I recently re-discovered my abandoned StoryGraph account, which has been dormant for about two and a half years. Out of curiosity, I went through the 84 books that I had on my "to-read" list in January of 2021 to see how many I ended up reading since then. Of the 120 books I have read in the last 30 months, 21 were on that list. And that feels about right, for every 4 books that I make note of thinking "hey, I might enjoy reading that" I read one of them. For every 6 books that I actually pick up to read, one of them is something that I've thought about reading before. Most of my reads end up being me grabbing something off a shelf at the library or bookstore that catches my eye in the moment.
Speaking of bookstores, I bought two novels this month at our local bookshop (it was my wife's birthday, so she got a gift card, and that meant that we both ended up in the bookstore and one thing led to another ... and then it turned out that her card only worked for online purchases, so we had to come back later to pick up her book and one thing led to another again ...)
- Either/Or by Elif Batuman - I really liked The Idiot, so I'm hoping this is also good.
- It Lasts Forever, and Then It's Over by Anne de Marcken - I saw this book somewhere and it seemed like it was made for me.
I also read three books that had previously been languishing unread on the bookshelves of my house. I say "on the bookshelves" but most of my recent book purchases are stacked very neatly on our dresser in the bedroom, only books already read get the privilege of being shelved. Anyway, all told, I came out of the month with a net of one less book in my house that I haven't read. At this rate, I'll have read everything in the house in just a couple of decades or so.
What are you reading?
I just finished America Fantastica by Tim O'Brien. A little on the nose, but good nonetheless.
One summer when I was in college, Tim O'Brien was a writer in residence for the creative writing program. I was in the workshop, so I got to meet him and have him critique one of my short stories. He's a really big baseball fan. He and Bill Meissner, who ran the creative writing program, were friends and would play catch on the Riverview lawn during the lunch break. Those were the days, my friend.
one of my short stories.... Er, you could post one of them here??
For a long time, O’Brien’s author headshot depicted him wearing a Red Sox cap. Given the Twins moved to Minnesota the year he turned 15, I guess his fan interest had already been cemented before the Twins’ first run of success.
Maybe. But he did attend Harvard after his discharge so it may have formed there.
I polished off the last book in the Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies series, Machine Vendetta, and I'm working my way into In Ascension by Martin MacInnes. They're (mostly) keeping me out of trouble and inside during the heat.
I’m reading Adam Higginbotham’s Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, which is (thus far) as engrossing as his Midnight in Chernobyl. An easy recommendation for any space heads or project managers.
Also picking at Landslide: LBJ and Ronald Reagan at the Dawn of a New America as background to starting Perlstein’s trilogy and Don Carpenter’s Hard Rain Falling.
This past Saturday was our community's annual summer celebration, which as of last year has become a day when I sit outdoors and read while ostensibly keeping an eye on my kids who are old enough to not really need anything other than occasional cash for mini donuts and sno-cones.
At the park, I finished noted local baseball fan Anne Ursu's newest novel, Not Quite a Ghost, which is a creepy and engrossing story about a middle school girl in Minneapolis that incorporates elements of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's iconic short story "The Yellow Wallpaper."
Then I started Louder Than Hunger, a novel in verse by John Schu, which was a gripping story of a middle school boy struggling with an eating disorder and mental health issues that stem in part from having been bullied.
I guess the takeaway here is that middle school is terrible but that reading outdoors is glorious...
I feel like "The Yellow Wallpaper" has come up a bunch in the zeitgeist over the last couple of months. An odd trend.
I've never been convinced that a novel in verse needed to be in verse. Not that I've read a lot in that area, so maybe that's a me thing...
It is such a great, if depressing, read.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Her first work, not bad - the New York Times loves her, and I see she has two of the 100 Best Books of the 21'st century. I'll read the other.
Hard by a Great Forest , Vardiashvilli. Rompe, but makes you want to check out the other Georgia.
The LockUp, Banville. Strafford and Quirke zeug, if you're into it.
I got caught up on the Monstress series by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. It's so good. Such a full world and Takeda's art is always eye catching. It's not the easiest plot to follow with at least 5 different factions and constant reveals of new allegiances, but it's very worth it.
July
Gatefather (Card)
The Twelve (Cronin)
A substantial slowdown from June. I'm currently working on book 3 of Cronin's Passage trilogy, The City of Mirrors. The series has been a very engaging tale on the vampire genre.
Not exactly reading, but our library just did a "flash fiction" writing competition - 2500 word limit. They had 3 categories - 5 - 8th grade, high school, and adult. I think they got almost 20 entries, which, for a first time, I think is pretty good. 2 of my kids and myself submitted.
