…the Fifth of November!
I started a wee Substack newsletter, and would be delighted if you subscribed – it’s all my book reviews, plus other links and bits and bobs and life happenings sort of things. Here ’tis: https://substack.com/@stubbornsunshine
Here’s what I’ve been reading lately…
Life of M by Rachel Cusk was an audiobook listen, and one I could blast through, at only four hours runtime. This is the thinly veiled “Natalie Portman” book that was written by her (I assume now former) friend, Rachel Cusk. This was just a series of vignettes about M’s life, and throughout, all I could think was bored… don’t care… wooden… trying way too hard to be “literary”. This was a nope.
Microdosing Hope by Lyndsay Rush is a collection of poetry, and as an avowed non-poetry-person, it should be high praise that I sought this out and truly enjoyed Rush’s second poetry collection (her first, A Bit Much is also great)! Even though the world is on fire, Rush finds ways to make the reader feel hope, feel hilarity, feel proud of being a woman of a certain age, and to feel empathy for our fellow creatures. Her poems are pithy, smart, short, and make me feel things – high praise!
Peck & Peck by Bonnie Garmus was hotly anticipated for me, after LOVING Lessons in Chemistry, so I was eager to tear into this one. Overall, I liked this, but… I found that it was about 100 pages too long for me and at times moved at a GLACIAL pace. I was here for the premise – 1980s New York City, a struggling 20-something dude, the shadowy world of… poetry quarterlies (no, seriously!), familial conflicts, twists and turns, quirky plots, all the things but, BUT, I didn’t always love the characters, the twists came with a LOT of exposition in between, and I found myself bogged down in pages and pages before getting to another “good part”. Good start, super slow middle, okay ending, though went on a bit too long even there. This 432 page book could have been a tight 320 and nailed it!
Madeline McKnight Signs Off by Evan Brooke is a contemporary fiction novel about Madeline, wealthy, successful, nearly friendless and dying from metastatic cancer and her plea to her (estranged) goddaughter Bri to take care of her in her final months. Madeline (and her idol, Hetty Green) aren’t always terribly likeable, but I liked seeing the relationship between her and Bri shift and solidify, and the accuracy of Madeline’s waning days truly hit home for me, but it didn’t push the 5-alarm snotbomb or tugging heartstrings for me. Overall, this was a fine read and started off so strongly but I wasn’t propelled forward into wanting to read “just one more page”.
World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil is just a gorgeous book – both the writing and the illustrations (and that swoony cover!). This is a collection of essays – most only 2-5 pages – about the natural world and weaving in her own person stories. I learned so much about the animals of our planet, I felt warmth and joy reading her words, and it made me sufficiently curious about so many natural wonders contained within, I was searching online for photos, information, all the things. This truly is a love letter to our world, and I found starting my day with one or two essays (instead of doomscrolling!) was just the ticket. I loved this so much.
