July Mid-Month Reading Wrap-Up

 After not reading as much in June as I usually do, but listening to more audiobooks, things are sort of back to normal so far in July. I did listen to one audiobook which was excellent and that was:

My Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss (e-audiobook from BorrowBox)

This is a memoir that focuses primarily on the author's descent into anorexia as a kid and her experience of this disease as she lives with it as an adult. This includes family dynamics and societal/cultural critique. The structure of this was unique in that the narrator is speaking to her younger self and uses 'you' to tell the story, both when she is addressing herself as a child and as an adult. She is questioning her memories and right to tell this story and that part of her mind addresses the authorial narrator in an accusing, sometimes exasperated voice. The author also feels as though she has a wolf inside and sometimes addresses short sentences to the wolf. The exception to all of this is when she is talking about an incident from just a few years ago, when she was hospitalized and near death during the pandemic, due to her anorexia. That is described using first person and in a pretty matter-of-fact way. I borrowed this book because it was written by Sarah Moss. I've read some of her other books and loved them, including a past memoir about her year in Iceland. This one was just as good.

I've been glad to be able to pick up physical books again and immerse myself in them. So far this month I've read the following books:

The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Basho (re-read, a book I own)

I grabbed this book off a pile that sits on top of my wardrobe and stuck it in my backpack on the day we were going to meet the letting agent at our old apartment to return the keys. I knew we'd have a few hours to wait and this is a small book so didn't take up much room. As it happened, I didn't read at all that day, but I read it in the day or two afterwards. It's exactly what the title says--a selection of some of Basho's travel writing and haibun (a narrative punctuated by haiku or other short poems). I love this book and I know I'll read it again at some point.

The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf (a book I own)

This is the first novel Woolf published and it's where Mrs Dalloway makes her debut, albeit as a minor character. This is something of a coming of age story, even though the main character, Rachel Vinrace, is 24. She's a very young, naive 24, making a voyage to South America on her father's boat. There are various passengers and an aunt that she's never met. Her mother died and she was brought up by different aunts in a very sheltered way, so this is the first time she's been in a situation with so many unfamiliar people. When they reach their destination, she stays with her aunt rather than going off to the interior with her father. They meet a group of other English people staying in a nearby hotel and become a part of that group. Friendships and other relationships flourish. There's not really much plot here and things move pretty slowly, especially at first. Nevertheless, there are a lot of ideas and cultural critiques in the discussions between and about the characters which I really enjoyed. I loved this novel and was a little sorry when it ended.

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (borrowed from the library)

This book won the Booker Prize in 2023. It was a little strange reading it now, while some of the plot points are playing out in real time in my country of origin and as the refugee crisis only gets worse as desperate people flee war, authoritarianism, tyranny, the effects of climate change, starvation, and more. The book takes place in an Ireland in which there is an authoritarian government. It's not clear how this came about (foolish people voting this government in or a takeover or something else), but an emergency is declared, people are disappeared, rights are taken away. In the book, Eilish Stack is the mother of three sons and a daughter. She is trying to care for her father, whose dementia is getting worse, but who wants to stay in his own home across town.One night her husband, the head of a teacher's union, does not come home from a protest. She's juggling all this alone as she tries to figure out day by day, sometimes minute by minute, how to keep her kids safe. One thing that struck me throughout the book was how people fell back into denial, saying things about how they can't do that because there are laws and a constitution. The entire book, including this aspect of it, was so true to life. People said it in the 30s in Germany and they said it to me almost 20 years ago when I would try to talk about how this kind of thing was coming in the US. Laws. Constitution. Words on paper thought up by humans. Easily interpreted in many different ways or disregarded altogether, as we've seen throughout history. Then and now, people seem to have to believe in these things as if they are tangible and unchangeable. But they're only real as long as enough people agree that they are. Anyway, I'm glad I finally read this excellent book, chilling though it is.

The Last Death of the Year by Sophie Hannah (NetGalley digital review copy)

This is the latest in the series of Hercule Poirot continuation novels, to be published in October. It was a good read. My review is here.

The Female Detective by Andrew Forrester (book I own)

This is a British Library Crime Classics publication of a book first published in 1864. I like Victorian fiction as a rule, so I was eager to get into this one. It's more a collection of short stories than a novel, some of which are novella length and some that are shorter. It was a bit disappointing, to be honest. It was OK and I didn't really dislike it, but it ranks at the bottom of all the BLCC books I've read. I'm considering donating it the next time we go to a charity shop. 

The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton (borrowed from the library)

An excellent collection of short stories, some of which I'd read, most of which I hadn't but am glad I did.

