We spent most of October in a slightly chaotic state having some building work done on our house. I did not appreciate getting up extra early and doing extra cleaning for three and a half weeks but it is satisfying to have finally fixed some big problems. We still have a long list of redecorating tasks and Christmas is scarily close so there’s that to plan too. Adulting is hard.

Roll on November.

Books read

Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
I like Mary Roach and her brand of light-hearted, anecdote-filled science writing. This is possibly her best-known book so I was excited to read it, but I must admit I was a little underwhelmed. Perhaps because this book is 20 years old and very little of its content was new to me (the legendary chapter about the Body Farm started out as an essay in the New Yorker, which I read years ago). I am interested in the various ways that dead bodies are used for scientific research and medical training. Perhaps what I need is an updated edition.

Divisible by Itself and One by Kae Tempest
Tempest’s latest poetry collection uses complex traditional poetic formats to deal with contemporary subjects. They ruminate on politics, the human body, freedom. I love this as much as all Tempest’s work.

Einstein in Time and Space: a Life in 99 Particles by Samuel Graydon
This is an intriguing take on the biography. Its 99 short chapters each look at an anecdote or person from Einstein’s life. I really liked this method of bringing to life a person usually spoken of as superhuman. I’ve reviewed this book for Physics World.

Loveless by Alice Oseman
In this novella, Georgia is starting her university life with the realisation that she has never had a crush – and that she may never have one. It’s scary and isolating, but the more she fights to find romance, the more she messes up her friendships. I really enjoyed this.

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
I have trouble with novels within novels. I enjoyed this one, but it took me a long time to get through. Ella is bored of being a housewife so she takes a job with a literary agency. As a junior assistant she is given a manuscript from the slush pile to assess and reading it leads her to upend her entire life. The manuscript is about 13th century Sufi poet Rumi and the man who inspired him to write: wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz. I really enjoyed the manuscript sections and honestly would have preferred to just read that book without the 21st-century parts.