All the Books of 2022, Part One
4 March 2023
Dear readers,
Before we begin, I suggest you find a comfortable position and cozy up with a cup of tea, as we’re about to embark on a reading exploration. Last summer, I came up with the initial idea of putting together a guide, if you will, of all the books I would end up reading in 2022. By April I had already read as many books as I’d completed in all of 2021, so I had this feeling that the year was going to be a big one for my personal reading. What the final number would be, I wasn’t yet sure; all I knew was that for some reason I was devouring more books than any other year I could remember, and that I was reading some amazing stories.
In the end, I finished the year at 58 books. Now I’ve been tracking the number of books I’ve read since about 2016, and according to that data, this was my biggest year ever. It’s possible I read that much in previous years as a kid or teenager, maybe in college when I’d have roughly 30 books a semester (but even some of those were only half finished), but this is the first time I can remember as an adult where I’ve crossed over 50 books. I’d started doing something new during the year where I’d read books for work during the day and come the evening would switch over to books for me. Mostly it worked, except for when I’d need to finish something by a deadline or would be swept up into a particular story and just have to finish it before everything else. Some amazing stories were read and discovered, as were some new favorite authors, whereas others were more forgettable. One interesting takeaway I’ve noticed is that by having such a high turnover, I don’t always remember the details of every book or story, and sometimes found that they left no impression at all. Is that the fault of the book, the headspace I was in while reading, or a byproduct of consuming so many stories back-to-back? I can’t say for certain though; it could be a combination of many factors. It’s been fun to revisit this list of books and be reminded of details I’d since forgotten. Another detail I’ve become more aware of after looking over the list is that a large majority of the books I’ve read come from the same countries and are set in the same locations. It makes me want to better expand the scope of my reading and to stretch my legs beyond the topics and areas that have become the norm.
Originally I’d planned to discuss the whole year in a single post, yet the more I wrote, the longer the post became so I’ve split it into two parts. The second part will include a breakdown of my favorite books of the year. It’ll also allow for some much needed tea refills and stretches. For each month there’s a stop motion video featuring that month’s titles. I had so much fun creating these - you’ll definitely see an improvement in skills over the year - and it’s a practice that I’m excited to take into 2023.
Now for some stats:
Countries of origin of the books I read in 2022 (where the author is from), not counting multiple books by the same author: UK (22) , US (19), Canada (2), Ireland (2), Japan (1), Spain (1), New Zealand (1), Australia (1)
How many books did I buy in 2022: 44
I did put together a complete list if anyone is interested.
How many books did I read in 2022 that came into my life in 2022: 21.5
I started reading Night and Day by Virginia Woolf and The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, but didn’t finish either before the year ended, so those are my .5 books.
How many books did I read in 2022 that I already owned: 20
How many e-books did I read in 2022 from the library: 10
How many books were manuscripts: 7
How many books in translation: 2
How many were fiction: 47
How many books were non-fiction: 11
How many books written by women: 45
How many books written by men: 13
How many pages did I read: approx. 16,135
I say approximately because some editions that I read, like my vintage copy of Little Women, were not available on the tracking apps that I use. I also don’t think it includes all the books I may have started and never finished.
Longest book: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott at 617 pages.
Shortest book: Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom by Sylvia Plath at 40 pages.
JANUARY
STATS
- Finished six books.
- Four books for me. Two for work.
- Four physical books. Two manuscripts/galleys (Now Is Not The Time to Panic, Before the Coffee Gets Cold) on kindle.
- Competed in and finished the StoryGraph January Pages Challenge to read every day in January.
- Day with the most pages read: 24 Jan - 260 pages.
The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett
(Started 28 Dec 2021. Finished 8 Jan 2022.)
There is something about winter that makes me want to snuggle beneath the duvet and pick up a murder mystery. Nothing too scary or too real, mind you, I don’t want anything that resembles true crime. I’m talking about a story that feels part of the Golden Age Tradition where a detective will be along shortly to solve the crime and will then pin-point exactly what happened, telling the tale to a packed room where the murderer sits listening, who will then confess on the spot in some dramatic fashion. The Windsor Knot falls nicely into this category; and it started a reading trend that lasted all year. Many baths were spent reading “just one more chapter”, the water rapidly cooling, so I could find out what happened next.
The Windsor Knot is set in 2016 and follows Queen Elizabeth II as she attempts to solve, beneath the watchful gaze of MI5, why a Russian man was killed at Windsor. She knows what will happen if the news goes public so it’s paramount that the case is solved and wrapped up before the story leaks to the press, which could be any moment. Even more pressing is that no one knows she’s thinking about the case or doing any inquiring of her own, except for her assistant private secretary, Rozie Oshodi, who is the current in a long line of women who’ve helped such investigations. But Rozie can’t tell anyone she’s helping the Queen, not even her family, and especially not her boss who is the Queen’s private secretary. Instead, the Queen will subtly drop hints to MI5 or the police about maybe a location they should consider checking out or a person that might want to look into, and when they do ultimately solve the crime, they’ll take all the credit, knowing that they brilliantly came up with the missing pieces themselves.
It feels very much like we’re in safe hands with this series. S.J. Bennett has built this world where she knows exactly what is going to happen next and how best to reveal each twist so the reader is left guessing and wondering how it’ll all be wrapped up. I found myself feeling excited by each new revelation, and seeing how she was going to piece everything together. As I’m writing this, I don't actually remember who did it, so I think it would be just as fun to revisit the story again because I liked seeing the Queen's thinking process and the ways in which she navigated her world. She’s a good detective. From the beginning, you know that the Queen will solve the mystery so by the end, everything will be back in its place though the characters will be altered from this experience. I was a fan of how the Queen was portrayed, how we learn her inner thoughts and the way she observes the world, and enjoyed getting to know the colorful characters that surround her, who bring their own, dare I say, real word skills and expertise to the story. (I think Rozie and Donna from the Thursday Murder Club would make a good team.)
The funny think about these books is that I was actually working on my own Queen-as-a-detective book at the start of covid which ultimately went on the back burner around the time I discovered this series was being published. I was curious enough to know how someone else would approach the topic so I ordered a copy. I then was surprised by how fun I found Bennett’s world and how much I enjoyed her take.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
(Started 10 Jan 2022. Finished 20 Jan 2022.)
Then it was time to finally read the highly anticipated Thursday Murder Club, a series I had wanted to read pre-Christmas but held off buying in case it found its way under the tree. Seeing that it didn’t, I made off to the bookstore as soon as possible to pick it up. As close as the Windsor Knot series is to the top of the list for favorite books of the year, I think this one might just top it.
We’re following a group of four amateur octogenarian sleuths - the members of the Thursday Murder Club - who, until now, have only solved cold cases. But when a local real estate developer is found dead, they dive into solving their first live case. The developer in question was looking to develop around Cooper’s Chase, a quaint English retirement community where the club members live, but as they’ll soon discover, there are some long buried secrets on the proposed work site that someone doesn’t want to get out.
The members are: Elizabeth, a former spy and mastermind of the group; Joyce, former homebody, Elizabeth’s best friend, and new diarist (whose entries are sprinkled throughout the book); Ron, the former union leader; and Ibrahim, the former psychologist. I really like the way they bounce off each other and how each member of the club has their strengths and methods for approaching the case. The group, especially Elizabeth, have a way of getting exactly the help they need from just the right sources. Like PC Donna De Freitas and Detective Chief Inspector Chris Hudson who work for the local police, and soon strike up “friendships” with the club; and then there’s Bogdan, a man of man talents.
