13 Books I Read In January
I had a very good start to my reading year, both in terms of quality and quantity. As a result of the latter, my views are going to be expressed rather laconically: I don’t want the post to be three pages long. If you are particularly interested in something, let me know in the comments and I’ll elaborate.
1. In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum. This is a very well written book about an extraordinary life. I have a full review here and in light of the recent decision of a US court, it’s also a very timely read.
2. Something of His Art by Horatio Clare. I would never have found this book unless John Sandoe bookshop had not recommended it to me. Clare is following in the footsteps of Johann Sebastian Bach who walked from Arnstadt to Lubeck in 1705. It is a gentle and intelligent book gathering thoughts on music, nature and life. Lovely.
3. The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis. An enjoyable but uneven book about the American government (the civil service rather than the political side of it) and the inability of Trump’s administration to handle and guide it as needed.
4. The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden. I wrote a review of the first book in Arden’s Winternight series about a year ago. Everything I say there pretty much stands for the entire trilogy, with the caveat that I enjoyed the second and third books even more than the first. This is very much my kind of entertainment.
5. How Democracy Ends by David Runciman. One of the two ‘end of days’ books I read last month, this is an intelligent and very accessible look at the challenges and limits of democracy. It’s a good read, but as the scope is so wide for a short book like this, it is also rather shallow and a bit scattered.
6. Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee. Another concluding book to an excellent series, I loved this. Not everyone adores The Machineries of Empire series as much as I do, but I find it brilliant, challenging and entertaining. Highly recommended for the lovers of epic, hard SF.
7. How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Danniel Ziblatt. This book has a narrower focus than Runciman’s, concentrating on how democratic systems can turn authoritarian from the inside. Because of this focus, the book has clear limits when it comes to explaining all the failings of democracy or our current predicament in the West. However, that clear framework makes it ultimately more satisfying than Runciman in my view.
8. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. If you come here regularly, you know I loved Miller’s Circe. I knew I would not like The Song of Achilles as much (partly because of the high bar, partly because I don’t like knowing things will end badly), but I still liked it a great deal. Miller is a fantastic storyteller and while it’s recently been popular to grant voices to the forgotten women of Greek myth, she reinterprets the lives of the two men at the heart of the siege at Troy.
9. The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy. I was not a fan of Levy’s Hot Milk, but enjoyed her writing style enough to pick up this memoir. And I’m glad I did, it is a thoughtful and beautifully rendered look at life after fifty, after divorce.
10. “Pime Öökull”/The Blind Owl by Sadeq Hedayat. Hedayat’s book is considered a modernist masterpiece of Persian literature and while I can see why and am happy it’s been translated into Estonian, this wasn’t for me. I am not a fan of the grotesque and the misanthropic to begin with and mixed with ridiculously one-dimensional women, it’s enough to kill my interest in a book entirely. I assume the women who are seen as angels or sluts are meant as symbols, but I have little patience for this kind of reductionism these days.
11. I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell. In this slim volume, O’Farrell tells of her 17 brushes with death. Some chapters are – probably inevitably – more powerful than others, but overall it is an emotionally impactful book that has stayed with me. If you are interested in memoirs and in particular health, sickness and our reactions to the closeness of death, this is very much worth looking into.
12. Fox 8 by George Saunders. I have been recommending this 45-minute read to everyone who would listen and so far, no-one has been disappointed. It is a delightful, whimsical, even experimental story that is also heartbreaking and thought-provoking. Saunders is a master of creating distinct voices and in Fox 8, he has made something special.
13. The Hoopoe: A Memoir in Feathers and Food by Clarissa Connolly. I am not sure you can buy this book, as I got mine as a gift with an order from John Sandoe: they apparently always print something around Christmas for their clients. However, if you do get your hands on it, give it a read – it is a nice little slice of life, well written and observed.
How was your January, reading-wise? Anything in particular you plan to read this month?
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I think Hot Milk might be Levy’s worst book, so glad you ventured further. I liked the memoir, but it’s her early fiction that still haunts me. Need to go back and reread.
I read a lot in January – I just read a lot; it’s sort of my primary activity – including the recent spate of feminist dystopias. Those things can get dull, but Vox was surprisingly bracing and engaging and The Water Cure deeply creepy and nicely ambiguous. In a slightly different dystopian mode, I Friday Black is an amazing achievement. Not for all readers though, I imagine, as it is very disturbing if for good and necessary reasons. .