Termush by Sven Holm, translated from Danish by Sylvia Clayton (borrowed from library)

A post-apocalyptic novella in which survivors of a nuclear war have bought the commodity of survival in advance, as the unnamed narrator tells us, and have gone to Termush, a hotel with bunkers, safe food, clean water. What happens to these people as they live their lives in such conditions? What happens when survivors who did not have the wherewithal to purchase the commodity called survival in advance, arrive at Termush seeking help? What happens when there is disagreement among this new community? It's a strange book in some ways, but so relevant. The characters in the book are grappling with the fact that the threat is unseen--you can't see the radiation when outside on a sunny day, for example. You can see the effects of the radiation, but not the radiation itself, in the same way we can't see the climate crisis or a viral pandemic, just the effects of those things and we have to figure out how to respond. And of course, in the sort of global system in which we live, in which everything is a commodity, the ability to respond will depend on who you are and what resources you have access to. Excellent book.

Tilt by Emma Pattee

This is a debut novel and it's a great read. The setting is Portland, Oregon. Annie is extremely pregnant--about to give birth any day. She's felt ambivalent about pregnancy and motherhood and she's at the point where everything is just uncomfortable. Money is tight for her and her husband, an aspiring actor, which is another reason she's put off some tasks that should have been done a while ago. She's on her first day of maternity leave and has finally decided she has to go get a crib. She goes to IKEA. While there, the big Cascadia earthquake occurs, bringing devastation with it. Annie starts walking across the city to try to get to her husband and to her home. I couldn't put the book down. I won't say any more because Bill is going to read it, too and I don't want to provide any spoilers. 

So that's what I've read so far this month--been an excellent bookish month so far. I hope that continues!

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Pre-Coffee!

 This morning I slung my backpack onto my back and headed out the door even before I had coffee! What could entice me to do such a thing? The library, where books were in and waiting for me, of course.

There are three different routes I can take to get there and back. They're all nice walks. I chose the longer route on the way there--the Donegal flags are still flying because they won the semi-final match in a rout  on Sunday and will be in the finals in a couple weeks.

You can see that it's a grey day--sky and sea--but there are lots of bright flowers around.

I took the shortest route on the way home and cut down the lane. By then I could hear my coffee calling me.

Here's what I picked up at the library:

I learned about the last one from Erika, at the BioArt Gal blog. In addition to her monthly reading wrap-ups, she posts pictures of her lovely artwork and beautiful surroundings. 

I got home and had my coffee. It was excellent. And now for some reading. I think I'll start with Termush because Bill will be reading it too. It's quite short. I hope you're having a great day!

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Yeah, I Remember

 Yesterday afternoon, we pushed open the door to the pharmacy and were surprised to hear this song playing:

Bill turned to me and started to ask if I remembered the song, but before he finished the sentence, he was smiling and had his answer. I guess it was the fact that I was lip syncing along that indicated that, yeah, I remember it.

Back in what seems like another life, when I was in grad school, I was always the first one in the department every morning. I could have bought a parking pass, but those were expensive and you weren't guaranteed a parking space even if you had one. Bill was working graveyard shift at the time, so every morning after work, he'd swing by the house, pick up our daughter and me, drop me off at the university, then drop her off at middle school. I'd let myself into the dark department, go into my office, get the coffee started in the little coffee machine on my desk, and start playing my favorite mix tape at the time. This song was the first one on the tape and I always started with that song and turned up the volume. Once or twice someone came in earlier than usual, but I could hear their key in the door of the department so I turned it down before they got inside. I'm not sure what it was about the song, but it was part of my morning ritual for a while. As Bill commented later, haven't heard the song in years. He also said he thought it was funny when he saw my response to the song. The woman at the pharmacy was pretty into it, too. And now, I can't get the song out of my head. 

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Random

The road to Falcarragh from the Local Link bus this morning:

The lane near our house, heading down towards the sea:

Finding a way to the light where the wall meets the sidewalk:

This morning, when we got back from Falcarragh and I looked at my email, I was pleased to see that persistence has paid off. For a couple of months I've been checking NetGalley daily to see if the new  Sophie Hannah Hercule Poirot continuation novel was available to request yet. Yesterday it was and I did. Today it was placed on my shelf. That'll be up next. I've read all of the others and I like them well enough. I went into the series expecting them to not be as good as the Queen of Crime herself, but I hoped they'd be good. And they have been, with the last one--a Christmas mystery--being the best of the bunch. That one was excellent and very funny. This one takes place on New Year's Eve in Greece. My first thought is that I'd rather have cold and snow for a seasonal mystery taking place at that time of year. I'll keep an open mind, though. It's going to be published here in October--not sure about timing in other countries.

