October Reading Wrapup

October was an interesting reading month for me.  I started off the first week or so reading absolutely nothing.  Then, I got my book-footing and read a whole bunch.  In total, I read 9 books in October.

The Art of Failing, by Anthony McGowan (read as an ebook) - A humorous glance into daily life in West Hampstead, London, with the author, Anthony McGowan.  Structured as a diary and organized by season, there are daily-ish entries outlining something humorous/bizarre/unexpected that happened to the author that day, or at least a noteworthy observation.

The Circle Game, by Margaret Atwood - Published in 1964, this is Margaret Atwood's first commercially-published poetry collection and it explores womanhood, colonialism and indigenous peoples, environmentalism, and many other topics.

Madwoman, by Shara McCallum - In this powerful collection of poems, Shara McCallum calls upon folklore and traditions from her native Jamaica as well as modern day experiences and microaggressions.  There is clear, strong feminism that permeates throughout the work, that grabs the reader from the beginning.  The author plays with language in very deliberate ways, interplaying rhyme, free verse, patois, and lots of symbolism.

A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle - When Peter and his wife move from their home in Devon, England to the South of France, it is a culture shock to say the least.  They learn that time is thought of in seasons rather than hours or days, good food and wine are vital, and construction projects where the contractor uses the phrase "Normally..." are not going to be completed anytime soon.

Candide, by Voltaire - In the early eighteenth century, Gottfried Leibniz published his Theodicy, in which he purported that the world we're living in is the best of all possible worlds, because it was created by God.  No matter the suffering, violence, poverty - it is the best world.  This worldview is commonly called "philosophical optimism", and Voltaire disagreed vehemently with it.  He wrote Candide as a satirical take-down of Leibniz's approach, as well as many of the literary traditions of the time

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, by F. Scott Fitzgerald - In this strange little novella, published in 1922, John T. Unger leaves his well-to-do family in Hades, Mississippi to attend a prestigious men's boarding school in Boston.  While there, he befriends a fellow student named Percy Washington.  John knows that Percy, a keep-to-himself kind of guy, is very wealthy, but he has no idea just how right he is until he is invited to summer with Percy at his family's home in Montana. 

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding - I appreciate the plot of this story (plane crashes on deserted island and only a group of schoolboys survives and has to forge its own society) but I take great offense to the choices in gender and overall characterization, as well as the use of the term "savage" as the author chose to employ them.  I would love to see (if there isn't already one out there...let me know if there is!) a modern interpretation of this book, where the cast of characters show more diversity and sensitivity.

Horrorstor, by Grady Hendrix (read as an ebook) - When an Ikea-esque store called "Orsk" begins experiencing strange phenomena, manager Basil recruits two of his employees, Amy and Ruth Ann, to work a covert, overnight shift to figure out exactly what is going on.  But what is going on is so much more than anyone had bargained for.

The Five Children and It, by E. Nesbit - The story features four elementary school-aged siblings - Cyril, Anthea, Robert, and Jane - and their infant brother Hilary during a summer spent in Kent.  During playtime at a gravel quarry, they uncover a sand-fairy who offers to grant them one wish every day.  Whatever they wish for will last for only that day; when the sun sets everything will go back to the way it was before.  They wish for things as children would, which is to say naively.


Now that we're almost into November, it's time to start thinking about all the non-fiction that I want to read during the annual Non-Fiction November challenge.  Stay tuned for more details on that...



Librorum annis,

An Autumnal Book Haul

Sorry for the delay, but I've managed to "accidentally" buy a few books.  Whoops!  Between a BookOutlet sale, the recent Harrisburg Book Festival, and an ARC, I've managed to add some new books to my shelves.  Poetry, short stories, fiction, essays, a play, memoir, some non-fiction, and a collection of lectures round out this particular incoming class. 

As always, I'm really excited to read them soon, but in reality I probably won't get to them anytime soon.  I'm still trying to read through some of my 2017 challenges, and I'm afraid those will take priority in the waning months of the year.  There's always next year, right?  Anywho, here are the newbs:

Poetry

The Sobbing School, by Joshua Bennett - A collection focusing on the experience of being a black man in America, especially an academically-minded man in a society that doesn't encourage men like him to pursue such goals.

Cannibal, by Safiya Sinclair - The poet's Jamaican upbringing is explored within the context of living in America, and all the prejudices and preconceptions that American culture assigns to women of color.

Miami Century Fox, by Legna Rodriguez Iglesias (translated by Eduardo Aparicio) - A collection of Latina poetry, unique in that the original Spanish poem is on one side of the page, and the translator's English translation is on the other.  It explores the complexities of modern day life in South Florida.

Short Stories

Barbara the Slut and Other People, by Lauren Holmes - I read this book a year or so ago, checked out from the library.  I enjoyed it, and when BookOutlet had it on sale for less than $4, I couldn't turn it down.  The stories feature diverse female (and golden retriever) characters and situations, but that speak to the universality of our experience.

Public Library and Other Stories, by Ali Smith - A collection of stories focusing on books,  experiences of reading, and what books mean to us.

Fiction

Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis - A takedown of the American ideal of the open-minded, small town.  In the American political landscape, the "small town" is a microcosm that campaigning politicians love to talk about, but rarely understand.  Published originally in 1920, I expect this book to be just as relevant now as it was then.

Baba Dunja's Last Love, by Alina Bronsky - The title character, and many of her neighbors, decide to return to their home near Chernobyl, despite government warnings about radiation.  They return to a semblance of normal life, until a stranger and a young girl arrive and turn everything on its head.

Essays

Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living, edited by Manjula Martin - A number of well-known authors honestly discuss the realities of working as a writer and what it takes to be able to do your work and be able to live comfortably.

