The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

4/5 stars

What's it about? In a post-Arthurian England, Axl and Beatrice set out to find their son, relying on traces of memories erased by a mysterious mist that hangs over the land and placates its people. The journey soon becomes a quest illuminated by ogres, a warrior, a strange boy, a knight, and, of course, a dragon. A book-length daydream that lingers.

How’d I find it? I don’t know how this book came to me. A book sale? A yard sale? A box on the street? I do remember reading Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go on the porch of a beach hut in Zanzibar, the ocean roiling, the wind tearing the pages from my fingers, and stars absolutely everywhere.

Who will enjoy this book? Did you appreciate The Northman or Lauren Groff’s The Vaster Wilds? Try this one out.

What stood out? Many questions remain unanswered in The Buried Giant, creating possibilities that sparkle in the imagination. Possibly the point of a book full of tales told and tales lived by. It’s a tool that Ishiguro wields to anchor the reader firmly in this strange and violent time in human history, when death was its own character and uncertainty an expected frame of mind. We get to see the mud on the proverbial skirts, lending depth to an elusive, tone-heavy novel.

Which line made me feel something? “He had felt as one standing in a boat on a wintry river, looking out into dense fog, knowing it would at any moment part to reveal vivid glimpses of the land ahead. And he had been caught in a kind of terror, yet at the same time had felt a curiosity—or something stronger and darker—and he had told himself firmly, ‘Whatever it may be, let me see it, let me see it.’”

The Frog in the Throat by Markus Werner, translated by Michael Hofmann

3/5 stars

What's it about? Dairy farmer Klement shunned his son Franz after an affair cost Franz his family and position as a clergyman, and they remained estranged until Klement’s death. Now Franz is being haunted by his father, who manifests as a literal frog stuck in his throat for three days every month, never letting Franz forget his shame.

How’d I find it? As ever, the inimitable NYRB Classics Book Club.

Who will enjoy this book? During my reading session, I was reminded of the humor and absurdity of Milan Kundera and the themes of Neil Gaiman’s work.

What stood out? Werner inhabits the two voices of this book so completely. Chapters vacillate between the self-flagellating Franz reliving his sins and Klement milking his cows while airing his disappointment with the changing world around him. The Frog in the Throat has more to say about time and being human than most books twice its length, and does so in a uniquely dark way.

Which line made me feel something? “So or so or any old how, we live for moments and everything withers at a dismaying pace, and the fact that my clothes will outlive me only underlines the misery of it all, while the bells chime brightly and the organ is as dignified as the obituary, the worms bestir themselves, I ventilate.”

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? I had the pleasure of hearing Min Jin Lee speak at an AWP panel back in 2018 and was inspired to pick up a copy of her work.

Why not 3 or more stars? In Free Food for Millionaires, Lee’s debut novel, Casey Han, a new Princeton graduate with a penchant for luxury goods and no idea what to do with her life, is forced into momentum when she becomes estranged from her parents and her boyfriend on the same night. This coming-of-age novel examines the pressure of becoming and the dynamic between expectation and desire, but doesn’t deliver beyond a well-written story, despite touching on religion, diasporas, late nineties’ culture, life in New York, and consumerism. Oh, and there’s something about millinery.

The Moustache by Emmanuel Carrère

4/5 stars

What's it about? The Parisian of this smart novel shaves off his mustache, the catalyst for a delirious descent into madness when no one seems to notice or, in fact, recall his ever having facial hair in the first place. Absurd, funny, and with an ending you won’t soon forget.

How’d I find it? My favorite Bookstagrammer, of course. I do enjoy a Carrère novel.

Who will enjoy this book? I’d liken this book to the experience of reading Machines in the Head by Anna Kavan or the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

What stood out? The narrator’s slippery grip on reality and his shifts between trust and suspicion make for an entertaining read, a feat considering the relative lack of plot. Carrére is deft at keeping the narrator and the reader guessing, with sprinkles of psychological thriller and horror that maintain momentum. I didn’t love how women were written in this book; Agnès, the narrator’s wife, gets a superficial treatment despite her importance. Though perhaps the narrator is just a scoundrel…

Which line made me feel something? I positively adored the brilliant back cover copy, which included (translation my own): “The story, in any case, inevitably ends terribly and, from impossible explanations to irrational escapes, leaves you no way out. Save one, which is revealed in the last pages and not advised when beginning a book. Consider yourself warned.”

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

4/5 stars

What's it about? Emergency room surgeon Atul Gawande reflects on the tension between the promise of medicine and the reality of death in this thoughtful ethical conversation. How can healthcare facilitate “a good death,” since we all have to go sometime?

How’d I find it? A grandmother’s shelf of books she left behind, telling me to take what I wanted. I kept the lion’s share.

Who will enjoy this book? If you like the fusion of memoir and health, try The In-Between by Hadley Vlahos or When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.

What stood out? As a nurse, I loved Dr. Gawande’s moral wrestlings, as I encounter them frequently in my own practice. To cement his arguments, Gawande presents case studies from friends, family, and patients that make the stakes all the more real. Medicine can prolong our lives, sure, but at what cost? What do we lose when we resist our fate?

Which line made me feel something? The second chapter of Being Mortal drew me in, and this statement played no small part: “with our average life span in much of the world climbing past eighty years, we are already oddities living well beyond our appointed time. When we study aging what we are trying to understand is not so much a natural process as an unnatural one.”

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

4/5 stars

What's it about? In the third installment of L’Engle’s Time Quintet, the Murry family gathers for Thanksgiving, joined by an adult Meg, pregnant with her and Calvin’s first child, and her withdrawn mother-in-law Mrs. O’Keefe. Nuclear war threatens, and a teenage Charles Wallace and the unicorn Gaudior are enlisted to ride the wind through time to undo the history that will lead a South American dictator to end the world. Mrs. O’Keefe may just be the key.