I love the tone that Richard Osman achieves throughout the book. There’s a lot of humor, some thrills and drama, just the right level of suspense, a good amount of heart, and it’s all tied together in perhaps the most British way possible. Osman said that he got the inspiration for the series from the community where his mum now lives. There’s an excellent chapter where tea and cake are used as an intimidation device (an except is below). I chuckled at many points while reading and that’s saying something as I don’t often laugh out loud while reading unless something really tickles me. It’s one of those books that I’ve been trying to push into everyone’s hands because I enjoyed the read so much. Even if mysteries aren’t one’s normal genre, I would recommend at least giving it a try. And if you’re worried that the premise doesn’t sound all that exciting, just you wait, as I’d bet there’ll be a moment when you become fully taken over by the community at Cooper’s Chase and can’t wait to see what mess they’ve gotten themselves into next.
Chris Hudson finds himself jammed uncomfortably on a sofa, Ibrahim, whom he has met before, on one side, and tiny, chirpy white-haired Joyce on the other. It is clearly a two-and-a-half-seater sofa, and when Chris had been shown to it, his assumption was that he would be sharing it with only one other person. Then, with a grace and swiftness he hadn’t expected from two people deep into their pensionable years, Ibrahim and Joyce had slid in on either side of him, and so here he was. If he had known, he would have declined the invitation and taken one of the armchairs, now occupied by Ron Ritchie, looking sprightlier than when they last met, and the terrifying Elizabeth—who really doesn’t take no for an answer. […]
Chris has just been given a cup of tea on a saucer, yet he is so hemmed in that he fears that any attempt to drink it might be physically impossible. So there he is, stuck, but like a professional, he will make the best of it. Look at Donna, though; she’s even got a side table for her tea. Unbelievable. They couldn’t make this more awkward for him if they’d tried. Still, stay professional. […]
He attempts to take a sip at the tea, but it is still scaling hot, and any blowing would send a wave over the brim. It would also suggest to whoever made the tea that he would have preferred it to be less scalding, which would look rude.
Joyce has more bad news for him. “We have forgotten our manners, Detective Chief Inspector. We haven’t offered you any cake.” she produces a lemon drizzle, already cut into slices, and offers it across. (pg. 101 - 102)
Now Is Not The Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
(Started 17 Jan 2022. Finished 24 Jan 2022.)
The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.
When I read this book it was as a manuscript and its working title was We Are Fugitives, which was later changed for its publication in November. It’s about how a pivotal teenage relationship and how one crazy idea has the ability to change the course of theirs lives and that of their town forever. Sixteen-year-old Frankie is bored. She’s by herself most summer days while her twin brothers go off to do whatever it is they do and her mother is always working. She fills it with writing a novel about a character who isn’t that far removed from herself. Then she meets Zeke, an artist who moved with his mom into his grandmother’s house for the summer. His parents have temporarily split after his dad was caught having an affair.
Frankie and Zeke are immediately inseparable. They spend everyday together. She writes stories and he draws these moody drawings to go with them. Frankie’s developing feelings for Zeke that she’s not sure how to handle. Then one day they find an old copy machine in Frankie’s garage and begin playing around with it. They create this enigmatic, dark lined drawing where Frankie writes: “The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.” Soon they being putting up posters of the image all over town. Everyone wonders who is behind it. Is it satanists, kidnappers, a cult? The rumors won’t stop and soon it’s so much larger than the both of them and they can’t stop it. Zeke doesn’t want to keep putting up posters but Frankie can’t stop. It’s become who she is now. Years later a reporter comes calling for Frankie with questions about the poster and the impact it had on her town that summer, forcing Frankie to confront the past.
I enjoyed the read quite a bit. For being a book about a crisis that develops in this town, I found it to be really grounded and approachable in its storytelling. This was my first book by Kevin Wilson, and I found his writing to be captivating and mysterious. We get to know Frankie and Zeke really well as teenagers, then when the book moves to meeting them as adults, I found the central idea of how one formative event can set the path for the rest of one’s life to be well explored and executed. The descriptions of the poster are so vividly described that as a reader you also start to become obsessed with this image and the sort of hold it has over everyone, especially Frankie. I would hesitate to call this book a mystery because as readers we know who has made the poster and why they’ve done it, it’s all the other characters that don’t know, which makes for a fun reversal. I would say it’s more of a coming of age story with some unexpected twists.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, trans. Geoffrey Trousselot
(Started 17 Jan 2022. Finished 28 Jan 2022.)
Before the Coffee Gets Cold is the first book in a Japanese trilogy about a time traveling cafe in Tokyo. Anyone can visit the past, but there are rules they must follow. First they must sit in the designated seat. The seat is occupied by a ghost except for once a day when she vacates the seat. They must acknowledge that by going to the past, nothing in the present will change. Finally they must drink their coffee before it gets cold.
There’s a set of recurring characters in the cafe staff while the visitors to the cafe tend to be new characters each time. This was a slow burn for me but one where the payoffs felt worth it in the end. I think it really benefits from reading in big chunks. The whole series has a rhythm to it where you’ll come to know more about the cafe’s characters with each book, and more about what’s at stake for them as well as why someone might want to go back in time if they can’t change anything. Be prepared for it to take a while for the rules of the cafe to become established and be patient with the book as it’s not going anywhere fast.
4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie
(Started 22 Jan 2022. Finished 30 Jan 2022.)
This was my first Miss Marple. It featured some mystery classics like characters seeing pivotal moments from train windows, disappearing bodies, an old family estate on the verge of collapse, someone infiltrating the family to search for clues, and poisoning. I found Miss Marple to be more of an armchair detective, who would tell others what clues to look for or areas in the garden to explore, but would do less of the on site detecting herself. It made the story feel a little less active for me as I’m more used to Poirot poking around every room. I recently read a good review of the Miss Marple series in the literary journal Slightly Foxed where the author talks about the comfort she found in Christie’s portrayal of Miss Marple and the way that they’re consistently reliable. I am not yet convinced that she’s my favorite type of detective, especially when I’ve been drawn to more active ones as of late, but I’m willing to give Miss Marple another try.
A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
(Started 9 Jan 2022. Finished 31 Jan 2022.)
And finally I finished the month with the first Paddington book. I’d received the box set from Mr H for Christmas and sometimes one needs to read about the department store shenanigans or tube troubles of a young bear. I like how the book is broken down into eight separate stories, and while there is a larger narrative that connects them all together, they work well as standalone pieces to read here and there as you need a pick-me-up or before going to bed. Five marmalade sandwiches out of five.
FEBRUARY
STATS:
- Finished six books.
- Four books for me. Two books for work.
- Four physical books. One galley on kindle (Tales from the Cafe). One library e-book (The Ex-Hex).
- Day with the most pages read: 21 Feb - 296 pages.
This month I began the new practice of stamping the finish date on the back cover of each book, inspired by a conversation long ago with @commonbooks. During Covid, we’d been talking about some of the marginalia she’d found in the books she was collecting, and how in one edition there was a date on the inside cover that we took to be the date the reader had finished the book. I had loved the idea of doing that but for some reason hadn’t started the practice. The only book I’d done up to this point was Ali Smith’s Summer that I’d finished on the last day of summer in 2020. So I grabbed the library-style date stamp I’d bought in London years ago, and began dating all the books I finished starting this February. As well as retroactively stamping my January books.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, trans. Geoffrey Trousselot
(Started 4 Feb 2022. Finished 6 Feb 2022.)
