This was a great month for reading, a mixed month in other respects. I mean, it started with my birthday and is ending with a holiday in Paris so it’s certainly not a bad month.

I’ve also watched some excellent films this month, including Poor Things at the cinema. It is honestly so dark and strange, I would only recommend it if you have a high tolerance for weird. But if that’s you, I hope you love it like I did.

We’ve come to Paris for the massive Rothko retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which is impressive. But Rothko is really Tim’s thing so in return I made him go to the Catacombs, which I enjoyed a lot. We have eaten a lot of excellent food and the sunsets from our hotel room balcony have been beautiful. Plus the roof terrace is a great spot for reading.

Happy February!

Books read

The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker
This is a saga with magical fantasy elements woven into an otherwise realist historical setting. And it was a great read that thoroughly absorbed me. In 1899 Manhattan, a Golem settles in a Jewish neighbourhood while a Djinni temporarily makes a home in Little Syria. They befriend one another and their complicated existences begin to intertwine.

The Land Beyond: a Thousand Miles on Foot Through the Heart of the Middle East by Leon McCarron
The travel writer recounts his walk from Jerusalem to Mount Sinai, travelling through Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt. He does a great job of combining historical and political background with descriptions of the people and places he encounters. As a (non-practising) Catholic from Northern Ireland McCarron has an interesting perspective on both the Holy Land and the occupation of Palestine. While I do think it’s best to read Palestinians’ own words when it comes to Palestine, this was an interesting addition to my reading pile.

Heartstopper volume 5 by Alice Oseman
We finally restarted our Netflix account this year and obviously the first thing I wanted to watch was Heartstopper season 2. Which reignited my love for the characters enough that I sought out the latest volume of the comic series. It’s largely focused on the older characters in the group making decisions about which university to go to. Will Nick stick with Kent University to be close to Charlie, or will one of the further-afield institutions win him over? It continues to be a sweet story about a lovely group of friends.

Ithaca by Claire North
We know from The Odyssey that while Odysseus was taking his sweet time getting home from the Trojan War, Penelope was fending off suitors back home in Ithaca. But we don’t get a lot of detail about Penelope’s life from old Homer. In this novel, North fills in the gaps in a gorgeously lyrical and funny tale filled with women and narrated by a goddess. I loved this and was very excited to discover there’s a sequel.

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
This is such a great example of how YA can be powerful. It makes a complex, widely misunderstood topic completely accessible through great characters, good story, strong relationships and a generous dash of humour. Amanda is a teenage girl with a secret – she’s trans. After being viciously bullied out of her previous high school, she goes to live with her estranged father. It’s a new state and a new school, a clean slate. Aside from the awkward relationship with her father, it’s all going great. But secrets never stay secret forever.

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll
This is a strange, atmospheric graphic novel inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Abby has married an older man, a widower with a teen daughter, after a brief romance. She loves her husband but doesn’t feel like she really belongs in the house or the marriage. She frequently escapes into fantasy, but then her husband’s first wife starts appearing in the fantasies. Is there a mystery about her death to unravel? This book is beautiful, dark and creepy.

Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Translated from German by John E Woods
I can see why this 1985 novel is already a classic. It is extremely dark and disturbing, but so original and richly described. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is the most cold, unfeeling of killers. He’s an unsettling monster with a supernaturally keen sense of smell. It’s just weird and creepy until his obsession with aromas leads to murder. This is a remarkable book, but a scary one too.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
This is a fun romcom set in academia. The romance is predictable but the rest of it isn’t, and I liked the details of the setting. Olive is a third-year PhD candidate in biochemistry at Stanford. She’s following her dream and she doesn’t mind having no life outside her work. She just has two problems: sexism in the lab, and a romantic misunderstanding that is threatening her relationship with her best friend Anh. Could the solution to both problems really be legendary asshole professor Adam Carlsen?

Love Me Tender by Constance Debré
Translated from French by Holly James
I received this book from the Good Book Club and it was a perfect accompaniment for our first few days in Paris. It’s auto fiction about a woman living in Paris fighting a custody battle for her son that’s sparked by her ex’s homophobia when she tells him she’s realised she’s gay. She’s living in tiny, cheap apartments on streets weirdly close to our hotel, trying to accept her horrible situation by throwing herself into playing the field and writing novels. I really enjoyed this. It’s savage and confrontational, but also sad.