October reading roundup

I had a busy book month in October! (It helped that some of these books were short, and I also went on a holiday, which always means more reading time.) I liked some, I loved some, I was glad to finish some. Let's review, shall we?

Hex by Jenni Fagan

It being spooky season and all, I thought I'd go for something witchy, and this definitely fit the bill. In spare but still evocative language, Hex unfolds as a conversation primarily between two women: a modern-day witch and Geillis Duncan, convicted of witchcraft in the brutal North Berwick witch trials of the late 16th century. Set in Geillis's prison cell in Edinburgh on the night before her execution, the book explores violence against women then and now, and what's changed and how much hasn't.

It felt like I was reading a play, which isn't a criticism at all. As I said, the language is spare. If you're here for deep descriptions that'll immerse you in the 1590s setting, you might be disappointed. This is a dialogue between these women, almost entirely in one place, and that felt, well, very play-like to me. It would certainly adapt easily to the stage.

I didn't feel like it was saying anything particularly surprising or groundbreaking - after all, we know the witch trials were horrible and unjust, and that women suffered unnecessarily just as we know women today suffer unnecessarily at the hands of men, and those who don't conform often find themselves targeted. But I still enjoyed it and found it an interesting read. It's very short, too, so ideal if you're looking for something reasonably meaty that won't take you more than a day or two to read.

Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman

I read this as part of my effort to read as many of the Booker Prize longlisted books as I could. Like Hex, it's short. Unlike Hex, I was relieved I didn't have to spend too much longer with it, because I found it insufferable. Or, at least, the main character was insufferable. An academic who insists he loves women but is obviously a misogynist, preaches about getting back to nature in a very Thoreau-ian way but finds himself squeezed out of his job because he's just so unpleasant to be around, tanks his marriage, abuses his wife's dog (in front of guests, even!), and heads out to the countryside to contemplate buying the off-the-grid house owned by the titular Helen.

And we get an annoying estate agent, too, who won't shut up and just goes on and on and on about how we're destroying nature. Then there's Helen herself, who shows up as a ghost-like figment of the man's imagination to get him to realise maybe he was kind of terrible after all.

It was tiresome. Which I think was deliberate, but still: if it had been any longer than it was, I don't think I would've finished it. It felt preachy, and I struggled to feel anything but annoyance and disgust at a privileged man who's aghast that the world around him is changing and isn't fine with him not changing at all. The ending is great, though.

Longbourn by Jo Baker

I can't tell you how much I ADORED this book. It's one I've been meaning to read for a while, and I'm so glad I finally did. Described as "Pride and Prejudice through the eyes of the Bennet servants," it's far more complex than that. This is not P&P rehash, but the story of the people who worked themselves to the bone to ensure the extraordinarily indolent Bennets could live easy lives (and it seems that, even by the standards of their class and time, the Bennets are pretty lazy). These people and the world they inhabit are wonderfully, beautifully realised. They're complicated and flawed and have their own histories and dreams and romances and regrets. And the world, the way they lived, is told in such detail you're immediately immersed in it. This is life as the vast majority of people in Britain would have lived at this time. It was hard, but not without its joys. But it came with a lot of risks as well: Wickham, for example, is definitely a predator, actively grooming the youngest maid in the household (who's ten years old, at most).

The book explores a lot of aspects of Regency-era life that Austen either couldn't or didn't want to. The wars, for example, are very present in this world (we even experience some of the Spanish campaigns, for a few chapters, and they are BRUTAL.). There are also discussions of slavery, and one character is a former slave working for the Bingley family (and it's suggested he may be Bingley's half-brother). His inclusion allows us a rare glimpse of what life was like for people of colour in Britain at that time, though I wonder if he wouldn't have been viewed with a bit more uncertainty and suspicion in a provincial area like Meryton.

The book is beautifully written, and an excellent example of historical fiction done right. Baker doesn't bash us over the head with her research, she uses it to fully immerse us in a world where old tea leaves are used to sweep the floor; where servants are treated by the family as NPCs ready to do their bidding, rather than as real, living, thinking human beings; where soap has to be made and clothes washed by hand and water fetched and warmed and carried. Even if you're not a fan of Pride and Prejudice, if you write historical fiction, I think this is worth reading just from a craft viewpoint.

Why are we getting another Pride and Prejudice adaptation instead of this? Can we have this next, please?

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

I picked this up before the whole controversy blew up, because it's been on my radar for a while, and I thought this would be a good time to give it a go.

I'll start by saying: I've read one of her other books (Beautiful World Where Are You?) and thought it was... fine. The characters felt very much like 20-somethings, in a way that made me kind of roll my eyes, if I'm being honest. I don't miss my 20s.

But I thought I'd give Intermezzo a go, since people keep raving about how amazing Rooney's works are. I tried, I really did, but after a little while, I just found myself thinking: 'I can't do 400 pages of this.' I know loads of people love Sally Rooney's work, but I must conclude: she is not the author for me. Which is fine! Sometimes you mesh, and sometimes you don't.

Switzy by Emma Cline

Another Booker longlist read. I liked this more than Helen of Nowhere, finding its depiction of a deteriorating mind to be really well done and fairly fascinating.

The thing is, though, I reached a certain point where I started to want something to happen. The book began to plod, scenes pulled to their limits like taffy. It was very well written, but spun its wheels until it ended. And at least 50 pages before the end, I started to really look forward to being done with it.

This is a thing with some literary fiction: it's so determined to say something that it forgets or just doesn't bother to tell a story. And I'm just not that keen on those kinds of books. I don't need non-stop action, and I really do love a character study, but I like there to be some kind of story in there, and like Helen of Nowhere, this felt lacking in a story.

What's everyone else been reading lately?

Share in the comments - what are you loving? Not loving?