Tales from the Cafe is the second book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold trilogy. Once again we find ourselves in Cafe Funiculi Funicula where patrons gather with a desire to go back in time. Though the structure is the same as the first book, I think I enjoyed this one more, as I had a better understanding of its rhythm and pace. We’re still getting five different and seemingly disconnected stories of patrons coming to the cafe, going back in time, and then learning how they’ve either now changed or been able to reach a place of inner peace through this experience. We come to learn more about the resident ghost, a woman dressed all in white, and how she came to be there. We’re also learning more about Kazu, one of only a few recurring characters and the one who pours the coffee that enables patrons to time-travel. It feels more like her story and I found that I became more invested in what will happen to her in the final book. It has the same slow pace as the first book but I found that by reading it over a shorter span of time that the story felt more energetic and digestible.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
(Started 1 Feb 2022. Finished 11 Feb 2022.)
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is set in the 1950’s in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and follows seventeen-year-old Lily as she navigates the growing Red-Scare, her desire to be a rocket scientist, and her unspoken feelings for classmate Kath. Together, they begin to explore their identities and discover a whole new queer community that welcomes them with open arms, but they have to be cautious as raids are taking place at clubs around town and no one can find out that they’ve been sneaking out to visit, or about their relationship.
I loved this book and had even tried multiple times to pitch it to work as I could see the potential in it as a TV show so well. When the TV adaptation of A League of One’s Own aired last summer, I found myself drawn to the screen as it touched on so many of the storylines and potential that I saw for Last Night at the Telegraph Club. The historical details were so captivating and well thought out. Lo wrote an afterward to the book where she talked about the use of historical language, the reasons for including it, and a bit about lesbian history from this period. So often the queer stories I’d seen from this period were centered around gay men, and I really liked seeing the parallel history that Lo was telling. I haven't read a queer love story quite like it before. After reading I listened to a panel between Malinda Lo and Casey McQuiston (author of Red, White & Royal Blue and One Last Stop) where they talked about their approaches to writing YA stories that was really fascinating, and Lo went into the history of male impersonators and shaping the Chinatown we see in the book, both of which really come alive in the story. The book doesn’t have say Normal People level romance, which was a criticism that was made by others about it, but instead I think it’s focused more on the budding and discovery of first love from an angle that is approachable for teenagers and adults-alike.
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
(Started 14 Feb 2022. Finished 19 Feb 2022.)
This is the second book in the Thursday Murder Club series. We’re reunited with the gang and though they’re dealing with some aftermath from the events of the first book, they’re also setting their sights on a new crime to solve. We find Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim tangled up with MI5. Elizabeth's past comes back to see her and we learn more about her past relationships. And there’s the small issue of £20-million of stolen diamonds.
I remember how I spent so many days reading the books of January and February in the bath, surrounded by a glowing heater and candles, as the winter sun faded early. This was one of those books. I liked this sequel a good amount. It felt like Osman was slowly expanding the world in a way that felt organic, while the characters themselves also grew more comfortable. I really like Elizabeth and enjoyed learning more about her background, all the stories she can tell about her secrets, and am enjoying the friendship that Ron and Ibrahim are building. It is refreshing to see their relationship grow with such kindness and fondness but also mutual respect. So often I feel like we see stories about women’s friendship and I like the twist of seeing a story about male friendship.
Rain: Four Walks in English Weather by Melissa Harrison
(Started 16 Feb 2022. Finished 19 Feb 2022.)
I started Rain: Four Walks in English Weather on the day of an unexpected hail and rainstorm. Our 2023 winter has been full of colossal rain and most recently cases of snow across Southern California, but before all of that, last February was my first taste of a hail storm out here. I’d grown up with hail in Colorado, how it can blow in and out over a course of minutes, dropping golfball sized pieces on the ground, but I’d never seen anything like that out here. Watching the weather behaving in such strange patterns and listening to the force of the rain coming down, I was pulled to read something about nature.
It’s a meditative book on Harrison’s walks through the English countryside over the course of four memorable walks, and how one's relationship to rain and the landscape has evolved due to the way we've changed the natural world. I found it informative, insightful, sad at times, and an interesting device for discussing one’s relationship to weather and the world around oneself. At the end, it features a delightful dictionary of words to describe the various states of rain.
Dibble: to rain slowly in drops (Shropshire)
Dringey: the kind of light rain that still manages to get you soaking wet (Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincolnshire)
Haster: a violent thunderstorm (England)
Housing it down: raining hard (Cumbria)
Raining star-rods: precipitation that appears like solid columns of water (England)
Smither: light rain (East Anglia) (pg. 90 - 94)
The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
(Started 20 Feb 2022. Finished 21 Feb 2022.)
The Ex-Hex is written by the author of the Her Royal Highness, a YA series that I’d read a few years earlier, though this is written under a different name. It follows a similar framing device where book one centers around one couple, and then book two is about two secondary characters that we’ve met in the first book. The story follows brokenhearted Vivi who accidentally curses her ex-boyfriend, who's family’s magic founded her town, after their college relationship ends with a thump. She doesn’t mean to curse him. That happened purely by accident. It’s not until nine years later, when they're forced back together, that the curse reveals itself. Now they must work together to reverse the curse, which is now impacting the magical lay lines in the town (what keeps the town’s magic flowing and functioning properly), before all the town's magic disappears.
It’s a fun, light hearted witchy romcom. It definitely is the type of modern romance where the sexiness comes and goes, and while it’s detailed at times it never goes as far as being unapproachable or overtly explicit. It’ll then go back to the lighthearted banter that sort of grounds the book. I read it over the course of two days. This is one of those books that I enjoyed reading at the time but haven’t thought much about since.
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
(Started 22 Feb 2022. Finished 27 Feb 2022.)
I was compelled to pick up Sorrow and Bliss after listening to Meg Mason’s episode on Elizabeth Day's podcast "How to Fail." I listened to it on my commute when I was back to working in person. I remember learning how Mason was Australian and the ways that she worked to capture the Britishness of her characters, which Day thought was incredibly successful and had I not known this fact wouldn’t have known she wasn’t British herself. I was so taken by the interview and the way Mason talked about the guilt she felt for starting a family very young and the ways that she attempted to balance her writing with early motherhood. So on a January bookstore/wine bar time with a girlfriend, I decided to pick-up a copy. I didn’t know at the time that I’d be seeing thoughts and reviews of Sorrow and Bliss for the rest of the year. Its name would pop up in discussions around the Women’s Prize and Booker Prize, and for many it was in their top books of the year.
It was definitely a hard and uncomfortable read at times, but also so captivating and very well written that I found it hard to put down. If I were to attempt to describe the plot, I’d say simply that it’s about Martha’s mental health journey and eventual diagnosis (and though she learns what it is the reader is never given a name for what is afflicting her), coupled with her life along the way. It’s about her marriage and later indifferent feelings toward her husband. Her relationship with her sister, the ways that she’s failed to show up at the moments when she’s most needed, and her parents. I distinctly remember scenes where Martha is lying on the couch of her father’s study, and later on the ways that she embarks on what feel like constant walks. She’s always walking somewhere. Though I’d forgotten Martha’s name and had to look it up before writing this section, I feel like I’ve been able to hold onto the feeling of the book as it’s stayed with me since and snippets of scenes come to mind when I think about it. It's one of those books that while reading I can't decide if I like or not. I was reading it at a time when I felt low and burned out myself so maybe wasn’t in a place to say if it was brilliant or not. Overall, I think the writing was spectacular and I felt in capable hands all the time, so even if things weren’t going so well for Martha, I knew that Mason had a firm grip on the story and this world, and she would land us safely at home when it was time.
MARCH
STATS:
- Finished eight books.
- Five books for me. Three books for work.
- Five physical books. Two manuscripts/galleys on kindle (Man Down, Vladimir). One ebook from the library (Dust). One reread (Our Stop).
- Day with the most pages read: 1 March - 329 pages.
