October Review

A month of reflection, short reads & joyous narratives

Photo by Polina Grishma on Unsplash

If you are new around here, I usually write about all things women literature related, with a free essay every Sunday.  As a thank you to my paying subscribers, I also do these monthly roundups of great books and recommended reads.  

Please consider a free or paid subscription - your support helps keep this newsletter afloat!

I’m finding myself turning towards more joyous reads and shorter novels as the seasons have begun to change and the days are getting shorter.  

This often happens to me during winter, but I found myself gravitating away from longer, ‘sad’ novels earlier this year.  I’m not sure what this is about: possibly the life stage I’m in right now, or maybe because the world is such a noisy, stressful place. 

For whatever reason, I’m craving novels that spread joy, positivity, and uplifting storylines.  If they contain stories of kick-ass women, more the better! 

Can you help with any recommendations?  

(As an aside, I have noticed that Substack appear to no longer allow comments from all readers where an essay contains a paywall.  If you are a free subscriber and want to leave a recommended read or any other comment, please DM me or leave a comment on another essay.  I am not happy about this change as I love to hear from readers- paid or otherwise!)

I recently published an essay celebrating the short novel as a way to get back into reading and I asked my readers for suggestions - and boy did they come up with some cracking novels!  I ended up with twenty holds at the library and several on a ‘to buy’ list!  Please check out the comments section on the essay if you’re looking for any inspiration, or to leave your own recommendations.  

I’ve also been delving deeper into the ways I want to ‘improve’ my habits this month.  This started with me increasing my working hours and working from home more, as well as wondering how to fit the reading, research, and writing of my essays into my days.  It also came from a wish to move away from the constant pull of screens and distractions and towards the things that are far more meaningful.

With this in mind, I have been setting a goal of reading at least a chapter a day of my current reading book, turning to shorter reads when I feel a reading slump coming on, returning to writing in the early mornings, and taking as many autumn walks as I possibly can in order to appreciate the beautiful trees in my home city right now 🙂

So let’s delve into what I have been reading this month…