Wrapping up October

It is hard to believe we are already at the end of October. Somehow this month raced past me, and I can almost not believe we only have two more month in 2017.
But here are a few things from this month!

What did I read?
I read a lot of good books this month. I will not list all of them here, just a few to give an impression. I read two very good Italian novels. One by Paolo Cognetti and one by Sandro Veronesi. Both books have not been translated into English. But the book by Paolo Cognetti had a great cover in the Dutch version. I love a book with a good cover.

Italian title and Dutch title: The eight mountains

I also read a book with the letters of the artist Camille Claudel. She was the apprentice and later lover of the sculpture Rodin. She had a very sad life and her letters reflect that. Very powerful.

As you know I read the new novel by John Boyne in one day. Really good. I reviewd it last week: HERE

And on holiday I read a thriller by Robert Goddard which was alright and good fun, but which also turned out to be the first of a trilogy, and I am not sure I liked it enough to read part two and three as well.

The last book I reads this month was Before the fall by Noah Hawley and I liked it very much. Perhaps I will write a review here, but if that happens it will be next week.

What did I see?
I discovered the series Penny Dreadful on Netflix and loved it so much, I decided to buy the DVD set, so I can watch it whenever I want to. The series falls into the horror genre, and usually this is not my cup of tea. But in this case I loved the strong acting, the way the different horrorstories were mixed together very cleverly and I really enjoyed how it is not about guts and gore, but abour character development. It is probably not a series for everyone, but if you can get past the horrorlabel, there is much to enjoy here. With Eva Green, Timothy Dalton and Josh Hartnett and many others.

Josh Hartnett and Eva Green in Penny Dreadful

What did I do?
Completely unexpectedly I was asked to join a schooltrip to Paris, as an extra teacher. I loved being in Paris again, although I was exhausted with the care of 72 students on just a few hours of sleep each night. But still, it all went well and that is always a good thing.

Paris (oktober 2017)

And just a week later, I travelled again. I went on a holiday to Nice, in the south of France. I had never been there before and I was curious to see how I would like it. It turned out, I loved it!! Nice had lovely sunny weather (I could walk outside without my coat), it was not too busy and it was the perfect mix of France and Italy, with a strong Russian connection.
I wish I lived in the 19th century and was rich enough to spend an entire Winter there!
But I had a lovely couple of days and it won't be the last time I visited.

Nice (oktober 2017)

Looking forward to in November
November will prove to be a good month as well, I hope. I have some amazing books lined up. I am still reading The years by Virginia Woolf (somehow I never manage to read a Woolf book very fast!).

My Dutch version

I am also reading Notes from an exhibition by Patrick Gale. I became a fan after I read A place called Winter, and this book is just as engaging. I also love the blues on the cover of this book.

I have a few exhibitions I would like to visit this month. I had planned to visit at least two in October, but somehow there was no time for that. Coming Saturday I will be in Rotterdam to see an exhibition that is devoted to the role of the cat in the arts! (yes, I know, wonderful).

For the dark winter evenings I have the DVD with the new series of Maigret. I must admit I never really cared for the old series of Maigret, but somehow this new version with Rowan Atkinson as the Parisian police inspector Maigret ticks all the boxes for me. So I will be enjoying this I think!

Rowan Atkinson as Maigret