- Our Stop represents 20 books read this year: the number I read in 2021.
Oh March, the month where the books and I didn’t got on so well. This is a batch I have lots of opinions about, most of them not positive.
Man Down by James Goodhand
(Started 22 Feb 2022. Finished 1 March 2022.)
The ending of this book still sits with me because it felt like it had made this turn that I wasn’t expecting and it was so bleak in a way that felt unnecessary. I remember putting down my kindle in disbelief that it went there and ended on such a downer note. All I will say, so as not to spoil the end even though I really want to, is that it involves a fire at the school during a disco, a train collision, and a sacrifice to save a bus full of students. But like did it need to go that way?
I think my expectations for what this book was going to be were totally off. It’s about this teenager Will Parks who lives in a working class neighborhood in England. Someone is watching him, giving him information about future events to steer him down paths he never would’ve taken himself. There’s a tragedy coming and he’s the only one that can stop it. It takes him some time to realize that this intel is actually about the future and that if he listens to the advice, things will change for the better. It looks like helping his brother stay out of jail by stopping a fight before it escalates too far, befriending a kid in his class who otherwise might’ve decided he didn’t want to be around, and hitting it off with the girl he likes. While it was the idea of Will being told the future that caused me to pick up the book, if I’d known where the story was going to go, I might’ve passed. It’s bleak. The scope of the world was much smaller than I thought it would be by the premise, as it’s confined to one town and community. I respect the swings taken with this book because it’s an interesting premise that almost delivers on its promises but it’s one that I find myself remembering for the shock of its events. Maybe that was the desired outcome, to shock the reader every step of the way, to be surprising. I mostly felt unsatisfied.
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
(Started 27 Feb 2022. Finished 3 March 2022.)
Conversations with Friends is the start of a series of books (Vladimir, Cheerful Weather, potentially Happy Hour) that all fit together in my mind as being of the same mindset and theme. Stories about unsatisfied women who are unapologetic in their approach to relationships or other’s feelings, and which just irked me as I read them. (It was more the decisions of the characters and the overarching writing styles I didn’t jive with and less that these are complex characters who are making interesting choices and exploring facets of what a modern day woman can be or want. I don’t like the term “difficult” or “unlikeable” when describing female characters because it would never be used to describe a male character who makes the same choices, and generally I don’t think a character has to be likable in order to be effective in the story or for me to root for them.)
This was my first Sally Rooney, and honestly, had I read it in my early-20s, I think I would’ve liked it a lot more but for last year’s me, it didn’t do it for me. I liked the first 70 pages. After I had a hard time with the writing style or feeling sympathetic toward the characters, who I felt like kept making the same questionable decisions over and over again. I don’t think I’ve quite captured the reason for why it didn’t fully resonate with me, which is perhaps due to the messiness of the characters that feels so of a time and place, those last college days and the period of one’s early-20s, figuring out who you’ll be, trying on relationships and attitudes to see what feels the best, that feels removed from where I am now; and so I had a harder time vibing with the book. I had more concrete reasons after I first read it but now that a year has passed, I haven’t hung onto what those reasons were.
It was recommended to me by a friend who said this was her favorite Rooney and insisted that I read her work. I’d been putting it off as I felt like she was too of the hype machine. I admit that when something is too hyped up and everyone is talking about it, I tend to not engage because I don’t think it’ll live up to the expectations that have been put on it. Sometimes I’ll come back to it years later after its died down, watch or read the thing and love it. It’s pure stubbornness and something I haven’t yet been able to overcome. So I figured that maybe I was being unfair to Rooney and that I should give her writing a shot. I respect what she’s built for herself and her body of work. The one thing I’m not sure about is if she’s a writer for me.
The story is about Frances, a twenty-one year old college student in Dublin. She’s an aspiring writer and performs spoken word poetry with Bobbi, her best friend and former lover. It’s at one of their shows where they meet Melissa, a journalist who spots their potential, who draws them into her orbit. Which is where they meet her husband Nick, a tired actor, who captures Frances’s attention. What starts as flirtations between Frances and Nick turns into a full affair, which Frances attempts to keep under wraps until the rest of her life starts to unravel.
Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
(Started 4 Jan 2022. Finished 5 March 2022.)
Vladimir was one of those books that I was reading for work and then saw everywhere. It felt like anyone and everyone was talking about this book. I even saw it in a small, curated and rather pretentious bookstore today as I was wandering around before a coffee meeting. When I started reading I couldn’t understand what the hype was about and why everyone was talking about it. Work eventually passed on it and so I stopped reading without finishing. It felt too similar to Lisa Taddeo’s style and subject matter, and though I won’t get into it here, I have a strong dislike of Taddeo’s work after reading her novel Animal. And yet, something months later compelled me to pick it back up to give it another try. Perhaps it was the constant presence of it on social feeds. This is one case where I felt like I got more into the story and the writing style after picking it back up, and it was only then that I felt able to go for the ride.
It follows a tenured English professor - who's department chair husband is currently under investigation for sexual misconduct - and her obsession turned relationship with Vladimir, a new professor and celebrated young novelist. He’s moved there with his young family. His wife is a celebrated writer in her own right but put her career on hold for his; he’s the shiny new thing in the lit world. The professor reads his book as a means of initiating more meetings. She begins to write a novel about him and her fantasies of what could happen. This book too has such a striking and startling ending, one I never could’ve predicted, but I think it’s so successful because so much of the book is built on this idea of fantasy. The fantasy of a person, the fantasy of a different life. It plays with the idea that the professor could change her entire life, if she’s able to capture Vladimir. Oh, does she take the idea of capturing him to a whole different level. But the ending is a sharp slap in the face to this fantasy by forcing the professor and her husband back down to reality in a very real way. I didn’t think the twist of the ending was earned when I first read the book. I was left with questions about what the book was trying to say. It’s only now as I’m writing this that I think I’ve hit on what it’s trying to do.
Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey
(Started 6 March 2022. Finished 7 March 2022.)
Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, though not contemporary, it was written in 1932, perfectly fits with this group as it's about a bride on her wedding day who is contemplating whether or not to go through with it or to go away with her former lover. A short novel but one whose writing was so disjointed that I couldn't build an emotional connection to the characters, so the dilemma never felt like a real question. I wasn’t invested in Dolly (our bride’s) predicament because it didn’t feel like a real question. Despite her almost ambivalent feelings about her soon to be husband, I felt like the way she thought of her former love to be equally as uninviting. The writing around the secondary characters, like one brother or cousin who keeps having comments made about his socks, or maybe it was his tie, was so stylized that it was not only hard to read but felt out of place with the rest of the action.
Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados
(Started 7 March 2022. Finished 13 March 2022.)
Happy Hour follows two friends, Isa and Gala, who spend a summer in NYC as they attempt to get by on the little money they have, party hop and network, and try on the city. The book is written as Isa’s diaries and told entirely through her perspective of events. It was a slow burn at times: the comings and goings of their acquaintances, what it’s like to run their booth of vintage clothes at the farmer’s market, a weird weekend away in the Hamptons, but I learned to enjoy the ride. Of the four books, I liked this one the most and now that some time has passed, it’s the one I would be most compelled to revisit. It's a book I think younger me would've been more into as it really does capture that feeling of being in one’s early-20s and trying on different places and situations to see what is going to fit you the best.
The House Opposite by Barbara Noble
(Started 14 March 2022. Finished 20 March 2022.)