It definitely took me back to those good ol' Spookymilk Survivor days. We're currently in the judging period. I've been asked to judge the high schoolers since we didn't have anyone in that category, and I was suitably happy with the ones I've read.
That's very cool!
Sounds like fun for the Whole Family!
Update: I managed 2nd place in the adult category (I liked my concept, but the execution was lacking. Very pleased with 2nd place.). $50 prize!
Aquinas was 1st in the the 5th - 8th grade category, and Aristotle was 3rd. They got prize money too!
The best part for me is that the student who won the high school category was someone who you would never expect to be a writer, and, even more so, you would never expect to write the type of creative science fiction that she did (and I'm not stereotyping here... I legitimately know and like the family and the student. This simply isn't anything they've ever revealed about themselves.) Absolutely astounding and exciting to have someone surprise you like that - definitely a hidden talent, and I hope this encourages her to do a lot more of this type of thing.
Novels read in July:
The Topeka School by Ben Lerner - Somehow this book actively discouraged me from engaging with it. I don't know what made it fall so flat for me, but maybe my least enjoyable reading experience of the summer.
The English Experience - by Julie Schumacher - The sequel to the sequel to Dear Committee Members and, to the surprise of no one, this is not as great of a book as the original entry in the series. If you have ever had to write recommendation letters or worked in academia, you should read Dear Committee Members. If you like revisiting aging English professors that you have a soft spot for, then reading The English Experience is good fun.
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins - For much of this book I oscillated between annoyed and impressed with the narrative approach. It got there in the end, and I think I enjoyed it, but the journey wasn't a smooth one.
Blackouts by Justin Torres - Here's that experimental structure and storytelling that gets me every time. Wistful and dreamy and constructed with love, this was the best of the four.
I found The Topeka School to be very meh. I didn't have quite the negative reaction that it sounds like you did, but I wanted something more.
Yeah, I was just amazed that this book ended up on the Pulitzer short list. Was it that it was topical and toxic masculinity was the right theme for that year? It just couldn't have been the actual literary merit.
John Warner tackles the gender divide(?) in book covers and book marketing for fiction.
I appreciate Warner's perspective on many things literary, and I agree with him that almost all book marketing misses me as a target audience. I'm not sure if that's a significant problem with the sheer volume and variety of books published. I feel like any reader has some trusted sources of recommendation and discovery that they rely on more than marketing and shelf appeal, but maybe that's a consequence of not being a target audience and my finding other avenues of fiction discovery.
Fun Fact - I know I have a reputation as a voracious reader of fiction around here, but Mrs. Ghost has me handily beaten in fiction reading this year (Mrs. Ghost - 72 fiction books, DG - 45 fiction books)
Finally finished Shogun. That took far longer than I had thought.
I’ve got like 20 pages left. 😅
Last month, I read:
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
The Fraud by Zadie Smith
A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan Thrall
Sting-Ray Afternoons by Steve Rushin
The Money Kings: The Epic Story of the Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped America by Daniel Schulman
Rushin's book was a great, fast read.
Ha! I was 80% done with In Ascension and my ebook was returned to the library, so I have to wait until my hold comes back around to finish it. Hey, it happens
If you keep your Kindle in airplane mode, the return doesn't kick in until you reconnect to WiFi
Cool hack, but I read on my phone
Ah, that presents more difficulties in using this trick
Nah, it’s a bonus: nobody can reach you!
I wish it worked that way
I'm at the very end of this book and had to do some sleuthing.
When his Bloomington school closes, he mentions his best friend at the time. The friend's last name was familiar as it was the same as our daughter's third grade teacher's last name.
A little digging and it turns out he's almost certainly her uncle. Small world!
Ha!
I'm 15 years younger than he, so a few of the things he discussed were a little dated. However, I grew up just a few miles away (going to Freeway Ford and Airport Bowl!), so the geography really landed.
I wondered if you grew up close to the same location and I kind of assumed yes. 😆
I'm 11 years younger than him and grew up in SW Minnesota. Yet some things were very familiar. Specifically I remember him describing two sorts of blankets as part of his sick days at home. We definitely had both of them when I was younger, and I think my parents still have the comfy, orange afghan. (I've enjoyed all of the words that he never explained, but I just knew from growing up in Minnesota.)
I actually liked Nights in White Castle (Rushin's follow up) better than Sting Ray Afternoons since it was more my era and covered the 1987 WS.
I learned that a friend of mine _loves_ Sting-Ray Afternoons, and he highly recommended Nights in White Castle. On the list!
It's 14 years old and won a National Book Award when it came out but finally got to Patti Smith's Just Kids which is an autobiography of her years before becoming really famous and with Robert Mapplethorpe. Patti is a great writer and the scenes from NYC 1967-74 as her and Robert are struggling, poor artists is so fun to read.