The first Monday of 2020 is here! I finally caught the cold that’s been going around. I was luckier than many, I know, to get through the holiday season before it caught up with me, and so far, it isn’t too bad!
Currently Reading
I picked out Christmas in Austin by Benjamin Markovits (Faber & Faber, 2019) as my First Book of the Year almost at random when I saw it in the New Fiction section at the library. It looked like a big work of literary fiction about family, and something to read just because I want to, not because it’s a hot title everyone keeps asking if I’ve read.
Crawdads, I’m looking at you.
Yes, I have read it!
“Christmas in Austin” is a profoundly domestic novel. The plot is desultory; what occurs is talk, plus copious inner musings about family relationships. The Essingers argue about anything — whether dinner is being cooked properly; whether it’s too cold to let the children sleep in the playhouse; whether to go out for doughnuts. Markovits specializes in innocuous little moments of daily marital abrasion: You’re late and hurrying, your spouse dithers over some detail, and a passive-aggressive barb triggers a testy response. He has a pitch-perfect ear for the cutesy euphemisms parents devise for their little kids (“Don’t be a pane of glass”) and for their snarky colloquies with precocious teenagers (“That’s not the tone you take with your grandmother.” “I’m not taking a tone, I’m making an argument.” “Your argument has a tone”). His narrator democratically samples all points of view, now nimbly segueing into internal monologue to summon pithy insights into family life, now acting as family therapist, patiently laying out the Essingers’ conflicts while exploring the family’s “network of anxieties and affections.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/14/books/review/christmas-in-austin-benjamin-markovits.html
This is the first book by this author I have read, and I’ve just realized that this novel revisits the Essinger family, who were introduced in an earlier novel, A Weekend in New York (Faber & Faber, 2018). I usually don’t like to read out of order, but hey…new year, new me!
Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo (Penguin Random House, 2017) is my book club selection for January. I haven’t actually started it yet, but will be today!
Adébáyò has been tutored in writing by both Margaret Atwood and fellow Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and though there is still room for growth, she has a thoroughly contemporary style that is all her own. Her clever and funny take on domestic life and Nigerian society is a welcome addition to her country’s burgeoning literary scene. Despite the intense sadness of her subject matter, she has produced a bright, big-hearted demonstration of female spirit, as well as the damage done by the boundlessness of male pride.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/09/stay-with-me-by-ayobami-adebayo-review
Currently Listening To
Self-Improvement
My annual push for self-improvement around New Year’s led me to listening to Gretchen Rubin’s The Four Tendencies on audio, read by the author. She has a new book out now, so I’m a little behind. I like her style of writing and I keep meaning to try out her podcast, too, Happier with Gretchen Rubin.
I’m also currently listening to No Country for Old Gnomes by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne, second in the Tales of Pell series. If you like humorous fantasy with lots of puns and wordplay a la Terry Pratchett and some sophomoric innuendo and bathroom jokes a la Christopher Moore, you should definitely try this series. It starts with Kill the Farm Boy.
On the Nightstand
Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner (Simon & Schuster, 2019). See first paragraph for why I’m reading this! But also because I used to love Jennifer Weiner’s books and I want to see if I still do.
A NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2019 SELECTION
ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019
THE WASHINGTON POST’S 50 NOTABLE WORKS OF FICTION IN 2019
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING’S 50 BEST BOOKS OF 2019
Thanks for visiting! Happy Monday and please let me know what you’re reading this week in the comments
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (#IMWAYR) is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It’s a place to meet up and share what you have been, are, and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever-growing TBR pile! This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at Book Date.