Skinship by Yoon Choi

4/5 stars

What's it about? In this debut collection of short stories, Yoon Choi delves into the joys, disappointments, and secrets within relationships. Each of the eight stories is a tender and intimate portrait of family, the Korean diaspora, and the American experience.

How’d I find it? I obtained this copy from Politics & Prose, a happy purchase with a gift card. Is there any better gift card than a bookstore gift card?

Who will enjoy this book? Literary short story lovers (think The Best American Short Stories) and readers who enjoy Jhumpa Lahiri, Alice Munro, and Karen Tei Yamashita's Sansei and Sensibility

What stood out? Choi's writing is elegantly restrained, clever, and absorbing. You will root for her characters and wish you had more time with them as each story comes to a (sometimes abrupt) close. I found myself enveloped by Skinship's microcosms. "A Map of the Simplified World" and "The Loved Ones" were particular bright points. As a nurse, I chuckled at how perfectly Geneva, the hospice nurse in "The Loved Ones," was written. Of course she has two tuna sandwiches. Of course.

Which line made me feel something? From "Solo Works for Piano" (which reminded me of Kazuo Ishiguro's Nocturnes), when Albert is questioned about his happiness: "She demanded evidence. What evidence? Here is his life. It wakes in the morning and sleeps in the night. It has its routines: the appointments it keeps, the paths it travels. It has meaning, whether or not that meaning can be articulated. It does. It has."

The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

3/5 stars

What's it about? Tess Gunty's debut novel centers on brilliant teen and aspiring mystic Blandine Watkins and the lives of those who intersect her orbit in Vacca Vale, a sigh of a Midwestern town. While there is much to admire in the character development and depictions of Americana, the plot goes off the rails in that peculiar contemporary way, in which an auspicious start devolves into a violent, cobbled together denouement (think Tommy Orange's There There or The Overstory by Richard Powers). Such endings always make me wonder if the publisher rushed the writer to the finish line.

How’d I find it? I picked up The Rabbit Hutch at the Books-A-Million store located next to a bar I frequent. I tell you, whoever puts their bookstore next to a bar is a genius.

Who will enjoy this book? Fans of Andrew Sean Greer, Deb Olin Unferth, and perhaps Lauren Groff's Matrix, though The Rabbit Hutch is decidedly not a slow burn.

What stood out? Gunty sketches her characters with an oddball collection of tics and thoughts and interests that bring wit and realness to the page. I particularly relished the chapter "Variables," which chronicles Blandine's relationship with her high school music teacher.

Which line made me feel something? "Yes, I wanted your mind and your words and your face and your sadness and your sensitivity and your power and your talent and your age and your imagination and your hair and your music, but ultimately — ultimately — I wanted to fuck your piano." Heartbreaking and hilarious.

Dark Matter by Aase Berg, translated by Johannes Göransson

4/5 stars

What's it about? Honestly, this is a tough question to answer. Strange, creepy, and savage, Aase Berg describes a transformed world in which the rules of body and boundary have changed. The surreal and consuming poems of Dark Matter challenge the definition of being.

How’d I find it? I bought directly from Black Ocean, the publisher, because I’m fancy sometimes.

Who will enjoy this book? If you appreciate Jeff VanderMeer's Dead Astronauts, Olga Ravn's The Employees, or the body horror of Alex Garland's film Men, you'll get a kick out of Dark Matter.

What stood out? The aftertaste of the poems linger in your mouth — fitting, as mouths are a common theme. I felt unsettled in the best way by this book. Dark Matter portends encroachment and uncertainty that is hard to shake. A bit like Jeff Vandermeer's Area X trilogy.

Which line made me feel something? This stanza from "Strong Bodyfault's Orbit:" "There is no space now for the hold / There is no eye for the hold / the skeleton is beshivered / with surfaces with barbs / hold catatonia"

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? In moving house, I tried to group books by the same author in boxes (an enterprise that ultimately proved too time-consuming) and came across this copy, which belongs to my spouse.

Why not 3 or more stars? This book is fine. The writing, the plot, the literariness of it — all fine. I wanted the story to move beyond its repetitive elements (winter in Starkfield is rough — got it) and further develop present-day Ethan or Mattie, who is presented as little more than sentient hair despite snippets of fascinating backstory. Mercifully short yet unrelenting in its bleakness.

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson

5/5 stars

What's it about? Anne Carson reimagines the myth of Geryon, a giant felled by the Greek hero Heracles, who steals Geryon’s cattle as one of the labors imposed upon him by the gods. Is this relevant to your reading? Not really, but it would be a shame to spoil any bit of this devastating novel in verse about love, longing, monsters, mothers, and seeing, so that’s all the context you’ll get. A masterful modern retelling.

How’d I find it? A Northeast Library book sale in DC scored me this read.

Who will enjoy this book? Autobiography of Red is a sumptuous treat for those who revel in ingenuity of form and lustrous language. Readers who loved Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, Ocean Vuong (particularly On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous), and Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad will appreciate.

What stood out? I was admittedly skeptical about this book, as I didn’t enjoy Carson’s Plainwater (I know, I know). But the knockout language of Autobiography of Red left me breathless. I can’t wait to read this book again and discover what new pangs the words inflict. Buy this book, revisit it, underline heavily. Never have chapter titles done such rich lifting.

