Somehow another three months have gone by! I didn’t have as much time to read as I did in the first and second quarter of the year, so I only managed 8 books. But there were a couple of really great ones in there, so let’s take a look!
July
Ask Again, Yes took me a while. It’s not the type of book I normally read, and on top of that it dragged a fair amount in the middle. I’m really not sure what drew me to it – other than the cover, of course. Even though it wasn’t a fast or unputdownable (sure that’s a word. Shut up.), it did have some content worth the time. It explored some pretty important themes like family, motherhood, isolation, mental illness and addiction. It didn’t always do it with the depth I might have hoped for, but a couple of those themes were delved into more than others. The theme of mental illness I thought was probably the one that stood out the most. The story did have me wanting to know what happened next, but I had trouble connecting to any of the characters so it didn’t have as much of an emotional impact as I had hoped. 5/10.
Vintage 1954, on the other hand, was a definite page turner. It was light and fun, but also gave me that depth of character I looked for and missed in Ask Again, Yes. I loved the setting of this book – Paris both in 1954 and today – and though I normally hate time travel stories, this is one that actuallty worked for me. A charming read. 7 or 8/10.
August
This was the Booker Prize month for me, starting with Max Porter’s Lanny. I’d heard a lot about Max Porter’s first novel, Grief Is the Thing With Feathers, but the premise didn’t appeal to me so I gave it a miss. This one didn’t appeal to me that much more, but it was a short one so I decided to read a few pages and see how it went. It went well. It’s an experimental book that uses interesting formatting and shifting perspectives with very distinct tones to create a tapestry of village life during a crisis. I really enjoyed about 90% of this book and was quite disappointed when it didn’t make the shortlist. 8/10.
The Wall is the first John Lanchester I’ve read, and I have to admit it hasn’t endeared him to me. It’s a post-apocalyptic novel set in a climate change future where the world has been taken over by water and Britain has built a wall around the entire coastline to keep water and people out. The book is slow, doesn’t have great character development (even worse when it comes to female characters), doesn’t do a good job of world-building and by the end I wasn’t any more invested than I had been at the beginning (though I was more annoyed with it). Really the only thing it has going for it is some current and important themes – migration, climate change and echoes of Brexit. Not the best book of the year and particularly disappointing as a longlist contender. 3/10
I rounded out July with a bang. I’d heard great things about Bernardine Evaristo’s novel in verse, Girl, Woman, Other. It lived up to the hype, and then some. It’s a novel told in short character studies, but those studies connect to one another in setting, characters and themes. Most are black women in the UK, and there is a lot of diversity represented here. I loved that it focuses on voices that have historically been missing from literature, and felt that it was an incredibly powerful vehicle for getting those voices finally heard and valued. I loved learning about these characters and their experiences, and I loved both the format and style of the novel. I was thrilled that it made the shortlist, and it would be my choice to win. 9/10.
September
I was tempted to save Natives for last because it was by far the best I read this quarter, but I am sticking with my chronological account. For those who don’t know, Akala is a hip hop artist and activist from London. He is of mixed heritage – Jamaican and Scottish/English – and grew up in one of the poorer neighbourhoods of London with a single mom. But he lucked out in some vital ways – his mother made sure to give him a strong sense of self and an understanding of black history, as well as enrolling him in Pan-African Saturday school where the students learned about their cultural history from a place of pride. He also had some fantastic role models in his life who helped encourage him to work hard and live up to his potential. These experiences fostered in him an ability to critically assess the society around him, and a desire to seek information and understanding. The result is a man whose insights are both informative and inspiring, and whose voice is as charismatic as it is vital. 11/10. (No, that’s not a typo. It’s that good.)
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill was a fun and entertaining read, but mostly notable for its setting (a bookstore) and bookishly-inclined characters. It’s a romance novel, and despite a few attempts this year to branch off into this genre, I still don’t love it. So that part was a hard sell for me, and I didn’t really buy into the romance element. But I did enjoy NIna’s self-exploration and the relationships she had with her friends and newfound family. It’s a light, fun read, and if you do like romance, it will probably appeal to you. It’s good for what it is. 5/10.
