I miss reading fiction, I spend too much of my time distracted, by the internet alas and also all the many things that trouble me. I also read nonfiction, often for reading/study groups, not as independently as you. Your thoughts, though, make me realize that many of the novels I read (when I can) include a great deal of history or other “nonfiction” knowledge. In the past few years the novels that have had lasting value for me include Wolf Hall, The Overstory (yes, trees communicate with one another), and Mornings in Benin. All incredibly different, all very compelling narratives, all teaching me.
Over the past two weeks, on vacation in Italy, I’ve had time to read 2 novels: The Friend, by Sigrid Nunez and Enter Ghost, by Isabella Hammad. I’d be curious what you think of Nunez, it includes many reflections on “what is the point of writing.” And the Hammad, like Mornings in Benin, is set in Palestine. It is less visceral/painful, if also very good.
Now, en route back home, I need to reorient to Adorno for a study group on Thursday (topic: evil).
I believe you meant Mornings in Jenin. It seems, from the Amazon description, that it is a very timely story. I recommend The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri as another refugee story.
Thanks, Rebecca, I definitely meant Mornings in Jenin! And yes the novel is very timely and also brings home how the oppression of Palestinians started long before 10/07.
I have just finished reading James Rebanks' A Place of Tides. It is nonfiction --a story of his season of staying on a remote island off the Norway coast with a "duck woman" who cares for wild eiders and harvests their down from their nests. It is a well written and deals with a range of big picture issues about the world. If you haven't read his A Shepherd's LIfe, it would be the place to start. He grew up on a sheep farm in the Fells in England, ended up at Oxford, and is both a write and a shepherd. It is a great reflection on these various worlds and their relationships.
But I have 2 for you: The Hand That First Held Mine, Maggie O’Farrell, beautifully written and so true about the first days of motherhood, mine at least.
HHhH, Laurent Binet, an interesting redefinition of the novel, will certainly teach you something about the Heydrich assassination in Prague in 1942.
Love reading your thoughts here. Interesting that we both have daughters who are writer-adjacent.
Yes, I, now 73, am reading differently than in previous years. Right after college and through those years when I was teaching English, I wanted what I read for my own pleasure to not be “serious” literature. Then there was a long period of stories centered around home, parenting, romantic relationships and marriage, and cookbooks, gardening books, personal faith growth books. Joining a book club in 1997 expanded what I read in themes, in geographical and time setting, in genre, in era of publication. But I think the biggest change was that at least some of the time I was taken back to literary fiction with its beauty and nuance of writing and it’s “big ideas.”
Now that quality of writing - lyrical language, rich imagery, dialogue that fits setting and character - is something I crave along with a story that is more than plot. I want something to think about or to have nonfiction learning woven into the story. I know what kind of person I want to be, what is important to me, what my strengths and weaknesses are. I don’t read fiction to figure out who I am. I read fiction to inspire myself and to understand other people and cultures better. A novel or short story that does all of that is a feast of pleasure.
Feast of pleasure fiction for me: Grace by Paul Lynch, The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri, Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, Matrix by Lauren Groff, Ahab’s Wife by Lena Naslund, Peace Like a River and Virgil Wander by Leif Enger, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, The Dove Keepers by Alice Hoffman, Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Miller, the Gilead quartet by Marilyn Robinson, My Antonia by Willa Cather, short stories by Eudora Welty
I was on the verge of buying tickets to the Indigo Girls tour in 2020 and since I've completely
forgotten about going to any concerts.
Once I was in a reading slump and I returned to reading the fantasy that I read as teenager.
Terry Brooks and Robert Jordan.
Recently I've notice a split between new and old fiction.
I was somewhat disappointed in Constance Debre's Name because it lacked story. I'm
reading Leopard Skin Hat, almost done, and there's not much story either. This was
long listed for the International Booker Award. At the same time I listened / read Madame Bovary and now I'm on Les Misérables. The classics don't have the POV or the craft, but they have so much more story. I have to stop listening or reading because I'm caring too much about these characters. Even when I already know what will happen. Whereas with the newer books I'm counting down the pages to the end. All these books are French authors because that's my focus this month.
Next month I am focusing on Spain. I'm going to pit Cervantes against some of the recent
Booker nominees - Mac and His Problems, Like a Fading Shadow, etc.
I'm fixing on visiting those countries next summer - 2026.
So I've found that having themes and reasons behind on those themes is motivating.
Interesting thematic focus. I'm thinking of taking Proust with me to Paris soon. That seems both a bit pretentious and also like an opportunity not to miss. I would love to hear more sometime about that split between new and old fiction. Have you written about that on your Substack? Seems like a great topic for a post...
I miss reading fiction, I spend too much of my time distracted, by the internet alas and also all the many things that trouble me. I also read nonfiction, often for reading/study groups, not as independently as you. Your thoughts, though, make me realize that many of the novels I read (when I can) include a great deal of history or other “nonfiction” knowledge. In the past few years the novels that have had lasting value for me include Wolf Hall, The Overstory (yes, trees communicate with one another), and Mornings in Benin. All incredibly different, all very compelling narratives, all teaching me.
Over the past two weeks, on vacation in Italy, I’ve had time to read 2 novels: The Friend, by Sigrid Nunez and Enter Ghost, by Isabella Hammad. I’d be curious what you think of Nunez, it includes many reflections on “what is the point of writing.” And the Hammad, like Mornings in Benin, is set in Palestine. It is less visceral/painful, if also very good.
Now, en route back home, I need to reorient to Adorno for a study group on Thursday (topic: evil).
Thanks for sharing your reflections!
I believe you meant Mornings in Jenin. It seems, from the Amazon description, that it is a very timely story. I recommend The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri as another refugee story.
Thanks, Rebecca, I definitely meant Mornings in Jenin! And yes the novel is very timely and also brings home how the oppression of Palestinians started long before 10/07.
I have just finished reading James Rebanks' A Place of Tides. It is nonfiction --a story of his season of staying on a remote island off the Norway coast with a "duck woman" who cares for wild eiders and harvests their down from their nests. It is a well written and deals with a range of big picture issues about the world. If you haven't read his A Shepherd's LIfe, it would be the place to start. He grew up on a sheep farm in the Fells in England, ended up at Oxford, and is both a write and a shepherd. It is a great reflection on these various worlds and their relationships.
Hi Kathy,
Me too, since the pandemic really.
But I have 2 for you: The Hand That First Held Mine, Maggie O’Farrell, beautifully written and so true about the first days of motherhood, mine at least.
HHhH, