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Reading Week #69 – Nice

09.04.2015 by Nicola Balkind //

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I’m sorry, it had to be done. (Evan dared me.) (If you don’t know what I’m talking about it’s ok, everything is cool.)

How’s your week been? I’ve had a good one, and tomorrow we’re having book club on a BARGE so things couldn’t be much better, really.

How about some links for your weekend reading?

 

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

On time, for once, with my August Reads – capsule reviews of every book I read last month. There were many.

New Bookish Blether! In this week’s podcast we discuss how to find and choose books.

Yesterday I appeared on BBC’s Janice Forsyth Show to review this week’s film releases. Click through to catch up on iPlayer.

 

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

This week we said goodbye to the wonderful Oliver Sacks, whose final writings I’ve been sharing these past few months. Here’s a letter from his closest friends: A Life Well Lived.

Ta-Nehisi Coates writes In Defense of a Loaded Word.

The less said about that Guardian article slagging off Terry Pratchett and his fans, the better. BUT it has served as an amazing prompt. Here’s Stevie aka SableCaught’s rebuttal [VIDEO], and Dan Pipenbring of The Paris Review’s delightful twist on the topic.

I wound up missing out on the August group read of Moby-Dick between some of my bookish online friends. Candace’s video about the experience made it sound irresistible in her video #AhabAugust; Or, Moby-Dick was much weirder than I expected..

Stephen King asks, Can a Novelist Be Too Productive? Ehh. Alright, mate.
 

 

–– DIGITAL ––

On the state of churnalism, Guy Patrick Cunningham urges, Don’t Settle: The Journalist in the Shadow of the Commercial Web. On of the best elucidated arguments I’ve read in a long time.

Hold onto your butts! Jessica Valenti interviewed Anita Sarkeesian.

Emily Gould wrote about The Art of the Out-of-Office Reply. Which is in the Fashion and Style section of the New York Times because… she has a vagina?

Looks may fade, but selfies are forever. Prayer hands.
 

 

–– ON PAPER ––

TWO five-star reads this week. The book hangover is real, you guys. I loved both the hilarious satire Quesadillas by Juan Pablo Villalobos and the compulsively deviant The Dumb House by John Burnside.

The rest of the week is all about The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma – this month’s book club pick. Which we’re having on a barge, this Saturday, as you do.

Which books are on your nightstand?
 

 

–– &c. ––

Disagree, but also can’t help but agree with Sadie Stein On “Hangry”.

Sexism has a stranglehold on publishing. How can we undo it? – a great opinion piece from Anna James.
 

 

––

Read anything good this week? Hit reply or tweet me about it, won’t you?

​Have a lovely weekend!

 

Categories // Reading Week Tags // emily gould, link list, moby-dick, oliver sacks, reading week, ta-nehisi coates

August Reads | 52 Books 2015

09.01.2015 by Nicola Balkind //

I finished 12 books in August, which is waaay above my average of 3–5. I had so many new books that I was keen to read that it kind of snowballed. So here’s what I thought of each of them.

 
good-behaviour
41. Good Behaviour by Molly Keane
★★★★★ – This book club pick is a satirical regency novel set in Ireland. It’s most commonly described as a dark comedy, and Keane plays a lot with the first persona narrator’s voice and her understanding of the world. It’s outrageous and tragic and really rather silly at points. Very well drawn, but not entirely my cup of tea. Probably one for people who love classics and enjoy a good unreliable narrator.
 
 
Something Childish but Very Natural by Katherine Mansfield
42. Something Childish but Very Natural by Katherine Mansfield
★★★★★ – Mansfield has been on my TBR for the longest time, and I began this slim volume from the Penguin Great Loves series during the 7 in 7 Readathon. Her prose style is beautiful and she sketches in characters with a light touch. Again, not entirely my scene, but I could see why people enjoy her work so much.
 