How’d I find it? I’ve already reread A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door, and both brought me much joy. It’s been a special endeavor to collect books that I adored in childhood and admire the excellent writing out there for young people.

Who will enjoy this book? The Time Quintet centers on the power of love to overcome evil, so if you want a well-written, feel-good story with a speculative twist, you can’t go wrong with these books. Think David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks for kids.

What stood out? The cozy nature of this family, with their Bunsen burner meals and shabby quilts, always invites in the reader. I relish their quick embrace of oddities, such as personal calls from the President and animals that appear in the middle of the night. Beyond the usual fun of spending time with the Murrys, L’Engle outdoes herself in the chapters in which Charles Wallace goes “Within” Brandon Llawcae and Matthew Maddox. She handles descriptions of interactions between indigenous Americans and colonizers gracefully, though her Christian bias sometimes reveals itself.

Which line made me feel something? I loved the thinking of the People of the Wind, who know only good: “When was always Now, for there was little looking either backward or forward in this young world. If Now was good, yesterday, though a pleasurable dream, was not necessary. If Now was good, tomorrow would likely continue to be so.”

The Body in Question by Jill Ciment

5/5 stars

What's it about? C-2 gets involved with F-17, a fellow juror on a high-profile murder trial in which an adopted teen is accused of killing her baby brother. Even this brief escape from caregiving doesn’t relieve C-2 of her life at home with her aging husband. A sharp little novel with heart.

How’d I find it? I found this at Powell’s, and the bookseller who checked me out fussed over this writer. I now understand why.

Who will enjoy this book? This had the tone of the fantastic 2002 film Unfaithful.

What stood out? Ciment takes us into the sexuality and morality of adult womanhood. It’s raw, genuine, and a thrill to read. The wrench thrown into the works by the health of C-2’s husband, a much older man who depends on her, provides a compelling contrast to the isolation of jury duty and C-2’s affair.

Which line made me feel something? “Grief doesn’t feel as if a rug has been pulled out from under her. There is no rug. There is no floor on which to lay a rug. There is no ground on which to build a floor to lay a rug.”

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

?/5 stars

What's it about? Patrick Bateman, our titular psychopath, works on Wall Street (though he’s plenty wealthy without the gig) and can’t seem to stand out from the vapid New York City of the 1980s no matter what restaurant he books—or how depraved he becomes.

How’d I find it? This is my spouse’s book, and I could not believe he bought this at the age of 17. I clutch my proverbial pearls! And Ellis would probably hate me for it.

Who will enjoy this book? No one will enjoy this book. It’s evil incarnate.

What stood out? This intense satire is a highly effective takedown of consumerism, conveyed via mind-numbing lists of purchases and their features, inane descriptions of who-wore-what, nauseating meals, and chapter-long rants on various musical acts. Part of the novel’s effectiveness derives from its depictions of violence, so brutal and appalling that they are nearly unreadable. Bateman’s rage towards female bodies in particular had me overcome and skimming chapters. Look, American Psycho is a work of brilliance, but I can’t rate it, much less recommend it, because I wouldn’t wish the reading experience on another person. Honestly, I can’t wait to exorcise this copy from my home.

Which line made me feel something? “To Evelyn our relationship is yellow and blue, but to me it’s a gray place, most of it blacked out, bombed, footage from the film in my head is endless shots of stone and any language heard is utterly foreign, the sound flickering away over new images…”

True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us by Danielle J. Lindemann

4/5 stars

What's it about? In this sociological analysis of reality TV, Lindemann examines how the genre represents us as a culture and the values by which we live. An incisive and convincing reflection.

How’d I find it? Multnomah County Library always has the goods. I love “a wormhole day,” in which I relive childhood Saturdays spent at the San Antonio Public Library following the meandering of my interests.

Who will enjoy this book? If you enjoy the writing of Emily Nussbaum, this is a solid readalike.

What stood out? Lindemann dissects the constructs embedded into the likes of The Bachelor and The Real Housewives franchise, teasing out what this media reveals about our thoughts on race, gender, class, and how we relate to each other and ourselves. I rediscovered so many shows to revisit. How could I have ever forgotten Breaking Amish?

Which line made me feel something? From the chapter on “deviance,” which discusses how people on reality TV who break social norms are depicted to viewers: “Like townspeople in an old horror film chasing after a monster with their torches, we are bonded in our collective rejection of the ones who do not belong.”

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

5/5 stars

What's it about? In the second installment of the Time Quintet, Meg Murry must team up with Calvin, her nemesis/old principal Mr. Jenkins, and some mysterious new partners to pass a series of tests that determine the fate of a rapidly ailing Charles Wallace. A perfect little book that explores the miracle of being with whimsy and wisdom.

How’d I find it? Since rereading A Wrinkle in Time, I’ve been excited to see what the Murrys get into next.

Who will enjoy this book? Reading Madeleine L’Engle is like being in front of a cozy fire on a drizzly winter day, all warmth and weight. If you relish such a tone (for me, it’s like an injection of Christmas spirit), this book is for you. Think Everything Everywhere All at Once.

What stood out? L’Engle pitches out the rules of reality as we know it and writes a more daring, imaginative possibility. The mysterious farandolae, the mattered form of a cherubim, the song of the universe—delights for the mind. The fascinating cast, including the terrifying and annihilating Echthroi, propels with velocity this quest that is just as much physical as spiritual. Meg is a Namer!

Which line made me feel something? Mr. Murry makes a brief cameo to deliver this whopper on hope: “There are still stars which move in ordered and beautiful rhythm. There are still people in this world who keep promises.”