The House Opposite was my favorite book of March. It takes place during the Blitz and was written shortly after by Noble who lived through it. It follows two main characters - a secretary having an affair with her boss, and a teenager waiting to join the RAF - who are neighbors and who form an unlikely friendship while on fire watch. They’ve each developed pre-conceived notions of the other that they’ll come out during their watch nights. The world around them, though the story is set in London, feels rather small as we come to know the inner workings of their families, the lives of her boss, his family, and their shared colleagues, and there’s even a local scandal that affects their street. There are moments when Noble reminds us that the Blitz is impacting everyone in London, zooming out to highlight images of the damages as seen by characters riding the tube or bus into the center, but then there are the more intimate moments that happen behind one house’s blackout curtains as they sit listening for the bombs to start falling.
I felt like it captured the mentality and spirit of the time in a way that felt unique to anything I’ve read before. Though I’ve read books that talk about the Blitz and have an interest in this time, I don’t remember ever reading anything quite like this. It’s mostly been from a historical perspective. The uncertainty that the characters felt about would they live to see the next day or would their offices or friend’s houses still be there by morning felt very familiar and relatable after these covid years. But so did their tiredness. So in that way the perspective felt contemporary. I also really liked Noble’s writing.
October passed and November passed. A number of Londoners met violent death in the night, a still larger number suffered varying degrees of injury, the largest number of all suffered nothing more than inconvenience and nervous strain. London had adapted herself well. With a mixture of chivalry and vanity, she even worried about the fate of the big provincial towns, which sometimes filled her place as victim No. 1. Better, surely, that the largest member of the family should take the most punishment? A little wryly, she received the congratulations of the western world. ‘Some have greatness thrust upon them,’ Joan Walsh snorted. ‘Nobody’s offered me an alternative to being a heroine.’
In their private lives, people who remained unaffected by such upheavals as the call-up or an alarmingly compulsory change of residence marked time. The immediate future was so uncertain that few cared to make a change for change’s sake. Governmental spokesmen uttered warnings of invasion in the spring, but practically, nobody believed them. With sublime smugness, the vast bulk of the population of Britain listened to the message of their bones. And their bones assured them that nobody ever invaded England and that England always won her wars, in time. (pg. 47)
I Have Been Buried Under Years of Dust: A Memoir of Autism and Hope by Valerie Gilpeer and Emily Grodin
(Started 14 March 2022. Finished 24 March 2022.)
So this book. I had a really hard time with it. I Have Been Buried Under Years of Dust is a memoir of two perspectives: mother and daughter, who is nonverbally autistic, and her breakthrough to being able to communicate. It is told primarily through Valerie, the mother’s, voice and perspective as she weaves the tale of Emily’s journey and the family’s attempts at making breakthroughs. The hardships faced by the whole family, the tantrums, the years of trying different therapies and methods for enabling speech. The most powerful part of the book is reading Emily's words. She’s a poet and soon to be college graduate, as she shares her perspective on events that we’ve previously been introduced through Valerie’s telling. The title comes from the first words Emily ever wrote: “I have been buried under years of dust and now I have so much to say.” I think the thing that made this such a hard read was that it was primarily told through someone else’s words and experiences, rather than hearing the majority of the time from Emily, and that it had this sort of underlining presence for wanting to fix Emily. I can definitely see how their story could be helpful to a lot of people, though I can’t speak to that personally, but I found it to be difficult from a reading and framing perspective.
Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams
(Started 21 March 2022. Finished 26 March 2022.)
This is a reread. I’d first read Our Stop in 2019, loved it then, and decided to revisit the story as I wanted to revisit the idea of pitching it again for development. It’s about an almost meet cute on the tube. Nadia has this plan to reinvent her life. She’s going to make her coffee at home, she’s going to make the 7:30am train, and she’s going to finally put her ex behind her. For a couple days she almost manages to do all of these things, and on one of those occasions, Daniel also happens to be the 7:30am train because he makes it everyday, without fail. A message appears one day in the daily paper, like the paper that gets handed out during tube rush hour: “To the cute girl with the coffee stains on her dress. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors… Drink sometime?” Nadia thinks it’s about her. So she writes back.
There’s this will-they-won’t-they quality to the story that works very well, and feels very much in line with something like You’ve Got Mail. As the reader, we are privy to information about both of these characters that the other doesn’t have. We see how close they come to almost meeting several times and how close they come to almost missing the connection entirely due to the timing of other events and budding relationships. The romcom is framed very well and it works. Though I still love the central premise and continue to see such potential for this book as a story that could be on screen, I found that it didn’t resonate as strongly with me this time around. There was something to the references that felt far more dated now than it did when written in 2019, and I think a lot of that has to do with the way the world has changed.
APRIL
STATS:
- Finished five books.
- All five books were for me and physical books. One reread (84).
- Day with the most pages read: 12 April - 148. Closely followed by 3 April - 145.
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
(Started 31 March 2022. Finished 1 April 2022.)
April started off strong with a reread of one of my all time favorites, and as I found most of March’s books to be a (maybe) too generous three stars out of five, I was in the mood for something that made me excited to read. I was working on an application for a writing fellowship at the time and one of the prompts was to pick a favorite paragraph from a book and write about why it meant something to you. I didn’t even know where to start. What one paragraph out of all the books means the most? I pulled book after book off the shelves. Would it be something from Woolf like when she talks about all the products coming in through London’s docks in the London Scene or maybe it was a memorable line from Square Haunting or should it be something witty from Austen? But then I pulled down Helene and found myself rereading the book, and though the search was for the right paragraph, I was soon absorbed by her correspondence with Marks & Co. I love the way that relationships are built through years of letters, and the occasional pestering from Helene, and how each read reveals something new. It’s one of those books where the poignancy of its subtle message of “do not put off those visits, holidays, or moments with those important to you because there will be a time when it’s too late” hits me each and every time I get to it, even when I know it’s coming. I love Helene’s writing and this book. If you have not read it yet, I highly recommend it and will probably push it into your hands at some point. (And it was from this book that I did eventually find my paragraph. (Not the one below.) It was in one of Helene’s letters where she talks about wanting to visit the England she’s read about and how each person who visits will find a different England, depending on which version they want to see and.)
To All at 84, Charing Cross Road:
Thank you for the beautiful book. I’ve never owned a book before with pages edged all round in gold. Would you believe it arrived on my birthday?
I wish you hadn’t been so over-courteous about putting the inscription on a card instead of on the flyleaf. It’s the bookseller coming out in you all, you were afraid you’d decrease it value. You would have increased it for the present owner. (And possibly for the future owner. I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages some one long gone has called my attention to.) (pg. 27)
A Three Dog Problem by S.J. Bennett
(Started 27 March 2022. Finished 8 April 2022.)
This is the second book in the Windsor Knot mystery series. This time the Queen is wondering whatever happened to that quaint, no quirky, portrait of the HMY Britannia that used to hang in her bedroom at Buckingham Palace. It was there before a renovation was done but then it was never replaced. Some questions start about the painting which leads to the revelation that an art heist has been under way for generations. There are secret tunnels. Questions of whether or not parliament will approve a much needed building renovation project for the crown. Then these disturbing and threatening letters start being delivered to female members of staff, which may have led to the death of a senior staff member. But who is sending them and why?
I enjoy a good art heist/forgery story and this one certainly had some good twists and turns to it. I enjoyed being back in the world and see how the characters fared against a new series of mysteries. It takes place a couple months after the Windsor Knot so while the events of the first book are still fresh in everyone’s mind, we’re also far enough removed that this story feels like it firmly stands on its own feet and can explore new avenues within this world. I think it’s a strong sequel.
More About Paddington by Michael Bond
(Started 12 April 2022. Finished 14 April 2022.)