I’ve just finished The Water Cure: liked it and found it impossible to put down, although I also understand those who find it ultimately unsatisfying. I have bought Friday Black and plan to read it in the near future; have been hesitating over VOX, but now feel inclined to read it, thanks to your endorsement. Have you read Ghost Wall, by the way? I read it after The Water Cure and while they are not alike, they explore similar themes and are equally good on atmosphere (by which I mean very good).
I went through all the last year’s best-of lists and took note of the books I would like to read. There are about 7 billion, despite me having read quite a few new releases through the year. If you have any 2018 favourites you’d like to recommend, I’m very interested! And what’s your favourite Levy?
I read The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara (also A Little Life) which was excellent. I am recommending it to everyone. It explores a very fluid moral boundary. The story is about a scientist working with a previously unknown tribe.
I’m very happy to see you think The People in the Trees is excellent, because I absoutely agree. It’s sad that it is much less widely read than A Little Life, despite being equally good, if not better. It is an extremely impressive debut. Btw, I have a review of A Little Life here on the blog, in case you’re interested.
I know “super readers” such as yourself are offended by that recurring comment/question of, “how do you do it ?!?!” So I won’t… I have been embroiled (no other way to put it) with The Secret History and despise it on every level of it’s formulaic simplicity. Yet, I feel compelled to finish it. I also finished The Rules Do not Apply and couldn’t really understand the avalanche of “you are so privileged and therefore deserve no credence for your story” criticism. I am now about half way through Asymmetry and enjoy it, but possibly more than I would otherwise, because of the voyeuristic foray it provides into Philip Roth’s life- one of my most read and loved authors. I met him briefly in 2015, and his retort to my ridiculously pedestrian “I admire your work so much” sounded exactly like some of the things the author character says in Asymmetry. He dryly answered, “And I’m of yours”, as he extended his soft hand to shake mine. Now must pick up at least 4 of your recommendations.
Hah! ‘The formulaic simplicity’🙂 I am conflicted about The Secret History. It’s compulsively readable and I did like it a lot when I read it (late teens? early twenties?). But it does feel more style than substance and I tend to be suspicious of people who are still entirely uncritical of it in their 30s. Not sure if this is snobbishness or my better self talking. I enjoyed The Rules Do Not Apply and had the exact same reaction as you did, have seen much more obliviousness to one’s privilege by some prgressive ladies of the left. Finally, good to know about Asymmetry, as it’s n my list. PS Great anecdote.
Being house bound has an advantage called reading! So I have read quite a bit recently, more than I have done in a long time. Almost of all are historical fiction, and some fantasy. Circe and the Song of Achilles, the Winter of the Witch you know. All such good reading. I loved a Gentleman in Moscow. The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock and the Essex Serpent have a similar atmosphere, and are very enjoyable. An unexpected lovely surprise was the Words in my Hand, situated in 15th century Holland, highly recommended. Lastly I read Transcription not Kate Atkinson’s best in my view. Next will be Once upon a River…and there are a few very tempting ones on your list!
That’s some very nice reading. I’ve read (and liked) most of these, although I got stuck with The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock. Transcription and Once Upon a River are on my list and Words in my Hand sounds good. I hope your health is improving!
Funny I had just started Ghost Wall and was loving it but got sidetracked by things I need to read for work and the new Tessa Hadley novel. I am a huge fan of hers, despite her characters occupying a moral universe that is almost unrecognizable to me. Will return to Ghost Wall now.
I also recently reread The People in the Trees and jr really is a stunning accomplishment. I want to write about it and A Little Life at some point but haven’t found the time.
And for the Donna Tartt conversation, how do you feel about The Goldfinch. I loved it but wonder if it might be a very precise demographic thing. The early Tartt novels were neither here nor there to me though, so it might be something more.
*googles Tessa Hadley*
Let me know what you thought about Ghost Wall. And you having loved The Goldfinch is a serious argument in favour of reading it. I haven’t so far: reviews were mixed and it’s a serious investment (I never read The Little Friend either). But yes, The People in the Trees, what a book. Where would you write about it?
I’ve just finished the Winter of the Witch. February is the perfect time to read this and now I’m looking for something of a similar ilk. Any suggestions?
Pfff, I cannot think of anything quite like that. Catherynne M. Valente’s Deathless explores a lot of the same territory in terms of inspiration, but it’s much more literary and stark, not really a feel-good read. And Artfulreader recently mentioned The Sisters of the Winter Wood, which sounds a bit similar – I haven’t read it, though. And then there’s Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and Spinning Silver, which I haven’t read either. I started with the first and while it didn’t captivate me, many people like it (and the sort-of sequel) a lot.