November’s reading was heavily influenced by travelling, with two of the books deliberately chosen to nudge me into the language I was trying to speak and hear. Both those titles, though, are also available in English and I happily recommend them in either language. Book 77 and book 80 were also chosen with our travel in mind — one made great airport reading and the other helped me through the sleepless early mornings of jet lag, on our return. And the one other book I read this month is one I previewed in my October book post (which I wrote mid November, while travelling) — I (unusually) brought a physical copy in my suitcase so that I could read and mention it in time for my friend’s book launch.
Not surprisingly, for a travel month, I read fewer books than usual — and I also fell behind in keeping my handwritten Reading Journal. But I’m all caught up now and trying to recover some habits. As well, if you follow Materfamilias Reads on Instagram, you’ll have noticed I’ve been very neglectful there; that’s changing as well, I hope — at least, posted more recently. We’ll see if I can keep it up.
Writing up November’s reading, on the other hand, was heavily influenced by Covid! So if you notice more shortcomings than expected, blame the virus. . . As usual, the numbering comes from my annual reading journal, and the italicized text below is directly transcribed from that journal’s pages (once upon a time, I simply included photographs of those pages, but too many of you found my handwriting tough to decipher, especially in the photographed format).
76. Trois. Valerie Perrin. Read in French, but available now as Three, translated by Hildegarde Serle. Genre fiction / literary fiction; Romance; Coming-of-Age; Friendship; Mystery; LGBTQ; French provincial life; Paris.
I bought this to read on my Kobo as we headed back to France from Italy so that I could begin switching languages. I was quickly caught up in the lives of three characters who met in grade school — age 11 — thanks to the alphabetic proximity of their last names and almost instantly became fast friends. They’re the same vintage as my daughters so it was interesting to revisit the music and fashion of the 80s and 90s from their adolescent perspective.
The story is built through a Then and Now structure with the reader increasingly invested in finding out how these three have become estranged. And the narration by one character is hard to pinpoint — who is she? where does she fit into the trinity? An envious onlooker from back in the day? A stalker?
The central story follows the bright and talented Nina of 1984 (she sketches constantly, makes lively and instantly recognizable portraits of her friends — and the three of them have a band together with Nina as the main singer) who somehow becomes, by 2017, a reclusive woman who manages an animal shelter but apparently has next to no human friends, no obvious interests besides the animals. We see her through the eyes and words of the mysterious Virginie, who also tells us about Étienne and Adrien. . . and Étienne’s sister, Louise.
So much hinges on traumatic events of the crucial years between 18 and 25. The loss of a beloved grandparent; a central mystery to solve (the disappearance of a female classmate just after graduation; a body in a car pulled up from the lake); identities to rebuild, illnesses to confront; deaths to grieve,; marriages to leave; somehow . . . and friendships to rebuild, if that’s even possible.
There are also a few too many genre fiction (thriller / mystery / romance) tropes for some and these get in the way of Perrin’s potential strength as a writer of literary fiction. But I thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel and found it an easy and engaging way to practice my French.
77. The It Girl. Ruth Ware. Mystery; Oxford university setting; UK college setting; 20-somethings; friendship; romance; marriage; class system.
Good book for an airport or an armchair. Satisfying, not least for its evocation of the Oxford environment, the excitement and anxiety and strangeness and romance of those first months living away from family. Interesting psychological exploration from ten years after the traumatic event that split the Oxford friends apart. Didn’t live up to the hype for me, but it did keep me turning pages. Without spoiling anything, though, I must I’m disappointed in where the ending leaves the female protagonist.
78. Non è stagione. Antonio Manzini. Read in Italian (available in English translation as Out of Season). Mystery; Police Procedural; Rocco Schiavone series; set in Valle d’Aosta, Italy.
3rd in the Rocco Schiavone series, and I’m liking these better with each volume. Plus the coincidence of reading this during a snowfall while Rocco is grumbling about same in Valle d’Aosta made it even more fun. Mind you, ours was an early snowfall (late November) while Rocco was grumbling in May — he’d been hoping to finally see some green to hearten his Roman soul. . .
A botched kidnapping and the suspicion of organized crime establishing a foothold in his new home have galvanized Rocco — who won’t easily admit that he is also establishing a foothold in his own in Valle d’Aosta, earning friendships and respect in his new (and, he hopes, temporary) community and a credible network of resources.
Can’t say too much about the ending, but oh, it’s very moving. . .