We have a yellow warning for excessive heat coming into effect for Saturday and Sunday. Those of you in other parts of the world where it gets hot regularly will chuckle when I say that our expected high on both days is forecast to be around 27C/ 80F and the low 18C/64F. Don't get me wrong--that is too hot for me, but I was surprised to see the heat warning issued. It just doesn't get that warm here very often, so I suppose they thought it best to warn people. 

Donegal is playing in the semi-finals of the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) football championship on Sunday, so the flags are flying and that's what everyone is talking about. Some people are taking a day trip across the country, heading for Croke Park in Dublin to watch the game in person. Others have plans in place to watch in groups at home or in pubs. When we were getting off the bus, I told the driver that I hoped the match went well and didn't ruin his weekend (he'd make a comment to that effect to someone else earlier). He said he hopes so, otherwise we might not see him for a week. I can't imagine what it'll be like if they make it to the finals. I'm still fuzzy on the rules and all of that, but I've watched part of some matches in years past. I'll probably check the score at some point on Sunday. It's an interesting part of the culture.

Whatever you're doing today, I hope you have a good one!

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Don't Be Ridiculous!

 We had a couple of forms to print and Bill had a book in, so after lunch, we were heading out to the library--now just over a mile away instead of a 1-hour bus ride! I was thinking that it would be weird to be going somewhere without my backpack when I stopped and had a stern chat with myself. "Don't be ridiculous!," I said. "You're going to the library and you do not have to rush in and out because they've already been to lunch! You will be wandering around looking at books. Of course you need your backpack!" I was telling Bill about this when he said, " You'll leave with some books." I did.

Walking up the little lane was as pleasant as it always was. The plants had gotten bigger in the few years we've been gone, but otherwise, the landscape was much the same--grey sky, lots of green, and a touch of gold.

We printed the forms. Bill waited to get his book because the librarian was issuing new library cards to 2 wee people--and in Irish. I was pleased to see it. And what did we leave with?

Bill's book was this one, which I plan to read after he's done with it:

He requested it after we read this excerpt in The Guardian.

I saw this book, which Bill listened to on audio a year or two ago and really liked. It won the Booker Prize in 2023.

I'm not sure why, but I did not want to listen to it. I thought maybe I'd find it in a charity shop one day and pick it up. When I saw it on the library shelf, I thought I might as well bring it home and give it a try. As far as I know, it's a dystopian novel about an Ireland that has been taken over by a fascist government. It's an interesting idea, because Ireland has a very tiny right wing, and they're still considered fringe. They have no elected officials in the federal government, although they ran some candidates. However, they are more visible than they were when we moved here and I suspect it's a matter of time until they do have someone in the Dail (parliament).

Finally, I saw this and thought it was a very nice object--it's a Virago Modern Classic:

There are probably stories in here that I've read already, but that's OK.

I expect some of my requested books to arrive later this week or early next week. Now that we're mostly settled, regular trips to the library will be part of our routine. Yay!

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Unexpected Gems

 I adore the British Library Crime Classics series. They re-publish books by authors that aren't as well known as some of the big names in classic crime fiction, like Agatha Christie or Dorothy L. Sayers. I've discovered several authors that are new to me through these books and I'm always on the lookout for more, whether at the library or in charity shops. I rarely find these in charity shops, but I have found a few. My most recent find was this one, originally published in 1864. I haven't read it yet, but it's up next.

Most of the BLCC books I've seen have been later than the Victorian era, often Golden Age or later. The first one I ever found in a charity shop was Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay. I'd never heard of her, but I took it home with me and looked her up. Turns out she only wrote 3 mystery novels, all published by BLCC. Bill got me the other two, Death on the Cherwell and The Santa Klaus Murder, online.

Late last year, unbeknownst to me, he was looking for more of these books on ebay and he found a woman selling a lot of 5 in Ireland. He bought them, paid for them, and assumed they'd be arriving pretty quickly. Then the woman emailed him and said that she couldn't find them, so sent him a refund. A few days later, she emailed again to say she'd found them. Bill was trying to figure out how to pay her again, since there was no longer a listing and he couldn't do it through ebay. He asked her to send him an invoice so he could do it that way. She told him to forget about it. She sent them. They arrived a day or two later. I was ridiculously excited to see what books I had and when I opened the parcel, I was thrilled! I hadn't read any of them before. I read them slowly and didn't gobble them down all at once. There were a couple of authors I knew of, but had only read one or two of their short stories.

sorry about the weird haze on the photo

Then there were the new-to-me authors.

