And The Year’s Reading Began Well: January Books

And so it begins. . . A new Reading Journal for 2021, a small notebook received at a Creative Mornings event, back when those were still in person (sigh). . . I used one of these for 2019’s reading, and again last year (when I had to add a few pages). . . We’ll see if I run out of space again this year.

January’s titles:

1.  At the Pond: Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies’ Pond. Essay collection; women’s lives; swimming

2. Virginie Grimaldie, Quand Nos Souvenirs Viendront Danser. French, contemporary fiction, aging, married life, parent-child relationship, mother-daughter

3. Anthony Horowitz, The Word is Murder. Mystery, Meta-fiction,  Writing/Publishing, London

4. Ian Rankin, A Song for the Dark Times, Mystery, police procedural, Aging detective, Scotland

5. Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain, literary fiction, poverty, addiction, coming-of-age, Scotland, Glasgow, mother-child, Booker prize

6. Diane Cook, The New Wilderness, literary fiction, dystopic, mother-daughter, environmental writing, American contemporary, speculative fiction, Booker shortlist

7. Denise Mina, The Less Dead, mystery, women’s lives, poverty, prostitution, Scotland, Glasgow

And my quick handwritten responses after reading each. . . 

Ignore that crossed-out scribble at the top — a book title I long ago made a note to remember

First title of the year is one I began last December (seems so long ago already!). A gorgeous, diverse collection of essays about “wild swimming” at the Hampstead Ladies’ Pond in London. This really is one to own, although I borrowed mine from the library. 

As you can see, I got a bit scrambled here with numbering. Might not be the last time — thanks for your patience ;-). Book #2 somehow ended up on the next page — (I retro-numbered to match the list I’ve already started of 2021 books read, but forgot to synchronize with the journal). On the page pictured above, 

Book #3 is Anthony Horowitz’s The Word is Murder. Not sure how I’d never known his writing until late last year when I read a review of his Moonflower Murders and realized I needed to start with first in that (Susan Ryeland) series,Magpie Murders. That was the last book I read in 2020, and now I’ve begun a parallel series. Both, at least as indicated by their first volumes, are clever, engaging, and very well written. Have you read any?

Below, Book #4 of the year was Ian Rankin’s A Song for the Dark Times. Some transitional work happening in this and in the last volume or two of the Rebus books has me hopeful that it will continue to hold my interest — bringing his personal and family life to the fore might do that — but I was a bit ho-hum about it. Undeniably good writing, though, always, from Rankin. 

And finally, Book 2,  Virginie Grimaldi’s Quand nos souvenirs viendront danser (When our memories come to dance). If you read French, this novel is both engaging, funny, and surprisingly resonant in spots for those of us with adult children. Verges close to caricature at times, and it’s easy to imagine it as a French film that keeps its audience laughing, but there are some astute, tender, and sometimes painful insights about aging as well. A good way to practice my French. 

I also posted about this novel on Instagram.

#5, Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain is my year’s first entry for Recommended Reading from my Books Read in 2021. Yes, it’s dark, but I also find it redemptive in the observation, the witness, as well as in the writing itself. The insistence on complexity, on love and hope and effort — and humanity — that is too often, too easily, ignored in our perception of poverty’s ugly grittiness. 

I will admit that following Shuggie Bain with Book #6, Diane Cook’s The New Wilderness was not the best strategy for mood enhancement during January’s rainy grey days. This dystopic novel, set in a near future whose urban environments poison children’s health, may have you mentally brushing up on your wilderness survival skills. But the story-telling is gripping, and besides the interest of the mother-daughter relationship, I was also pulled along by the ongoing narrative of group politics. 