79. Ariadne Then and Now: The Labyrinth and the End of Times. Carol Matthews. Memoir; labyrinths; self-help; philosophy.
Carol sent me a (beautifully autographed) copy of this new edition of her labyrinth book. Such a pleasure to re-read it and to read the chapters she’s added for this edition. Her deceased husband , Mike, becomes the interlocutor in these chapters in place of Ariadne (and yes, that Ariadne, the one who helped Theseus find his way out of the labyrinth after he’d slewn the Minotaur) — and sometimes all three voices chime in together. Here’s what I wrote in my October bookpost when I wanted to have something online before Carol’s Nanaimo book launch:
I just finished it yesterday on the train from Florence to Turin, this new edition of what I called “Carol Matthews’ Labyrinth book” when I posted about it 11 years ago. Since then, Carol’s beloved husband, Mike, has died, and she’s written a memoir, Minerva’s Owl: The Bereavement Phase of My Marriage about living in that loss; I wrote about that memoir here and know that many of you have read it and found it moving and instructive and useful.
The new edition of her labyrinth book — Ariadne Then and Now: The Labyrinth and the End of Times — retains Carol’s erudite exploration of the history and continued relevance of labyrinths, particularly the way that walking them meditatively can facilitate self-knowledge (or healing or consolation or problem-solving). The pages still contain her thoughts about ageing and mortality (although I read these pages so differently now, Carol and myself over a decade older, Mike gone almost that long).
But there are new sections now: in some of which Mike replaces Ariadne as interlocutor; in others Carol considers the labyrinthine possibilities of technology as highlighted by pandemic lockdowns; and other sections wherein a wise old woman wails and rants and comes to terms with some of her frustrations with humanity and what we’ve done to our planet. And sometimes refuses to come to terms with that. Ariadne and Mike chime in and advise. There’s humour, there are wonderful art and literary and musical allusions, and there are word-sketches of a granddaughter growing. A gem for any library shelf, in fact.
You can visit the website of NeoPoiesis Press to find out more about Ariadne Then and Now and to read what others have said about it and/or to purchase a copy there. You should also be able to order it (or even find a physical copy on the shelf already) at your local independent bookstore, and it’s available on Amazon right now if you’d like a copy in time for Christmas giving. (Excuse the extra plug — for which I receive no remuneration — but friends who are wonderful writers are rare and deserving of all the encouragement and recognition, right?)
80. The Paper Palace. Miranda Cowley-Heller. Domestic Fiction; Coming-of-Age; Romance; Friendship; Generational Abuse; Cape Cod.
Megan recommended this, and I was tickled to be able to put it on Hold from Paris and have it waiting at VPL when I got home!
Mid 50s Elle (born in ’66), happily married, three kids, is back with her family — and her mother (“still beautiful at 73,” Narcissistic) — at her family’s summer cabin at Cape Cod. The “Paper Palace is the family’s fond name for the place her grandfather built — much of the interior built out of pressed paperboard, very attractive to mice.
Also at the pond in their own neighbouring compound is Elle’s dearest childhood friend, her first love, with whom she shares a traumatic secret, a secret that has bound and then separated them for years and ensured that their love, while powerful and reciprocal, was never consummated. Until this summer, when Elle must make a choice, and in the process of doing so, must come to terms with a family history of parents who willfully and selfishly put their needs above their children’s. A history of neglect and incest and survival. But also of love and friendship, marriage and parenthood. Mothers, sisters. And the continuity of place, especially a place that strengthens resilience or perhaps compensation by offering, in Nature, something beyond.
Honestly, I was entertained by this, found the characters interesting (Elle’s mother is a piece of work, but also oddly admirable, even though she is not, as Elle tells us, 73, having been born in ’44 — for how else could she have been 8 in 1952?! Editors, look sharp!! — . . . A quibble, perhaps, but sloppy editing irritates me) and driven forward by the structure, the various decisions being made at crucial points of the parallel timelines. But I also feel queasy about the subject matter used as entertainment . In a much lighter way than I felt about Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life (and also here) but echoes of that discomfort.
EDITED TO ADD: Another reader (she often comments here as “slf”) has let me know that Hayden Herrera’s memoir Upper Bohemia is a non-fictional account of growing up in the family her niece Miranda Cowley-Heller loosely based The Paper Palace on. As Cowley-Heller says in this interview , “my aunt’s memoir . . . has a lot of crossover with my novel.” I haven’t read this memoir yet, but I intend to. Have you?
I did manage an Instagram post about A Paper Palace.
And that’s it for the books I read last month. I’ve already enjoyed some December titles that I will be happily recommending in a month or so — and then I’ll be putting together my Annual Book List. Doesn’t seem that long ago I posted this one; the year flew by, the pages turned. . .