This is also the second book in its series. This time we find Mr Paddington Brown facing more sticky, marmalade fueled situations. From experiencing his first Bonfire Night where he decides he’ll build a Guy Fawkes dummy for the bonfire by using one of Mr Curry’s (his next door neighbor who isn’t all that keen on the activities of bears) suits for the outfit. But what Paddington fails to realize is that they were Mr Curry’s good suits that were meant for the dry cleaners and weren’t meant to be thrown away or set on fire. To the anticipation of Christmas with the Browns and the picking out of the perfect gifts at a Liberty-esque department store that results in some troubles with the escalator and window displays.
Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci
(Started 12 April 2022. Finished 16 April 2022.)
Taste, Stanley Tucci's memoir on food and life, kept me company during a long dermatology surgery and waiting room time. I specifically selected this book to read on the morning of my appointment as I felt like I wanted a book that would keep me company and occupied, while also being something that wouldn’t be too complicated to get into. I brought More About Paddington with me too, so there’d be options of different varieties. I found Taste to be such a delightful read. Tucci’s voice was so clear that even though I was reading it, it was like I could hear his voice in my head. He talks about his upbringing in an Italian-American household in New York, his time spent in Italy as a child, the various film sets and travel experiences he’s had as an adult, and now his life in London. It combines recipes with personal stories from his life. I think it’s a good book for anyone who is interested in the ways that food traditions can shape one's experiences. Though it did make me sad for all of the restaurants that are no longer around to be enjoyed, from those mentioned in his stories like Cuban Chinese food on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, to the places in my own food history. Though they might no longer be with us, the memories of those meals and experiences remain a fixture in one’s culinary journey. I highly recommend reading while full or in anticipation of a feast. After hours spent in the doctor’s office and reading about all the most delicious sounding Italian meals, I needed to have a fully loaded Italian sandwich for lunch.
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
(Started 20 April 2022. Finished 28 April 2022.)
The last book for April was Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, which I had been told was the first of her mysteries she wrote out of necessity. (Meaning, she wrote it because she needed the money.) That made me curious to read to see if it felt tangibly different to her other works. The film was also coming out around this time so it felt like a good time to reach for it. There are certain elements that have not aged well but for the most part, it was a fun ride down the Nile. Though it’s interesting how the death doesn’t happen until almost half way through the book so you’re really following the interpersonal lives and strains of a core set of characters before that climatic moment happens. There’s a decent amount of backstory between all the characters that needs to be set up before this moment, so as the reader, the wheels are already turning around how these people know each other and who knows what information. It’s a fairly large cast so in a lot of ways it feels similar to Murder on the Orient Express as we’re following the same group of characters but in this case from one location around Egypt to another. One of my favorite tropes is when Poiret is on a much deserved holiday with the highest of hopes that this time, just the once, he’ll be able to relax so no murders better happen as that would require him to get on the case. There are a couple good moments when people try to start telling him their problems and he attempts to rebuff them by saying he’s on holiday and couldn’t possibly help. That works for only so long.
MAY
STATS:
- Finished eight books.
- Seven books for me. One book for work.
- Seven physical books. One e-book from the library (Bewilderment). Three rereads (Infused, Little Women, Uncommon Reader).
- Day with the most pages read: 25 March - 200 pages.
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
(Started 24 April 2022. Finished 4 May 2022.)
Bewilderment is Richard Powers’ newest book since The Overstory. Though dense at times, I really liked the Overstory. I found it to be a very effective novel about the life of trees, people, family, and the struggle for conservation of our historic forests. So I had high hopes for this book, but oh, did those hopes fall fast. It follows a father and son as they navigate a growing extinction crisis, a new experimental neurofeedback treatment for the son, and an exploration for other life in the cosmos. The father, Theo, is an astrobiologist who is searching for life across the cosmos. He’s also trying to get a massive telescope funded by the government so he can put his theories about other life out there to the test. He tells stories about what life on other planet might look like as bedtime stories to Robin, his nine-year-old who is a bit unusual. Theo is a single father after his wife was killed in a car crash, but before she died, she participated in an experimental neurofeedback program which mapped her brain. Robin is very concerned about the ever growing extinction of animals and has recently been expelled from the third grade. In an attempt to solve Robin’s behavioral struggles, Theo allows Robin to participate in this experimental treatment where he’s trained on the recorded patterns of his mother’s mind.
It’s grounded sci-fi that attempts to ask big questions about who we are though doesn’t provide many answers, but I found it a difficult and polarising read that left me with more stress than enjoyment. I found Robin a very hard character to read a lot of the times, and the ending just went to a place that I could’ve done without. This wasn’t a book I enjoyed or would want to revisit.
Infused: Adventures in Tea by Henrietta Lovell
(Started 3 April 2022. Finished 9 May 2022.)
This was a reread. Infused is a beautiful and delicious tea adventure book by Henrietta Lovell, also know as the @raretealady. She’s the creator of and powerhouse behind the Rare Tea company, whose aim is “to source and supply the world’s best loose leaf teas, directly from farmers and their gardens”. Which not only results in some of the most delicious teas but also a changing to the way that tea is approached. Their teas are bought directly from the farms, not through a broker, which is how most of the large corporate companies operate. I so respect the mission of Henrietta and her amazing company, and returning to it now after becoming more familiar with her teas left me with an enhanced appreciation for these brews.
I came to know Henrietta and the Rare Tea Company during her 2019 book tour when I saw her speak at Now Serving. I remember reading the book for the first time and thinking about which of the teas discussed I wanted to try first. I wanted to try everything. Shortly after, with the pandemic in full swing, Rare Tea started to do online masterclasses on certain topics like the history of English breakfast, black teas, sustainability in tea, and so on. I attended most of these and in the process was able to try so many of their teas, as well as learn more about the topic. Quite a few became firm favorites. Reading this book changed a lot of how I think about tea and it pushed me to fully commit to no tea bags, as in I wasn’t going to buy any new bags and was going to make a conscious effort to not drink any outside the house. This was largely due to questions regarding the quality of tea in the bags and where it came from, thinking about if the crafters of that tea were paid a living wage to make it, and the environmental impact of making the bags and if they’re containing micro-plastics. (Here’s Henrietta talking about the contents of the industrial bags.) This was also during the early pandemic days, when I was staying home everyday, so making the switch felt like something that was achievable and having already invested in teapots and loose leaf over the year, it just made sense to fully commit. It’s been a practice that I’ve been able to maintain, other than a few teabags here or there when I’ve ordered tea out in the world and a loose leaf option wasn’t available, but even in those instances, I try to be aware of where the tea is coming from and aim not to have an industrial tea.
It can be a journey to make the switch and for some people, buying fancier tea feels like a luxury or an unnecessary expense when you’ve already got a drawer full of boxes of tea. If you think about it in terms of the cost per cup, a cup of some of the best teas around the world are actually less than a cup of coffee from a local cafe. Take for example one of my favorite blends: the RAFA Tea for Heroes, a special blend made for the RAF that’s designed to be like the tea pre-WWII. Its cost per cup is 21¢. (To learn more about this blend please watch this video on the creation and inspiration behind it. In it, Henrietta goes to visit RAF men and talks to them about their tea preferences.) The combination of reading Infused at the end of 2019 and then going into lockdown in early 2020 really changed the way I thought about my contribution to the tea communities around the world, and though I am but one consumer, I thought that if I could make a change to my tea drinking habits it might be able to be part of a larger impact. And let me tell you, you’ll definitely be rewarded in taste.
Even if you’re not one to stand on tea themed soapboxes like myself, I think the casual drinker, to the curious, to lovers of food and travel stories will all enjoy this beautiful book and will walk away with some nugget of new inspiration. Henrietta also narrates the audiobook, if you’d rather hear her tell you the stories of her travels.
Getting back to my bed tea, my first half-cup of White Silver Tip is just a light infusion, not quite ready. I like those first gentle sips, where it’s mostly all in the aroma: soft, silvery, elusive. I make it at 70ºC so it’s not too hot to drink right away. It disappears rapidly. […] It becomes bolder and I am more present. It tastes of the sweet green of spring buds. It’s never, ever disappointing. Every single morning I revel in its delicious, delicate flavor.
Once the tea is finished, I am awake. Fully awake. If there is time, one of my greatest luxuries is to make a second infusion from the leaves and return to bed to drink it. The water penetrates more deeply into the bud, right to its tender heart. This is the time I have some of my most ridiculous notions and ream up outlandish adventures. […]
I don’t usually have time to enjoy the second infusion in bed. I’ll get there one day, but there is always time for a second pot. Often I drink it while I’m putting on my make-up, the last thing I do before I leave the house. My teacups are always edged with scarlet crescents. Those first few moments in bed at the start of the day are full of potential. The last sips before I leave the house I’m conscious anything can happen. Even on the best days, some shit will probably go down. But I do have the power to start my day with truly beautiful tea. (pg. 14 - 15)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
(Started 9 Jan 2021. Finished 12 May 2022.)
It took me over a year to read Little Women. I was gifted this beautiful vintage copy as a 30th birthday present. Though for my next reread I think I’d read a modern copy as the spine toward the end was cracking in a way that made me worry about future damage, but I’m glad we were able to have this experience together. I’d made it half-way through before putting it down in 2021, and then decided to pick it back up in early 2022. I think my timing was off the first time around. It was during a time when we were moving apartments so it went through the shuffle process of being packed and unpacked, and then after the move I found it incredibly hard to read or stay focused with a book. (My attention for books through the latter covid period was fractured and I found it hard to read.) I wasn’t fully connecting to the story, and though it had been years since I’d watched the adaptations, though the 1994 version with Winona Ryder is very firmly lodged in my memory, I kept seeing how it was different from the films, rather than focusing on its own merit.
So back on the shelf it went for over a year until I was ready to come back to it, and when I did, oh did I enjoy it so much more. Little Women is a story close to my writerly heart. It had a big impact on me as a young girl. I remember reading it as a kid, my copy had the movie poster as the cover, after falling in love with the film. Jo March remains a pivotal heroine in my literary life and is one of those early examples of a bookish, creative character that was such a touchstone to me. It’s the writer in her that I’ve always felt drawn to. I can recognize as an adult that I’m not an Elizabeth Bennett type, another who could fall into this same category, but I do think I have related and resembled Jo in different stages of my life. What I think I found so interesting this time around was the texture of the March’s world, the number of adventures and quiet moments that make up their youth, and the way that each sister is given the space for her story to be fully explored. I also forgot about how the book actually ends, with a question mark hanging around Jo’s book and future as a writer, rather than being an absolute certainty. It left me sad thinking that she may not fulfill that dream that’s always meant so much to her, but then I think about the spark inside this character we’ve come to love and think about how it feels impossible that she wouldn’t get there, even if it’s after the novel ends.
English Climate: Wartime Stories by Sylvia Townsend Warner
(Started 27 March 2022. Finished 13 May 2022.)
English Climate is my second book by Sylvia Townsend Warner. The first was Lolly Willows, which initially suffered a similar fate to Little Women. It was started. I read about half before thinking it wasn’t fully for me, only to return at a later date to find out that I actually did like the book and maybe it was just not the right time for me to be reading it. (It’s about this spinster sister who lives with her brother and his family through WWI, and then after, feeling like she’ll only ever have this one identity if she stays, decides to move to the countryside to live in a cottage of her own. It’s here that she discovers that the whole town is full of witches.) English Climate was a different reading experience in that it was something I picked up and put down over a couple months. It’s a collection of short stories that were written during WWII, where each story is listed for the year it was written. The stories are a mix of realism and whimsical ideas, with irreverent tones that capture a feeling for the time, funny in parts and very strange in others. There were many times when I just wasn’t sure I was getting the joke of the story. Was it talking about an expression of the time that I just wasn’t getting or referencing a common known feeling or circumstance? Or does Townsend Warner like to push the envelope of what is expected in a short story by creating a slightly altered reality to the one we recognize? The latter stories were some of my favorites.
Three Rooms by Jo Hamya
(Started 17 May 2022. Finished 23 May 2022.)
Three Rooms takes a look at post-Brexit UK politics, social dynamics, and the unaffordable housing situation, all told through our unnamed narrator’s journey across three rooms: a rented room in Oxford, a stranger’s sofa in London which is all she can afford while at her magazine job, and her childhood bedroom. It’s a hard book to describe without using broad strokes as it so often read like vignettes of the narrator’s journey through a post-university life, trying to find a job that will pay her enough and her interactions with the political movements of the period (mainly Brexit). There’s a detour into this weird obsession she has for a woman she met at an Oxford party who she now routinely follows on instagram, which I think is trying to make bigger arguments about the differences between the upper and middle to lower classes, and how they’re moving with vastly different concerns through this period in time. She’s a bit emotionally detached as a narrator, except for the moments when she feels some very strongly. She wants to have a room and space of her own that always feels a bit out of reach, especially when in comparison to her rich roommate’s lifestyle, the one whose couch she’s sleeping on.
The writing reminded me a bit of what it’s like to try and capture the feeling of a Virginia Woolf book. It’s the stringing together of seemingly disconnected ideas, sentence after sentence, in the attempt to evoke a particular feeling in the narrator. There’s a rhythm to how the story unfolds that sucked me in as a reader, even if there were moments when it felt a little pretentious. I remember thinking it was very well written, provocative, and hard hitting when you get the references that are not named but eluded to. It felt like one that was best to savor. For a debut, I was excited by the idea of what the author will do next. I read it over two plane rides and found myself at times wishing I could put it down to read something else, to let whatever chapter I’d just finished to breathe a little bit longer, but as I didn’t have another book with me, I kept moving forward.
He nodded towards my bookshelves again and asked, Have you read this Pater chap?
I resented the turn of subject for the sake of conversation’s ease. But yes, I had, and added that his sister was impressive too. She dealt in languages, taught Greek to Virginia Woolf so Woolf might hear the birds better.
He hadn’t read any Woolf; he wasn’t sure what I meant. But he’d been seeking a way to make a connection between us land and added that I could tell him about Greek birds and the Paters sometime, at which I faltered. I knew the Paters had lived in Oxford but I had always imagined them in wood-paneled rooms in a college elsewhere. It hadn’t occurred to me that they might have lived here, where I was to live, too—where there were floors to be swept and windows to be cleaned, where the accomplishments of their lives were carried out in tandem with boring, ordinary things. But the impression formed. Clara and Walter: eating breakfast, untucking sheets, locking the front door. Suppose something probable, like porridge after waking up to the cold. If I made porridge and let the smell of oats and milk waft through the corridor, would time collapse in on itself and allow me to glimpse the house both as it was now and as it truly was in its origin? Did such things leave a memory; was it possible to imagine the permeability of time in a room? (pg. 13 - 14)
The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk
(Started 15 May 2022. Finished 25 May 2022.)
The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections is a slow paced mystery set in a university library where a very rare and most prized book has gone missing. The librarian who was supposed to be responsible for this book has a stroke, so his new predecessor, Liesl, is left to pick up the pieces when the book is found to not be in the safe where it belongs. Liesl wants to tell the police about the missing, million dollar book but is continuously told by her colleagues to keep it under wraps: they’ll find it themselves. It was probably shelved in the stacks without being catalogued first. A mistake that shouldn’t have happened but an easy one to fix. The pressure also mounts when a new faculty member wants to start carbon dating the rare books which bristles the feathers of the more traditional librarians. But it’s a visit to see a rare book dealer that makes it clear that the missing book was stolen by one of the library’s own.
