6. People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks (2008)
Skillfully
told, often dark, gripping. We begin with a fictional book conservator
in the mid-1990s who is examining the (real) centuries-old Sarajevo
Haggadah, and with different sections of the novel we dip into different episodes of the imagined history of the volume's creation and survival,
against the odds - medieval Spain, Renaissance Italy, 19th-century Vienna, World War II-era
Bosnia. Some of that history is
horrifying, some is quite beautiful and will linger in my memory.
7. Lifetime Guarantee: A Journey Through Loss and Survival, by Alice Bloch (1981)
I read (and loved) this writer's semi-autobiographical novel, The Law of Return,
last summer. This book is a memoir of a period of her life in which her
younger sister was ill with leukemia, and two other family members died.
Not a book I would normally read, but I'm even keeping this one! Her lyrical, intelligent, and self-aware writing carries the day again.
8. How to Disappear Completely: On Modern Anorexia, by Kelsey Osgood (2013)
Now
here's a curious one. It's one part a memoir of the author's own
experience of an eating disorder, and it's one part cultural piece ON
the eating disorder memoir genre and how we - whether well, "well," or
decidedly unwell; whether writers or readers - variously interact with
it. Most particularly, where do those who read about eating disorders and think, I want that fit in? I flew through this in about a day; it really fed my intellect and
challenged how I relate to my own past and to the histories of other
women's disorders. It contains one of the more perfect conclusions I've
encountered - I don't think I will forget the poignant last five or so
pages for a long time. I am truly grateful for this book and it moved
me.
As advisory, I will also note that it left me in a state
of some emotional disorientation for a week or so, although I'm going to
attribute part of that to a streak of darker reading (see above) in
addition to some personal stressors and, you know, pandemic. It avoids
the overt triggers, i.e. doesn't contain any weights, calorie counts, diet descriptions, but I would say tread with care and read with some emotional buffer. Your
mileage, of course, may vary.
9. Gingerbread, by Helen Oyeyemi (2019)
Quirky and interstitial. It seems like a contemporary adult novel based in our world, but then it really doesn't. The plot didn't 100% satisfy me but I certainly enjoyed her ideas and writing. This reminded me of Jaclyn Moriarty and Theodora Goss, if they were mishmashed together.
10. Jenny Mei Is Sad, by Tracy Subisak (2021)
(I just got this picture book out because I'm interested in emotional intelligence as a children's topic, but I don't have enough of an opinion to really say something.)
11. The Naturalized Citizen, by Carol J. Pierman (1981)
This book of poems seems to have been nearly forgotten by time! Few traces of it online, although I have now added it to Goodreads. It has an interesting, sometimes sparse tone. I enjoyed some of these. I didn't feel like I entirely "got" that many. Here is one poem from this volume.
___
What about you - anything wonderful you've been reading lately?
I've not been reading a great deal of late, but I am slowly getting through Voices From Chernobyl:The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich. It is quite gripping. Much of the HBO series was based on the monologues in the book, of scientists, liquidators, returning residents. The first monologue was the basis of one of the main characters in the HBO series, the wife of one of the fireman who responded to the explosion and fire at the plant. That first monologue is probably as intense as the book gets, but the rest of the stories are interesting for the various points of view. As I read it, I can't help but see the similarities in the ways that disaster was treated and how the COVID-19 crisis has been handled... how truth is one of the casualties.
ReplyDeleteI read an interview recently with a traveler who did a guided tour of Chernobyl, so it's nearer to the top of my brain than usual. Your COVID lens sounds like a really interesting perspective - comparative disaster studies.
DeleteSpeaking of, I ran across a book called The Psychology of Pandemics, written BEFORE this pandemic, with the most eerily accurate jacket summary. Haven't read yet though.
Just started "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion, which seems like it may have a few things in common with the book by Alice Bloch (which I have never read before). This year, I've enjoyed Amitav Ghosh's travel diary/ethnography ("In An Antique Land"). In general, I've been gravitating a lot more toward travel writing -- a desire for new experiences in the middle of isolation, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI have this sense that I will inevitably read The Year of Magical Thinking someday; is it good so far?
DeleteA good ethnography is such a pleaseure! I will have to bookmark that one. I entirely understand about travel writing. I think I've gone down the same road with fantasy during the pandemic. I don't want to read about things that are both mundane AND inaccessible (riding the bus, going in to the office, friends visiting from out of town...)
I just finished it and wouldn't say it was good but it felt like a necessary read. Not sure if that makes sense. It covers some heavy themes so I didn't enjoy it, but I am glad I read it.
ReplyDeleteI've been the same regarding fantasy! I have been reading way more of that genre that usual. Do you have any recs for a novice to the genre? I came across this list recently and have picked up a few entries: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/18/1027159166/best-books-science-fiction-fantasy-past-decade
Yes, that does make sense.
DeleteI haven't read much fantasy from the last decade or that much adult fantasy period, so that list is almost all unknowns to me, ha! Any jewels you've found so far?
A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty takes a while to get into but I found really wonderful...she's always inventive and very herself. It's the first in a trilogy, young adult.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, if you haven't already read it. It's mostly about the narrator's childhood experiences, narrated by that past self, very much about childhood too. Very evocative and rather haunting.
For YA high fantasy I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Fire by Kristen Cashore. It's second in a series but can stand alone imo. Super quick for its size.
Thank you for the recs! These are all new to me so I will check my ebook app to see if I can find them in my local library :)
ReplyDeleteI've tried "Jade City" and "A Darker Shade of Magic" from that NPR list. The latter in particular reminds me a lot of "Howl's Moving Castle" (which I read last year for the first time and really enjoyed). It has shades of "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" about it, too. So if you liked either of those, you'll probably like "A Darker Shade of Magic."
I think I'm the only English-speaking fantasy reader who hasn't read anything by Diana Wynne Jones - not sure how I missed her as a child but I've been meaning to fix that gap in my education for ages. I shall note those titles!
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