Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye. This week all three come via Broadsheet’s Summer Reading Guide.
Valentino and Sagittarius by Natalia Ginzburg
Summary: Ginzburg explores the theme of the break-up of families in two linked novellas.
I’m thinking: Yes.
Held by Anne Michaels
Summary: In 1917, on a battlefield near the River Aisne, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memories. 1920 – John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near another river—alive, but not whole and ghosts begin to surface.
I’m thinking: No.
Take What You Need by Idra Novey
Summary: Leah has long been estranged from her stepmother, Jean, and sought a clean break from her rural childhood. But with Jean’s death, Leah must return to sort through what’s been left behind. What she discovers is astonishing: Jean has filled the house with giant sculptures she’s welded from scraps of the area’s industrial history.
I’m thinking: Maybe.
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I don’t have it, but I’m tempted by Held. She’s a wonderful writer.
Hmm… Held was one of my books of last year. It’s an almost impossible book to summarise but I can say that the writing is sublime.
I bought Held on the strength of your review, Susan, and will read it in the next month or two. I loved Fugitive Pieces.
I hope you enjoy it, Kim. I’m thinking about rereading it this year.
I’ve only read one each of Ginzburg and Michaels but really liked them both, so very tempted by your first two.