Which line made me feel something? I’ll be chewing on this book for days (pity on whatever I read next), but this line in particular from the chapter “From the Archaic to the Fast Self” has me thinking: “Like the terrestrial crust of the earth / which is proportionately ten times thinner than an eggshell, the skin of the soul / is a miracle of mutual pressures.”

I Hold a Wolf by the Ears by Laura van den Berg

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? After seeing this book on Electric Literature’s list of favorite short story collections of 2020, I bought a copy at Politics & Prose.

Why not 3 or more stars? It takes me a long time to pinpoint why I don't like a particular work, especially because I feel a critique should transcend the reviewer's peculiar tastes and preferences. For that reason, I read everything I start until the end. To make an informed judgment. I knew during the first story that I Hold a Wolf by the Ears wasn't my taste and found no other flaw, so that's all the "why" I have to offer here: good story nuggets, but lacking conviction and innovation in form.

Watership Down by Richard Adams

4/5 STARS

What's it about? A group of outsider rabbits works to start a new home and avoid the dangers of the wild, including predators, man-wreaked havoc, and territorial rabbits. Interspersed with rabbit lore, rabbit language, and the weight of danger, Watership Down is an epic, action-packed tale of survival.

How’d I find it? At a book sale at Rust Library in Leesburg, I came across this copy, which happens to be the exact same edition I had as a child, red sprayed edges and all. The joy!

Who will enjoy this book? The closest read-alike is Henry Williamson’s Tarka the Otter (an excellent NYRB read, by the way), though similar books for readers of all ages, like Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, should also appeal.

What stood out? Adams does a stellar job of crafting unforgettable characters: Fiver, the prescient loner; Bigwig, the burly fighter with a soft spot for a helpful gull; and even General Wormwort, the hardened tyrant of Efrafa.

Which line made me feel something? The descriptions of setting in this book are universally lovely, but the following treatment of the turning of the season was particularly sumptuous: “In July the still blue, thick as cream, had seemed close above the green trees, but now the blue was high and rare, the sun slipped sooner to the west and, once there, foretold a touch of frost, sinking slow and big and drowsy, crimson as the rose hips that covered the briar.” Ugh.

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

3/5 stars

What's it about? Cookbook author Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband Mark is cheating on her at the worst time: she's seven months pregnant. What makes a marriage worth keeping? A quippy snack of a book that is simultaneously tough to put down and tough to swallow.

How’d I find it? A dear aunt with a terrifyingly voracious reading appetite passed along this book.

Who will enjoy this book? Lovers of the rom-com (especially Nora Ephron's, obviously) and Jennifer Weiner's work

What stood out? While this romance novel is rife with expected tropes, its unconventional writing sets it apart. Example: The future Rachel narrating the story punctuates the plot with recipes that I found distracting in the best way — I'm now determined to make sorrel soup. The book's major weakness is how aggressively cis and straight it is, which culminates in cringeworthy gender platitudes and off-putting treatments of LGBTQ identity.

Which line made me feel something? Make no mistake — this book is funny. I laughed out loud throughout. "I wanted a man with long legs and a small ass and laugh wrinkles around the eyes. Then I grew up and settled for a low-grade lunatic who kept hamsters."

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

4/5 stars

What's it about? A heart-wrenching meditation on grief, loss, and marriage, Didion lays bare the aftermath of her husband's sudden passing and her daughter's long illness. Sparse and unforgettable.

How’d I find it? My spouse, a devout Didion fan, lent his copy. This is a book he gives regularly to bereaved loved ones.

Who will enjoy this book? There is no one quite like Joan Didion, but for those seeking similar subject matter, try Kat Chow's Seeing Ghosts. If you want to recreate the general feel of the book, try poet Ada Limón's The Carrying.

What stood out? The sheer intimacy of this book is astounding. I mourned John as I read. After finishing the last page and dabbing my eyes, I happened to notice that the letters for "John" are in a different color within the title on the cover. The crying resumed.

Which line made me feel something? The bursts of repetition broke me. "You're safe. I'm here." "You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends." These recall the larger shared life between Didion and Dunne, making his loss all the more poignant.

Upstream by Mary Oliver

4/5 stars

What's it about? In this collection of selected essays, Mary Oliver offers insight into her life as a reader, writer, and human. Though most of the book focuses on nature and gratitude, a section devoted to literary criticism muses on Whitman, Wordsworth, Poe, and Emerson.

How’d I find it? My spouse received this is a Christmas gift and kindly let me read it first.

Who will enjoy this book? Fans of Walt Whitman, Annie Dillard, Ross Gay, and Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s World of Wonders

What stood out? Essays written by poets offer a buffet of language and sentiment, and Upstream is no exception. Oliver’s love for the world is potent and infectious; after sitting with this book, you’ll want to go for a walk. I find a current of sadness that runs beneath Oliver’s measured glimpses of her own life, but this makes the simple joys she describes, such as observing a resident spider feed, all the more special. The writing can be precious at times (think 2013’s Dog Songs), but the overall warmth of the reading experience makes those moments easy to overlook.

Which line made me feel something? “Once I put my face against the body of our cat as she lay with her kittens, and she did not seem to mind. So I pursed my lips against that full moon, and I tasted the rich river of her body.” Did…Mary Oliver admit to suckling a cat?