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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