I read:
Thoughts:
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh: Reviewed earlier this month.
The Japanese Lover by Isabelle Allende: This was my non-reading book club book club’s pick. See how few books I read this month compared to other months? That was, in part, due to the sheer tediousness of The Japanese Lover putting me off reading. A mish-mash of every horror of the twentieth century (Holocaust, Japanese internment, sex trafficking, AIDS, etc.) stuffed into a maudlin, bloated carcass of people talking at each other in nonsensical situations.
That being said, the few who did read it for book club and who weren’t me thought it was ah-maaaaz-ing. But they are wrong. I am right. It put me off reading for most of the month.
The Inferno by Dante Aligheri: Reviewed earlier this month. Another one of the books that I struggled to get through this month.
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante: I even had the latest Elena Ferrante and didn’t feel much like reading this month. That’s how off reading I was. And then, because September was that sort of month, I didn’t even love The Story of the Lost Child as much as the other Neapolitan novels. Still, I couldn’t give it less than five stars, so it got five stars.
The Accident by Chris Pavone: A good reminder that not every sentence needs an adjective. Book Three of my books-that-aren’t-for-me September trio.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith: I think if I had first read this book aged eleven, it would have been my favourite. But I first read this book at age thirty-six and so I’m too jaded for it to be my favourite.
The Scholl Case by Anja Reich-Osang: A review will be posted closer to the publication date.
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler: Over on LibraryThing, they have recommendations for me. So I’ve decided to try and read some recommendations, of which A Spool of Blue Thread was one. It was fine. American so had that American-ess to it. Made me think of light-hearted Jane-Austen-type of novel, but modern. I’m sure there’s a name for that (social comedy? comedy of manners? I knew what I wanted to say last week when I was reading the book but now I can’t remember. Also, I need to learn how to correctly punctuate parenthetical remarks. I think the period goes at the end of this sentence, not outside the close bracket.)
Best American Poetry 2016 edited by Edward Hirsch: Hopefully I’ll get the review up by tomorrow.
Favourite book:
Obvs, since I had little else to choose from.
Most promising book on my wishlist:
I watched:
Luther: Man, I forgive so much from this show because everyone has British accents, because if this was an American show, I’d likely decide it was a piece of trash and stop watching it, but nope. British accents make everything awesome. I miss my British accent.
The Good Place: Pretty much my main issue with The Good Place is that it’s not Parks and Recreation and since I no longer have access to US Netflix, I cannot watch Parks and Recreation and I really really really want to.
I wrote:
You haven’t written much on your blog lately Geoff says.
Because I am working on proofreading my faerie story. All day. Every day I answer.
I am out of writing ideas, so I work on fixing up the ideas I’ve already had.