We’re in the last third of this challenging year, a year in which my reading has oscillated between indulging my need to escape and fulfilling my need to understand the challenges we face. August brought us (finally!) the warm weather here in Vancouver, and perhaps that’s why last month’s titles tend toward the indulgent, escapist side of the dial. . .
Not the first title, though. Carmen Machado’s memoir In the Dream House draws its reader in with compelling story-telling about a love story gone wrong. Elegantly written, stylistically effective, and ultimately redemptive as it is, though, the narrative is often uncomfortable, even painful. I’m still recommending to you, though, for broadening our understanding of relationships and of the power negotiations within them–and for illuminating the way that silence and silencing work. (Reminding me of something I included in apost on my other blog recently, a quotation from Alice Zentner’s L’Art de Perdre: “Personne ne sait ce que les autres vont faire de notre silence” — no one knows what the others are going to make of our silence )
I posted a page from In the Dream House in an Instagram post, along with a few comments about the book, and I posted a different page on my other blog, inspired by a metaphor of Machado’s that caught my attention
The next three books were all bought at a charming and thoughtfully stocked independent bookshop. Paul and I were the only customers, for the first ten or fifteen minutes, and what a pleasure it was to be able to take our time browsing physical shelves instead of choosing books online. Don’t get me wrong; I’m grateful that we’ve had the online options during these months of physical distancing, but there’s really nothing that compares to the sensory reality of shelves filled with new books (Used books are good as well, but different . . . ).
In fact, I think I did well to restrict myself to three books:
Jess Kidd’s Mr. Flood’s Last Resort — because I enjoyed her Things in Jars so much. So well-written, such a romp. Contemporary Gothic mystery doesn’t quite capture it, but something like that.
Susie Steiner’s Remain Silent, latest/third in the very good Manon Bradshaw series. Fulfils all the promise of the first two volumes, with perhaps even more depth as Manon grapples with marriage, midlife, the challenges of childcare. . . The mystery also reflects (although coincidentally, rather than deliberately) Steiner’s experience with brain cancer over the past year, as she discusses in this Guardian interview. And in case you don’t already read High Heels in the Wilderness, Sue writes about Steiner as “kindred spirit” here, on the basis of what she learns in that Guardian interview.
My third purchase at Ivy Books was one a friend had recommended to me (the same discerning reader who’d recommended In a Dream House — thanks, Brenda!). You may have read Mandel’s too-prescient post-pandemic novel Station Eleven (if you haven’t read it yet, perhaps wait until we’ve come out the other side of what Covid-19 is doing). The Glass Hotel builds from historical events rather than speculative future ones, but it’s no less imaginative for that. Ghost story, mystery, literary fiction spun from the Ponzi schemes and financial crisis of 2008. . .
Book #51, J.T. Ellison’s Lie to Me was one I’d have skipped if I’d had something else on hand to suit my light-reading mood. . .
Luckily, I had a more satisfying book on hand to finish out the month. . .
If you don’t read French, this moving (and instructive) coming-of-age/war novel by Afro-French writer and rapper (yes, truly!) Gaël Faye has been translated into English (into 36 languages, actually). Set in Burundi, before and during that “small country’s” devastating civil war, the novel featuring a young boy won the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, and has been made into a film. Highly recommended, especially if, like me, you’d like to broaden your understanding of Africa.
And that’s it for my August reading. Of course, by now we’re a third of the way through September, and I’ve a few books added to my journal. But those belong in another post, although you can see what I’m currently reading by peeking at my Instagram Reading Account.
Now I’d love to hear from you. What have you been reading? What’s on your nightstand right now? What book is taking longer than you expected to get to or to get through? And what do you have lined up on your TBR list? Also curious to know how you’re getting most of your books these days? As e-books, read on e-readers? As physical books — and do those come from the library or at a bricks-and-mortar bookstore or delivered to your mailbox by courier. . . Humour me: I don’t expect answers to all those questions, but I’d love a conversation this morning . . . 😉
So sorry for Susie Steiner-she is such an excellent writer and it is so difficult to find more than just a good mystery writer,Remain Silent seeemed to me me like a farewell to Manon,before I've read a Guardian article
Gäel Faye goes to my TBR list
I've written about almost all of my recent reads at Sue's High Heels,just to mention three of them: Anne Tyler's Redhead By the Road,latest Anne Cleeves' Darkest Evening (I love her books so much) and André Leon Talley's memoirs The Chiffon Trenches. I started to read Elif Shafak's The Bastard of Istanbul-it is one of her older books-she changed her style later,don't you think?