Margot Bennett wrote less than a dozen novels, along with a few screenplays. In this book, The Man Who Didn't Fly, a small plane crashes in the Irish Sea. All on board are killed. There were four passengers booked for the flight, but it's soon discovered that only three boarded the plane. Who was the man who didn't fly and where is he now? 

Ellen Wilkinson was one of the first women to be an MP and she wrote The Division Bell Mystery after she lost her seat in 1931 (she won it back in 1936). It's a locked room mystery in which a financier is found dead in the halls of parliament. 

I loved all of these books and they all had interesting plots, characters, and/or structures, but the best one of all, and one of the best classic crime novels I've ever read (so far) is Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate.

The mystery is really well done and kept me on my toes right up until the last paragraph. The structure of the book is the other thing that made this book vault up to the top tier for me. Almost all of the story is told through the thoughts of the jurors deciding the fate of the accused. The book opens with the jurors' stories being told--and some of these stories are gripping in and of themselves. Readers learn about their lives and histories, as well as their thoughts about being summoned to jury duty. Some of the stories are more detailed than others and some chapters focus on one juror in particular while others focus on a group. Once the jurors are sworn in, the trial gets underway and we again see things from the points of view of the jurors as the witnesses testify. Then we're in the room as they're deliberating and when the verdict is given. I won't say any more about the book because I wouldn't want to give even a hint of a spoiler. What I will say is, if you're a fan of classic crime fiction, this is a book I can highly recommend. It's so good.

I know there are more unexpected gems out there in the British Library Crime Classics collection and more are added regularly. I will probably be getting them from the library in future, because the two charity shops where I've found them are ones that I won't be going to anymore. But I do have a local library again now, so it's all good. In the meantime, I still have a couple of charity shop finds on my pile, one of which I plan to pick up tomorrow. 

Whatever you're reading, I hope it's excellent! Life's too short to spend any time reading books that aren't your thing. Remember, it's OK to DNF and move on to something more to your liking!😀😏📘

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My Reading in June

 I didn't read as much as I usually do, but June was a busy month. I had a mix of print books, e-books, and audiobooks as well as an assortment of genres--mysteries, short stories, a dystopia, poetry, and a play. At the beginning of the month, before and at the start of the moving process, as we were back and forth between dwellings, I read a few books that I knew I didn't plan to keep. These have already been re-donated to the charity shop and last time I was there they were gone, so it looks like they have new homes, which is great!

Simisola by Ruth Rendell (charity shop acquisition which has been donated)

This is the 17th Inspector Wexford novel and involves a young Black woman who is missing. This young woman is the daughter of Wexford's doctor. During the course of the investigation, Wexford encounters racism and misogyny, including his own. This wasn't the best Rendell book I've ever read and at times it felt a little dated, but it did deal with some important topics that, sadly and horrifically seem to have only gotten worse since the book was published. 

Behold, Here's Poison by Georgette Heyer (e-audiobook borrowed from the library BorrowBox site)

I was aware of Heyer as a romance novelist and that's not really my thing, so I'd never read any of her work. Then I discovered that she also wrote 12 detective novels. Classic mystery may be my very favorite genre, so of course I had to try one out. BorrowBox has several of these, so I am listening to the ones they have and will see about borrowing the rest in book form from the library. I'm enjoying the audiobooks--the narrator is Ulli Birve and she's pleasant to listen to. In this book, Inspector Hannasyde is investigating the death of a wealthy elderly man who is the head of an eccentric extended family when it's revealed that the cause of death was not his high blood pressure, but poison.

A Blunt Instrument by Georgette Heyer (BorrowBox e-audiobook)

Inspector Hannasyde investigates the death of a well-respected and much liked gentleman who met his end when he was hit with--you guessed it--a blunt instrument. As usual, there are some very weird characters involved. This was a pretty humorous book--in places I laughed out loud. I can't say that Heyer's mysteries are the best classics of the genre that I've read, but they are enjoyable and perfect to sit and listen to while I do some stitching.

Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson (charity shop acquisition, re-donated)

I first came across Kate Atkinson's work in a charity shop several years ago when I picked up one of her Jackson Brodie novels, One Good Turn. I fell into that book and was gripped until literally the very last sentence. After that, I picked up any Kate Atkinson book I came across, whether in a charity shop or in the library. I still have a few of her books to read, a couple of them here at home, which makes me very happy indeed. This is her first collection of short stories and it didn't disappoint. They're quirky, weird, and wonderful. They are loosely connected and some characters from earlier stories appear in the later ones--the last story circles around and continues the first story.

