This month I read 6 books, DFNed 1 and started 2 more. I am really proud of my reading progress in October considering this was my first full month of full-time university after 6 months off! I am also really proud of YOU this month, if you only managed to read one chapter or if you read 20 books. We survived another month of the crazy year that is 2020! To find out what I read this month and what I thought about them, just keep reading 🙂
- Natives by Akala
This is such an educational book that I think everyone should read! So if you haven’t already read it, I would highly recommend that you pick it up soon. I would even recommend reading it as an audiobook as this is what I did and I found it so impactful as it is narrated by Akala himself. This book is part memoir about Akalas life, so he talks about his childhood, upbringing, schooling etc. and everything that got him to where he is right now. But this book also talks a lot about Black British history as well as global Black history, which I can’t emphasis enough how important it is to learn and educate yourself on these topics! I already know that I will be rereading this book in the future as I’m sure there is still so much more I can learn from this book. I didn’t give it a star rating for obvious reasons but just know that it is phenomenal!
2. Final Girls by Riley Sager
I was meant to be reading this as part of a buddy read with a few other lovely bookstagrammers but I got too excited about starting about my first spooky book of the month that I ended up finishing it before the others ad even started it! This is about three women who are the lone survivors of three different massacres. It is all about how their lives intertwine and the messy situations they get into. Overall, I thought this was a good and decent thriller but I ultimately gave it 3 stars as I know I have read better and will read better in the future. However, I would definitely still recommend this to anyone who is looking for a fast paced and addicting thriller!
3. Ghosts by Dolly Alderton
Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to NetGalley for approving me for an e-arc copy of this great book! This is the kind of book that doesn’t really have a driving plot and it much more character focused, delving into their relationships, development and life journey – which is the kind of book I love. As the title suggests, it explores the different ‘ghosts’ we have in our lives, whether that be ghosting in a relationship, feeling lost in our lives, or the ghosting of our memories as it explores the topic of dementia and how that has a huge impact on people’s lives.This is another book that I think everyone needs to read as I learned a lot from it and I’m sure you will too!
4. Seven Days by Alex Lake
This is a great thriller that has a similar concept to Room by Emma Donoghue (which I read not too long ago) where a woman is captured and her captor gets her pregnant and the books follow the outfall of that and how the women decide to take back the agency of their own lives. Rather controversially, I think I preferred this book to Room as it had more of the triller atmosphere I was looking for. My only criticism of this book is that I wish it had much more mystery as although it is thrilling, the reader learns who the captor is early on and so rather than mystery, it was more curiosity as to how the book would play out. Overall, this was a great thriller, perfect for the Halloween season and I would definitely recommend it!
5. The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
This book! If I could give this book 100/5 stars I honestly would because the strength of the words is unlike anything I have read before. This is a coming of age story told through poetry and spoken word which is so emotional, real, raw and honest. It took me on an emotional rollercoaster which I didn’t expect as well. This is the type of book that makes me feel like I can write something amazing too! In general, I knew I really liked books written in verse but now I know I love them, so if you have any recommendations for books written in verse or poetry books, please let me know!
6. The Mothers by Britt Bennett
I read Britt Bennett other novel, The Vanishing Half, a few months ago and I really liked it so I was intrigued to see how her debut novel held up… but I loved this one even more! It is hard to articulate how much this author achieves in this book. As well as discussing and exploring serious issues such as abortion, suicide and abuse in such a delicate way, the outstanding writing, the depth and complexity of the characters, and the impactful emotional journey she takes you on is all testament to Brit Bennett’s talent as an author. I would highly recommend picking up some of Bennett’s work if you haven’t already, especially this book as it is so amaxing!
Didn’t I read some great books this month?! Very successful if you ask me.
DNF – Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
I really wanted to read Frankenstein during October as it is the most Halloweeny book out there… but I just ended up forcing myself to read it, which is not okay! Reading is meant to be fun and enjoyable and relaxing and by forcing myself to read a book just because it fits the theme of the month, it takes away from all the goodness of reading. So after trying to read this book for basically the whole month, I have decided to put it back on my shelves. Now thats not to say I will never read it in the future – I probably will – but right now it is not the book I want to read. And that is okay!!
As well as all those books, I also started Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay as my next audiobook and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini as my first physical book that I will finish in November! Let me know if you have read any of the books I have mentioned today, I would love to hear your opinions. I hope you also had a great reading month and I am sending you good wishes for an amazing November!
Ro xoxo
p.s. – Happy Halloween!!!
Read With Ro 