September Books List

 

It was so nice to get my teeth stuck into some great fiction after non-fiction August!  Here are the books I have read for leisure in September including one non-fiction book that I managed to finish last night.

(1) The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
If you haven't heard of The Trial, then you may have heard of The Metamorphosis instead which is Kafka's equally famed and revered piece of chilling literature and one of the short stories featured in this collection.  This edition serves as an ideal introduction to Kafka's prose and his general outlook on life comes through strongly through his characters and what they're dealing with.  A lot of the tales bound together here are truly terrifying in an intelligent, read between the lines type of way, and yet there are some which just come across as plain horror too!
You can just dip in and out of this collection as and when you please, without getting too caught up in a lot of the tension and anxiety which Kafka so often exudes in his work.  I would however recommend diving straight in and skipping to (and my favourite of the lot)  The Metamorphosis first to get you in the mood if you haven't read any of his previous works before.  [4/5]

(2) Quiet: The Power Of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
A really interesting book that points out many of the obvious traits that introverts have, as well as the not so obvious ones, and looks into where these traits come from.  What I found the most fascinating were the parts which focused in on the many positive contributions and factors that introverts can bring to the table that people (including the introverts themselves) wouldn't necessarily think of or realise.   It does have some dry and repetitive bits here and there, but mostly it's very intriguing, especially if you love psychology and social science analyses.  [3/5]

(3) Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
I enjoyed this book a lot but I had a feeling that I would from the start.  A novel about a man who hates his job and has a wife who wants to move to Paris so that they can both get the very most out of life instead of living a meaningless existence in suburbia?  This is right up my street!  I loved the Wheelers as the main characters because they had a lot of layers and depth to their relationship.  I also quickly warmed to Yates' prose and his ability to transport me to the late 1950s which meant that I easily immersed myself into their world.  [4/5]

(4) Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Code Name Verity is the only book that I found disappointing this month.  For a YA novel, this took me a lot longer to finish than I thought it would.  The writing is so disjointed, rambling and slow to begin with that I just couldn't get into the actual storyline (it's about young female spies in WW2) and ended up putting it back down on several occasions.  I decided to stick with it on the promises of other reviewers who said it gets a lot better in the second half, which it definitely does, but ultimately this book wasn't my cup of tea because of the writing style.  [2/5]

(5) The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
A quick read about the emotional by-chance friendship of two eight-year-old boys; one the German son of a Nazi, and the other, a Jew who has been imprisoned at Auschwitz concentration camp. Having watched the film first, I'd say that the film is a lot more dramatic, but the book by default is very harrowing as it's told through the eyes of Bruno, the German boy and of course the subject matter was always going to be difficult to read about.  If you haven't read this or watched the film, then stay away from the ending spoilers online!  [4/5]

What have you been reading this month?

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