The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson

4/5 stars

What's it about? A marriage dissolves over the course of 29 poems in this story inspired by Keats. The ever-talented Carson serves up a work of art like none you’ve encountered.

How’d I find it? We all know how I feel about Autobiography of Red, so I’m going to give anything she writes a whirl.

Who will enjoy this book? The Maggie Nelson fans should respond to this one.

What stood out? Two people meet, fall in love, weld their lives together, and grow apart over the years as trust and communication erode. Each section opens with a fragment from Keats’s oeuvre (Anne Carson hasn’t met a fragment too small) that connects the story to its wider themes of beauty and archetype. Though the word “wound” appears on the first page (nay, the very first line!), the rest of the book redeems it.

Which line made me feel something? So many strange lines to chew on: “Is innocence just one of the disguises of beauty? / He could fill structures of / threat with a light like the earliest olive oil.”

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? Multiple pals have recommended this to me, and hey, you gotta love that cover art.

Why not 3 or more stars? I offer my biggest gripe in the form of an alternate title: “Telling, and Telling, and Telling.” Indeed, the nod to Shakespeare’s famous soliloquy from Macbeth doesn’t quite work for this novel, which aims for the stars with a bazooka full of plot. As a reader, I struggled spending page time with Sam, a sniveling Jude St. Francis type who happens to be one of our protagonists. If you ignore the dialogue, the chapters that detail the creative process behind the games that Sam and Sadie build together make for some good reading.

On Writing by Stephen King

3/5 stars

What's it about? Stephen King shares his personal path to writing as a career and tips for the aspiring author. Sound advice abounds.

How’d I find it? Shoppers frequently requested this title during my time book slinging at Busboys and Poets. Had to read it for myself.

Who will enjoy this book? Try Amy Tan’s Where the Past Begins or Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird for other blends of memoir and craft chat.

What stood out? I appreciated learning about King’s approach to the page and his writing absolutes (like him, I struggle with the hated adverb). His thoughts on writing testify to his mastery and success, with the bonus of learning the backstories behind some of his hits, like Carrie and Misery. A major takeaway on craft comes from how he advocates for firm boundaries, necessary for churning out creative work. And work it is—King has definitely put in the time. One thing that irks me: I found how King relates to gender and sex in the old school binary ways off-putting, though it doesn’t bother me in his fiction. The more you know…

Which line made me feel something? Enjoy this graphic praise of British grammar: “a British advertising man with a proper education can make magazine copy for ribbed condoms sound like the Magna goddam Carta”.

Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry

5/5 stars

What's it about? On the Day of the Dead in 1938, former British consul Geoffrey Firmin embarks on the last bender of his life upon the return of his ex-wife Yvonne to their home in Quauhnahuac, Mexico. A masterpiece.

How’d I find it? The Lost Avenue Book Club picked this read.

Who will enjoy this book? For another book about someone’s last day alive, check out A Simple Man by Christopher Isherwood.

What stood out? Geoffrey’s hopeless self-destruction hangs over the novel as he drinks himself into oblivion to forget his personal grief and the world’s descent into violence, the specter of World War II already on the horizon. Among the many achievements of the book is its precision in place and time; this work could have no other title. Under the Volcano is rife with symbolism, the depth of which I only grasped after reading the letter, included in my edition, from Lowry to his publisher defending the manuscript’s structure and length. Lowry had a reason for everything: the number of chapters, the Joycean ride that is chapter 11, and even the opening of the book, which takes place a year after the story’s events.

Which line made me feel something? I wouldn’t dare rob you of the book’s prettiest passages, so I’ll focus on its humor instead. Take this quip from Geoffrey to a bartender: “I love hell. I can’t wait to get back there. In fact I’m running. I’m almost back there already.”

The Renunciations by Donika Kelly

4/5 stars

What's it about? Donika Kelly finds courage and healing in an examination of the links between childhood abuse and the wreckage of a soured marriage. Powerful and devastating.

How’d I find it? Always a fan of the work put out by Graywolf Press, I read whatever Kelly publishes since discovering her debut collection Bestiary.

Who will enjoy this book? Those who appreciated In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado’s haunting memoir / essay collection, might admire how Kelly uses mythology to address similar themes.

