For spend the week(ish) with you: I always love seeing what people are eating and cat content is always very welcome. If it’s not too late for 2024 prompts: an author who shares your birth month/astrology sign
So that video/vlog is one of the many, many, many that have ended up on the cutting room floor… but I will keep a note of your requests for Vlogmas vlogs on patreon and here when they return in 2024!
Hi. Me too, but picked up for a re read Killers of the Flower Moon. Non fiction. American injustice in the early 1800 against the Osage Tribe. Not enough books out there on native american tribes. ❤ maybe Simon or @louisesavidge muses could recommend a few?
I really like your idea of focusing on Christmas reads in the week leading up to the holiday and 2024 books in the week leading up to the New Year. It’s an excellent transition plan! Some books that really impacted me from October were North Woods by Daniel Mason, Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt, Unruly by David Mitchell (which really made me laugh) and The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt, which was kind of brilliant. I know exactly what you mean about The Vaster Wilds. I really liked it a lot but whenever I wasn’t reading it I did not feel a strong urge to pick it back up. But I did finish it and am very glad I read it. It worked for me much more than The Matrix. I have read all Groff’s novels and her short story collections. I really love The Monsters of Templeton. I think it’s my favorite.
I need to get my mitts on The Monsters of Templeton. Though really I should enforce my new 2024 of reading what I have by an author first, I still have Matrix on the shelves.
Thank you. Was a slightly ridiculously priced treat from the infamous tebay services. But I spotted it and thought about it for two days before I had to buy it on the journey back! Ha.
What I read in October: 1. The Lady’s Maid’s Bell by Edith Wharton 2. The Prophet of Edan by Philip Chase 3. The Eyes by Edith Wharton 4. Return to Edan by Philip Chase 5. Afterward by Edith Wharton 6. The Masque of the Red Death by: Edgar Allan Poe 7. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James 8. The Changeling by: Victor La Valle I my favorites were The Changeling and The Masque of the Red Death. I like Edith Wharton's writing but I was expecting more out of her ghost stories. I'm glad I can say I finally read The Turn of the Screw and I liked more than I thought I would. Of course, I'm going to love most fantasy I read so Prophet and Return were a given that I would enjoy them.
Wrap up time! 😍 My reading at the moment is me going back to favourite authors of mine and it's been lovely. Your chat around not saving authors you think you're going to like reminds me of the famous saying, "don't save it for best, wear/use it now"... I guess the Bookish version, would be read them now!?
Ha. Alas if only I could read all the books right now. Not enough arms, eyes or time. Hehehe. I definitely want to head to some favourite authors before the year is out. Though books I’ve not read. I have had a few cursed rereads and never again, well not often anyway. I do need to to hoarding ‘hopeful favourites’ though!
I too have been putting off Oyeyemi (and Adebayo! I literally have a book each waiting) 'cause I didn't think I was emotionally ready to face my very high expectations of them. This was a great reminder to cut it out😂 Ill be picking the book up asap, your service is greatly appreciated haha
Hahaha. I hope you love Ayobami’s books as much as I do. You’ve two (very different) treats with those. I’ll definitely give Oyeyemi a try again next year.
I loved Land of Milk and Honey, what a unique little novel. I just purchased The Vaster Wilds but am currently reading The Glutton by AK Blakemore so I might get to it later on. Always happy to hear what you have been reading no matter the month!
Oooh I think I’ll be heading to The Glutton quite soon. It’s been recommended to me a lot this year and I really loved her debut. Land of Milk and Honey is as fabulous as its author who I adore!
Gunflower has rompful moments for sure though it’s not for the squeamish. Ha. Thank you for your patience, ha. It could be a while but let’s defo try and do another buddy read in the new year!
Just read "The Graves of Whitechapel" & "Kala". Really enjoyed them both.Read Kala after watching your channel. Currently reading "All is not forgotten". So far so good. Thankyou for all of your hard work. Really look forward to your videos. So easy, relatable, informative and fun to watch. Also love your mum's posts. Hugs and kisses from my 11 (yes eleven) kitties to yours 😻😻😻😻
I really liked it… Once I got over what I assumed it was (totally me not the book) and switched to audio where it gained like an extra star as Natalie reading it is just fabulous.
So excited about a vlog coming 🤩 Hmm, I’d like to hear about how you manage your workload as in when/if your energy levels change throughout the day - how you sit with that or work through it, and how this schedule/life of yours with various jobs/responsibilities, etc. is working for you, if you’ve always been able to “juggle” it all? Idk if that makes sense. There were a lot of forward slashes in there. I apologise… I feel like you don’t have a “typical” day, which makes me curious about how you balance it all and if that’s sth you have found works well for you to navigate between different commitments 🌻 And I’d love to know what your process is when preparing for author events. It’s just all very interesting to be fair. (Don’t feel overwhelmed though! Whatever you share with us, I know I’ll enjoy it.)
Sadly, as you may well see in my latest video, vlogs are on hold on the channel until 2024. When they will be back bigger than ever. Lol. There will be a work/spend the week one eventually though I promise. Lol.
I felt somewhat similar about Gingerbread. I have kept hold of it to re read in the future because I feel like I will get more out of it on a second reading. Or maybe that’s wishful thinking. Land of Milk and Honey will be in my top ten of 2023, C Pam Zhang’s writing is wonderful.
Pam is such an amazing writer and I was soooooo lucky to get to host her twice on her UK tour. We’re now pen (snack) pals and sending each other foody surprise treats across the ocean. Ha.
Hi 👋🏻 one of my favourite Oct reads was “This Other Eden” by Paul Harding - shortlisted for the Booker 2023. Another title from that shortlist was “The Bee Sting” which I really enjoyed during this month (Nov!) & squirrels 🐿️ feature in this book 😌 I was very pleased though “The Prophet Song” won 👏🏻 I want to pick up soon a book by Lauren Groff. It would be interesting to learn more about your work with Storyhouse ☺️ I too have plans for Dec/Xmas reads 🎄x
Hi Simon 👋Best books read so far this month are The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store Happiness Falls Cover the Bones ( Aussie noir) Currently reading March by Geraldine Brooks Keep warm & keep well ❤
I'd love a closer look / review of The Vaster Wilds :) Enjoyed the book as well but sometimes felt the character was just a vehicle for the author's views on Nature, Death/Afterlife etc. Question is whether a 17th century service girl would come to those conclusions or thoughts? Hi from Stefanie, Berlin, Germany
I think maybe the moment has passed with The Vaster Wilds now as I read it almost two months ago. Well one and three quarters. Ha. But I think next year I may do some singular review videos for books like it… or incorporate more detail in reading vlogs maybe.
Sounds great! As for nonfiction poc books by women, I can recommend Homelands and Waterways by Adele Logan Alexander, the history of the author's African American family. Alexander is a historian and combines personal histories with the general historical background
Disney's Hercules is brilliant. One of the most unbelievable things I have been told about this film is that they were originally going to cast the Spice Girls as the muses! It would have been a very different film if they had! 😱 Something to ponder when you watch it
That was a lot of books! No wonder you didn't have time to make a video. lol. I finally finished Count of Monte Christo! (3.5 months), 4-stars, loved the settings and the momentum Dumas created even during the 14-years in a pitch-black dungeon. But I don't expect it will stick with me the way Les Miserables or Middlemarch has. I also read Graham Greene's shortie, End of the Affair, which I loved. I love the structure and the writing style. Personally I wish the story were more about the affair and less about faith. But even with that said, its damned good. Now I'm reading Peter Pan, because somehow I missed that as a child. The racist vocabulary has shocked me and I had not expected the sexual tension between Wendy, Pan and Tink'.
That’s not many books for me to be fair. I normally read quite a few more when I’m on form, lol. And it’s this month that I’ve been super busy, though October was quite busy but nothing like November has been. Sounds like a time of classics is going on with you!
