Rounding off my re-read of the Broken Earth books. It’s so, so good: everything feels fully realised and her writing is beautifully controlled as she brings the story to its climax.
I love the way she builds a science fiction on top of the fantasy in a totally natural way to flesh out Hoa’s story and the origin of the Obelisks. And the characters/situations have a moral complexity that means that, while the reader might be rooting for a particular outcome, there’s no one who needs to assume the role of a villain in order for there to be conflict and wrenching decisions to get there.
Wish I could Eternal Sunshine myself so that I could read these with totally new eyes again.
They are so good. You’ve nailed it here, it’s really a stunning combination of world building, interesting ideas and character development. Often a lot of speculative fiction falls down on the characters but they feel so complex and real in this trilogy, you understnading where everyone is coming from.
No real goals for the year. Would like to read The Illiad and The Odyssey but also OK if that doesn’t end up happening.
Despite the lack of ambition I’ve read three short books so far this year:
Barrowbeck by Andrew Michael Hurley
Set of connected folk horror short stories set in the same cursed town over many years. These were great, giving you just enough detail to see where the strangeness is creeping in before often finishing on an odd detail or moment of horror. It left a lot to the imagination as good horror often does. A real sense of place as well, I feel like I know what Barrowbeck is like.
The Air Year by Caroline Bird
Re-read of this poetry collection. I love Bird’s style of writing - surreal and often very funny with deep pain behind it so the poems feel rooted in an emotional truth. Going back to them was a delight.
Late Light by Michael Malay
Nature writing about an obsession with strange creatures- eels, moths, mussels and crickets- and what their decline means for the wider ecosystem. I really enjoyed this because Malay’s writing is beautiful, linking disparate ideas together effortlessly. There’s also a sense of sorrow and a plea to do things better, linked with the political commentary that runs through the book. It also helps he talks a lot about Troopers Hill, near where I lived in Bristol so I can picture kit. Really recommended, reminded me of Robert MacFarlane in places.
Boxed off some short reads this week with some unexpected down time:
The Vanishing Triangle - Claire McGowan
Read this as a work-adjacent thing, it was good! Author is a crime-fiction writer who started trying to look into some real-life missing women in a certain area of Ireland. Little bit repetitive, despite being a short one, because it ends up being more of a sweeping exploration on gender based violence and masculinity in Ireland. File it next to The Best Catholics in the World for critical looks on Ireland.
Cult Classic - Sloane Crossley
Sort of high-concept fiction about a recently-engaged woman who begins to bump into all her old bfs around New York. I really loved this for the first 100 pages but then there is an explanation for what’s happening that I didn’t love. Still, really enjoyed this.
This House of Grief - Helen Garner
Another true crime one, this is a journalist following a court case. A recently-separated man claims to have had a sneeze-induced seizure that made him veer his car off the road and into a dam, he came to and surface but his three you sons perished in the water. Is he an unlucky victim of fate? Or did he try to get a vicious type of revenge on his soon-to-be ex-wife and her new partner? Weirdly, a massive page-turner, imo. Garner is a recently-divorced 60-year-old with young grandsons and she ruminates about family life and partnership while sitting through the case. Deeply tragic but fascinating.
The Difficult Ghost - Leila Guerriero
Translated Spanish novel, an author goes to the Costa Brava where Capote spent time while writing up In Cold Blood. Lots in here about writing, being a writer, the development of true crime fiction and general narrative non-fiction, as well as Capote’s life. Capote is indeed a difficult ghost though, this is another short book that sometimes feels a little meandering. Very well written, I would read more from Guerriero.
The Hunting Wives - May Cobb
Now a very well-received TV show, this is a really horny book, you guys. Lots of middle-aged ladies banging 18-year-old boys. The central premise is that the protagonist has moved from cosmopolitan Chicago to small-town Texas and becomes infatuated with a powerfully sexy lady and her cabal of adoring gal pals. The wives get together to go hunting, but they’re not just shooting skeet! In the mix, there is a murder and so on, but the first half is solidly mostly banging. For fans of Cowper fluid.
