Three weeks into our voyage to the Broughtons and area, and I've
been doing a fair amount of reading. Haven't kicked my insomnia, and days on
anchor tend to be quiet. So, in lieu of an update, here's a quick rundown of my
recent reading.
Amanda Palmer, The Art of Asking
I have only lately come to be fan of Amanda Palmer, mainly due
to old habits dying hard. This book is based on AFP's TED talk, which has had
some ten million-plus views, but encompasses so much more about her background,
her personal life, and her artistic process — a cross between a guidebook and a
musician's memoir. Perfect for me! AFP has a lot to say about asking for help,
being a creator, dealing with impostor syndrome, and living in the present. I
really admired this book and feel I read it at exactly the right moment in my
life.
Mary Norris, Between You and Me
Another cross, this one between an editor's memoir and a
grammar handbook. I laughed out loud repeatedly while reading this book: it's
smart, funny, nerdy in all the right ways, and soundly informative. I found the
copyediting of the book itself fascinating, and of course devoured the
discussion of editorial processes at the New
Yorker. I doubt this is a good pick for a grammar neophyte, but for anyone
who enjoys word play, precise punctuation, and technical grammar, it's a
winner.
Keith Houston, Shady Characters
Not quite a companion to Norris' book, this book discusses English
punctuation marks and how they evolved, from the pilcrow to the irony mark. Not
in any way a guidebook, but its discussion of history (particularly the
examples from medieval manuscripts and early print) will fascinate anyone who
thinks about typography and publishing conventions.
David Downie, A Passion for Paris
I'd been reading this book off and on since late April. Yet
another cross — part travel writing, part cultural history — this book
discusses famous creators, all of them living in a concentration of Paris
neighbourhoods, and their various romantic intrigues. Rooted primarily in the
nineteenth century, it provided valuable back story to aspects of Modernism with
which I was already familiar and encouraged me to learn more about certain
French writers I've largely avoided. Not my usual kind of book, but I won it on
LibraryThing and am happy I did.
Heidi Pitlor, The Daylight Marriage
In case you think I'm reading nothing but non-fiction on
this trip, I should mention this novel, another book I won through
LibraryThing. I was surprised by this book: I was expecting a typical domestic
novel of middle-class ennui. Instead, it was a tightly composed literary text about
emotional climate change, wrapped around the outlines of a crime novel. It was
skillfully written and rich, but I suspect in reviews the book suffered from
the dismissive descriptor "women's novel." (No way I can check this suspicion
just now, though...)
Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
A sweet, sweet book about love, reading, and the canals of
France. Having travelled by canal boat repeatedly (and having spent time in the
centre of Paris), I could follow the characters' journey easily. The characters
are quirky, and the story is heartwarming. If you liked The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, you'll probably like this novel,
too. Again, I suspect this book is easily dismissed as a "women's
novel," but that's unfair, as there's much to admire in these pages — and
it's selling well, which is quite an accomplishment in the current publishing
market.
Lawrence Hill, The Book of Negroes (illustrated
edition). In a word: masterpiece.
There have been a few other titles in my reading mix, too,
but the ones I've just listed have overlapped and entwined in unexpected ways. I'm
filling up my word reserve, getting ready to start capturing some of my own on
screen (and eventually on paper).
Onward!
Now reading: Michael Crummey, Sweetland
Posts