It was a fun yet quiet story, a bit slow at times where it felt like the clues to the mystery weren’t being presented or solved fast enough. There were also some allusions to character backstories that were never fully flushed out or explained, like who should’ve been the true successor to the post of head librarian and about this affair that Liesl once had with a colleague that might’ve resulted in the birth of her daughter, though it’s never explicitly said. I was mostly on board for the quirks and twists of the librarians’ antics, like their differing internal politics that makes up this workplace comedy dynamic. I enjoyed the setting and being in the world of the library, though it sometimes could’ve used a boost of caffeine, if you will, to pull the story along at a faster clip.
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
(Started 27 May 2022. Finished 29 May 2022.)
This was my other reread of the month. The Uncommon Reader was picked up during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee coverage. It felt appropriate as the novella is all about how the Queen becomes a reader when a mobile library van parks itself outside Buckingham Palace. It was interesting to read Bennett’s voice for the Queen after being immersed in S.J. Bennett’s world so recently. I could see a lot of similarities between the two, and liked how Bennett is focusing on this literary angle. It’s a short, quick read; telling a quieter story. I had completely forgotten about the twist at the end, which I’m glad about it, as it does help to really seal the story.
A Companion Piece by Ali Smith
(Started 28 May 2022. Finished 31 May 2022.)
A Companion Piece is just what the title says. It is a companion piece to Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet that was finished in 2020. I loved it though it’ll take me a minute to explain what it’s about because her books, at least the one’s I’ve read, don’t have a clear narrative. The book starts at one moment in time and then finishes at another, which could be said of all books but hers are like these momentary glimpses into a character’s life where nothing is quite resolved thoroughly. If I were to try to summarize it, I would say it’s about a woman’s relationship with her father who has recently gone into the hospital; it’s about covid and the black plague; it’s about quarantine and people intruding into one’s space without permission, and then never leaving. She has the ability to stress me out while I also sit in admiration at her word mastery. Her writing always leaves me wanting to know more. I found with the seasonal quartet that each book required that I read it over a couple days to keep the rhythm of the prose and to understand what is happening from chapter to chapter, which results in an overwhelming feeling for what each book is about without necessarily being able to break it down into a digestible review. This book worked the same way. I read it on the couch over the course of a couple days, once stopping for a walk to get a burrito bowl and chips because it called to me in that moment, and then coming back to finish it off the next day. I remember when I finished Summer that I felt like she’s a writer for me but she’s definitely not one for everyone. I think you’ll know pretty early on which one she is for you.
JUNE
STATS:
- Finished four books.
- Two books for me. Two books for work.
- Two physical books. Two manuscripts on kindle (Killing It, WAACBO). One reread (WAACBO).
- Day with the most pages read: 22 June - 377 pages.
Killing It by Asia Mackay
(Started 1 June 2022. Finished 7 June 2022.)
Killing It follows Alexis Tyler, a covert agent within Her Majesty's Secret Service, who is returning to her first mission after becoming a mum. She's attempting to balance her assignment of infiltrating a Russian crime ring with the new calls of motherhood; and will discover that she'll need to combine both sides of herself in order to succeed at either job. Alexis will find herself needing to infiltrate the “yummy mummies” group in order to get closer to her subject’s wife. There’s a high speed chase where Alexis decides last minute if her gut hunch is actually something or if it’s just paranoia. She’ll face internal politics from her peers who think she’s lost her mojo since coming back to work. This also isn’t just an ordinary office, it’s located deep inside a tube station and is technically marked as not existing, as is this group of agents.
It's a fun world to play in and offered a new perspective on the spy genre that I haven't seen before. It has some good twists and turns that will leave you guessing but it’s not the most inventive of mysteries. The stakes feel high but there’s also an ease that comes to Alexis as a spy so even when she’s in danger, you kinda feel like it’ll all work out.
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
(Started 9 June 2022. Finished 17 June 2022.)
During tea with a girlfriend, we got on the subject of books we’d been enjoying. She said this book was the most fun she’d had reading in a long time and recommended that I check it out. Oh, I enjoyed it so much. It was such a fun and campy adventure that follows a society of lady pirates who abide by their own set of scoundrel rules and fly their houses (yes, fly) wherever thievery takes them; where teatime is a standing appointment and an assignation attempt is considered the highest form of flattery. Cecilia, a junior member of The Wisteria Society, is attempting to prove she's ready for a promotion, all while trying not to fall in love with her assassin or follow the paths of her parents (both of whom were pirates). Her mother was a member of the Wisteria Society but was killed by her father, who is a rival pirate and weirdly obsessed with the Bronte’s father. There’s even a moment when Queen Victoria shows up, we get glimpses into her secret spy organization that will be further explored in the series’ third book (there are two currently out), and Buckingham Palace goes on a flight. It feels like a book that was plucked from the innermost part of my brain, the tea talk alone makes it a very "me" book, and then found me so I could have such fun with the read.
There was no possibility of walking to the library that day. Morning rain had blanched the air, and Miss Darlington feared that if Cecilia ventured out she would develop a cough and be dead within the week. Therefore Cecilia was at home, sitting with her aunt in a room ten degrees colder than the streets of London, and reading aloud The Songs of Hiawatha by “that American rogue, Mr. Longfellow,” when the strange gentleman knocked at their door.
As the sound barged through the house, interrupting Cecilia’s recitation mid-rhyme, she looked inquiringly at her aunt. But Miss Darlington’s own gaze went to the mantel clock, which was ticking sedately toward a quarter to one. The old lady frowned.
“It is an abomination the way people these days knock at any wild, unseemly hour,” she said in much the same tone the prime minister had used in Parliament recently to decry the London rioters. “I do declare—!”
Cecilia waited, but Miss Darlington’s only declaration came in the form of sipping her tea pointedly, by which Cecilia understood that the abominable caller was to be ignored. She returned to Hiawatha and had just begun proceeding “toward the land of the Pearl-Feather” when the knocking came again with increased force, silencing her and causing Miss Darlington to set her teacup into its saucer with a clink. Tea splashed, and Cecilia hastily laid down the poetry book before things really got out of hand. (pg. 1 - 2)
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
(Started 22 June 2022. Finished 22 June 2022.)
This was my reread and is a story I’d come to know well through work. I actually reread it all in one day as I waited at LAX for a delayed flight to New York, and then finished it on the plane. It follows Rosemary as she attempts to unravel her tangled past and figure out why her sister and brother disappeared. It is a book about family, the unreliability of memory, animal rights, and features a twist that's best left discovered on your own. It’s hard to talk more about the book without revealing the twist. This time around I enjoyed it more than I did on my first read years ago, though my favorite section remains the latter scenes between Rosemary and Lowell, her brother, as they go over their recollections of growing up.
Assembly by Natasha Brown
(Started 22 June 2022. Finished 28 June 2022.)
Assembly was one of those books that I’d wanted to read for a while and so was very happy to finally pick it up when the paperback was released. It follows a Black woman, working in finance in London, as she prepares for a weekend getaway with her white boyfriend's posh, rich family, but it's also about so much more than that. It's about identity, forging one's own path to gain financial security, legacy, making tough health decisions, race and class differences. Again, for a debut I think it packs a lot of punches into a small book but don’t let the size deceive you. There is a lot of thought and craft in those pages. I think it’s a worthy companion to Three Rooms and Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson. It's a fast read but one to sit with and contemplate.