I hadn’t heard anything about The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted before picking it up, and I’m actually glad that was the case. It was a very pleasant surprise, had some wonderful character development and I loved the relationship between Tom, our gruff and hardworking farmer and his adopted son. I liked that a rural Australian farmer in the 1960s was allowed some depth and emotional range, but didn’t lose any of his credibility as a capable and tough guy who could turn his hand to anything. The story itself was okay, but definitely not the strong point of the book. It’s Tom and the setting that really stole the show. Great if you enjoy or want to read something in an Australian setting, and if you’re looking for a pageturner that will get you deeply emotionally engaged, this is the book for you. 7/10.
Faves
I had heard great things about both of these books before picking them up, and yet they still managed to surprise me in the best possible way. I’m not sure if it’s a coincidence that they both dealt heavily with inequities in society – particularly race and class – or if my interest in these topics is part of what made me love these so much. Either way, they both stand on their own as excellent books, both in terms of writing and content. I hope you will all pick up at least one of these, because I guarantee you will learn something important from the experience of reading them.
In addition to my wrap-up, I wanted to take a moment to discuss the Booker Prize, because the winner will be announced tomorrow! (Check out the longlist here and the shortlist here if you’re not sure what I’m on about!) I was happy to see Girl, Woman, Other on the list, and interested that Ducks, Newburyport made it – the notorious thousand page doorstop of a book containing one long sentence with only a few breaks. I felt like both The Testaments and Quichotte probably wouldn’t have made it without the name recognition of their authors, based on the middling reviews I’ve seen so far, but hope I’m wrong. I started 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World and thought it was beautifully written – I wasn’t in the mood for it at the time, but I hope to go back to it. And finally, An Orchestra of Minorities, which is one I haven’t heard much about, and didn’t really find that interesting (I would have given it a shot had it been shorter). It’s the one I have the least impression of on the list, but haven’t heard anything bad about.
I have only finished one of the books in its entirety (Girl, Woman, Other), and started two others – 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World and Ducks, Newburyport. All of these I think have a lot to offer and do something stylistically interesting. I have a terrible track record for predicting the Booker Prize, so I don’t expect to be right, but I do have a guess and a hope. My hope is that Girl, Woman, Other will win. I found it important, timely and a solid piece of writing. I enjoyed it, and think it will be accessible to all readers while also packing a powerful punch. Much as I hate to say it, I actually wouldn’t be thrilled to see The Testaments or Quichotte win, because I’ve heard the former isn’t a strong piece of writing and seems to have been an unnecessary sequel, and the latter is convoluted and overly complex without a strong enough structure. Having heard so little about An Orchestra of Minorities, I’d be a bit surprised to see it win. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World is beautiful, has a unique concept, and has been praised widely by those who have read it. I wouldn’t be upset if it won, but I don’t know if I feel like it has gotten quite as much attention as some of the others on the list, so I don’t feel like it’s likely to. That said, if I had to guess which I think will actually win, I’d give the edge to Ducks, Newburyport. I’ve yet to hear a negative thing about it. It’s experimental enough to appeal to the literary-minded, but also manages to take place through the mind of an average American housewife. There’s humour, depth, emotion and relatability. It’s long, yes, and the single sentence format is daunting. But everyone who has read it seems to agree that in spite of that, it’s actually pretty easy going. I think it manages to cover all the bases of what makes a Booker winner, and I think it would be well received.
So that’s it for my impressions and predictions. I’d ask for your predictions, but the winner will likely have been announced by the time you’re reading this, so instead I’ll ask what you think of the winner. Did you call it? Was it the one you hoped for? If not, which were you rooting for?
That’s it for this quarter! What have you all been reading in the past three months? Any books that blew you away? Any disappointments? Books you wanted to pick up but didn’t get to yet? Have you read any of these? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
