Q2 FAVOURITE READS

Well one of the oddest quarters has just finished. Did you do more or less reading than usual? What stood out for you, one way or another? Let your fellow readers know.

Seems I’m reading about the same amount overall. I feel like I’m in a good place in my reading, but it’s fragile with all the crappy news and bad attitudes clicks away.

In my year of Dante and Nabokov, my responses to them both feel a bit mild this quarter. I finished Purgatory Sunday and enjoyed reading it, but i’m not thinking about it so much. I read short biography of Nabokov that got me excited. I also read four of his novels and enjoyed the last two quite a bit (Glory and Laughter in the Dark) but neither really belongs a on this best of quarter list.

So, I’ll put these seven other books down, my favorite reading experiences. Four were audiobooks. The order is just the order I finished them

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare - it was surprisingly good compared to what I expected and it’s hung around.

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom - one of those great audiobooks

The Reawakening by Primo Levi - so happy I read this. More obscure than his Auschwitz book, which is a big part of what makes it a great read.

Educated by Tara Westover - just another great audiobook, much better than I imagined

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather - kind of took me places. A re-read that I appreciated a lot more this time.

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett - and another great audiobook, read by Tom Hanks, which only helps.

Memories of the Future by Siri Hustvedt - another great audiobook, although I would probably like this even better as text. It’s just very clever and fun.

I seem to have been retreating into books, and found myself reading much more than usual, averaging about a book a day since all this started. Tricky to find highlights amid all that. This selection probably omits a lot of really fantastic books...

— I finished my Zolathon, reading the last six books in Q2. Of those, the ones that stood out were La Terre and La bête humaine, both of which were re-reads. L'argent, read for the first time, was also very interesting.

— The second half of Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage was every bit as rewarding as the first half (read in Q1). A book I wish I'd known about earlier...

— Lost children archive — as I've said elsewhere, I didn't have very high hopes for this, I thought it was going to be a single-issue weepie, but of course it's far more than that. Really original writing. And a fantastic performance as an audiobook.

— Ole Bienkopp by Erwin Strittmatter — I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this East German collective-farm saga, but I would have been reassured if I'd known the author was a big pal of Halldór Laxness. A great complement to Unterleuten from Q1 too.

A lot of the books I read in Q2 were for the Southern Africa theme read of Reading Globally. No real duds among them, and it was great to get to know some of the big name writers a bit better. Among those new to me, the ones that stood out in different ways were:

— Chaka by Thomas Mofolo and Mhudi by Sol Plaatje — two, quite different, historical epics by black writers that both came out in the 1920s

— A walk in the night, and other stories by Alex La Guma — urban low-life stories from District Six in the fifties: "Forceful, stylish but very angry writing," I said in my review

— Down Second Avenue by Es'kia Mphahlele — a fantastic memoir of growing up in a township in the twenties and thirties

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>2 dchaikin: Purgatory Sunday — I'm sure that ought to be the name of a High Anglican festival, probably marked by the ceremonial administration of spoonfuls of cod-liver oil at an early-morning service...

I enjoyed listening to Hanks in The Dutch House too, but the book itself didn't do much for me!

I am reading less than I thought I would-but I am attracted to non-fiction- especially those accounts of 600 or 800 pages long. I am now interested in memoirs.

>3 thorold: maybe if I read The Dutch House, it lessens for me. Not sure. While reading, I didn’t care about the plot or the house, I just liked hearing Danny and how he made uninteresting stuff terribly interesting.

My reading has kind of tanked over the course of this quarter, and I turned to crime novels to keep the lamp lit, so to speak, but it's not been terribly successful.

However, early in the quarter I read some marvelous novels I've yet to review. These I can highly recommend if you like a good story written with empathy and compassion.

Restoration by Olaf Olafsson (2012, Icelandic-American)
One Station Away by Olaf Olafsson (2017, Icelandic-American)
Run Me to Earth by Paul Yoon (2020, US)

This is the best crime novel I read (or attempted to read) this quarter. Maybe book 4 or 5 of the series. It focuses on the investigation and any thriller bit is left for the end.

The Cabin by Jørn Lier Horst (2019, crime novel, Norwegian)

I have not read much nonfiction of late, and this book is perhaps an awkward read, but it is succinct, factual, and updates the science. It's was a very expensive academic book - but I personally thought it worth it.

Laterality: Exploring the Enigma of Left-Handedness by Clare Porac, PhD

At this point in the year it is already a record setting year for me, I've never read this many books in calendar year since I started keeping track. I have no idea why this is, it's not like I've suddenly become a faster reader (if anything I'm slower).