Also while I was in Goldsboro the other day, I nabbed a special edition copy of King Sorrow signed and numbered etc, but also with these great dragon scale end pages:
No Longer Human is quite horrifying, but also a pretty convincing portrayal of someone with a personality disorder. Just ordered the follow up because I wanna see what Dazai does with it.
Anyone else read The Buffalo Hunter Hunter? I was completely taken right up until the end when…wtf? And not in a good way. I’m talking about the giant grandfather prarie dog smoking away in the backseat of a Land Rover. So ridiculous I can almost appreciate it but after such a brilliant read I don’t know what to think. Still gave it 5 stars for 98% of the experience.
Not read this one but I read The Only Good Indians which was great until the last quarter was just an extended description of a basketball game which completely lost me, don’t think I even finished it. So I guess maybe he has form for losing you at the last moment?
Determined to read a lot more this year, and have started pretty well.
Already finished A Village In The Third Reich which I though was excellent. Better than Travellers In The Third Reich which I read last year. Lots or worrying parallels to be drawn though.
Now trying to get through Children of Time again. Read about a quarter of it years ago but drifted away. Got past that and making good progress. Really enjoying it.
Also still reading this on the side as research for a thing:
Ooh I picked this up at a second hand shop the other week. I’ve nearly finished The Scottish Nation and really enjoy the way he writes, I find it really clear and accessible whilst still being academically robust.
I think everyone should learn about the clearances, because I didn’t even know that was a thing that had happened until I moved up here. And Scottish history in general, it’s interesting and pretty different to what I learned at school in England.
I thought I knew a bit about them, but Devine’s book has really opened my eyes to the bigger picture nationally. Even when you do hear about them it generally focuses on the romantic image of clans being removed from their hills/isles but the lowlands/borders were massively affected too, before the Highlands, essentially suffering from enclosure and relocating significant numbers of the population to towns and villages. Would recommend the book if you want to read more on the subject.
The River Has Roots - Amal El-Mohtar
Short decent audiobook, with songs/extra sounds occasionally added in it. A grammatical kind of Faerie tale, of two sisters and a nearby fairy type world. A bit too short and abrupt ending, but nice easy start for the year. 7/10
A Woman’s Battles And Transformations - Édouard Louis
Another short audiobook, this time from Libby. I thought it was fiction, but apparently based on the son’s relationship with his mother. The fiction kind of style makes it feel quite honest to me, and it was very beautifully written, with nice bits on class and gender. 7/10
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers
Picked this cheap kindle book up as a track from The Divine Comedy’s latest album is called the same, and it had good reviews so thought I’d give it a go. Written/released in 1940, by a 23 year old, and I’m pretty impressed with her writing. It kind of rotates around a deaf-mute and some other people who gravitate to him (a young girl, a shop keeper, a black doctor, a drunk communist). The pacing is a bit slow at times to really love it, but there were still some really moving/great moments in it. Definitely some Steinbeck/Harper Lee vibes to it. Quite bleak. 7/10
Barn 8 - Deb Olin Unferth Endling mentioned one book that I loved (Peoples of Paper) and two other books, which I decided to buy. This is the first of those two books and looks like this:
And is a great bonkers book about a heist to capture/rescue/evacuate all of the chickens in a battery farm in the US. I loved it from the first page, and adored its eccentricities and different writing styles and perspectives throughout. Despite being a bit descriptive about what happens in the farms, I didn’t find it over-the-top in that sense. Although I may try and stop eating eggs now.
10/10
This book, the fourth of the Philip Marlowe detective novels, combines the plots of three previous Chandler short stories into a single murder mystery, which makes for a quite convoluted narrative. I found it hard to follow at times, mainly because I read it in fits and starts, but totally possible to just enjoy the language and Marlowe’s interplay with the cops and just go along for the ride.
Stunning book. I’ve had it on my kindle for over a year and opened it up intending only to read a few chapters to get a feel for the style before watching the film but ended up completely absorbed in Agnes’ world, reading it in two nights and re-scheduling my cinema trip for later this week. Quite reluctant to watch the film now but I am a huge Jessie Buckley fan so will have to do it I suppose…
I loved the book and have just seen the film. It’s magical especially the last twenty minutes. It’s different to the book (there’s more focus on Big Billy Shakes) but it’s a real triumph and you can tell that MOF was involved in the adaptation.
