In which I wrap up October

(1) Things which I have read and enjoyed.
October unexpectedly became Philip Pullman month, as I read The Secret Commonwealth and re-read both The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Is it just me, or is Pullman getting a little milder and a little less ‘hitting you over the head with the preachy brick’ with age? I hadn’t read either Knife or Spyglass for easily 10–15 years, not so much because I dislike or disagree with Pullman’s message (there’s a lot in it, on the power of organised religion) but because I dislike being beaten over the head with the message rock. Northern Lights, which I re-read in September, held up as a great fantasy story and while I enjoyed re-reading the second and third because Pullman’s characters remain strong, I still find the preaching irritating. However, I really enjoyed The Secret Commonwealth, however (and it feels like a second book with an actual arc, which The Subtle Knife, on re-reading, does not). It has some interesting ideas, and it was just really rather delightful to spend time with grown-up Lyra and also grown-up Malcolm from La Belle Sauvage because hey, smart, practical red-headed men are a thing that I like in my books. 

I also read John Le Carré’s new book Agent Running in the Field. It feels like a minor entry in the canon with a couple of too-convenient connections, but I appreciated its bitter analysis of the state of Britain and clearly its secret agency manoeuvrings are all too plausible, and Le Carré’s style and pace remain. 

Finally, I spent the bulk of the month working through Chigozie Obioma’s An Orchestra of Minorities, which was on the Booker shortlist, and I would really recommend it, but not as a commute book. It’s better read in sizeable chunks so that you can fully move into it’s narrative voice - which is telling the story from within an Igbo cosmology. Plot-wise it’s a relatively simple tale of inequality and misfortune spiraling upon each other, and I think it would work powerfully anyway, but the lens it’s written to only adds to effectiveness of what it is trying to say about the state of the world. I found it hard work, because it took me a while each time to drop into it, but it was totally worth it. 

(2) Things which I have watched and enjoyed
At the cinema I went to see Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon, the delightful sequel to the utterly brilliant Shaun the Sheep movie. I’m continually amazed how a silent comedy about a mischevious sheep can manage to be so emotionally affecting. Aardman is made of wizards, is all I can conclude. 

It was also time for the London Film Festival, so I managed to see a few things - but sadly not Iannucci’s new David Copperfield, which I am DESPERATE to see but the timings didn’t work.

  • Bad Education a new dark-ish-comedy-drama-ish film about corruption in education with Hugh Jackman and Alison Janney, which I really wanted to like but it didn’t quite know what it wanted to be and didn’t land in either black comedy or bleak drama, sadly.

  • Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi’s new anti-hate satire about a little boy in the Hitler Youth who imagine’s Hitler is his best friend. I’m not sure it’s quite biting enough to make its point as satire, but Waititi’s trademark touch with both humour and emotion are very present and made it work for me. That said, I don’t think it will work for everyone, probably for a range of reasons - and if people can avoid yelling in outrage, there’s the potential to be some interesting discussion about it.

  • And finally I saw Rian Johnson’s new detective film, Knives Out. Johnson is one of my personal faves: I’ve loved everything he’s done even before it got to the Star Wars bit of his career, and this hit my sweet spot. It’s very funny, very smart, and has a great cast - and no, I didn’t figure it out, so I’m looking forward to seeing it again when it’s released and unpicking it all. Also, Chris Evans is clearly MASSIVELY enjoying not being Captain America, and that’s delightful. 

Finally, I went to see Hannah Gadsby’s new show Douglas and laughed so much my cheeks hurt and nearly coughed up a lung. I really don’t go to see comedy generally, but I loved Nanette, so managed to snag tickets for a friend and I to go, and we massively enjoyed it. It achieves the feat of managing to be acknowledge Nanette yet step out of it’s shadow and succeed it really effectively. A++ would recommend seeing if it’s near you, or when it’s on Netflix next year. 

(3) A recommendation of some kind
Apparently this year I’ve got into listening to classical guitar music, and so I would recommend you listen to two albums:

If that’s not your speed, and you’re in London, the British Museum’s new exhibition on Troy is opening at the end of November. If it’s up to their usual standard, it will be well worth a visit, so book yourself a ticket (or ask me nicely to take you as my plus 1)

(4) In the pile for November
My TBR pile is out of control large, and I don’t know where I’m going with it next, but I am planning on picking both The Grassling by Elizabeth-Jane Burnett and The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa off the top of the pile. I am excited to be going to see Frankie Hayward dance Aurora in the Royal Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty, and I am still trying to decide whether or not I care about going to see the new Scorsese gangster movie. 

(5) A photo from the month gone by

At the British Museum’s Inspired by the East exhibition, which is small but insightful.

At the British Museum’s Inspired by the East exhibition, which is small but insightful.

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