Common Sense, by Thomas Paine - An anti-monarchy essay that isn't so far away from the political landscape in which we find ourselves today.

Bad Feminist, by Roxane Gay - This reissue of Gay's classic essay collection was too good to pass up

How to Cook a Wolf, by M.F.K. Fisher - Written for an audience facing food shortages and rationing during WW2, the ethos of this book is cooking simply using ingredients you already have and a lot of imagination and adventure.  There are recipes to accompany the essays within.

Play

Fences, by August Wilson - Troy Maxson has lived his life in an America that crushes the soul of black men who express their pride.  As the repressive society of the 1950s moves into the more liberating 1960s, Troy finds himself at odds with his culture, his neighbors, his family, and himself.  This was recently released as a movie starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, which I hope to see once I've read the play.

Memoir

How to Be a Woman, by Caitlin Moran - The author's recollection of growing up in lower-class British small town, and discovering herself.

Non-Fiction

Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi - I've already read (and LOVED!) this challenging and necessary work.  Check out my review here.

Lectures

The Origin of Others, by Toni Morrison - Toni Morrison delivered lectures as part of the Charles Eliot Norton series at Harvard University, and drew up on them to write this small-but-mighty book.



And that's it for this book haul!  I have no idea when I'll get to read any of these books, but I hope it to be sometime soon. Winter is coming, and there'll hopefully be a some cold weekends where I can bundle up and have my own mini-readathons.



Librorum annis,

The "Finally Fall" Book Tag

Now that we're almost a full month into autumn, the weather in my area is finally starting to accurately reflect the season.  This time last month, it felt more like midsummer (highs in the low 90's F and very humid) and I am so excited for the cool-down.  That's why I was so pleased to find the "Finally Fall" book tag, because it does finally feel like fall.  Let's get to it, shall we?

In autumn, the air is crisp and clear.  Name a book with a vivid setting.

I read Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller this summer, and was completely engrossed in the British seaside town that played host to the events in the novel.  In fact, there were times where I could almost taste the salty air and feel the mists on my skin, even though I live hours away from any such coastline.  It was a transformative reading experience, to say the least.

Nature is beautiful...but also dying.  Name a book that is beautifully written but also deals with a heavy topic like loss or grief.

I believe that one the most exciting writers in American literature today is Jesmyn Ward.  All of her books are very hard-hitting, whether a memoir about losing men in her life to whom she was very close (Men We Reaped), the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf area (Salvage the Bones), or drug abuse and family ties (Sing, Unburied, Sing).  The way that she writes about these difficult themes and events is with such clarity, beauty, and hope that it's almost impossible to put her books down.

Autumn is back-to-school season.  Share a non-fiction book that taught you something new.

I just reviewed it here, but my most recent experience of reading a non-fiction book that totally refocused and  my worldview and gave me an education was Ibram X. Kendi's masterful work of scholarship, Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas In America.  In it, he tracks instances of racism from humanity's earliest encounters with diverse peoples, through to the modern day.  It'll challenge all your assumptions and expectations about how racist ideas exist and flourish, and may open your eyes to ways that you hold onto racist ideas - without even knowing it.

In order to keep warm, it's good to spend some time with the people we love.  Name a fictional family/household/friend-group of which you'd like to be a part.

A few years ago, I might have chosen the March family from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, because of how tight-knit and loving they were.  However, as my reading experiences have broadened and changed, I think I would be less enthralled with being a Little Woman.  Instead, I'd prefer something a little more messy and interesting.  In fact, I think I'd like to be a part of the Pea family, living on the island of Nollop and having to get bizarrely creative with language in Mark Dunn's Ella Minnow Pea. 

The colorful leaves are piling up on the ground.  Show us a pile of autumn-colored spines.

Autumn is the perfect time for storytelling by the fireside.  Share a book wherein someone is telling a story.

One of the most prolific stories-within-a-story is the tale that Elena tells of her long-lasting friendship with Lina in the Neapolitan Quartet, by Elena Ferrante.  The four-volume set, spanning almost 1700 pages, is the character of Elena writing the story of her friendship, in the wake of Lina's disappearance from Naples.  To tell this story around a fire, you'd need a forest's worth of wood to keep it going.  If you haven't read the novels yet - My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child - don't let the page count frighten you.  If you allow yourself to relax and settle into Elena's writing, you'll fly through the books without even realizing it.

The nights are getting darker; share a dark, creepy read.

One of the creepiest books on my shelves is Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes.  It's a suspenseful, really intense novel about a serial killer, the cop who's trying to catch him, and a possibly-supernatural force.  It's really good to read, but it's even more intense if you listen on audiobook, because of the narration and the really compelling voices that the narrators use.

The days are getting colder; name a short, heartwarming read that could warm up somebody's cold and rainy day.

A truly heartwarming novella is Parnassus On Wheels by Christopher Morley.  A man wants to sell his mobile bookstore, called Parnassus, to a newly-famous author.  However, it's the author's spinster sister who sets out on a bookish adventure.  Sweet, charming, and full of book love.

Autumn returns every year.  Name an old, favorite book that you'd like to return to soon.

I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to get back to it, but I'd love to revisit the short stories of Mollie Panter-Downes.  I discovered her through my first ever visit to the Persephone Books bookshop when I was last in London, and she quickly became one of my favorite authors.  I especially loved her collection of stories illustrating the British societal changes after the end of WW2, called Minnie's Room: The Peacetime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes. 

Autumn is the perfect time for cozy reading nights.  Share your favorite cozy reading "accessories".

I can't have a cozy reading night without a blanket and a beverage. 



That's it for the "Finally Fall" book tag.  I'm fully invested in autumnal reading, and had a blast answering these questions.  If you're interested in doing so, consider yourself tagged.



Librorum annis,