everything I read in october 2024

spooktober, ocean horror and female revenge

Nov 02, 2024

Hey! Welcome to my substack! This will (hopefully) be a monthly post I do summing up everything I’ve read for the month! Reading days, whilst seeming like a basic title I came up on the whim, is inspired by the bookstagram account I made and didn’t post on.
If you want to get real time updates, you can follow me on goodreads and storygraph! Thanks for reading!

We meet again.

I feel like it’s been a while, even though I last published to you on the 21st. It’s still Scorpio season; October has left and November took its place. My 23rd birthday is approaching with a newfound rapid speed. I always feel like this with the turn of the month.

Life has been catching up to me and I found out about 12th house placements when turning 23. Apparently, this upcoming year is supposed to be a one of reflection and introspection. If there is one thing I have learnt whilst being 22 is that things do get better, you may just need to persevere for the time better.

Still, I managed to read three books this month. Four if you count Roadside Picnic that I finished in the early hours of the 1st. But I am (or at least try to be) true to my word so here are my thoughts on the three.1

Our Wives Under the Sea

by Julia Armfield

I have already talked extensively about this cosmic ocean horror I read earlier this month. Armfield has been recommended to me for a long time and I finally bit the bullet and read Our Wives.

I knew it wasn’t going to go down the siren and mermaid route, but Armfield’s slowburn horror still left me on the edge of my seat. Here is my full review! I plan on writing more longform reviews like this in the future, so please watch this space!

our wives under the sea (2022)

Hannah Day

October 6, 2024

Read full story

The Eyes are the Best Part

by Monika Kim

The Eyes are the Best Part is a dark thriller about a Korean-American eldest daughter dealing with the aftermath of her parents divorce. It’s fast paced (apart from the first 20% whilst Kim set her chess pieces in place) and goes from zero to hundred real quick! Please bare with this book! Once you meet the George, the stepdad, the real narrative and fun begin.

I loved the female revenge and the body horror: Kim doesn’t overload the plot with this, still allowing the main themes of (dys)functional family dynamics take the main stage, but is enough to keep things moving. It’s a character driven narrative and until the red flags are glaringly obvious, you may not know which characters are true and which are manipulative. I’m talking about the two friends Jiwon makes when starting college (or university, if you’re British).

With that being said, I felt her relationship with her new female friend (whose name I cannot remember for the life of me) was a bit queerbait-y. Kim had every chance to develop this, and yet didn’t. It felt like adding a sapphic C-plot was too much and would take away from the main message. I still haven’t made my mind up whether I like this stylistically or not.

I also recommend reading Helen Rhee’s review on The Eyes Are the Best Part that Reactor magazine published. I really enjoyed reading her thoughts about how the three main themes of female rage, Asian American identity and body horror intersect!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me a free advanced reader copy!

3.75 stars

Lapvona

by Ottessa Moshfegh

I’ve tried reading this once before and didn’t get very far, so decided to try the audiobook. Big thanks to Spotify (not sponsored) for including some audiobooks in the premium plan!

Anyways, switching formats helped … but not that much. I managed to finish it, but doing so still felt like a constant uphill battle. Call me Sisyphus for how hard this book was to get through.

Despite this, and it being my second time reading my first Moshfegh novel, I enjoyed her style. Her attention to detail is something I want to carry to my own writing. My issue with Lapvona c vdgbdfg

3 stars.