Still, after two of these weightier “literary” novels in sequence, I was relieved when my public library let me know that my hold on Book #7, Denise Mina’s latest novel, The Less Dead,  was available. Mina’s novel was not as light as I might have hoped — in fact, her setting and theme intersect significantly with those of Shuggie Bain — but as mystery/crime fiction, it’s faster paced, and it provides relief through its professional-class protagonist, Margo.  I’m such a fan of Mina’s writing, and in some ways, The Less Dead‘s ending (which I initially found frustrating, if not annoying) has me admiring her even more. She doesn’t play to the crowd, doesn’t defer to expectations of the genre. If you’ve read this — or if you do — I’ll be curious to know what you think. IG post here.

And that’s it for January reading. Because February’s a short month, and because I’m two or three days’ later with this than I llike to be, we’re already almost halfway through the second month of the year, and I’ve already got a few entries under February in my Reading Journal.  And it’s snowing, here in Vancouver, perfect weather for curling up on the couch to finish my current book before I have to return it to the library on Tuesday (If you’re curious about what I’m reading right now, check this Instagram post)

So now it’s your turn, if you wouldn’t mind. I’d love to know what you’ve been reading, good or bad or indifferent. Have you set any particular reading goals for the year, and if so, did January’s reading bring you closer to meeting those? Or do you generally take a more random or flexible approach to your TBR lists? Time to chat, if you can spare a minute or two from that chapter. . . 

 

8 Comments

  1. Anonymous
    14 February 2021 / 5:38 pm

    I’m trying to read more widely this year and your lists are certainly helpful in that regard. Shuggy Bain is next on my list; I’ve heard such great reports about it and your review clinched it. Meanwhile, a snowbound weekend like this calls for a good mystery or two and I’ve been catching up with the Ruth Galloway series (The Outcast Dead) and have just started Anthony Horowitz’s The Magpie Murders. Back to that now!
    Frances in Sidney

  2. Anonymous
    15 February 2021 / 11:56 am

    I'm so glad that you like both The New Wilderness and Shuggie Bain. I've read Burnt Sugar from the Booker short list,too and agree with  the judges choice of Shugie Bain! Shugie Bain is so sad,"no way out "story,about love and sacrifices,about relationships and tragedies that could have been avoided,so beautifully written.

    I've read Haldóra Thoroddsen's Double Glazing -it got EU Prize for Literature-a short novel,100 pages of poetic (she was a poet from Iceland),exquisite story about an eldery woman,observing the world through the window (duh),looking out,feeling lonely and without her role in society, invisible but still visible,finding love (a taboo in a modern society,as well as between their children) but…….(no spoiler!),all in a wonderful translation of Daria Lazic.

    Translation,but a very bad one,was the reason I've stopped reading Tana French's mysteries after the first book ,ten or so, years ago (it was actually the third in Dublin Murder Squad series). As I've mentioned at High Heels- you and Sue were persuasive enough and I tried it in english. Wonderful,I love her!

    I am reading Peter Lovesay's mysteries,from the beginning, as well

    Do I have goals? Not exactly,it happens that I read about two books weekly.Funnily enough,during the lock down my annual score is not better than before,I read a lot more at home but sometimes I have problems to find a book I love to read. It seems I've definitely read a lot while waiting somewhere in between various chores and meetings,when things were normal- not a page last or this year. I follow recommendations here and at Sue's,yours and  your readers, as well. I used to find something I loved browsing in bookshops before…even now,there is a small bookshop in the mall near me,with excellent ladies who read-I guess they have recommended  Elif Shafak to me first,not hundred procent  sure

    I have to start with Horowitz' books as well

    Dottoressa

  3. materfamilias
    15 February 2021 / 5:13 pm

    Frances: You already read quite widely, it seems to me, and I'll be curious to see how your reading goes this year. Thanks for prompting me to check and find that there are new Ruth Galloway mysteries since I last read the series. Must put a Hold on those at the library!