It is a real,paper book,I've bought a couple of weeks ago. The majority of my books are digital editions (and thanks God to that in this situation),but I still buy books and share them with my mum and a couple of my friends
Dottoressa
Dottoressa: You're right. There's something elegiac about that latest Manon Bradshaw. Yes, I think Shafak has changed her style (I also read and liked Three Daughters of Eve, an earlier one). . . for the better in many ways, but I stil enjoyed The Bastard very much. I read mine in "real paper" as well, a secondhand hardcover copy with a beautiful dust cover. I bought it in Portland at Powell's Books in January — that trip is unimaginable now. I've been doing some "real book" exchanges with daughters — a real bonus! but so grateful to have been able to borrow digital books from the library these last months.
I've bought Thre Daughters of Eve as well-My mother is reading it so we'll swap later
D.
I so enjoy your reading blog. To know that I have easy access to a wealth of thoughtful reading recommendations is such a comfort, especially in these uncomfortable times.
Whenever I open up your blog or Sue's, I keep paper and pen at hand to list potential reads. So thank you.
Recently ordered from overseas (Book Depository) James Rebanks' (author of The Shepherd's Life) new book, "English Pastoral: An Inheritance." Arrived yesterday, so need to set aside time to enjoy it.
Funnily enough, I seem to be able to get books by mail more quickly, and less expensively in some cases, from overseas than from bookshops here (our mail service is getting more erratic). During the past six months, I've bought books through various sites including: Powells, Parnasuss, BetterWorldBooks (used), B&N and as a last resort, @m@zon, for both myself and my grandchildren. No independent bookstores near me. Still have a large stack of books to go through (some purchased in January in London and Edinburgh–like you, hard to imagine being able to do that again before 2022). These include a number of books by Eric Newby, Diane Athill, War Doctor by David Nott, etc.. Mostly non-fiction. Must admit, I seem to be listening to audiobooks more than reading actual books lately (not much time for daytime reading now)–but nothing that memorable. Use Overdrive, Hoopla and RBdigital for audiobooks and ebooks. Finally, the Slightly Foxed's literary quarterly (UK) arrived a couple of days ago. Clearly, I have plenty of reading material at hand. Now if I could just get past the brain fog of these strange days…
D: Let me know what you and your mother think of both. (Have you both been to Istanbul? I'm guessing Yes)
Maria, Mary: so good to know you find this blog useful.
Mary: Not sure I can bear to add another book to my TBR list. . . but I suspect English Pastoral would make a very good "reads well with" to Melissa Harrison's In Hawthorn Time. . . Your comments about bookshops and mail orders makes me think of 84 Charing Cross Road, which I'm sure you must have read, right? (are you re-reading Athill? I've got a few of hers on my shelves and every so often I love to pick one up to browse again.
During my holidays I read "Lady in Waiting" by Anne gGlenconner but did not find it as interesting as I has expected. The jet set life in the seventies and eighties, the names of celebrities, the throwing about of enormous amounts of money – all this does not make for a gripping life account. I also read Eva Ibbotson's "The Morning Gift" and Frank McCourt's "'Tis", both of them in German translation. I found them in a public "book shelf" where people can exchange books for free. In the same shelf I also found three novels by Pearl S. Buck of varying quality and the autobiography of French actress Simone Signoret. Then I read three German books related to my efforts to reconstruct my memories of the fifties and sixties in my country, that era of hipocrisy and hushed guilt. Finally, I had another go at Elena Ferrante's "Storia del nuovo cognome" which I still haven't finished yet.
Eleonore: I like the serendipity of your reading list, found on the public book shelf. Too often, I think there's a danger we all end up reading the same books because we are exposed to a limited number of recommending sources. I grew up browsing the shelves of the public library, pulling out whatever spines or covers caught my attention and reading the fly-leaf so see if the book looked as promising inside. Of course, I love the promise of a bookstore full of new books, but I also love the Random and sometimes odd or eccentric finds that aren't likely to show up there.
I took a few courses 25 or 30 years ago of German literature in translation, some of it focussed on those decades. So much to grapple with. . . (and recently I read, in French, Hélène Cixous's 1938, Nuits. . . so much resonance with today's events, in fact).
I regret that I have read none of the books you have currently reviewed. However, I have read, (or rather listened to)a book that really stood out from the crowd. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo was recommended by a friend who is quite an adventurous reader. I am sure I would never have chosen this YA novel on my own. I recommend the audiobook. The characters pulse with life and resonate as authentic with every line.If you are looking to expand your world view, look at life through the lens of a teenaged poetry loving Dominican growing up in NY with an overly religious mother, a twin genius brother, and a remote father. I think you'll love it.
BuffaloGal: Good to hear from you, and I trust your recommendations (after A Constellation of Vital Phenomena!). I'll put The Poet X on my library reserve list. Thank you!