What stood out? The way in which Kelly summons archetypes brings resilience to the personal tragedy of this collection; she is a storyteller, an interpreter, an oracle. The poems titled “Dear—” that appear in both the past and present sections contain line for line the book’s most stunning verse.

Which line made me feel something? From “Sanctuary”: “I call this the difficulty of the nonbeliever, / of waking, every morning, without a god. / How to understand, then, what deserves rescue / and what deserves to suffer.”

On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? My quest for contemporary Portuguese literature continues! When I learned this was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, I put a hold on a copy from Multnomah County Library.

Why not 3 or more stars? In an isolated penal colony, the rules change when a warden loses his humanity. A book of few surprises in language or plot until the final pages, when a supernatural flourish vanishes as suddenly as it appears.

The Living and the Rest by José Eduardo Agualusa, translated by Daniel Hahn

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? In preparation for a trip to Portugal, I’ve been seeking out contemporary fiction in the language. I don’t remember how I became aware of this title, but I borrowed a copy from Multnomah County Library.

Why not 3 or more stars? Writers convene on the Ilha de Moçambique for a conference, then find themselves cut off from the rest of the world during a storm that seems to annihilate everything beyond the island. This strange, open-ended book embraces metafiction and thoughts on the creative process while navigating its apocalyptic subplot. While dreamy, its mysteries aren’t cohesive, and the disjointed ideas don’t quite add up to a satisfying read.

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

4/5 stars

What's it about? I can do no better than Steinbeck himself in the book’s opening line: “Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.” A snapshot of a neighborhood, its humanity, its dramas.

How’d I find it? This novel was part of the preparation for a family trip to Monterey. Yes, we made sure to walk past the building that inspired Doc’s lab. My particular copy came from Powell’s.

Who will enjoy this book? For another read that focuses on a single community and its lovable yet flawed inhabitants, try Local Souls by Allan Gurganus.

What stood out? I will never get over how deeply Steinbeck writes characters, how he depicts desperation and misery with a smirk. Cannery Row is as brilliant and vivid as any of his other work, but steeped in winsome levity. The frog hunt with Mack and the boys offers sure entertainment.

Which line made me feel something? Just imagine hosting Steinbeck: “These are not parties at all but acts and demonstrations, about as spontaneous as peristalsis and as interesting as its end product.”

Death of the First Idea by Rickey Laurentiis

4/5 stars

What's it about? In her second collection, Laurentiis shares her journey of self-discovery and self-love in a world hostile to Black and trans bodies. A book that pulls from the masters and makes it new.

How’d I find it? I borrowed a physical copy and audiobook from Multnomah County Library. The audiobook, performed by the poet herself, adds an extra dimension that you’ll want to experience.

Who will enjoy this book? If you liked Wound from the Mouth of a Wound by torrin a. greathouse, check out Death of the First Idea.

What stood out? Laurentiis wrote the hell out of this book, an experiment in form and heady mix of myth, history, and culture. She packs every poem with so much meaning that you have to read them over and over to soak in them properly, even my favorite, the brief “Tiresiad: Auspices, I (Origins)”. The notes at the end testify to the amount of inspiration and craft behind the collection.

Which line made me feel something? From “A Tricky Seminar”: “How your fingers move / To build such attitudes, turning a moaning of the wind / Into a man, making what is a tease of grass at the heel / Into terror, now pleasure, then back to grass again.” Rickey, what is the grass?

Tilt by Emma Pattee

3/5 stars

What's it about? When the Big One hits Portland, Annie happens to be nine months pregnant and grumpily shopping in Ikea. As she makes her way across the destroyed city searching for her husband, Annie examines her life’s joys and disappointments and vows to make a change.

How’d I find it? A coworker recommended this local read, and I picked up a copy for our staff library.

Who will enjoy this book? I read in a review of this book that Death Valley by Melissa Broder is an excellent readalike. I agree.

What stood out? Who doesn’t love a disaster story? Following Annie during an earthquake through the city where I live made for an exciting read and sparked thought spirals about escape plans. Tilt is told through Annie addressing her unborn child, a choice that propels Annie’s personal reckoning amidst the horror around her.

Which line made me feel something? Reality TV in the zeitgeist always makes me feel something. Take the last text Annie gets from her mother: “Just tired now, gonna watch The Bachelor”. Story of my life.