Some great reads for me this quarter:

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstren - Liked the elements and story telling within a story quite a lot, and the atmosphere was amazing, just wish the over arching procedural had picked up abut 1/4 of the book sooner. This would have made the top of the year list for sure.

Timefulness by Marcia Bjornerud - Geologist loves geology book is not earth shaking I know, but really put how we think about deep time into a new perspective. So this one wins.

Think Like a Freak by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dunbar - Nice summary of all the Freak books, nothing that can't be cleaned from the others, but sometimes I like being hit over the head with a big stick.

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire - the worlds of the wayward children are easily my favorite find of the year. I'd thought I'd hate a nonsense world and avoided this as long as possible, but turns out i loved it. It's now 1a with Down Among the Sticks and Bones as best of the series.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds - the destructive force of living up to an hour code and ill-defined sense of manhood wrought in a lyrical verse. Probably the closest thing to poetry I'll get.

The highlights of my second quarter reading included

* Chilean author Francisco Coloane's revelatory short story collection Tierra del Fuego
* Another wonderful entry in Philip Kerr's "Bernie Gunther" noir series, Prague Fatale
* James Baldwin's searing play, Blues for Mister Charlie
* The classic Norwegian novel Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
* An engrossing history, The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence, 1918-1923 by Charles Townshend

While I initially thought that I would get more reading done than usual I think I was reading at just the same pace as every year.
By far my favorite novel this quarter was Where the Crawdads Sing. I found myself laughing and crying and I was really rooting for the protagonist.
I hope to get in more reading during summer break as work is reduced to a minimum for a couple of weeks now.

My reading has been up and down and all over the place, I think.

Books that I rated at least 4.5 stars from this quarter are:

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

There seems to be some kind of interesting pattern in the fiction choices there. They're all about weird people who do not relate to others in the ways you'd expect from normal human beings?

Interesting that basically 2 people are up in their reading, 2 down, and 2 about equal. It seems the differences may be in what we are reading.

>6 avaland: I completely understand "... to keep the lamp lit...". It does work. I'm also with you on "yet to review". I must look for Olafsson; I suspect I would like him.

>4 torontoc: I've also been reading tomes this past quarter, but have to confess they were fiction, so likely to go more quickly. Nothing against a good long non-fiction tome, but for some reason I haven't been reading them lately.

>8 rocketjk: Tierra del Fuego was a highlight for me too.

>10 bragan: There seems to be some kind of interesting pattern in the fiction choices there. They're all about weird people who do not relate to others in the ways you'd expect from normal human beings? Too funny, but then that could describe a lot about how people are behaving these days.

>2 dchaikin: Interesting about the diminished responses. Wonder if they will hold up for those particular books, or if the response will change over time as things change. We probably all need books that will give us the same reaction as in >9 OscarWilde87:.

>3 thorold: and >5 dchaikin: Torn between your two reports on The Dutch House, as I'm usually happy with books you each read.

>7 stretch: Since my own reading is definitely way down, maybe I should try some of those books which have inspired yours.
Geologist loves geology book is not earth shaking Do geologists have their own inside jokes?

>11 SassyLassy: Hmm, I'd say I'm slightly down, because my former commute time was some heavy reading time for me. And I'm using that extra hour in the morning, at least, to get some physical exercise right now.

Best Q2s—a shortish list this time around. Most of my Q-2 books fell into the good-but-not great category, with a couple more clinkers than usual.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (a reread)
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream by Mychal Denzel Smith
Lot: Stories by Bryan Washington

>11 SassyLassy: >12 lisapeet: up ... down — probably just means that some of us (pensioners) have found that the pleasant but unimportant things we normally do with our lives are on hold, whilst others (workers, carers) have found that they still need to do everything they did before (and more), but under more complicated and stressful circumstances.

>7 stretch: >11 SassyLassy: Geologist loves geology book is not earth shaking — Did anyone ever write a book called The 100 greatest post-sex jokes for seismologists? — and if not, why not?

>12 lisapeet: What an effect changes in routine have on us. Sorry about your loss of reading time, but good for you to turn it into some exercise time. That is something I struggle with, as I always feel it is taking time from something "more important", but in the end, if we're not healthy, we won't be doing those "more important" things!

>13 thorold: Maybe Hemingway had his own copy?

I guess I should add my own favourites from the quarter. Many of the books I read were long, which cut down on quantity, if not quality. My highlight list, which seems oddly apt for the times, includes:

The Mirror and the Light because I had been looking forward to it so much and found a copy just as everything was closing down. The end of Cromwell's world fit perfectly with the overall mood at the time, and the writing itself did not disappoint.