Hi. Simon has 2 awesome videos from way back on him explaining his love of books from his grandmothers influence to his years of working at london central library. ❤
Just looked backed at my October books and realized I loved them all! All 5 star reads! Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter will be top 5, I think. An absolute blast. It’s A Love Story by Shirley and Martin Kemp was so delightful and also so completely heartbreaking in one particular chapter. I absolutely loved it. They read the audiobook themselves and with such love and warmth. I’ll be shopping for a copy of the physical book once I get to London in just a little while! Stigma by Thomas Enger and Jorn Lier Horst is the fourth book in a fantastic Scandi-crime series. Standing My Ground by Harry Dunn, one of the DC Capitol Police on duty on January 6th, is brutal and honest and fantastic. He reads it himself and brilliantly. And a recommendation from Louise, I listened to Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. Holy cow! What a great, creepy, delicious book! Finished it at 4AM on Halloween! Wish I could say that November is more of the same, but I’m getting nowhere fast. Back to slumpsville.
Sounds like you had a corking month in October. Lucky thing. Maybe we alternate between bumper months and slumper months and that’s all just part of the joy/life of reading.
Hey 🎄You mentioned some Christmas reads, will we get some recommendations in time to buy and read ourselves? Last year I read The Snow Child, then Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson so need to get another 🤞🏽🌲
I don’t know if I’ll do Christmas recommendations specifically. But I might do winter ones. Maybe. I love The Snow Child. I have a quote in one of the editions.
I felt very similarly about the Vaster Wilds and actually did not finish it! However I read the Monsters of Templeton many years ago and remember it being VERY different from her writing now and I loved it. Sadly I also DNF'd The Matrix and I love a good nun drama! Not sure what it is about her writing style that's not working for me.
Oooh maybe it’s The Monsters of Templeton that I need to head to then. I wonder if she’s changed direction or gear a bit since Fates and Furies. I’ve heard Matrix has some similar themes as well as style to Vaster Wilds.
In October I read: Momento Mori by Muriel Spark I am Malala Please Do Not Touch This Exhibit by Jen Campbell The List by Yomi Adegoke Ghost Summer Stories by Tananarive Due All about Love by bell hooks
Hi Simon. actually I don´t read blurbs, i go by title and cover vibe. And some books I know because of booktubers like you. The bookshop in Porto wasn´t always a tourist attraction. It is actually sad they have to sell tickets now.
I tend to go for cover and title, though also mumblings I’ve heard from socials or publishers. I am probably being unfair on the bookshop, we went in prime Porto season, I’ve heard it’s lovely out of season.
I read Mark Helprin's ,The Oceans and the Stars., A Sea Story,A War Story, A Love Story. This is beautifully written but I just was a bit disappointed in some of the attitudes .
Hahaha. I definitely didn’t feel like it’s a moan about book for me, just maybe not the book for me. I loved the start. It lost me from about a third, maybe even a quarter, in. Yet I still sort of enjoyed the ride. Lol.
IMO Helen Oyeyeme has such a fantastic imagination that one cannot predict the story line or the behaviour of the characters - you just have to read slowly (!) , try not to lose your balance and marvel are her originality.
I don’t disagree she has a fantastic imagination. That was very obvious from the book BUT without grounding it in detail, for me, it didn’t work. Maybe more grounding would have given more balance. And I was reading it slowly. It still flipped on what felt like whim. And whilst I appreciate your comment on originality… it is based on previous stories. 😉
No annotations on my books ever. Though if it’s a proof I will dog ear pages where things feel really pertinent to a theme and possible avenue of conversation.
