Happy spooky season to all those folks who enjoy it! Tim and I are currently playing a computer game called Immortality that is very strange and fun. It has a disjointed narrative that you have to piece together, with hidden surprises of a rather disturbing nature. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys dark horror stories and has a high threshold for spine-chilling…stuff (not wanting to give anything away here).

I am less of a fan of fireworks season, which here in the UK starts in the last week of October and continues to mid-November. This is mostly because Beckett is upset by loud or unexpected noises, as many dogs are. But her reactions have certainly made me sympathise more with people and animals living with PTSD at this time of year. I would fully support a ban on private fireworks sales so that only approved organised displays on specific nights are allowed (say Bonfire Night, New Year and religious holidays that use fireworks as part of their celebrations). Or could we at least make all private fireworks silent/quiet ones? The real fun is the lights and colours anyway.

Anyway, October was…mixed. I had COVID for a second time. My symptoms were mild but I continued to test positive for 12 days, so I stayed indoors and isolated from Tim that whole time, which sucked. Since then I have done a few lovely long walks and bike rides and tried to spend extra time with Tim.

All that time at home means I consumed even more books, TV and films than usual. Top films include Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Prisoners. I read some great books. I think the most enjoyable was If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha, a novel about young women in South Korea. But the best was Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World by Gaia Vince – non-fiction about how the climate catastrophe is going to cause millions of people to become refugees, and how the world needs to change to manage that crisis. I genuinely think everyone should read Vince’s excellent book

Books read

Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World by Gaia Vince
Vince describes how the climate catastrophe will unfold under the different scenarios of where we manage to limit warming. Which is incredibly depressing. But she then explains what we all can – and must – do to manage both the human migration and the necessary switch to a green economy. I’ve reviewed this book for Physics World.

Oldladyvoice by Elisa Victoria (translated by Charlotte Whittle)
I’m torn about this novel. It’s told from the perspective of a young girl whose mother is seriously ill. Set largely over the course of one summer when she’s 8 years old, she has to intermittently stay with her grandmother while her mother is in hospital. Her relationship with both women, and her mother’s boyfriend, is remarkably open and honest. She’s a very real child, obsessed with dolls, bodily functions and finding friends she fits in with. But I did feel a little uncomfortable with her obsession with pornographic and horror comics.

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
This is a fascinating and entertaining study of women and plastic surgery. Four women who live in the same apartment building in Seoul each have their own reaction to Korea’s artificial beauty standards. A hairdresser, a room salon hostess, an artist and an office worker, they’re all scraping by and hiding difficult pasts. It was interesting reading this at the same time as watching a K-drama with similar themes (My ID is Gangnam Beauty).

The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The book that was turned into the great film (well, sort of two films, and the root of the third one). This is a better read than I expected. Obviously, it’s about mostly terrible people, but Puzo makes them interesting and complex enough – as well as throwing in plenty of action – to keep the narrative gripping for all its 600 pages.

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
I wanted to reread the third and final part of the His Dark Materials trilogy before season 3 of the BBC series comes out in early December. In this volume, Will and Lyra travel through several different worlds, some of them extremely strange, and I am very much looking forward to seeing how the TV show handles them. I love this book and am now eager to pick up the second Book of Dust to see how Pullman continues the story.

Kololo Hill by Neema Shah
In 1972 Idi Amin expelled all Asians from Uganda – a significant population thanks to the legacy of British colonialism. This novel follows one family during that crisis: newlyweds Asha and Pran, who live in the green and leafy suburb of Kololo Hill in Kampala. In the months leading up to Amin’s decree, they experience increased police harassment, are restrained by a curfew and every night hear gunfire and violence outside their home. When the time comes for them to leave, where should they go? What country will take them in, and what will life be like there? I really enjoyed this and it’s an easier read than you might expect from the subject matter.

Lyra’s Oxford by Philip Pullman
This is a short story set a few years after the end of The Amber Spyglass. It very much still feels like Lyra and is a decent story, but it felt aimed at a younger audience than the novels. I do like that the story is accompanied by various materials such as beautifully illustrated maps, fake newspaper articles and encyclopaedia entries. This is one of a series of attractively produced small hardbacks set in the world of His Dark Materials and I am curious about the others, but less so than the Book of Dust novels.