Happy Monday! Here’s my weekly reading update in the Last/Now/Next format—what I’ve finished, what I’m currently reading, what I’ll be getting to.
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Last
🍼 Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy - I had mixed feelings about this while reading, and still do after finishing it. Again, it brings to light the painful realities of early motherhood, but I hated the short sentences and it felt repetitive. I always thought this was the shoe-in to win the Women’s Prize this year, but I’m glad it didn’t.
👚 Good Material by Dolly Alderton - Thank you Knopf for the gifted copy. Welp. I was hopeful…for no reason. Honestly, I didn’t finish this but I am still counting it as finished. I read the first 10%, wanted to DNF, but then I went on to read the epilogue-esque final chapter (which makes up the final 12% of the novel), because reviews said “the final chapter makes up for the rest of the novel” (side note, what kind of take even is that???). You only need to read the first and the long final chapters to understand the entirety of the novel. I couldn’t even speed/hate-read because I truly couldn’t be bothered to care about a whiny, mid-30s, straight white man complaining about being dumped for the majority of the novel. I don’t think Dolly Alderton is an author for me and I am not a reader for her. And that’s okay.
Now
📱 I’m A Fan by Sheena Patel - This will be finished this week! The pace is starting to pick up and I’m feeling v nervous.
🏠 North Woods by Daniel Mason - I’m about to finish this one and know I won’t be able to shut up about it. Immersive, wonderful, creative storytelling. This cabin and its inhabitants feel so real. This definitely feels snubbed from literary awards.
🍊 Commonwealth by Ann Patchett - Another rollover from June, I’m enjoying this but not loving it. It’s an Ann Patchett novel, so obviously it’s well-written, but I don’t like a lot of the tropes it’s working with—cops, cancer, careless cheating.
Next
🦈 Shark Heart by Emily Habeck - A literary fiction novel with a strange premise, focusing on the disillusion of a marriage? Yes please. I don’t think the cover is doing any service to the synopsis, almost making it seem like it’s more of a romance. Hoping I love it as much as some of my friends have.
🌷 Disability Intimacy edited by Alice Wong - Thank you to Vintage & Anchor for the gifted physical and audio copies. Like its predecessor, Disability Visibility, this is also a collection of essays from a kaleidoscopic range of disabled people, this time, the writings focus on intimacy.
Have a good week, happy reading, and I’ll meet you in your inbox on Sunday for the next Reading Update.
Upcoming
Discussion Guide: The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
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