By Oyeyemi, I've read Boy, Snow, Bird and I read a few pages of White is for Witching. Boy, Snow, Bird was enjoyable and interesting. I rated it 4,5⭐. I read a few pages of White is for Witching, and then realized it's really weird and I wasn't in the mood for weird at that point, so I put it down and so far haven't picked it back up yet. I don't even count it as a DNF, because I hardly even started it. Which isn't a criticism of the book, but I just wasn't in the right headspace for it. I do want to read it at some point though! This was my review for Boy, Snow, Bird: "This book... This book! It's interesting. I know that's usually said to sugarcoat something being bad or disappointing or anything else negative, but in this case I mean it quite literally. It starts off with a feel of folk tales; I've compared part one of the story to Robert Dinsdale's Gingerbread, and I stick to that comparison. But then the story moves on, and it twists and turns around and becomes something else. And then... You lose track of what story exactly is being told, but you don't mind, because that is exactly how it should be. I think I got it, at a primal level, but then again, I feel like I have no idea what I just read. Maybe what I think I'm getting is just something inside me I'm projecting on this story. Maybe it's what I want to be there."
This actually made me decide to reread White is for Witching right now! I gave myself a week-long 'one book a day' challenge, and White is for Witching is a nice short one that's perfect to (try and) read in one day.
@@SavidgeReads White is for Witching was definitely weird, but also very good! Kind of gave me Haunting of Hill House (the show, to be specific) vibes.
Oh nooooo!! Dnf for Babel? Just joking. ❤ 😊 the middle section was repetitive and way too long, but i needed a 3rd (yes 3rd) read to fully understand the gist of the institution. Glad i perservered. It was wonderful. ❤
No. I said no to hosting an event for Babel. I just couldn’t risk not liking it… and I wasn’t the biggest fan of Yellowface. Maybe that will get me ostracised hahaha.
With an avatar like mine, how can I possibly not want to read “The Squirrel and the Lost Treasure?”
Hahahaha. Well quite!
No questions just great jumper! 😊 Lolly Willowes was very underwhelming and definitely lacked the witchy wallop! 😂
Yeah. I really needed that witchy wallop and it just wasn’t there. More like a witchy flop.
For spend the week(ish) with you: I always love seeing what people are eating and cat content is always very welcome.
If it’s not too late for 2024 prompts: an author who shares your birth month/astrology sign
Yes, paws-up for cat content. 😺
So that video/vlog is one of the many, many, many that have ended up on the cutting room floor… but I will keep a note of your requests for Vlogmas vlogs on patreon and here when they return in 2024!
I’ve been reading Lolly Willows before bed and keep falling asleep. 😬
Hahahaha. This just made me really laugh.
Best book I read in October was “The door to door bookshop” by Carsten Henn translated from German a great feel good story. 😊
Oooh I’ll look it up!
In a reading slump but love these videos ❤
Hi. Me too, but picked up for a re read Killers of the Flower Moon. Non fiction. American injustice in the early 1800 against the Osage Tribe. Not enough books out there on native american tribes. ❤ maybe Simon or @louisesavidge muses could recommend a few?
Awwww thanks so much. Hope the slump passes soon.
I really like your idea of focusing on Christmas reads in the week leading up to the holiday and 2024 books in the week leading up to the New Year. It’s an excellent transition plan! Some books that really impacted me from October were North Woods by Daniel Mason, Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt, Unruly by David Mitchell (which really made me laugh) and The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt, which was kind of brilliant. I know exactly what you mean about The Vaster Wilds. I really liked it a lot but whenever I wasn’t reading it I did not feel a strong urge to pick it back up. But I did finish it and am very glad I read it. It worked for me much more than The Matrix. I have read all Groff’s novels and her short story collections. I really love The Monsters of Templeton. I think it’s my favorite.
I need to get my mitts on The Monsters of Templeton. Though really I should enforce my new 2024 of reading what I have by an author first, I still have Matrix on the shelves.
Omg your jumper 😂 I love it!!!
Thank you. Was a slightly ridiculously priced treat from the infamous tebay services. But I spotted it and thought about it for two days before I had to buy it on the journey back! Ha.
First time watching. Best wishes with your reading and to your channel.
