november: 44, 45, 46 & 47

this month i read: 

wonder boys, by michael chabon (arron had recommended this to me when i moved to pittsburgh - it's set here, and it was fun to read the book and know a lot of the locations.  this book was very MALE, is maybe the best way to describe it.  and very IRRESPONSIBLE.  men making bad life decisions, one on top of the other.  so i got frustrated with the book, but i was talking about it a lot while i read it and then i did really want to watch the movie to see how they depicted it...so i guess i'm saying there was a lot in this book, but i didn't necessarily like it, mostly because the main character was a mess and i really wanted him to get his life together.  i have liked other chabon books better.  read kavalier and clay instead.)

memorial, by bryan washington (oooh i liked this one a lot.  the author is from houston and i'd heard good things about his work, so when this showed up as a book of the month club choice, i knew i wanted to read it.  modern love story - or maybe falling out of love story? - the first half told from one person's perspective and the second from his boyfriend's perspective.  some really interesting cultural stuff here - they are an interracial couple and we watch them navigate that, plus a lot of the book is set in japan.  it's a little nontraditional in terms of format - no quotation marks for dialogue, for example - but i really enjoyed it.  i was having trouble sleeping for part of the time i read this book, so it was with me by book light in some early mornings and i want to thank it for that!)

writers & lovers, by lily king (i really liked her book euphoria and picked this one up because she did a virtual lecture in pittsburgh this fall that i would have gone to in person in a different version of 2020.  this book is about lovers (bad and good - who you think you want and who you really want) and writing and the jobs you work while trying to get a book published.  there are some great scenes in this restaurant where the main character works that were so vivid and hilarious and sad.  i liked this book a lot, and after two books that were very male, this book with a 30-something female protagonist was welcomed and felt more relevant to me.  her lecture was great, too.)

leave the world behind, by rumaan alam (oooh this is a good book to read right about now.  a white family rents an airbnb with bad cell phone reception in the area and on the second night the black couple that owns the airbnb shows up at the door and asks to stay with them - there has been a blackout in new york city.  then weird stuff starts to happen.  there's some cool stuff where the narrator changes and you get these omniscient narrator scenes and then it pops back into the airbnb where they don't know much...it's creepy without being a full on thriller and it was a book i really wanted to talk about while i was reading it.  highly recommend!)

october: 40, 41, 42, & 43

in october i read:

anxious people, by fredrik backman (i like backman's writing, and this had some good twists and turns, with that same great balance of tender moments and hilarity that i find in all his writing.  he isn't my favorite author, but he's in the top 20 of reliably enjoyable writing.  i'd recommend!)

girl, woman, other, by bernardine evaristo (this author is coming to pittsburgh for a lecture in april (well, it will be online now), and i wanted to read her book before i heard her speak.  this is a really well done collection of fictional stories of women's experiences that often cross each other or come together in really cool ways.  this is a book that i wish i'd had an english teacher to walk me through - or i need to read it a second time or something - because the writing is SO good and i know there was more going on here than a first reading would let me take in.  i'd definitely recommend!)

never turn back, by christopher swann (a former coworker of mine's second book, this is a great thriller set in atlanta.  take it with you on a weekend away in a cabin, or on a beach trip.  if we do those sort of things any more.)

the heart goes last, by margaret atwood (creepy post-apocalyptic writing: classic margaret atwood.  in this version of the future, people voluntarily go to jail for a month in order to have a safe home to live in for the next month.  during the month in jail, another family comes out of jail and lives in your house - so it's a time share relationship.  and then nefarious things happen to our main characters.  i love atwood's world creation and her ideas about a future that is maybe not too far from what people would sign up for...)