A Late Monthly Review – October 2015

Posted November 10, 2015 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Monthly Reading / 0 Comments

My Brilliant Friend This is a late monthly wrap up but it is probably better late than never. I have had a busy few weeks and have not had much time to film videos or write posts. October was a pretty great reading month; I was actually surprised that I got through so many books. As many people know, I have recently discovered the joys of reading slowly and I expected to see a drastic drop in the amount of books that I consumed. In the end I still managed to complete eight books, which I still consider pretty impressive.

The first novel I read in the month of October was The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto (translated by Michael Emmerich) and I simply adored this one. This is the first Banana Yoshimoto book I have ever read but it will not be the last. The best way to describe the experience of reading The Lake is like floating. As you read you feel like you are just floating on a lake and it is beautiful and relaxing. However you quickly realise you have floated into unsafe waters and it is dangerous. The psychological elements within this novel are really well done, I feel like I am an instant fan.

After The Lake, I moved onto Candide by Voltaire, which was translated from the French by Theo Cuffe. This was a buddy read with a fellow booktuber; I enjoyed the book and found it hilarious but sadly Lisa from Shut Your Typeface did not. It is a parody of the adventure narrator, while also satirising the philosophy of optimism. I got a lot of joy from the satirical nature and I found connections with this novel and the overly optimistic people found in Christianity. I could go into more depth on my thoughts, but I shall save that for my review.

I finally finished A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, which took me about a month to read. This novel recently won the Man Booker Prize and rightly so; it was a wonderful book and I highly recommend it. Then I finally got to My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein), which is the first book in the Neapolitan series. I enjoyed this so much that I had to move onto The Story of a New Name (book two) immediately. I would love to read the next two books in the series but I do not own them yet and thought I will hold off; maybe next year.

Halloween was sneaking up, so I thought I should pick up some creepy reads to finish off the month. Firstly I picked up Me and the Devil by Nick Tosches, which was very creepy and oddly brilliant. I have wanted to read some Tosches for a while and I think the man can write. I also read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, both perfect choices for Halloween.

Moving onto November, I plan to devote the entire month reading non-fiction. There is a reading event called Non-Fiction November, which is challenging people to read more non-fiction. There are four different categories; History, Science/Nature, Culture/Society and Biography/Memoir. I have picked my four books, but I thought it was a good opportunity to devote the whole month reading non-fiction. I have finished a few books already and I have been enjoying the experience completely. I hope everyone has a good reading month and let me know what you are planning to read in the comments below.

Monthly Reading