Thank you. I hope you enjoyed it and you’ll be back!
What I read in October:
1. The Lady’s Maid’s Bell by Edith Wharton
2. The Prophet of Edan by Philip Chase
3. The Eyes by Edith Wharton
4. Return to Edan by Philip Chase
5. Afterward by Edith Wharton
6. The Masque of the Red Death by: Edgar Allan Poe
7. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
8. The Changeling by: Victor La Valle
I my favorites were The Changeling and The Masque of the Red Death. I like Edith Wharton's writing but I was expecting more out of her ghost stories. I'm glad I can say I finally read The Turn of the Screw and I liked more than I thought I would. Of course, I'm going to love most fantasy I read so Prophet and Return were a given that I would enjoy them.
Sounds like a good and varied concoction of reading for you last month!
Wrap up time! 😍 My reading at the moment is me going back to favourite authors of mine and it's been lovely. Your chat around not saving authors you think you're going to like reminds me of the famous saying, "don't save it for best, wear/use it now"... I guess the Bookish version, would be read them now!?
Ha. Alas if only I could read all the books right now. Not enough arms, eyes or time. Hehehe. I definitely want to head to some favourite authors before the year is out. Though books I’ve not read. I have had a few cursed rereads and never again, well not often anyway. I do need to to hoarding ‘hopeful favourites’ though!
I too have been putting off Oyeyemi (and Adebayo! I literally have a book each waiting) 'cause I didn't think I was emotionally ready to face my very high expectations of them. This was a great reminder to cut it out😂 Ill be picking the book up asap, your service is greatly appreciated haha
Hahaha. I hope you love Ayobami’s books as much as I do. You’ve two (very different) treats with those. I’ll definitely give Oyeyemi a try again next year.
Hi Simon Finished Slug: frank, forthright,, funny. Thanx 4 the recommend.
A pleasure… though shamefully I’ve still not read it. Ha!
I loved Land of Milk and Honey, what a unique little novel. I just purchased The Vaster Wilds but am currently reading The Glutton by AK Blakemore so I might get to it later on. Always happy to hear what you have been reading no matter the month!
Just purchased The Glutton. Is my next read. Sounds dark, disgusting and intriguing. We'll see.
Oooh I think I’ll be heading to The Glutton quite soon. It’s been recommended to me a lot this year and I really loved her debut. Land of Milk and Honey is as fabulous as its author who I adore!
I also felt very meh about Lolly Willowes. I had wanted to read it for ages as I love a witchy read, but I was just bored!
I verged on bored quite a few times, can’t deny it.
no sweat, i will wait for your wonderful thoughts on the Noor Naga for the new year! will always be patient with you!
Gunflower has rompful moments for sure though it’s not for the squeamish. Ha. Thank you for your patience, ha. It could be a while but let’s defo try and do another buddy read in the new year!
Just read "The Graves of Whitechapel" & "Kala". Really enjoyed them both.Read Kala after watching your channel. Currently reading "All is not forgotten". So far so good. Thankyou for all of your hard work. Really look forward to your videos. So easy, relatable, informative and fun to watch. Also love your mum's posts. Hugs and kisses from my 11 (yes eleven) kitties to yours 😻😻😻😻
Eleven kitties. Wow!!! Glad to hear you thought that Kala was good. I’m looking forward to reading that before the year is through.
My copy of I Am An Island arrived in good shape from the merry old Motherland in good shape and I just started reading it.
Oooh I really hope it affects you as much as it did me. Do report back!
Thank you Simon that was really interesting what you said about Natalie Haynes ‘ Divine might
.hmm
I really liked it… Once I got over what I assumed it was (totally me not the book) and switched to audio where it gained like an extra star as Natalie reading it is just fabulous.
