As we fly through August, I'm happy to say I've had good reading material to accompany me. Here's what I've read so far.
I read about this book somewhere and had the impression that it's a memoir. It's autofiction. I must say that while I thought it was a good book, I didn't love it as much as I thought I would, possibly because it's not what I was expecting. It was a good read in spite of that. The novel is based on the author's life, describing her childhood and the beginning of her young adulthood with her eccentric, probably mentally ill, mother. Franck was born in what was East Berlin, but moved to West Berlin with her mother and her many siblings. There were many different fathers of these children but only the father of her oldest sister was involved in any way. They lived in a ramshackle farmhouse and there was very little money. Her mother was an actress in the theater, but didn't seem to have much work. She behaved in bizarre ways and the kids found it difficult to have friends because when other parents found out about the filthy conditions in the house, they wouldn't let their kids go there to play. The author decided she wanted out and was able to go to boarding school, leaving her twin behind. Her life changed, of course, but these changes did not come easily. The book is well-written, but does switch perspective. The text is written in the first person, but with third person episodes scattered throughout. These changes come suddenly, so there is a lot of 'I did' and 'I said' and then things switch to 'the girl did' and 'the girl said.' It wasn't clear to me why these shifts occurred, but maybe I just wasn't reading closely enough. The ending was quite abrupt and felt like it wasn't an ending at all, but perhaps that makes sense given the autofictional nature of the book. I found it unsatisfying. As you can tell, I was ambivalent about this book. I found much of it gripping. Overall I thought it was a good read. But I didn't love it and there were aspects of it I found vaguely annoying.
Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life by Sharon Blackie (borrowed from the library)
I requested this book from the library because of the title. I was reading an article about the author in which this book was mentioned and I immediately went to the library website to see if they had it. Hagitude is a concept that greatly appeals to me 😏 Hag with attitude--I'm there. This isn't the kind of thing I usually read, involving folklore and myth, but I loved this book. Blackie is coming at this from a primarily western perspective because, as she rightly points out, it would be impossible to include every culture and, as a psychologist and mythologist, these are the cultures she's most familiar with and immersed in. She has lived in Scotland, near where we used to live in Co Donegal in Ireland, and now in Wales. She draws heavily on myths and folklore from these areas, although other parts of Britain, Germany, Italy, France, and Russia are also included. She looks at these cultural stories about older women and reinterprets them, focusing on overlooked aspects of these stories and what they say about older women. She also draws on her own experience of aging and menopause as well as that of others to show how, in spite of how women are portrayed as hags, witches, dried up old prunes, etc, there is a freedom that comes with age. Many women throw off the cultural shackles that have been keeping them prisoner to the needs, expectations, and demands of others and settle more into who they actually are and what they want. I was fascinated by the stories in this book, both the personal stories and the folklore, which I don't really have much background in. I was interested in the fact that many cultures had a concept not of a male god in the sky as creator, but of an old woman who is known as the Great Mother or Great Grandmother, depending on the culture. She cites Cailleach for the area of Ireland in which we live. This book made me want to learn more about Irish myths and folktales in general and of Cailleach in particular. In addition to the text, the book also contains beautiful artwork by Natalie Eslick of older women, inspired by the various myths. This one was my favorite. It's at the beginning of the book where we learn that herons are associated with older women in the old stories.
When I was searching for Hagitude, I spotted this title in the library's list of Sharon Blackie's books so I requested it too. It was the perfect sequel to Hagitude, because it covered some of the same ground, but in a more in-depth way. This is a collection of myths and folktales with some commentary by the author. I loved this one too and I'm quite glad I read these books back to back. I learned a lot and hope to learn more.
