Mini Update Sticky Post: September 22,2020
MustReadEverything authors? Toni Morrison’s God Help the Child. Rereading? Carol Shields’ Larry’s Party. New-to-me? Roy DeCarava’s The Sweet Flypaper of Life. Debut? Jean-Christophe Réhel’s Tatouine. Dystopia? Adam Wilson’s Sensation Machines. In quiet moments? Ali Smith’s Summer. In extended afternoons? Langston Hughes’ Selected Letters. And from my 2020 Must-Read list? The final volume in Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Scots Quair trilogy.
So many books to talk about! Including what’s currently in my bookbag, notebook, stacks and reading log.
Also, preparing for some of the stories in Mavis Gallant’s Paris and Montreal collections in August and September (the ones which haven’t already been covered in short story reading project): join in, if you wish.
How about you: what are you reading these days, and what are you looking forward to reading soon?
(First time here? Please don’t be shy: there’s no such thing as too much bookchat! Please leave a comment, say hello, talk books!)
Success! I have a lot of bookish reading to catch up on here! Thanks for the email and the gentle nudge (which is most kindly appreciated and accepted in the spirit you sent it! 🙂 )! I am impressed by your Mavis Gallant reading and now you are so close to finishing. I love that feeling of having worked on a reading project that you have enjoyed and tackled so thoroughly. Maybe I will join you in one of those last stories. I miss my own short story reading–I need to start with small steps to get back into my most enjoyable reading habits, which (as with so many things I have enjoyed in the past) seem to have let languish far too long!
It’s so nice to see you here. gestures toward plate of scones, pours tea It does feel rewarding to be in the final stages of the short story reading project. And, simultaneously, a little overwhelming, because I have so many ideas about the next set of stories I’d like to explore. I know what you mean about the short story habit; I go in stages (getting knocked out of the loop when a large stack of books with duedates is hovering in my peripheral vision) and then miss it when I’m not reading a collection.
I look forward so much to your next project. Mavis Gallant has been a great voyage
Can you believe it’s been four years of Gallant and you’ve been reading along from the start with your copy of Selected Stories?! Four years.
Who are you going to read next? I have a pile of short story collections sitting next to my night table. Of course. I was wondering about the Cortazar read you are doing? Are you reading in the order the book was published or following a different course–that is one of the interesting things about that book–literally hop scotching the chapters. If you are reading in tandem with someone–are you both reading the same way? It would be interesting to see how the story moves differently depending on how each person is reading!
Actually, I think I’m going to have a few going concurrently this time because I have had such a hard time choosing. The downside is that means it will take a long time to actually finish anything, but the upside is that I can begin on several different fronts.
With Hopscotch, I’ve chosen to follow the prompts at the end of each chapter which means that I’ve been jumping all over the place, whereas Reese read straight through (for something like 56 chapters?) and then the hopscotching started from there for her. She’s planning to reread after we “finish”, taking the route that I’ve taken this time. (I’m not thinking I will, but it’s a great idea.) We didn’t plan to read it differently from each other before we began, we simply had different inclinations, so we’ve been keeping each other moving through it but just discussing very generally. If you care to join, I am only about a third of the way through (best as I can guess), although I think Reese is further, but maybe it only seems that way because she can measure more easily.
Can you tell from your discussion if the story feels like it takes a different trajectory depending on the order you read the chapters? Ultimately the ending must be the same, but it’s an interesting way to see how a story moves through time! Wasn’t it made into a movie? I think so. If I was not trying to finally finish ASB I might just be tempted to grab my copy! 😉
Oh. Em. Gee. I have no idea. At first, when Reese was reading straight through, she had comments/questions about specific characters, but I was reading it with the hopscotch table and hadn’t even figured out that there were main characters yet. It feels to me, like the author wrote a draft of a novel, then thought about adding a couple of other characters, drafted some additional chapters, then wrote some sections about what he wanted to accomplish with writing this kind of story and how he hoped readers would respond, then put most of the core characters’ chapters together, and created something-like-a-plot with what remained, putting the more theoretical bits in occasionally, as though knowing that not every reader would want to consider that side of things. So far, only one element of plot stands out, and I’m nearing the 3/4 mark (best guess, as I’m hopscotching). I’m not saying that is what Cortazar did – he’s obviously planned this very carefully – but it feels like that to me, at this point. Is there a movie?! Wow. That would be interesting. I know there was one made of a short story, “Axolotl”, I think?
checking in first with a hello to see if I can do this via home but on a laptop from the library…
hellloooooo!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Looking around your site: it is really neat. You are reading an interesting bunch of books. My wife read That Summer in Paris and liked it. There is such a fascination with Hemingway and his literary associates.
Flannery O’Connor sounds so good at this point. She’s one of those brilliant writers whose symbolism I don’t always get (too Catholic?), but her stories make an impact. I haven’t read her letters. I can’t wait to see what you think of. And as for Flambards, I love those books!
