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With the cozy autumn season beginning to settle in, I thought it would be a fantastic time to start a new “reading roundup” post series. Here I will chat about what I’ve been reading lately. Because my reading life can be a bit chaotic at times (yes, I’m a mood reader), and it can take me a while to finish a book even if I’m loving it, I decided to do this seasonally.
Here are some of the books I read in the late summer (Aug/Sept) of 2021 and a few thoughts on each:
Beautiful World, Where Are You - Sally Rooney
Okay, so this was my first foray into the Sally Rooney universe and I was keen to see what all the hype has been about. The novel centers on four individuals — Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon — and the social worlds they inhabit. Not a ton happens, but it’s an interesting look at getting “comfortable” with adulthood, desire, sex, and friendship. I particularly liked the email exchanges that Alice and Eileen frequently get into between Eileen’s life in Dublin and Alice’s in the rural farming village where she’s retreated. They remind me of a very modern epistolary novel. I liked the book, but not well enough that I’m chomping at the bit to read the rest of Rooney’s backlist any time soon.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory - Caitlin Doughty
How can a book about death and the funeral industry be so delightful? Well, mostly because Caitlin Doughty is a fantastic writer and storyteller. Doughty’s memoir of her time working at a crematory in California not only explores the day-to-day of the mortician’s life but digs deep into the history of the funeral industry and our modern American obsession with avoiding death. Sprinkled liberally with gallows humor, it’s an entertaining selection of stories that seem at once so bizarre and, yet, so rooted in tenderness. I laughed, I cried. In the end, I came away with a greater understanding of how we as a society and culture have a long way to go in being more death-positive.
Olive is Emma Gannon’s debut novel that follows the titular character and her three best friends as they navigate adulthood, relationships, careers, and motherhood. Olive, a London journalist, attempts to explore why some women choose to be childfree for a new assignment. Along the way, she finds her own beliefs around motherhood undergoing their own transformation. As her friends experience pregnancy, infertility, and infidelity, Olive feels increasingly left out and betrayed. Gannon’s exploration of female friendship is strong. At times raw and unfiltered, Olive breaks down the taboos that I know many women who’ve made the choice to be childfree face.
The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story- Charis Cotter
I’ve been reading more middle-grade novels lately, partly because I like finding new things to put on the shelves at the bookshop, and also because there is some really good stuff out there! The Dollhouse fit the bill perfectly for what middle-grade me would have loved (and what I still do). In this incredibly atmospheric story, young Alice is facing down her parents’ divorce when she moves with her mom to the home of a wealthy, elderly woman. When she finds a mysterious dollhouse in the attic, Alice finds herself floating between what is real and what is not, between the present and the past. I was sufficiently creeped out at times and there are a few themes that might be a bit strong for younger middle-grade readers. Cotter’s writing is really compelling and had me guessing about what was really happening right to the end!
“You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live.”
-Becky Chambers, A Psalm for the Wild Built
A Psalm for the Wild Built - Becky Chambers
This just might end up being my favorite book of the year. I’d been hearing a lot about Becky Chambers on my favorite bookish podcast, What Should I Read Next?, and knew I wanted to explore her sci-fi/fantasy novellas. When this one popped up, I couldn’t resist. Centuries after Earth’s robots gained self-awareness and left the world of factories for the forests, a young tea monk is called on a pilgrimage to the edges of their known world. When the monk crosses paths with a robot, all but a legend at this point, the two embark on a journey to understand what it is that we need in life. This charming novella is like the most comforting hug and a warm cup of tea. Expect to feel a little more optimistic by the end.
Last year I decided to try reading more poetry, something I’ve been a bit intimidated by for a while. I’ve found that I tend to enjoy poetry that has some elements of nature and a sense of place in them. Lanham’s collection of poetry and prose is steeped in the natural world, the South, and his own experience as a Black man and birder. It’s also published by one of my favorite indie publishers, Hub City Press.
You can order these books and more from your favorite local indie. I’m partial to Ghost Hill Press, of course.
