What happened? One minute it’s still summer, the next autumn is in full swing. My September was marked by a return to work, which has thankfully been more relaxed than it was this spring, and a nice hiking vacation. However, neither is to blame for my poor track record in terms of reading – for that, I have two explanations (if not excuses): bad books and poor discipline.

I find it hard to keep reading if a book is underwhelming. Even just whelming books are a struggle, so I tend to leave off and move on to the next one. This month I decided to keep going regardless – which is a kind of discipline, I guess – but that also meant that I struggled to bring myself to read as regularly as I usually do. Other temptations suddenly became more alluring, and I spent altogether too much time death scrolling, playing Wordfeud…

Anyway. To sum up, I only got through two books this month, and here they are:

Antwerp – the Glory Years (Pye) – it’s a ramshackle account of the city in its heyday, taking a hodgepodge of events, describing them in oddly structured sentences, without any overarching structure, to compose the worst history book I’ve read in a long time. 1.5/5

More than you know (Mauboussin) – the subtitle is “finding financial wisdom in unconventional places”, and it is justified, in part. It could equally be “contriving to make connections where there ain’t really none to be had”. It’s not horrible, but it certainly isn’t as great as it is made out to be. 3/5

Meagre? Yes, perhaps, but I’m not a machine. I have to remind myself that I have already read 36 books this year, and can’t always keep the same pace. Besides, autumn beckons, and then winter is coming – good times for books. Stay tuned.