I’m late with my wrap-up, as I got sick in the end of September and that messed with my schedule. On the other hand, I got my reading mojo back in the second half of the month, so win some, lose some. Overall, I’m happy with this stack and glad it includes a comic book and some poetry. And two male authors!

1. Monstress Volume 3 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. This Asia-inspired matriarchal borderline horror fantasy comic continues to be absolutely gorgeous and extremely fascinating. It’s in a very solid second position after Saga in my current affections (I’m leaving old favourites like Sandman out of the ranking for the moment, it would get too emotional).

2. Normal People by Sally Rooney. I was somewhat afraid that after the insane hype, I would not like the second novel from the author of Conversations with Friends and everybody’s favourite Voice of the Generation (at least in Europe – in the States, there’s solid competition from Ottessa Moshfegh). In the end, the fears proved unfounded and I liked it quite a bit. I was truly fond of the characters, I thought the unconventional structure worked well and I like how Rooney writes, although while I found CwF stylistically pitch perfect, I think there were a couple of false notes in NP. But my main niggle had to do with a couple of stereotypes (submissive women, saving the damsel in distress) that seemed out of place in the otherwise fresh and unsentimental take on relationships. Then again, I’m probably more sensitive to this than most and I enjoyed the novel regardless. Or maybe ‘enjoy’ is the wrong word, as I was extremely anxious pretty much from start to finish – Rooney certainly knows how to create tension.

3. 21 Lessons for the 21 Century by Yuval Noah Harari. My frustrations with Harari’s sweeping style are well documented, but I will probably keep reading him (and then complaining about him) as long as he keeps writing. These 21 lessons are very short on actual lessons or solutions, but I admit they are still interesting to read. He covers a huge spectrum of topics from AI to biotech, from terrorism to education in an engaging way and I enjoy his take-downs of nationalism and religion. But unless your answer to all the world’s problems is meditation, don’t expect any closure from this. If you haven’t read any Harari yet, Sapiens is still the best.

4. Sleeping with Monsters by Liz Bourke. This is a very niche entry and I wish it didn’t have to be as niche as it is. Bourke writes about science fiction and fantasy with the focus on feminist and queer issues and she does it extremely well. She is funny, she is smart and she has great taste (by which I probably mean that it greatly overlaps with my own). I can understand that buying the book is maybe a stretch even for those of you who love SFF, but her columns are freely available on Tor.com for your perusing pleasure.

5. The New Garçonne: How To be a Modern Gentlewoman. I’m not sure I’ve ever given a style book more than three stars – I just don’t think style advice works that well in the book format. I still read them occasionally, as I’m interested in these things and because of the blog, I also feel that I should have some knowledge of what’s available on the market. This one is decent, a solid three stars, and I found a few new brands and ideas to check out.

6. Factfulness by Hans, Ola and Anna Rosling. The subtitle of the book – Ten Reasons Why We Are Wrong About the World and Why Things Are Better Than We Think does a pretty good job of summarising the two main points of Factfulness: the general trends in the world are positive and people really know very, very little about overall trends in the world. This is not rocket science and if you’ve read Pinker or watched Hans Rosling’s TED talks, the main ideas here will not surprise. It’s still a good read and the thinking tools he offers are useful, even if you theoretically know what you should do. I appreciated the calm and clear tone and found it often moving, too. It’s informative and very accessible.

7. There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce by Morgan Parker. Poetry is probably the most difficult thing to read in another language and if its references are unknown to you, it’s doubly difficult. At the same time, you can also read poetry simply for the rhythm and mood and an occasional genius metaphor, without really ‘understanding’ anything. I was somewhere in the middle when reading There Are More Beautiful Things…: enjoying the flow, but also doing much googling. I liked it. I also absolutely certainly missed many, many things.

8. Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine. One of my favourites of the month, this is a small, powerful book that I think works exceptionally well as a companion piece to Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me (it was in fact written earlier). It of course works very well on its own, too. I found the scenes of casual, everyday racism the most powerful part of the book and their cumulative force gave me some small idea what it must feel like to face that all the fucking time.

9. Till September Petronella by Jean Rhys. I had only read Wide Sargasso Sea by Rhys before and I believe these stories (the title one in particular) are more similar to her other works. Avoid Rhys if you are looking for something light and cheerful, as her women are always in trouble and the mood is always dark, often desperate. The stories here are not spectacular, but good enough to make me want to read her novels. I also find the title hypnotic.

What about you? Are you on a roll with your reading or experiencing a slump? Any recommendations?