The titles below are presented in the order that I read them as the summer months unfolded. These books include fiction, non-fiction and poetry and were mostly drawn from my ‘grown-up’ reading pile. (I read several children’s novels in-between.)
CALYPSO by David Sedaris / June 20
Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny!
Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny!
Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Sometimes heartbreaking! Funny! Funny!
Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny! Funny!
THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT by John D’Agata (author) & Jim Fingal (fact-checker)
/ June 25
A fascinating, fascinating read! Author D’Agata wrote an essay in 2003 framed on the story of a teenager who committed suicide by jumping off the tallest building in Las Vegas. The article was first rejected due to factual inaccuracies but was later accepted by another magazine, after being scrutinized by fact-checker, Jim Fingle, a process that took seven years as the two men communicated, argued, negotiated and searched for truth. Every statement is held up for fact-checking and this book presents those notions in magenta font, which borders excerpts of the ‘real’ essay which appear in black font on each page. This is a book about, fiction vs non-fiction, accuracy, truth, embellishment, artistic liberty and readers trust and faith in an essayist’s, a journalist’s words words. Certainly brings a torchlight to the notion of FAKE NEWS.
This publication will be transformed into a Broadway play starring Cherry Jones, Daniel Radcliff and Bobby Carnevale. Can’t wait to see it – I think!
VOICES IN THE AIR by Naomi Shihab Nye / June 30
Naomi Shibab Nye stands on the shoulders of ‘essential voices past and present that have the power to provoke us, lead us, and give us hope.’ The poet invites readers to “Slow down. /Turn the page. Breathe. Listen.” I was challenged by grasping the signficance of each poem but read each poem page by page and respected Shihab Nye’s master of poemwords. Perhaps they demand ‘listening’ (and talking). I cherish this excerpt...”what a minute said to an hour / Without me you are nothing.” (from the poem “To Manage”)
MILK AND HONEY (2015) and THE SUN AND HER FLOWERS (2017) by Rupi Kaur / July 2
Was interested in discovering why Canadian poet, Rupi Kaur has had such phenomenal success. Poetry doesn’t usually end up on New York Times bestseller lists. (How many poetry anthologies have you purchased in the past year?. Unlike a huge fanship, I didn’t love these two collections, finding them somewhat pretentious. But I have not been struck by the heartbreak of a romantic relationship. I am not angry. Or broken. I am not a woman. The poems are mostly short. The fine simple line drawings are often more poetic than the words they accompany.
perhaps
i don’t deserve
nice things
cause i am paying
for sins I don’t
remember
EDINBURGH by Alexander Chee / July 22
I was intrigued by many of Alexander Chee’s essays in his book “How to Write an Autobiographical Novel” (2018, paperback version) and so decided to read his first novel. In The story of a gay Korean, at different stages in his life who encountered traumatic events (pedophelia, suicide of a lover) and works to build a new life through teaching and a loving relationship. Straightforward narrative is not Chee’s strength. Too often there seemed to be gaps from section to section, but the author does have a strong command of poetic images (‘I’d never seen feathers look like that they could protect anything until now, but here I can see how they hold the air, strain it like a whale’s baleen strains the water.’ (p, 176) (‘Metal is like love, it takes its temperature from touch.’) (p. 220) which often gave me cause to pause and wonder). Question: Why does the author often omit question marks when they seem to be required?
THE ONLY STORY by Julian Barnes/ July 31
A 19 year old boy meets up with a woman, twice his age. They have an affair. A rather unconventional one. This is a ‘love story’, a journey into the heart, a journey of connecting, a journey into the heart, (told from the male’s point of view)
Shout Out/ July 7
THERE THERE by Thomas Orange
An explosive novel about the Native American identity. Twelve characters are heading to a Powwow in Oakland California. Thomas Orange rises on the shoulders of Sherman Alexie and takes wild flight with the intersection of friendship and family, anger and despair, bad behaviour and strong resilience, of a cast of Urban Indians. At times brutal, at times poetic, this is a novel that will likely be on many top ten lists at years end and required reading lists for the decades ahead.