South Korean Yeong-hye, whose story is told us by three different people: her husband, her brother in law and her sister. The book is divided in three parts, where those characters describe the quiet life of Yeong-hye, and how it dramatically changed after she decided to stop eating meat. She takes this decision after having had a scary, bloody dream about human cruelty, and her choice surprises very much her family. Her husband asks for his parents in law help to make her change her mind, and her father even comes to the drastic decision to force her to swallow meat. But Yeong-hye is inflexible, she absolutely refuses to eat meat or anything produced by animals, and slowly she starts to lose so much weight. Her behaviour as well changes, becoming odd first and irrational after, leading her family to think she is losing her mind.

The “spooky” part of the book is related to an episode described at the end of the first part, the one told my her husband, which I won't describe to avoid spoilers, but that I must admit gave me a cold shiver.

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Margaret Rogerson, An Enchantment of Ravens

This book was actually in my Autumn to Read list, as I decided to read it because it is set (in part) in the Autumn Court, and its male protagonist is the King of the Autumn Court itself.

Female protagonist of the story is Isobel, a young girl with a great talent for painting. Her talent is admired by fairies, who often ask her to paint their portrait. One day the prince of the Autumn Court himself, Rook, asks her to paint his portrait. Rook has not been seen in the human world for centuries, and Isobel is very excited, if a bit scared, to meet and paint for him. As she produces her craft though she makes a terrible mistake, leading to a series of adventures, more or less terrible.

Its a non pretentious young adult book, with two pretty classic protagonists (handsome and mysterious male, and beautiful, brave girl) and a simple story pleasant to read.

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Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

I decided to read this book after having read some excited reviews on Goodreads. It is a fantasy, because it is set in a fantasy world with people having supernatural powers, but the strength of this book lies in its characters, all well defined, “real” and believable, other than a very interesting universe and plot twists.

In the city of Ketterdam the well known criminal Kaz Brekker is chosen to fulfil a dangerous mission: find the person who created a perilous drug, who has been kidnapped by the Ice Court, where he has been asked to produce massive quantities of his drug. This substance enhances drastically the power of Grisha, human beings born with some supernatural powers, turning them into dangerous weapons. To fulfil this mission Kaz puts together a team of six, including himself: a thief with a hidden secret; a spy with a painful past; a Heartrender Grisha living on remorse; a warrior betrayed by the person he cared the most; a privileged boy with a difficult relationship with his father. The book is full of action, plot twists, surprises, and its characters so well constructed that the book never result boring, and keeps the reader attached to its pages. Suggested, it was an unexpectedly pleasant reading.

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Gillian Flynn, The Grownup

Now, this definitely was a Halloween reading. The main character of the story is a woman who makes a living on different types of harmless fraud, some of them sex related, some other based on her (false) ability to read people auras. One day, Susan comes into her life, and asks her for help, because her life is crumbling down and she doesn't know how to stop it. It has to do with a scary looking old house, a creepy teenager and some mysterious events happening in the house. Its a very short book and I don't want to say too much to avoid spoilers, but I adored it and I absolutely suggest it!

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Roald Dahl, The Witches

I adore Roald Dahl. When I was young he was one of my favourite authors ever, and it still is. For Halloween, I thought it was necessary to read something about witches, and why not this lovely book telling us everything about them? Witches look exactly like all other women, but they have some characteristics every child has to know, so that they can stay far, far away from them (because you know, witches hate children!). They always wear gloves; they wear wigs; their feet have no toes; to them, children smell like dog's droppings. And they are very, very nasty.

I adore this book, it was one of my favourite when I was a child, and I have to admit, it still is one of those I like to read and re read from times to times.

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Agatha Christie, Hallowe'en Party

Can you guess by the title why I chose to read this book? In the first place, because it is set on Halloween night; secondly, because it is a mystery story (which I hadn't read yet!) by my adored Agatha Christie. In this book our dear Poirot has to solve a case happened on Halloween night, during a party. A young girl has been murdered, and the thing leaves the whole village speechless. Who might want the death of a young girl? I liked it very, very much, and I absolutely suggest you to read it if you like Agatha Christie and her Poirot stories, you won't be disappointed.

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Su Tong, Raise the Red Lantern

I saw this book in my local library, and after having read the plot I decided to give it a go. Its a book set in China during the 30s, from which a movie has been inspired as well. Protagonist of the book is young Lotus, who becomes the 4^th concubine of a wealthy merchant after her father passes away. At the beginning the life of Lotus is nice and simple, but soon she starts to be jealous of the other concubines. She bursts more and more often in episodes of anger and malignity, and fights with her maids. Her torment though will not lead her to the happy ending she was hoping for...

Another very interesting book that I enjoyed reading, and I am suggesting if you are interested in Asian culture, and writings about women.

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Edgard Allan Poe, The Raven

One of the most common poems written by Poe, I think it is my absolute favourite among all his writings, and the one I read and re read every Autumn. Why? Because I think it summarizes so perfectly the spirit of October, with this lover in anguish for the death of his loved one, and the Raven, possibly a messenger from the Other World, warning him to stop thinking about her and bury his hopes to ever see her again. Touching, beautiful, musical, an absolute To Read poem.

And those are all my readings for the month of October! And you, which nice books have you read, or which ones did you hate? Let me know if you have any suggestion, or if you read already some of those titles and you liked/disliked them.

I will talk to you very soon with another post, (possibly movies watched this month), for now farewell and take care

M.