The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen (charity shop acquisition, re-donated)

I bought this book because Bill read it last year and has been telling me ever since that he thinks I'd like it. I did. The story revolves around a group of friends and former colleagues who were all spies for the US. They're now retired and have settled in the same small community in rural Maine. However, one of them, Maggie, gets sucked back into a case that she thought was finished when the body of a stranger is found in her driveway. As the book goes on, the story flips from the present to the past--mostly Maggie's past--as we learn the details of this unfinished case. Bill is a big fan of Tess Gerritsen, and I did enjoy this book enough to read the next one in the series at some point. But in the past I started a different one of her books and stopped reading before I was done with page 2. The book opened with a very graphic description of surgery and I had no desire to read on. So I'd advise anyone thinking of trying one of her books to be aware that her books are apparently quite different with regard to the level of graphic content. I think she used to be s surgeon, so it makes sense that she would include graphic descriptions in her books and I'm not suggesting this is gratuitous by any means. It's just not my thing. But The Spy Coast wasn't like that at all. There was violence, of course, but it made sense within the context of the story and didn't make me queasy.

The Fell by Sarah Moss (e-audiobook from BorrowBox)

During the pandemic, a single mother and her son are in isolation because someone at the mother's workplace had COVID. As someone who has a need to be outdoors a lot, this woman is struggling and decides it'll do no harm to go for a walk one autumn evening at dusk. She knows the area inside and out, after all. She tells no one where she's going or even that she's going, but her neighbor, an elderly woman undergoing cancer treatment, sees her walking by. As darkness falls, this woman knows she should go home, but can't bring herself to turn around. When she finally starts for home, she falls and injures herself. Rescuers are called out, but will they find her in time? The story alternates between the points of view of the mother, the son, the neighbor, and one of the guys on the rescue team. This is a short book which I found gripping from start to finish.

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (charity shop acquisition, will be re-donated)

There's been an earthquake in New Zealand and an area of the country is very difficult to access. In this area lies a farm, inherited by Lady Darvish. She and her husband decide to sell part of the land to a tech billionaire, Robert, who wants to build a bunker to survive climate catastrophe, among other things. He meets Mira, one of the founders of Birnam Wood, a guerrilla gardening collective who plant crops on unused land, with or without permission. Robert makes Mira an offer she can't refuse and some members of the collective move to this farmland--not yet officially Robert's and unbeknownst to the Darvishes--and start to plant things. One of the collective, who is just back from teaching overseas, is an aspiring journalist and he sees trouble ahead. There's clearly some shady stuff happening, but what is it and who's behind it? The story goes on from there. I must say, I was not expecting that ending!

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (re-read in installments on the Serial Reader app)

One of Christie's most well-regarded works. As the title says, Roger Ackroyd has been murdered. Hercule Poirot, new to the village and retired to grow vegetable marrows, happens to be on the spot to investigate. One interesting facet of this book is the character of Caroline Shepherd, who may have been a precursor to Miss Marple.

This Crowded Earth by Robert Bloch (read on the Serial Reader app)

One of the fun parts about Serial Reader is finding these older dystopian novels that I might not want to sit down to read cover to cover, but are quite fascinating when read in small daily chunks. In this book, as the title says, there are too many people around. This is because nuclear weapons have ended the threat of war (!!!) and advances in food production and medicine mean that people don't get sick and die like they used to. But people are unhappy nonetheless. There's no room and no access to nature--or is there? Frank is slowly going mad at the situation and one day propels himself out of a window at his office. When he wakes up, he's in a mental hospital where there is green space everywhere. After a while, he starts to wonder why he is still there and why some other things are happening. The book goes on from there. The book was published in 1958 and I find it interesting to learn about what some people thought the future would be like.

The Anchorage by Bernard O' Donoghue (e-book from BorrowBox)

A poetry collection by an Irish author. Here's a blurb from the publisher:

'Poetry of how we shape what is lost or past, and how it shapes us. Bernard O'Donoghue investigates anchorage as a place we build for ourselves out of memory and story. The Ireland of his youth is rich in colour and precise in detail, and while he acknowledges the power of the past, he also brings it into question: 'I wish I'd never started on this story; / It may have been a dream, or maybe not . . .' O'Donoghue's informal and at times playful tone is that of a poet disarming themselves as well as their reader. Here are the paradoxes at the heart of human nature: what we are most attached to can be, in the end, what ties us down; the reluctance to return can arise out of the fear of finding ourselves locked out.'

The Brightening Air by Conor McPherson (e-book from BorrowBox)

In this play, we meet a brother and sister living in a crumbling house in rural Ireland with the housekeeper. A relative, who is a priest with unconventional views, shows up to reclaim the family property. A cast of supporting characters enters and exits the scene. Sad, but hopeful.

That's my June reading. Onward into July!

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