Disobedience by Naomi Alderman Continue reading
Tag Archives: literary mix tape
Sample Saturday – two memoirs and true crime
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. Continue reading
Why We Can’t Sleep by Ada Calhoun
A group of friends and I have adopted the ‘five minutes for ailments’ rule, for when we get together. Otherwise, discussions about health (and the health of our partners, parents and kids) would sap hours. Seriously, hours. This is my oldest group of friends – we were teens together in the eighties, at uni in the early nineties and had kids in the 2000s. I’m providing the timeline to give context to Ada Calhoun’s book, Why We Can’t Sleep. Continue reading
Monogamy by Sue Miller – a literary mix tape
I have a backlog of reviews, and Monogamy by Sue Miller is one of them. I enjoyed it for its exploration of all facets of grief – yes, the sadness and sentimental stuff, but also the anger, resentment, selfishness, the physical and social impact, and the questions that won’t be answered. Continue reading
Things That Are Making Me Happy This Week
01. Finders Keepers Market at the beautiful Royal Exhibition Building – my favourite things: these amazing candles (especially the ones that look like knitting); this ceramicist; and these fancy plant stakes. Continue reading
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Truly, there is nothing new left to say about Bret Easton Ellis’s generation-defining novel, Less Than Zero. And, despite having a bunch of options for week one of Novellas in November, I decided to re-read Less Than Zero, purely because I am absolutely engrossed in the podcast Once Upon a Time at Bennington College (to the point where I’m waiting for each new episode to drop). The podcast examines the years that Ellis, Donna Tartt and Jonathan Lethem were at college together, and specifically, the people and events that inspired characters in both Less Than Zero and The Secret History.
So, this is not a review but rather a collection of Less-Than-Zero-associated-thoughts: Continue reading
French Exit by Patrick deWitt – a literary mix tape
I mentioned how slow I’d been to write a review of French Exit by Patrick deWitt. I read it in February – can’t remember much except that I laughed out loud and loved every moment. So, a mix tape instead…
4/5 Dark and hilarious. Continue reading
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart – a literary mix tape
There’s nothing I can say about Douglas Stuart’s 2020 Booker Prize winning novel, Shuggie Bain, that hasn’t already been said. Know that I laughed, I cried, and I ached for Shuggie, his alcoholic mother, Agnes, and his siblings. This story is raw and tender and hopeful and heartbreakingly sad.
In my tradition of not reviewing books that have a squillion reviews on Goodreads, I have instead put together a mix tape, drawing on some favourite passages in the book. Needless to say, I had dozens to choose from in Shuggie.
5/5 Shuggie has my heart. Continue reading
Ordinary People by Diana Evans
Ugh. There was not much I liked about Ordinary People by Diana Evans, despite it being one of the books that made my ‘end of year shopping list’. Continue reading
Normal People by Sally Rooney – a literary mixtape
I became so involved with Marianne and Connell that I never wanted to leave them. If you haven’t yet read Normal People by Sally Rooney, hop to it.
4.5/5 Half a mark off because I didn’t cry.
Mad World | Tears for Fears
Marianne had the sense that her real life was happening somewhere very far away, happening without her, and she didn’t know if she would ever find out where it was and become part of it. Continue reading