Women & Power by Mary Beard
Published by Profile Books, 2017
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Succinct, eloquent, and approachable, this does a very good job of laying out the extent to which Western society is structured and coded to keep men in power, and to underplay the merits of women and feminine energy.
As a classicist, Beard is well placed to discuss the failings of the classics in their portrayal of women, and why it’s important to recognise that a lot of modern-day misogyny and gendered stereotypes have their roots in ancient history and problematic cultural portrayals of women.
As Beard points out herself in the afterword, the content itself is already somewhat outdated, the rise of the #MeToo movement throughout the last few years drastically increasing public awareness as to the extent of ingrained sexism. It also doesn’t present much in the way of solutions, but its brevity makes it a handy, accessible jumping off point for further thought and reading.
Come Closer by Sara Gran
Published by Faber & Faber, 2021 (first published in 2003)
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
A woman with a seemingly perfect life starts to act out in increasingly strange and violent ways, eventually coming to fear she has been possessed by a demon. With the story told in first-person, Amanda is a classic example of an unreliable narrator. Though her narrative style is fast-paced and matter-of-fact, her blackouts, erratic behaviour, and frequent loss of control mean we can never be certain what to believe.
The plot itself follows a very predictable trajectory, though there are some genuinely unsettling moments peppered throughout, and perhaps certain aspects would have felt fresher back when the book was first published.
Come Closer can be read as a genuine supernatural tale just as easily as it can be interpreted as a documentation of a woman’s descent into madness in the face of a life she doesn’t want. That said, while this may not bring anything new to the table, if you like your horror ambiguous and psychological, this is well worth checking out.
Callum McLaughlin 
Glad to hear you enjoyed Come Closer!
It was really good! I’d definitely like to try out more of her work.
Pingback: It’s Novellas in November time – Link to Your Posts Here! #NovNov
These both look so interesting 🤔
Especially Come Closer
It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re intrigued!
Pingback: Novellas in November (#NovNov) Begins! Leave Your Links Here | Bookish Beck
Pingback: November Wrap Up | Callum McLaughlin