@@SavidgeReads oh that s good to know I may take your advice and get the audio
So excited about a vlog coming 🤩 Hmm, I’d like to hear about how you manage your workload as in when/if your energy levels change throughout the day - how you sit with that or work through it, and how this schedule/life of yours with various jobs/responsibilities, etc. is working for you, if you’ve always been able to “juggle” it all? Idk if that makes sense. There were a lot of forward slashes in there. I apologise… I feel like you don’t have a “typical” day, which makes me curious about how you balance it all and if that’s sth you have found works well for you to navigate between different commitments 🌻 And I’d love to know what your process is when preparing for author events. It’s just all very interesting to be fair. (Don’t feel overwhelmed though! Whatever you share with us, I know I’ll enjoy it.)
Sadly, as you may well see in my latest video, vlogs are on hold on the channel until 2024. When they will be back bigger than ever. Lol. There will be a work/spend the week one eventually though I promise. Lol.
I felt somewhat similar about Gingerbread. I have kept hold of it to re read in the future because I feel like I will get more out of it on a second reading. Or maybe that’s wishful thinking. Land of Milk and Honey will be in my top ten of 2023, C Pam Zhang’s writing is wonderful.
Pam is such an amazing writer and I was soooooo lucky to get to host her twice on her UK tour. We’re now pen (snack) pals and sending each other foody surprise treats across the ocean. Ha.
Hi 👋🏻 one of my favourite Oct reads was “This Other Eden” by Paul Harding - shortlisted for the Booker 2023. Another title from that shortlist was “The Bee Sting” which I really enjoyed during this month (Nov!) & squirrels 🐿️ feature in this book 😌 I was very pleased though “The Prophet Song” won 👏🏻
I want to pick up soon a book by Lauren Groff.
It would be interesting to learn more about your work with Storyhouse ☺️
I too have plans for Dec/Xmas reads 🎄x
Hope you enjoy Groff when you get to her. Sounds like you liked all the Paul’s quite a lot. Hahaha.
It’s true - Paul x 3 👏🏻📚👍😘
Looking forward to the video on work. Do wonder how to do/prepare for it all. Prompt: Long-time author you haven't gotten to yet.
Into the pot of prompt possibility it has gone.
Hi Simon 👋Best books read so far this month are
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
Happiness Falls
Cover the Bones ( Aussie noir)
Currently reading
March by Geraldine Brooks
Keep warm & keep well ❤
Sounds like a lovely mixture of books. I have been beyond warm today… it’s been boiling in Chester. Far too hot for November. I like to be cold.
Would love to know more about your work xx
It’ll happen. Apologies it’ll be 2024. Hahaha.
I have 3 Helen Oyeyemi books on my shelves but haven’t read any of hers yet! Need to just pick one out 😂
Which three?
@@SavidgeReads I have, Peaces, The Icarus Girl and White is for Witching. Not sure whether to start with the oldest or newest one 😂
I'd love a closer look / review of The Vaster Wilds :) Enjoyed the book as well but sometimes felt the character was just a vehicle for the author's views on Nature, Death/Afterlife etc. Question is whether a 17th century service girl would come to those conclusions or thoughts? Hi from Stefanie, Berlin, Germany
I think maybe the moment has passed with The Vaster Wilds now as I read it almost two months ago. Well one and three quarters. Ha. But I think next year I may do some singular review videos for books like it… or incorporate more detail in reading vlogs maybe.
Sounds great! As for nonfiction poc books by women, I can recommend Homelands and Waterways by Adele Logan Alexander, the history of the author's African American family. Alexander is a historian and combines personal histories with the general historical background
Wow, how much coffee did you drink before you made this? 😆 This is some high speed manic babbling, my friend. Don’t forget to breathe! 😆 🥰
I don’t really drink coffee. Haha. At the moment my filming time is really limited so it’s kind of speed through it or don’t film it. Eek!
@@SavidgeReads, srs’ly, I wish I had your joie de vivre. 🤯 🤩
Disney's Hercules is brilliant. One of the most unbelievable things I have been told about this film is that they were originally going to cast the Spice Girls as the muses! It would have been a very different film if they had! 😱 Something to ponder when you watch it
Oooh I looooooooved the Spice Girls, I still do. Will definitely give that a ponder when I watch it.
