Well that was November. We had snow! I met my Dad’s puppy! Also there were fireworks for weeks, which is not great with a nervous dog. And my shoulder pain is back with a vengeance. Chronic illness is fun.

I didn’t speed through books this month. Pain makes concentration harder, so I watched a lot more TV instead. We’re most of the way through season one of Three Body Problem – based on the book by Cixin Liu – and I’m also most of the way through the K-drama Hometown Cha-cha-cha. One of those is considerably lighter on the ol’ brain.

I went with friends to see the stage production of Never Let Me Go – based on the book by Kazuo Ishiguro – at Bristol Old Vic. It was excellent. Tissues definitely required. I also went with the same friends to an evening of traditional Egyptian and Lebanese music. We sat on cushions on the floor, drinking tea – a very chill night out.

The Christmas activities have already begun. I took my Mum to see Luxmuralis: In the Beginning at Bristol Cathedral – a light art installation that tells the story of the Nativity through laser projections. It’s a bit cheesy but also quite impressive. And again, quite chill.

Happy December folks.

Books read

Alys, Always by Harriet Lane
This is an intriguing novel, a story told in the tone of a thriller that isn’t quite one. We meet Frances – a narrator who feels quintessentially unreliable – as she is driving home one night. She stumbles upon the aftermath of a car accident in time to speak to the driver as they die. Cut to a few weeks later and she is asked to meet the victim’s family – a request she only agrees to when she discovers they’re famous. It’s creepy but always remains just the right side of believable.

Pyre by Perumal Murugan
Translated from Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan
Another novel with a mounting sense of dread – but here the title gives us a pretty strong sense of where we’re headed. A couple meet in a small Indian city, marry and head to the small rural village where he is from. But everyone there – including his mother – immediately clocks that his bride is from a different caste. From the first day they are persistently told to leave, that she doesn’t belong, that she will be killed if she stays. This horror is juxtaposed with flashbacks to their sweet courtship.

The Transmigration of Bodies by Yuri Herrera
Translated from Spanish by Lisa Dillman
A strange novella. In the midst of a pandemic, The Redeemer – a fixer for mobsters in an unnamed Mexican city – tries to broker peace between feuding families. It’s darkly funny. He just wants to buy condoms to enable his affair with a neighbour but all the pharmacies are shuttered, with handwritten signs declaring they’re out of facemasks. Instead he has to locate and return people, dead bodies and possibly a house. An odd but enjoyable read.

Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela
This was quite beautiful. Loosely based on the life of the author’s uncle, this is the story of a Sudanese-Egyptian family in the 1950s. British rule is coming to a close and it’s potentially a good time to be a rich, well-respected Sudanese businessman like Mahmoud Bey. But when his most promising son suffers a horrid accident, the dynamics of the entire extended family – and the people around them – are forced to change.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
A romantic fantasy novel based on Persian fairytales, this starts out a little cheesy but I thought it improved on that front. Soraya is a princess whose touch is deadly poison to any human or animal. She lives not exactly a prisoner in the palace but she is by necessity isolated. The capture of a demon by a handsome new officer in the royal guard offers an opportunity to shed her curse – but at what cost?