 
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
43. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Audiobook)
★★★★★ – Totally switching gears here. Between the World and Me is written in the form of a letter to his son about the experience of growing up as a black man in the United States. Though he’s been compared with James Baldwin, his secular viewpoint brings an immediacy and poignancy to his discussions about the destruction of black bodies that’s prevalent today. He questions the need to forgive oppressors, and challenges traditional, religious thinking around the value of a life. His prose is lyrical and decidedly contemporary in comparison with his literary forefathers. Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book is so important in this moment in history, and you’ll probably want to read it more than once.
 
 
Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
44. Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
★★★★★ – I received this book in my Willoughby Book Club subscription and found it a little disappointing. The plot is thin, which is fine unless there’s plenty to flesh it out, but there wasn’t much to build upon. It’s ostensibly a love story, but the characters were flimsy and inconsistent and there’s little chemistry to speak of. As a reading experience, it felt like being on a bus that’s taking the long way around. A bit of a snore.
 
 
Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson
45. Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson
★★★★★ – This is definitely a book for the Shirley Jackson completists. Though I’ve only read a handful of her novels and short stories, I absolutely loved it. She writes about domestic life with humour, charm, and a sprinkling of farce. She has such a great personality, and although I enjoyed her own daily observations over the scenes with her children, I’m keen to read the follow up, Raising Demons.
 
 
Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami
46. Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami
★★★★★ – Murakami’s debut has finally been released in English outside of Japan! Make no mistake, this isn’t up to his current standards but, as a debut, you can see why it was picked from a pile of hundreds to win a prize back in the late 1970s. His voice is fully formed, some of his tropes can already be detected, and I loved the voice of a pretentious 21 year-old aspiring author. This was like revisiting an old friend.
 
 
Territorial Rights by Muriel Spark
47. Territorial Rights by Muriel Spark
★★★★★ – A spry farce, this novel is billed as being about a character named Richard who falls in love and galavants around Venice. What follows is more of an ensemble mystery thriller. I devoured this in a day – more out of ease than delight – but it was diverting enough.
 
 
The Dinner by Herman Koch
48. The Dinner by Herman Koch
★★★★★ – Here’s a book I’d heard a lot about and found to be much darker than I’d anticipated. It begins as an extended internal monologue, and it builds well towards a surprising and twisted conclusion. I didn’t love the voice, though, and it doesn’t make you complicit as a reader – which might have sealed the deal for me. Again, a quick and engaging read but I didn’t love it.
 
 
The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark
49. The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark
★★★★★ – After a slight misfire with Territorial Rights, I turned to the Muriel Spark novel that I really wanted to read. This is how you write a damn novella. It’s descriptive, mysterious, engaging and thrilling, topped of with an unforeseeable ending. I was absolutely riveted.
 
 
The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway
50. The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway
★★★★★ – Doesn’t this have the greatest title? It’s an experimental novel that reads like a mental health memoir or, more accurately, a diary. It’s observant, sometimes depressing, and cuts close to the bone. I feel utterly under-equipped to discuss it well. But I’d recommend that you read it.
 
 
Pinball 1973 by Haruki Murakami
51. Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami
★★★★★ – Murakami’s second novel, this book focuses on the same main character as Hear the Wind Sing and his friend nicknamed the Rat. It bounces betwen the characters without much direction, except towards the titular pinball machine. It’s fine, but it didn’t capture my imagination.
 
 
Quesadillas by Juan Pablo Villalobos
52. Quesadillas by Juan Pablo Villalobos
★★★★★ – Villalobos’ language and characters just leaps off the page. Quesadillas is a hilarious, biting satire of life in Mexico. Like his previous novella, Down the Rabbit Hole, it’s narrated by a teen at war with the world, but this time his main character is more worldly and determined to get what he’s owed. It’s an excellent translation, too. I found a lot to love here.
 
 
Your turn – have you read any of these books? What were your thoughts?

Give me a shout in the comments or on Twitter @robotnic.

Categories // Books Tags // 52 books 2015, Book Review, janice galloway, muriel spark, shirley jackson, ta-nehisi coates

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