Bookshelf: More Pandemic Reading

A few more titles from my pandemic reading… I could have sworn I’ve read more since I last posted, like some more nonfiction in particular, but perhaps I am just remembering obsessively reading the news??

Coventry by Rachel Cusk is a collection of essays and they are DELIGHTFUL. She makes such astute observations about people and can convey a sense of place with deceptively simple seeming descriptions.

I was nervous the entire time I read The Pleasing Hour by Lily King because I was once a nanny and this whole situation gets so inappropriate! Her writing is compelling to read though.

I meant to savor Kate Baer’s poems from her collection What Kind of Woman one by one, but I devoured them all in one go while standing at the kitchen table then again later that night in bed! They’re funny and sweet and tender and melancholy. I want to give every mother I know a copy of this book.

I cannot BELIEVE I waited so long to read The Sellout by Paul Beatty! It’s a goddamn work of magic to write something this funny about racism, classism, and slavery.

I often like to pick up books I know nothing about which is how I wound up reading Severance by Ling Ma— a book about an airborne pandemic— during an airborne pandemic. Oops! Can’t say I’d recommend that exact scenario to anyone else, but all in all I would recommend the book!

Milkman by Anna Burns has such a unique voice and I loved it for that. The whole thing is totally bizarre in the best way. If you’re into the first ten pages, you’ll be into the rest of the book.

How To Live Safely In A Sciencefictional Universe by Charles Yu has such a breezy, easy to read voice. Like every book about time-travel, there were inevitably moments where I was like, “But waiiiiit a minute, what…?” . But that comes with the territory of ‘sciencefictional universes’ I think! Definitely recommend.

I haven’t actually finished Likes by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum yet because I am saaaaavoring it and each story really deserves its own moment. The ones I have read are intense and particular and she’s got such a talent for capturing the inner workings of real a variety of people. Now is when I also confess that Shun-Lien Bynum was my 7th grade English teacher and she was, quite simply, THE BEST. No hyperbole! She was one of those dream teachers from a cheesy teen movie, all smart and funny and cool but still relatable. And she took all of us and our pubescent agonies and ecstasies so seriously which was such a gift. She left my school to get her MFA at Iowa and write books and I feel so lucky that I got to experience her kindness and insight as a student and that I still get to now as a reader.

I read Summer by Ali Smith slowly and reluctantly because it’s the fourth and final book of this quartet that I’ve enjoyed so much. Each of the books touch upon current events and seem to have been published so quickly after being written— this was the first novel I’ve read that addressed this pandemic and honestly it felt a little spooky to read a fictionalized account of it already, but hats off to Smith for being able to process something this intense while still living it!

Unclean Jobs For Women and Girls by Alissa Nutting CRACKED ME UP and grossed me out and completely entertained me. I had no idea what would come next and it was just the best feeling. Her work feels like the weird love child of Ottessa Moshfegh, Karen Russel, and George Saunders while obviously being entirely her own thing. I HIIIIIIIGHLY recommend it! Her novel Made For Love is next on my to-read list.

I read Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill in a single day and adored it. Like Cusk, she’s such an astute observer of people and her writing can seem so simple at first glance but man, it packs a punch. The whole experience made me think about how bogged down with backstory some books can become and how a really good writer like Offill can make you completely believe in a character without knowing that much about their appearance or biography.

The Missing Year of Juan Salvatierra by Pedro Mairal is quick and charming and stuck with me long after I finished reading it. It’s a book I wouldn’t have picked up on my own but was a staff pick at one of my favorite bookstores (what’s up Community Bookstore in Brooklyn?? I love you!). It’s made me think a lot about why we make art and legacy.