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan (personal copy)
I have a friend who stops to take a photo of the books in any wee free library he happens to pass, whether it's the one up the hill behind us, at a bus station, or wherever. He sends these photos to me to see if there are any books I want. If there are, he brings them to me. I've gotten some unexpected gems this way. A couple of weeks ago, he sent me a photo and I chose this book. It's always interesting because it's almost always the case that I know nothing about these books and am just going by the title and the font design on the spine. So it was with this book. I saw the title and the font and thought, 'Oh that looks like a nice fluffy book which would be a good read on a day when I'm tired or not feeling great--a good story to fall into.' That day came sooner than I thought. The other day I was tired and feeling a bit of August meh and I decided it'd be a perfect day to pick up that book. It did not disappoint. It was not fluffy, but it was a good story. The book opens in Kent, 1940. There's a notice pinned to the church door saying that, because the men are off fighting the war, the choir will disband after the funeral of the Winthrop boy, who was killed in the fighting. Soon Prim, a professor of music, arrives in the village and starts a women's choir, which has a profound impact on the lives of the women in the village. It's a pretty obvious metaphor, but it helps them find their voices and grow in confidence. It helps them know each other better and care for each other more. This is an epistolary novel, told through letters and diary entries. We see the diary entries of Kitty Winthrop, 13, the youngest child of the well-off, abusive tyrant Brigadier and his long-suffering meek wife. Her brother, the heir, is the guy killed in the war. Other than the fact that there are no other sons to inherit, his loss doesn't seem to be a great heartache for anyone. Kitty's sister, Venetia, writes letters to her good friend, now in London, the vicar's daughter. Mrs. Twilling, a widow, keeps a diary as well. Her son is about to leave for the war. These are the three main characters in the book, but we also get letters from a local midwife and a few diary entries from Silvie, a 10-year-old girl who was gotten out of Czechoslovakia in advance of the Nazis and is staying with the Winthrops. There is humor in this book, as you'd expect from a book about small village life. This book has all the requisite quirky characters and those who are resistant to change (even during wartime!). As you can tell, the perspectives shift around and the story is told from many different points of view. I enjoyed this book enough to read it in one day--and at 450 pages, it's not a particularly short book. It was a fast read and I got into the story. That said, it was quite predictable. There were two surprises in the book, but other than that, everything I assumed would happen, happened. I also thought that although I was supposed to be reading diary entries and letters, it didn't seem like that's what they were. The language was unrealistic for that. I don't think anyone would write in their diary that way. It was much the same with the letters, although they were slightly more believable. I suppose that's nit-picking. It was a good read in spite of all that and I will soon bring it back to the wee free library so someone else can enjoy it too.
Finally, I read one book so far this month that will be published soon.
ISBN 9781625349569
Maria Millefoglie grew up in a Sicilian-American family in Gloucester, Massachusetts. In this powerful memoir, she explores her place in her immediate and extended families, the role of place in her life, and her struggles to walk the line between familial and community expectations and her own needs--and how all of these things shaped her and impacted the choices she made. Beyond the memoir, she digs into her family history, the history of the immigrant community in Gloucester, and the fishing industry that they were a part of. Of course, societal change was occurring and this had profound consequences for small boat fishermen and their families. The author has been a part of the effort to preserve this history. In the present day, when immigrants are all too often attacked and scapegoated, this book beautifully illustrates the immigrant experience in a particular time and place, showing how people do not make the decision to leave everything they know lightly. This path is full of difficulties and for some people, the cost was too high. Families were torn apart. Mental health issues resulted. Generational change is addressed here as well. The author was coming of age at a time when societal expectations about women's lives and choices were expanding, but in this particular family, these changes were not welcomed or even seen as acceptable. Torn between these possibilities, the author struggled to meet her needs while maintaining her relationship with her mother. Although the author is a bit older than me, I could relate to much of what she describes. The book contains photographs and is beautifully written. It never gets bogged down as she weaves together the various strands of her story. Whether you're interested in a specific topic like the history of fishing, women's history, the experiences of immigrants, family dynamics, of just want to become immersed in the story of one woman in one family in a particular place, this is a book I can highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a digital review copy.
And now onto the second half of August and some more good books!
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