    Dottoressa: Paul just finished The New Wilderness and he thanks you for the recommendation as well.
    I just spent some times trying to see if I could get a copy (library or bookstore or online e-book) of Double Glazing in English — doesn't seem available here, frustratingly — BUT, I did see that I could get an e-copy in Italian translation. . . and I could actually manage to read that now, stopping to look words up every few minutes 😉 I think I'll probably wait!
    I have a copy of The Searchers — splurged on the hardcover just because. . .
    You are such a discerning and committed reader — I'm curious what percentage of your reading is in English, what in Croatian . . . and others, because I know you read Italian and German sometimes as well. . . Most impressive 😉
    I think you'll enjoy Horowitz' books. . .

    • Anonymous
      15 February 2021 / 8:56 pm

      Thank you very much,you are so kind. I read more English than Croatian,maybe 2/3 to 1/3-I guess I'll be reading even more in original (except Croatian books,naturally,and some translation from other languages), but I buy books that my mother reads as well,so they are in Croatian. I read maybe 2-3 books a year in German and very sporadic Italian. Your Italian goes up,my goes down 🙂 -it is so easy to forget when one doesn't use it. Forty years ago I could read French, reading a menu could be a challenge today
      D.
      D.

  4. materfamilias
    22 February 2021 / 12:28 am

    D: Yes! I can see that it's necessary to keep the language in practice else it fades. Your English is so strong you're not likely to lose that, but it would be hard to give enough attention to five different languages to keep them fully fluent or even functional. (In the Spanish classes I took at university half a century ago — yes, really!! — we read a couple of novels. That seems impossible now, and I doubt I'll ever have the time to revive my Spanish, except that it's not so distant from Italian and French). I hope we're keeping our brain cells healthy at least in the effort 😉

  5. Mardel
    28 February 2021 / 12:06 pm

    oh my. Loved this list. I adored Shuggie Bain and agree completely with the Booker. Yes it is sad, but also so filled with love and complexity and I will admit that at times I found it quite humorous in a very dry way that I tend to associate with Scotland, although it could just be the humor of a couple of Scots I have known, dry and sharp but not bitter or cruel, as if one can only laugh at the pathos of life or one would cry.

    I enjoyed The New Wilderness but also struggled with it. I think partially this was an error of placement. I read it immediately following Collum McCann's Apeirogon, which was so strong and beautiful. My brain probably needed something of a palette cleanser. I loved the exploration of the mother-daughter relationship however, which was strong and nuanced.

    I read pretty much most genre's although I have read far more mystery and procedural since following you. I tend to think I am too indiscriminate in what I will read, but I see that is really not the case, just wide-ranging and curious. I just discovered Rankin. I miss going to book stores to just wandering and picking up a book, reading a few pages, deciding. I feel my reading was so much more of a discovery when I could do that, even though I still read widely. I would like to read the French novel. You reminded me that I picked up Candide in French two years ago, and Pedro Paramo in Spanish, which was far superior to the English translation. The intention was to read more, to revitalize those skills, but it is just too easy to read in English. Perhaps I shall make another attempt although at the moment my book stack is miles high, and I have fallen back on light reading. Before I tackle French or Spanish, I need to reread Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance for book club in March. I am hosting, even if via zoom.

  6. writing not drowning
    6 March 2021 / 12:38 pm

    I seem to remember that you are a Donna Leon fan, so thought you would like to know that Daunt Books in London is recording a discussion with her about the latest Commissario Brunetti novel, Transient Desires and the video will be posted on the Daunt Books YouTube channel next Saturday (13 March). I don’t have a specific time yet but will let you know if/when I have more details. X

  7. materfamilias
    8 March 2021 / 5:27 pm

    Mardel: It's definitely easier to read in English, but I think you'll find that your ease in your second (and third!) reading language will arrive. Maybe not try to do too much at once, but keep it consistent — and I'm sure you know not to worry about looking up all new words in a dictionary. Often I find that I will look up some over the first few pages and a kind of lexicon gets set up, after which context is enough for eomprehension. I also find that my memory of what I've read is of longer duration than my English reading, more eidetic as well. . .
    WND: I'd definitely be interested — especially if a recorded version is posted. Thanks!

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