I know you’ll all be busy now with preparations for whatever winter festivities you celebrate, but should you care to celebrate reading here, I’ll pour you a virtual glass of wine or a sparkling non-alcoholic drink and settle you in a comfy chair. And when you’re ready, perhaps you’ll share a few thoughts on past or present or future reading. Best book for a snowstorm, for example, or most evocative of winters past, or most helpful for getting through a long, dark winter (Katherine May’s Wintering, for example: have you read it?). Or, as ever, even just a wave to let us know you’re here, listening. . .
xo,
f
p.s. Thanks again to those who have “bought me a coffee” over the last few months since I introduced this feature to the blog. The encouragement and financial support is greatly appreciated.
I am relatively new to your blog, having heard about you from Contessa. I wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your writing, and your point-of-view. I also like traveling vicariously through you! Thank you for your book recommendations – I have ordered two of them and am eagerly looking forward to reading them.
Author
Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoy my blog — so encouraging! I hope you enjoy the books you’ve ordered on my recommendation — I look forward to hearing what you think of them.
I read the first Valerie Perrin on your recommendation & really enjoyed it . I have Three to hand ( in English ) & will read it soon . You say bad editing annoys you & I agree . I found a book in a charity shop recently , a murder mystery set in our favourite village in Scotland & written by a local . It was a self published book & can’t have been edited . The actual plot was rather good & of course I loved the setting but there were some weird moments . People changed their names from one chapter to another , for example Maira was suddenly Mary or Moira , characters switched location & at one point two men became women as they crossed the street . It wasn’t supposed to be a comedy but I’ve never laughed so much at a murder mystery. It made me realise how important a good editor is .
Wendy,it seems that it is utterly dangerous to cross the street in your favourite village!
Dottoressa
🤣🤣🤣
Author
Ha! So poor editing has the power to turn a murder mystery into a comedy! This is a warning to all who choose to self-publish.
I would expect better of established publishers who should know that good editors are worth their weight in gold (or some mineral without which computer chips can’t be made, or some such). My understanding is that the editing staff even at top publishing houses has been several reduced in answer to the economic woes that have hit the industry over the last few decades — Riverhead is an imprint of Penguin Books; Riverhead’s authors have won an impressive number of prestigious literary prizes (Olga Tocarczuk, for example, won the Nobel Prize for Literature). Those authors deserve to not have readers find silly errors in their books.
Okay, rant over! Thanks for agreeing with me and offering a convincing — and amusing — example.
I look forward to your book reviews. Ariadne Then and Now sounds fascinating.
I’ve been very busy and haven’t had much time for sitting in one place for long, so I have been working on the same two books for a while. I am looking forward to a little time off after Christmas and, hopefully, a little time to rest and read.
Author
Those days after Christmas, when all (with any good fortune) becomes peaceful and the house is stocked with leftovers . . . the best time for reading! I hope you find time to sit long enough to finish both those books.
I just finished one last night. The Comfort Food Diaries. I need to try a couple of the recipes!
Author
Nice! And I must say, your Orange Cardamom Upside-Down Cake looks like a brilliantly comforting possibility!
Hm. I had to mentally wander around the house to see what I have on the go. Annie Ernaux, in English, still, and am trying to pretend I didn’t order two more for a Christmas gift to self (along with Muji pajamas which have been tried on and put away, recommended by a friend and oh so perfect). Suite Française (Irène Némirovsky), in English, just started. Fedeltà (Marco Missiroli) in Italian, after having read it in English. Nigel Slater’s Christmas Chronicles when a page or two is all I can manage before sleep.
I have made a note of Non è stagione for when travel time comes; if I’m going to immerse I might as well go all the way. Ha!
Author
Oh, I’m so pleased you took your friend’s recommendation for those Muji pyjamas 😉 I love mine!
Not sure why I’ve never read Suite Française. Maybe because in the early 90s I took a German Literature course (and the German History course with which it was twinned) that covered the decades before and after the war, and SF was published too soon (2005-ish?) after that for me to be ready.
Just looked up Fedeltà and I see that the Netflix series is based on it. Another for the list. Although really I’m more in need of the kind of book for “when a page or two is all I can manage before sleep” — we readers, such a variety of needs for such a variety of reading circumstances!
Thanks to you and Georgia, I need to figure out what Muji pajamas are.
Author
The Muji pjs I love are made of two layers of fine cotton (something like cotton lawn weight) joined by stitches that make something like a quarter-inch grid, if that makes sense. So they have a lovely airy quality too them but also a substantiveness. They come in gingham and in Swiss dots in a limited range of colours and I will wear mine until they’re threadbare! (My first, my favourites, are getting there. I’m still working the second pair in 😉
I’ll take that virtual glass of wine, sit back, and read for a few minutes… or perhaps longer. I’m presently about a third of the way through Talia Garner’s novel, The Third Daughter. Until I started reading it, I had no idea that during the 19th and early 20th centuries over 150,000 women were deceived and lured from Eastern Europe into prostitution in South America!