That was a lot of books! No wonder you didn't have time to make a video. lol. I finally finished Count of Monte Christo! (3.5 months), 4-stars, loved the settings and the momentum Dumas created even during the 14-years in a pitch-black dungeon. But I don't expect it will stick with me the way Les Miserables or Middlemarch has. I also read Graham Greene's shortie, End of the Affair, which I loved. I love the structure and the writing style. Personally I wish the story were more about the affair and less about faith. But even with that said, its damned good. Now I'm reading Peter Pan, because somehow I missed that as a child. The racist vocabulary has shocked me and I had not expected the sexual tension between Wendy, Pan and Tink'.
That’s not many books for me to be fair. I normally read quite a few more when I’m on form, lol. And it’s this month that I’ve been super busy, though October was quite busy but nothing like November has been. Sounds like a time of classics is going on with you!
I would love to know more about your work in the book world Simon
Hi. Simon has 2 awesome videos from way back on him explaining his love of books from his grandmothers influence to his years of working at london central library. ❤
Hahaha. Even I don’t know where those are. They might not still be there as I archived over 600 videos the other day!!!!
I shall see what I can do Sharon.
@@SavidgeReads I will check my search history as I re watched that video quite recently and if found ill also pass onto Sharon.
@@SavidgeReads hi. Ive never seen you do a book purge. Am I mistaken? Lol
Just looked backed at my October books and realized I loved them all! All 5 star reads! Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter will be top 5, I think. An absolute blast. It’s A Love Story by Shirley and Martin Kemp was so delightful and also so completely heartbreaking in one particular chapter. I absolutely loved it. They read the audiobook themselves and with such love and warmth. I’ll be shopping for a copy of the physical book once I get to London in just a little while! Stigma by Thomas Enger and Jorn Lier Horst is the fourth book in a fantastic Scandi-crime series. Standing My Ground by Harry Dunn, one of the DC Capitol Police on duty on January 6th, is brutal and honest and fantastic. He reads it himself and brilliantly. And a recommendation from Louise, I listened to Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. Holy cow! What a great, creepy, delicious book! Finished it at 4AM on Halloween! Wish I could say that November is more of the same, but I’m getting nowhere fast. Back to slumpsville.
Sounds like you had a corking month in October. Lucky thing. Maybe we alternate between bumper months and slumper months and that’s all just part of the joy/life of reading.
Hey 🎄You mentioned some Christmas reads, will we get some recommendations in time to buy and read ourselves? Last year I read The Snow Child, then Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson so need to get another 🤞🏽🌲
I don’t know if I’ll do Christmas recommendations specifically. But I might do winter ones. Maybe. I love The Snow Child. I have a quote in one of the editions.
I felt very similarly about the Vaster Wilds and actually did not finish it! However I read the Monsters of Templeton many years ago and remember it being VERY different from her writing now and I loved it. Sadly I also DNF'd The Matrix and I love a good nun drama! Not sure what it is about her writing style that's not working for me.
Oooh maybe it’s The Monsters of Templeton that I need to head to then. I wonder if she’s changed direction or gear a bit since Fates and Furies. I’ve heard Matrix has some similar themes as well as style to Vaster Wilds.
In October I read:
Momento Mori by Muriel Spark
I am Malala
Please Do Not Touch This Exhibit by Jen Campbell
The List by Yomi Adegoke
Ghost Summer Stories by Tananarive Due
All about Love by bell hooks
What a nice mix!
Hi Simon. actually I don´t read blurbs, i go by title and cover vibe. And some books I know because of booktubers like you.
The bookshop in Porto wasn´t always a tourist attraction. It is actually sad they have to sell tickets now.
I tend to go for cover and title, though also mumblings I’ve heard from socials or publishers. I am probably being unfair on the bookshop, we went in prime Porto season, I’ve heard it’s lovely out of season.
