DECEMBER 2019 READING ROUND UP

 

I never read Elizabeth Strout’s best seller Award winning novel My Name is Lucy Barton; after my excursion into Anything is Possible, which uses Lucy Barton as a reference point in the linked stories, I have crossed the Lucy Barton off my Want to Read List. I was staggered by the revelations that came out of the Anything is Possible stories! For goodness sake: the setting is the American Mid-West, the land of rolling cornfields, Mom and apple pie, not the cesspit of dark family secrets underlying one small, dusty, obscure town! My gosh: are there no normal families in Middle America? After my nasty shock between the covers of Anything is Possible (and she wasn’t kidding!) I have no desire to explore further.
Prior to the Strout, I’d read Zinzi Clemmons’ What We Lose, and had very mixed feelings about this novel. To me, it read more like a memoir than anything else, but then that’s a common feature of first novels. I wasn’t crazy about the experimental formatting, but on the plus side, was relieved the chapters were so short. The novel explores the dual strands of heritage and identity (Thandi’s Mum is a South African Coloured* woman, married to a successful American black) as played out in South Africa and Philadelphia. I found the section about Winnie Mandela opportunistic. The novel was praised to the skies both here and abroad, but I am not a member of that praise singing choir. However, I have to admit it was refreshing to read about Thandi’s wealthy, successful Coloured relatives living in Sandton which makes a change from the usual trope of downtrodden disadvantaged people.
*Please note in SA the term ‘Coloured’ refers to people of mixed race.
After these two unsatisfactory reads, Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet came as a relief, followed by joy. What a marvelous read! Set in Australia (of course), two rural families migrate to Perth at the end of WWII, and we follow their struggles, triumphs and tragedies to start over as city people. The book has been described as a masterpiece, and I agree. It’s a keeper, it has everything, vivid characters, ordinary people you can relate to, and also picnics: which I am partial to myself. It’s a book I’ve been meaning to read for many years, and it was worth the wait.
Finally I tackled Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokha_al-Harthi;  a complex novel written by an Omani born but Western educated woman. I found the book challenging because it did not have a linear timeline or story line but notwithstanding the difficulties, I gained a tiny insight into the patriarchal society and kingdom, its history and its culture and traditions. An intoxicating blend of history, magic, myth and the arrival of the 21st century. The book made a refreshing change from the usual Western publishers run of the mill offerings.
Only four book reviews this month; what with Silly Season events, shopping and traveling I didn’t have that much time to read. But that’s okay: my TBR shelf waits patiently. Watch this space.
Wishing you a peaceful, happy New Year filled with more marvellous books.

FICTION
Anything is Possible – Elizabeth Strout. I discover Middle America holds its quota of dark hidden family secrets. A well written novel, but I did not enjoy.
What we Lose – Zinzi Clemmons. So-so novel about an American girl coming to terms with her South African heritage, her mother’s death, and life in general. Again, I did not enjoy.
Cloudstreet – Tim Winton. Another 5-star read. Epic Australian family saga, unforgettable characters. Loved it.
Celestial Bodies – Jokha Alharthi. My first Omani novel – a complex story of 3 Omani girls dealing with patriarchy, tradition and the incursions of the modern world. Very different. I’m glad I tried the book and equally glad I’m not an Omani woman!

NOTABLE READS OF THE DECADE

 

Every December lists sprout up as weeds after rain – Best Reads of the Year and the like. This year has an added category: 10 Best Reads of the Decade. Lonesome Reader’s post on the topic http://lonesomereader.com/ inspired me to hunt through my collection of tatty notebooks, and apply some thought. Ten books? One per year? Nah. I’ve listed the books that inspired, entertained, or informed me and made an indelible impression because of the stellar writing or their emotional impact or their intellectual content.

 
I read some magnificent novels: The Overstory- Richard Powers; the haunting A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara; the intriguing Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov ; the elegiac Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; the unsettling House of Leaves – Mark Z Danielewski; ;and in the decade I discovered Australian Tim Winton’s work. For which I am grateful!]
Memoir provided some startling reads, namely Educated by Tara Westover and The Glass Castle by Janette Walls.
Non-fiction :Noah Yuval Harari’s Sapiens and Ken Moji’s The Little Book of Ikigai provided food for thought as did The Swerve – Stephen Greenblatt.

 
These ten books added to my life one way or another. The gift of sight, books and reading are treasures.

 

2019 HITS & MISSES

Almost the end of another reading year. Here’s a short list, by category. Perhaps you’ll find some new ideas for your own reading.
Books marked * were loaned from the excellent Milnerton Public Library. I heartily recommend it!

TWO TOP READS FOR 2019
The Overstory – Richard Powers
The Shepherd’s Hut – Tim Winton *

BEST LITERARY NOVEL
The Friend – Sigrid Nunez

MOST ORIGINAL NOVEL
The Pine Islands – Marion Poschmann

BEST FUN READ
Happiness for Humans – P Z Reizin. *

THE MOST ROMANTIC NOVEL
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats – J P Sedker*

STRANGEST READ
Convenience Store Woman – Sayaka Murata

WEIRD & WONDERFUL
The Puttermesser Papers – Cynthia Ozick *

BEST CRIME
Scrublands – Chris Hammer*
The Marsh King’s Daughter – Karen Dionne *

BEST TRANSLATED NOVEL
The Master & Margarita – Mikhail Buylgakov

BEST HISTORICAL
The Essex Serpent – Sarah Perry *

BEST AMERICAN NOVEL
Here I am – Jonathan Safan Foer*

BEST RE-READ
The Reader on the 6.27 – Jean-Paul Didier Laurent*

WONDERFUL SHORT STORIES
Her Body & other Parties – Carmen Maria Machado
The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth – William Boyd*

MOST DIFFICULT READ
The Plains – Gerald Murnane

NON-FICTION

MEMOIR
Educated – Tara Westover
Land’s Edge -: A Coastal Memoir – Tim Winton*

WHACKIEST
Self-helpless – Rebecca Davis
My Experimental Life – A J Jacobs

ABANDONED READS
Conversations with Friends – Sally Rooney *
Sex, Lies & Stellenbosch – Eve Mazza *
The Passion according to G.H. – Clarice Lispector

A BOOKISH LETTER TO SANTA

Dear Santa
I’ve been such an exemplary reader all year, I know I deserve a huge pile of lovely gift
-wrapped books under the tree on Christmas morning. No, really, I’m a model reader.
For example: I’ve returned my library books before due date; no fine for me in 2019!
My reading has not defaced any book with coffee stains, dog eared pages (horrors! Perish the thought) or chocolate smears, biscuits crumbs or chip remnants.
So please Santa, here’s a little list of what I’m hoping to find under the tree on Christmas morning. And once I’ve read them, I promise to donate them to my local Library.
Ducks, Newburyport – Lucy Ellmann
Girl, Woman, Other (Hamish Hamilton), the 2019 Booker prize-winning novel and the eighth by Bernardine Evaristo

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead: A Novel – Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

And lastly:

 

Thanks for reading my letter, Santa.