Did you happen to read any of Peyton’s other books? I understand at least one of them was quite a departure from this set. Really, I wasn’t sure if they would stand up, as it’s been many years and they are rather old-fashioned, it’s true, but I am wholly enjoying them.
I looked up The Quincunx because I remembered you had been reading it. And lo and behold! you mention it.
And I just read Ian Williams won the prize, so you were prescient!
Just reread one of Carol Shields’s books, and she is as good as I remembered.
The Palliser would be right up your street, I think, Kat. It’s Collinsy and Dickensy and not in a trying-too-hard way either.
Williams is very clever and heart-ful: I look forward to his next books too!
Oooo, which one did you reread? I’ll have to drop by and see…
I have The Nickel Boys checked out – haven’t started it yet. I’m a bit apprehensive about it because of the heavy subject matter, but I respect Whitehead’s writing so much I want to give it a go. I loved Olive Kitteridge! i read it just at the beginning of the year and it remains one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.
It’s just so lovely, isn’t it?! Are you looking forward to the continuation (I think it’s coming in November, maybe October?) and have you seen the limited/mini-series?
You’ve probably finished it by now! But in case you were able to renew (being a librarian), I’ll just say that The Nickel Boys reads very quickly and he is deliberately not glamorizing the violence so the scenes are presented almost clinically (although you know, of course, that their after-effects do not pass anywhere near so quickly). By the time all that happens, anyway, you are so invested in the character (part one is a great immersion into the story) that you just have to see what will happen next.
I love reading about your reading. I’m also a fan of Kay, and you remind me that he has a new book. Always varied posts here: Short stories, indigenous fiction, etc.
Thanks, Kat! The new one is A Brightness Long Ago. I’m really looking forward to it!
I see what you’re up to with those three books in the picture – what fun! I hope you’re going to write about them. 🙂
Hee hee. I love that you noticed. Not here, no, but I am working on a piece and will share. 🙂
🙂
The range of your reading is really something else 🙂 I’m looking forward to ending the night with the Mavis Gallant story – eager to check out her work in depth this fall (along with several others you’ve recommended to me, haha).
I envy those readers who have a single reading interest (e.g. crime, history) because it seems so tidy. It feels like once you start to add kidlit and poetry into the stack, that things can’t help but look chaotic, but it’s just all so interesting! (That’s one long Gallant story – I didn’t finish!)
I was just thinking about how you have entered my bookish lexicon. MRE is a thing with me because of you. I read an ARC of Kate Atkinson’s new Jackson Brodie, and because she’s an MRE, as soon as I’d gobbled that, I went looking for more. I found one I hadn’t read (Human Croquet), and I was SO disappointed. Sigh. Still and all, it makes me appreciate the great ones even more.
Love this! It’s too bad that you haven’t enjoyed all of her books, but it makes sense, because her early ones (like Atwood’s) are rather different. I’m really behind with her, but was just browsing through Transcription at the library the other day, thinking how much I’m looking forward to it…eventually.
Oh, yes, Payton Place. You can’t get much more trashy than that! 😉 Pretty much every nasty thing that can happen in a community does. I always meant to watch the TV show. I wouldn’t mind reading the Ng novel myself. I really liked her first book. I am sort of on a Russian reading binge, but it mostly only extends to the setting and not (maybe not Yet) to Russian authors. Maybe I can squeeze in a Chekhov novella or some short stories. I have been thinking of rereading Anna K, but that would have to be contemplated for January, I think. Are you feeling more freedom to have the CanLit Giller Prize reading done?
It was delightfully trashy and the movie was fun to watch too. But I couldn’t bring myself to dive into the sequel straight away (partly because the library copy was in pretty sorry shape and that put me off a little, which, as you know, has to be pretty bad, as I’ve a good tolerance built up over the years)! And, yes, I love reading the Giller books, but I am really enjoying my backlisted reading just now.
I’ve heard really good things about Louise Erdrich, though I haven’t read anything by her. Where would you suggest beginning?
For story, I really like The Master Butcher’s Singing Club and The Last Report on the Miracles of Little No Horse (the former a little more about dark family history and relationships, the latter being somewhat bookish and more about faith – with overlap on all those themes across her work). If you feel drawn to one, just give it a try: she’s much more accessible than she seems.
I took the Gallant collection home with me over the weekend but then didn’t get a chance to read the first story so I have it with me today. Not sure I’ll write about each story, or maybe will just write about them in a very loose sort of way.
You’re also welcome to leave a long comment on my post if you prefer: I don’t mind. But the first one is, technically, a novella, which I’ve just finished rereading today, so you could probably find enough to say about that one for a post on its own, if you are so inclined. (Some are much shorter, I see, and I think this first story is the only one I’ve read before.)