I read Mark Helprin's ,The Oceans and the Stars., A Sea Story,A War Story, A Love Story. This is beautifully written but I just was a bit disappointed in some of the attitudes .
Oh dear!
Hi Simon, I'd love to know how you fit in so many things into a 24 hour day. 😬
Hahahaha. I don’t think I do that much. I think I could be much better with my time. Maybe the vlogs will show the reality. Hahaha.
I agree about the ‘Witchy’ one. She should have told that nephew to ****
***!
Can’t seen to type 4 ****’s
She should!!!! Or worse, hahaha!
I couldn't get into the writing style of Gingerbread. This one was a quick DNF for me. ..with a big moan.😂
Hahaha. I definitely didn’t feel like it’s a moan about book for me, just maybe not the book for me. I loved the start. It lost me from about a third, maybe even a quarter, in. Yet I still sort of enjoyed the ride. Lol.
IMO Helen Oyeyeme has such a fantastic imagination that one cannot predict the story line or the behaviour of the characters - you just have to read slowly (!) , try not to lose your balance and marvel are her originality.
I don’t disagree she has a fantastic imagination. That was very obvious from the book BUT without grounding it in detail, for me, it didn’t work. Maybe more grounding would have given more balance. And I was reading it slowly. It still flipped on what felt like whim. And whilst I appreciate your comment on originality… it is based on previous stories. 😉
I’d love to know how you read differently for events! Do you annotate as you go?
No annotations on my books ever. Though if it’s a proof I will dog ear pages where things feel really pertinent to a theme and possible avenue of conversation.
@@SavidgeReads How interesting!
☕I want that video about your work and lil follow you around, if you feel like doing it.🙏
I’ve started filming it BUT one of my jobs wants to actually make a video about it so am thinking if both might be possible. Lol
@@SavidgeReads 😮❤️ that's awesome!
@@SavidgeReads YES--a video about you at WORK!
By Oyeyemi, I've read Boy, Snow, Bird and I read a few pages of White is for Witching. Boy, Snow, Bird was enjoyable and interesting. I rated it 4,5⭐. I read a few pages of White is for Witching, and then realized it's really weird and I wasn't in the mood for weird at that point, so I put it down and so far haven't picked it back up yet. I don't even count it as a DNF, because I hardly even started it. Which isn't a criticism of the book, but I just wasn't in the right headspace for it. I do want to read it at some point though!
This was my review for Boy, Snow, Bird:
"This book... This book! It's interesting. I know that's usually said to sugarcoat something being bad or disappointing or anything else negative, but in this case I mean it quite literally. It starts off with a feel of folk tales; I've compared part one of the story to Robert Dinsdale's Gingerbread, and I stick to that comparison. But then the story moves on, and it twists and turns around and becomes something else. And then... You lose track of what story exactly is being told, but you don't mind, because that is exactly how it should be. I think I got it, at a primal level, but then again, I feel like I have no idea what I just read. Maybe what I think I'm getting is just something inside me I'm projecting on this story. Maybe it's what I want to be there."
This actually made me decide to reread White is for Witching right now! I gave myself a week-long 'one book a day' challenge, and White is for Witching is a nice short one that's perfect to (try and) read in one day.
Great review. Hopefully I’ll enjoy both of these when I get to them. We shall see. Ha.
@@SavidgeReads White is for Witching was definitely weird, but also very good! Kind of gave me Haunting of Hill House (the show, to be specific) vibes.
Enjoyed strong female character by Fern Brady last month. DNF for Babel, am I ostracised??!!
Oh nooooo!! Dnf for Babel? Just joking. ❤ 😊 the middle section was repetitive and way too long, but i needed a 3rd (yes 3rd) read to fully understand the gist of the institution. Glad i perservered. It was wonderful. ❤
No. I said no to hosting an event for Babel. I just couldn’t risk not liking it… and I wasn’t the biggest fan of Yellowface. Maybe that will get me ostracised hahaha.