October: What Did I Read?

To kick off the scariest month of the year, I absolutely conquered George Orwell's 1984. In my little world, and maybe the wider world as well - I don't want to make assumptions, it's probably one of the most famous novels of all time. And for good reason. It's an intimate portrait of life under authoritarian rule, from the perspective of maybe the most average man of all time. I'm kidding - Winston is actually quite an endearing character. It's impossible not to root for him: the seemingly last human standing in the face of incredibly bleak insanity. However, this bleakness does lead to some repetitiveness as Winston lives his daily life. The passages about the destruction of words and the horrifying scenes in Room 101 were breathtaking, which more than makes up for a few of the dull moments. I gave it 4.75 stars, because I loved the storyline, the language, and the ideas, but it was a slog at times: so not quite a perfect read.

If I thought 1984 was bleak, I was not ready for Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis (yes, that guy). I read this because it was popular alongside the current 'waif' aesthetic that's arrived online recently - yes, I am quite easily advertised to if you hadn't noticed. I'm working on it. Therefore, I was expecting a shallow, vapid novel about rich people living life and stepping on everyone around them. Which this was, but it was so much more. By the end of the novel, I had physically gone cold with dread. Ellis has a true writing talent, and the way he portrays such madness and grotesque events with such a clinical detachment is brilliant, yet terrifying. I would describe the novel as Catcher in the Rye but more unhinged. So it gets the same rating ($ stars), but more unhinged. What a terrible book, in the best way possible.

I love James Baldwin. Giovanni's Room was one of the richest novels I ever read, so I was desperate to get my hands on If Beale Street Could Talk. And it did not disappoint: I gave him 5 stars once again. He weaves such a wonderful web of every kind of love, interrupted by terrible tragedy. And he evokes such intense emotion: I was outraged, I was hopeful, I was miserable, I was panicked. All of that in less than 200 pages! Every character is so alive, and fighting so hard, that the plot of the novel itself is incarnated by their vitality - bringing the story to life. The journey sprawls across different years and continents, and every moment explodes with emotion. This is definitely my second favourite Baldwin novel, even though he crushed my heart once again. Would love to come back to this again.

Finally, I read something more light-hearted! Grown Ups by Marian Keyes was a fast-paced millennial romp (which is a disgusting thing to say) and certainly much more upbeat than everything else I read this month, by which I mean it actually had a happy ending. I ripped through 400 pages of this in one morning! That's because all of the events taking place on and after Johnny's birthday are interesting and engrossing, whereas the build-up of so many characters and their various relationships was quite draining: especially when many of them were irritating. I'm looking at you, Liam, Nell, Johnny's step-son whose name I don't remember. However, the settings, the descriptions of food, and the drama were just lush! This gets a 3.5 stars. I'm not even going to mention that cringe, 'woke' storyline involving Perla, seeing as it was literally just a prop for Nell to start cougaring.

Another James Baldwin. This time, it's Another Country, which was about 400 pages longer than I was expecting. I only gave this one 4 stars, just because I didn't connect as easily with many of the characters - because they were either terrible yet tragic people, or incredibly frustrating - as I have in his previous novels. However, they were all still incredibly compelling. The novel is essentially about all of the different ways that we are terrible to each other, and it was painful to watch characters who mean so much to one another stab each other in the back time and time again. All of this takes place across an incredibly vivid backdrop of New York: its arts scenes, its darkest corners, and its many places to eat and drink. We even make a journey to France, and meet my favourite character (whose name I have forgotten! I am so sorry), who brings a ray of hope with him when he lands on American soil at the end of the novel. Once again, James Baldwin has blown me away.

Then I read one of my granny's favourite novels of all time, which is Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See. Such high praise obviously made me nervous, in case it didn't live up to her hype and I had to either disappoint or lie to her, but not to worry! I rated this 5 stars because it was so beautiful, and such an intimate portrait of both the large and small-scale horrors of war. We watch both protagonists grew up under the tightening noose of WW2, which is a trope I usually hate (see: every Victorian novel I've ever read), however this is the most masterfully done I've ever seen it. Experiencing every turning point of their lives in their shoes fleshes both characters out in your mind, and almost ties you into their storylines, making everything so much more meaningful. It's a beautifully written novel, and meticulously plotted: it's a long novel, but no moment felt unnecessary. In addition, the novel explores a theme I'm always interested in exploring, which is the horror of not knowing - there are unanswered questions in both character's lives, and it is painful. And so is that ending. But it's also perfect. Just like this book. In my opinion.

Now not to be pretentious, but I've recently been getting into David Lynch. Obviously, I started with Twin Peaks, but since then I've gotten into his films, including the impenetrable Inland Empire. Which I loved! How absolutely horrifying. And - I'm being contrarian - I had a blast with his 1984 adaptation of Dune, a novel that I would love to read at some point. So: I'm enamoured. Thus, I order Lynch on Lynch from the library. What a brilliant insight into one of my favourite minds of all time. This was another 5 star read for me. It delves into so many brilliant ideas about creativity, and filmmaking, and the intricate ways he pieced together some of my favourite pieces of art. And Lynch speaks with such a genuine tenderness about literally every single subject that it's literally infectious: he was really convincing me to revisit films that I was just not a fan of, just because he himself was so influenced by them. A great way to end the month!