Author
I’ve just looked up Talia Carner and Wow! That woman is impressive. And from the reviews I read, her fiction works to bring to light injustices past and present without stinting on good storytelling. It sounds as if that’s the case with The Third Daughter — I hadn’t known about that particular historical path of prostitution either (although I do know that sex slavery continues today in shocking numbers). Thanks for sharing the title — I’m sure other readers here will find this interesting.
I’ve loved Perrin’s Fresh Water for Flowers very much,Three sounds promissing,too…
Manzini’ second book still waits in my digital library,Ariadne Then and Now seems nice,too! The Paper Palace is on my wish list for some time,glad you liked it
I’ve read quite a few Sally Spencer’s Inspector Woodend series books,as a comfort read, last month,while dealing with numerous overdue and completely not punctual handymen here and there and everywhere. I’ve read Monika Paniatowski series first some time ago(Monica’s books come after Woodend series,Monica is here his bagman-or bagwoman-, so it is upside down reading! I’m looking forward to the newest Monica in January,as well)
I’ve read A. Ernaux Less Années in an excellent croatian translation, while you were reading it,too,and loved it very,very much. Such a wonderful book,personal and collective and general memories!
Claire Keegan’s short novel Small Things Like These about Magdalene Laundries in Ireland and the brave man who decided to help,despite the possible consequences. An excellent book, too
Hernan Diaz’ The Trust, the novel about people-the elite- and the city (New York) and the money, the history that can’t be trusted,because,as we know, it depends more to the one who writes,than to the truth.
So,the narrative could or couldn’t be truth……Diaz himself explains that “the serious money has the ability to distort reality”
I make so many typos these days that I need editor myself
Dottoressa
Author
Really, Dottoressa, you should have your own book blog!
I’ve added a note to what I said about The Paper Palace — have you read the memoir Upper Bohemia? It’s written by Hayden Herrera, who is the aunt of The Paper Palace’s author and just from the reviews I read it seems that there’s considerable overlap between the two.
Isn’t it great that there are such good translators working for us? Interesting that there seem to be so many who move between French and Croatian so well, but also that there is a good market in your two countries for this exchange. I’m very impressed by Les Années, stopping regularly to look up moments of 20th-century history that I’d forgotten about or never read of because they happened in another country.
More overlap — I just finished Small Things Like These. Yes! Excellent!
I know nothing of this Inspector Woodend, so I’ll be looking up those, and Monika Paniatowski also.
As for the typos, those don’t irritate me at all in this context. My ranting is aimed at the big publishing houses who think they can shave their budgets at the expense of good editing — I wish I had an editor myself!
I am always so impressed by the number of books you manage to read. I am inly on # 48 for the year. Recently read Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson, a family saga of a family from the Caribbean , their time in the UK and eventually California. Many secrets are revealed. Then, On a Night of a Thousand Stars, Argentinian author Andrea Yaryura Clark. Family moves from Argentina to New York. College student daughter becomes very interested in the family’s past. Many secrets are revealed. then I read the Air We Breathe. Frances De Pontes Peebles, Brazilian writer. This is about the relationship between two women who meet as children, one the daughter of a wealthy sugar plantation owner, the other the orphan kitchen maid. Through their music, Samba, they achieve fame, eventually making it to Hollywood. Theirs is a complex relationship, with each other and with those they encounter along the way. All are worth reading. I was interested in reading something by Annie Ernaux after seeing an interview with her on PBS, however, I could not find anything in our library. Perhaps with her winning the Nobel prize her work will become more widely available. Currently more than halfway through Chole Cooper Jones Memoir Easy Beauty, highly recommended. I may have mentioned that I also read Ruth Ware’s It Girl. I also felt a bit uneasy with the ending but I find that I often find endings a little disappointing after reading a compelling book.
Author
So many great recommendations here, Darby — looks as if there’s a common thread of immigration to the US in several of them.
I’m surprised your library doesn’t have copies of anything by Ernaux — we’re spoiled for choice here with many listings, both in French and in English translations. I wonder if you could make a request, and at least start someone thinking they should have something on the shelves. I’m currently reading Les Années and I’m sure you’d find it worthwhile and absorbing.
I was surprised as well, and have made that request.
Author
Good for you! This is how we expand our librarians’ abilities to make requests (if they already know about the books in question) or their awareness.
It’s been a while, about two summers ago, since I read The Paper Palace and Upper Bohemia. I think I preferred Upper Bohemia because it had that life is stranger than fiction aspect to it. It was certainly an out of the ordinary memoir! Thank you for providing the link to the interview. I hadn’t seen it before, although I had read somewhere that Hayden Herrera is her aunt.
Author
From the reviews I’ve read of Upper Bohemia, I think I will prefer it as well. And you’re welcome re the interview — I found it interesting (and curious about the family politics around the two books!)
And both published the same year!