New Books for June 2020

I finally, finally, feel back in the swing of things, reading-wise, sort of. When the quarantine started even writing was tough, and it took me until early May to get that going reliably again. I have read a few books, and I have a few reviews in the works, but a load of new books just hit my shelves that I’m really excited about.

First off, Death in Her Hands, by Ottessa Moshfegh.

Book cover for Ottessa Moshfegh's novel Death in Her Hands

I had a short window in 2019 when I read both Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation and the short story The Metal Bowl, by Miranda July and a new area for fiction was blown out in my mind. Since then I’ve read July’s The First Bad Man and I’ve been waiting for Death in Her Hands almost more than anything else this year (possibly a tie with David Mitchell’s Utopia Avenue, but, come on, David Mitchell).

But a bunch of other goodies are out as well. Here’s a few I’m definitely reading and considering reviewing:

Inconvenient Daughter, by Lauren J. Sharkey

Inconvenient Daughter: A Novel by Lauren J. Sharkey book cover — 263

The Taste of Sugar by Marisel Vera

The Jane Austen Society, by Natalie Jenner (this one comes very highly recommended by my writing accountability buddy / jailer, Brenna Evans)

Book cover of The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner — 263

The Lightness by Emily Temple

Book cover of Emily Temple's The Lightness: A Novel — 263

Parakeet by Marie-Helene Bertino

Book cover for the Parakeet: A Novel by Marie-Helene Bertino

These books aren’t going to read themselves, so I’ll leave it at that for today. Happy reading!

Review: Catherine House, Elisabeth Thomas

Featured

The students at Catherine House consider themselves lucky to be offered free tuition to an elite college. So the cost – giving up all connection to the outside world for the three years they will spend there – doesn’t seem a terrible trade off, and for the main character Ines, who is running from her own trauma, it is even welcomed.

School starts and many of the students seem content to stay drunk on school-sanctioned alcohol and sleep around with one another. Before long, though, a school ritual, (is it a boosted meditation or mind control?) has everyone, including Ines, onto a more scholarly track.

The story is electric with the thrum of dark gothic energy and shifts in dreamy sequence through Ines’ three years. She sometimes finds herself pulled down into the current of school life, only to emerge periodically from the haze desperate to uncover the mystery of what Catherine House is really all about. The telling is foggy and shifting, leaving the reader as distracted by the friendships and studies, parties and intrigue, as Ines herself is until the end brings a reckoning we know must come.

Ines’ driving distrust of authority causes her to put herself in danger to uncover the house’s secrets but Thomas has kept the building of her story gauzy enough to contain some real surprises. Overall, an enjoyable read.

The Life of a Writer: Day Two

A few years ago, when I decided to write a novel for NaNoWriMo, I chose immediately to focus on fantasy because I figured that it might be easier (for me!) to not worry so much about a story that’s real to me than something fun and in a large way formulaic.

So even then I was feeling that writing “real” short stories and “real” novels, was a bit scary. But I am starting to have a habit in place, and I’m beginning to see how I can go about sticking to it. I’m about at least as smart and inherently talented as the world’s worst writer ever, probably, right?

So I sketched out a short story about the helicopter pilot the other day. It’s a trifle, a little bit of a thing. But, I can see ways to polish it, for sure make it better than what it is now. Make into the best little trifle it can be, I think maybe.

Last night I went to bed with a smile on my face because I really felt like I was getting it. Or, at least I can see the first step.

But, and but but but. Ideas, wow, honestly, I can’t even imagine how that works. Do you have to fast? Take drugs? To sustain a novel? Start bumping into walls and forgetting how to tie your shoelaces? Do they have breathing exercises that help?

But, honestly, I think the first step is hardest. To start the practice. Because you don’t have a hair of reason to believe you can do it yet. At least I faintly can see what practice could look like for me.

Photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash

Game Plan: Week of Feb 4 to 10, 2019

This week’s reading plan:

Should have Olga Tokarczuk’s 2018 Booker Prize (etc. etc.) winner “Flights” finished before the week begins and I’ll make a point of sharing my thoughts. Novel for this week to be David Chariandy’s “Brother”, the Canadian author’s follow up to GG-nominated “Soucouyant” and one of this year’s Canada Reads.

Purchase a copy of Brother here.

Short stories (7) to come from “Sisters of the Revolution”, although I am dying to get at “Florida” by Lauren Groff. Next week. Sisters is overdue from the library 🙂

Purchase a copy of Sisters of the Revolution here.

I’ll be selecting poems from the 2015 edition of the Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology. Literally the most recent addition of poetry to my library. Poetry was an early love of mine, but I really developed a hatred for it over the last decade – as though I was angry at it for seeming to retreat ever farther from real life. However, I declare those days over, at least until I’ve waded back into the stream for a while.

Purchase a copy of the Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology 2015 here.

Lastly, I’ll be adding some essays to my week. TBD.

Photo by Medena Rosa on Unsplash