Reading Recap: October

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Today is the best holiday as far as I am concerned, the spookiest day of the year. I’m planning on having a chill celebration this year, dressing up a bit with some snacks and watching horror movies. 

I hope however you chose to celebrate tonight, you have a hauntingly good time!

Is it me, or has this month passed in the blink of an eye? Maybe it’s because that time of year when it’s dark for most of the day, but October always seems to go by too quickly for my taste. 

While the month has gone by fast, I still managed to get a decent amount of reading done, mostly horror. I wonder why?

Jokes aside, let’s get onto the books of the hour!

Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge

Some small towns have yearly events. Maybe the local farms set up corn mazes and hayrides. Some might even have a seasonal fairground. This unnamed town has a different annual event. Namely, a pumpkin-headed monster. One that must be killed by teenaged boys, before midnight.

Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge is a B-movie Horror in novel form. It’s creepy and brutal. It makes for a seriously unsettling reading experience as everything seems to be coated in a thick layer of darkness.

I gave Dark Harvest a full review at the start of this month, so please check that out.

There’s a Witch in the Word Machine by Jenni Fagan

There’s a Witch in the Word Machine by Jenni Fagan is the first of two poetry collections I read this month. 

It’s a very personal collection of poetry, you can feel Fagan’s pain while reading some of them. A lot of them are also about what it means to be a woman in today’s world. They are all beautifully written, but I did struggle to connect with some, but I accept that, well, that’s on me. 

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami

The Strange Library is an acid trip of the highest order. 

A hapless lad just wanted to read about the ottoman tax collection system. The next thing he knows, he is trapped by some odd characters with a stranger still fate in store for him. 

It’s a darkly comic novel, unpredictable and bizarre with some tender moments. Easily one of the weirdest books I have read this year. It took me a minute to process what on earth I read. 

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa

This book is so different to everything else I read this month. This month I have been reading dark stories, so reading something this wholesome and comforting was a much-needed change of tone.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa is a magical realism novel about books and the value we give them. It also stars a blunt-talking cat, so major points there.

It is a genuinely sweet tale, as soft and fluffy as a cat itself.

The Cat Who Saved Books also got a full review this month, I suggest giving that a quick read to see why I loved it so much.

Where Decay Sleeps by Anna Cheung

Support local writers!

I met the author, Anna Cheung, at work a while back. She told me about her upcoming poetry collection, I just knew I had to have it. As soon as I got home, I backed the Kickstarter the independent publisher she works with started. This month, it finally arrived! 

I promised myself I was going to savour it, but I couldn’t put it down.

Where Decay Sleeps is a gothic poetry collection separated by the stages of decomposition. Dealing with themes such as mental health, relationships and death. She also includes both modern stories and Chinese folklore. I loved it.

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

Slightly cheating, as I will finish this novel tonight.

I have mentioned this a few times, but every year in October, I reread this classic. Each chapter is a different night in October, so I read that nights chapter. It’s a fun little tradition that I highly suggest trying out next year.

Currently Reading: The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales by H. P. Lovecraft

As much as Lovecraft is objectively a pretty bad person, his work is the foundation of so many aspects of horror. He is to horror what J. R. R. Tolkien is to fantasy. So this Halloween season, I decided to reread some of my favourites and some I haven’t gotten around to yet.

At the time of writing, I am on my favourite one, The Shadow over Innsmouth. In my opinion, it is his best work.