The Door was another book that oddly fit into the zeitgeist with its horrifying end, being repeated in some many places around us: a memorable book.

Sightlines, a collection of essays on the natural world, was a good reminder to get outdoors each day and escape into that environment when everything else was closed.

>13 thorold: I think the committee for deciding the 100 greatest geological sex puns would be overhelming, our science is a never ending source and the amount of eye rolling might cause health issues.

My favorites for the 2nd Q included these fine and exceptional books about the African-American experience.

Only twice I've wished for heaven by Dawn Turner Trice.
Conjure women Afia Atakora.
Stateway's garden: stories Jasmon Drain
Red at the bone Jacqueline Woodson.

Q2 was fine, and I think I"m reading about the same amount. Memorable reads:

The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio - read this throughout the quarter; the quintessential pandemic read

The Temptation of Gracie, Santa Montefiore - escapism at its finest

To the Back of Beyond, Peter Stamm

Becoming, Michelle Obama - something positive for a change

It was no surprise that now I have made it to the Age of Shakespeare I would find some five star reads and so:

The Comedy of Errors William Shakespeare and Edward II by Christopher Marlowe

Reading books published in 1951 has already thrown up a couple of gems:

Bestiary: Selected stories by Julio Cortazar and The Loved and the Lost, Morley Callaghan by Morley Callaghan

My science fiction reading also came up with a couple Vingt mille lieues sous les mers and The Disappearance, Philip Wylie

Also a mention for Angels and Insects by A S Byatt

>16 stretch: My college geology professor taught us that we should not make "gneiss" or "schist" puns at geologists. This is one of the very few things I actually remember from that class. :)

>20 bragan: The sad part is that none of us are above that joke and they don't get better.

>20 bragan: Which is funny because my neighborhood is built on Fordham gneiss and Manhattan schist, so it's always tempting (well, always as in about once a decade, and that moment is NOW).

I am a little behind on reviews (1 left from June) but still.

April and May were weird months - I opted for comfort reads which meant known authors, known series, 42 books overall, continuing my trend from March both in numbers (higher than usual) and genres (mostly crime, a few SF in between). I did make a lot of progress in a lot of series and I liked a lot of the books but unless one reads the series, they really do not work on their own.

And then I snapped out of it at the beginning of June, added 11 more books for the year and it yielded my favorite books for the quarter:

Fiction:

The Disoriented by Amin Maalouf - part history novel, part memoir (~ish), part meditation on the topic of Lebanon of yesterday and what it is to live in another land.

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste - Ethiopia, mainly just before WWII, during the war with the Italians.

The Ghosts of Sherwood by Carrie Vaughn - much much lighter (both in volume and in topic) than the other two but so enjoyable. What happens after the Robin Hood story we all know ends?

Honorable mentions for Jean Toomer's Cane (even if it is not my style, it is fascinating) and Singapore Sapphire by A. M. Stuart - a historical mystery set in Singapore in 1910 which was good enough to be mentioned here - although as a first novel, it was a bit uneven - and the only book from April/May which was not part of my known authors, known series sequences.

Non-fiction

Well, this one is easy - I read two, both excellent

The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga - a short memoir about Rwanda and the mothers of the yesterday, before the genocide that made everyone find the country on a map, before the mothers lost their power, written in an exquisite style and with so much warmth.

After the Ice: A Global Human History 20,000-5000 BC by Steven Mithen - which is exactly what it says on the tin and which will not work for everyone (this is my missing review, working on it...) but which I enjoyed a lot more than I expected (and I expected a lot to start with).

>23 AnnieMod: I loved Jean Toomer's Cane. I wish I had had the chance to teach it.

>24 nohrt4me2:

I am not entirely sure I understood all of it -- modernist novels were never my thing and as a result I had read very little of them. And not having grown up in the English-language literary cannon, I probably missed some other things. I debated with myself if I want to find a lengthy introduction or some critical material about it and decided against it - the parts I really liked work on their own and I can see the structure of the whole thing - life is too short to worry about the rest. :)

I am not sure how much a high school student will get out of it -- it does require some maturity to understand I think. Or maybe not. But I doubt I would have finished it, let alone appreciated it even in my twenties.

>25 AnnieMod: I taught college English, and I think it would be pretty accessible to students in an American lit class. I'm glad you liked parts of it and mentioned it here. It deserves a wider audience.

This quarter I read less books than I probably have in a long time.

My top five books for the quarter in reading order.

A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor
The Huntress by Kate Quinn
Someone Like Me by M R Carey
The City and The City by China Mieville
To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers