All the books I read in October and what I thought of them

I can't say what has happened in October yet since it is only the 13th at the time of writing. But I read more books (8) than I did in September (2).

Now it's the 30th, or the 31st, if you don't, unlike me, suffer from the delusion that it isn't really the next day until you go to sleep. It's 12:56, but I don't believe it's tomorrow. I really don't sleep nearly enough anymore. Fortunately, I have moved beyond tiredness. Next semester I refuse to have a 9 a.m. class every day (I have a 9 a.m. class every day) but I really don't feel like switching into a new poli sci class next semester, so these things are not completely avoidable, or at least not without making sacrifices that I'm not willing to make. I still don't really know how to summarize the month of October. There is no one theme. I have doubled the number of posters I own, and I am developing a cut on my right thumb from practicing oboe, and my reed is dying, and my whole life is just an ongoing struggle to keep my room a tolerable temperature. And that's what I did this month. And I also read the following books.

✨✨✨

The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Increasingly I think Banana Yoshimoto does one thing and she does it well. The protagonist of this book loses her mother, has a complicated relationship with a vaguely strange man, and has insights about the nature of life. She likes painting instead of cooking, though, so that's new. We all have things we are especially good at, and for Banana Yoshimoto, it is writing the same thing repeatedly.

🎨🎨🎨

A Gentle Creature and Other Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I would not have guessed I would enjoy Dostoyevsky, but this was quite good.

🔫🔫🔫

Outline by Rachel Cusk

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am quite sure this book is trying to tell me something but I don't get it at all. A woman named Faye goes to teach a writing class in Athens and the interesting thing about her is that she doesn't want anything at all, and she is defined by the people around her. Most of the book is conversations. It's fantastic. 

🖊️🖊️🖊️

The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

rating: ⭐

I had to read this for school, and I hated it. A man means his clone, and the clone takes over his life. It sounds so interesting and yet it is absolutely no fun. This book is incomprehensible. I read paragraphs twice and didn't even understand the plot points. It was traumatic.

💃💃💃

Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpool

rating: ⭐⭐⭐

My friend Celina very kindly lent me this book, which she enjoyed very much when she read it (years ago). It was very readable and also very middle grade. I think I would have been really into it ten years ago, but at this stage in my life, I have moved past this writing style. I had never read this book before and it gave me nostalgia.

✉️✉️✉️

The Whale Caller by Zakes Mda

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Essentially this book is a love triangle involving a man, a woman, and a whale, and if that sounds fun and exciting to you, this is exactly the book for you.

🐳🐳🐳

Transit by Rachel Cusk

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transit is the sequel to Outline and there is a third book called Kudos as well. In this installment of said trilogy, Faye buys a terrible apartment in London and talks to more people. I think this book is about desire and passivity and how wanting things is sort of hard and scary but not wanting things is lonelier. The trouble is I really have no idea.

🛠️🛠️🛠️

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

rating: ⭐⭐

I agree with John Stuart Mill, and he is correct about basically everything, but this book is so repetitive and could have been an email. He is based, but he did not need to be based for 200 pages. At least it was not wholly incomprehensible like Rousseau.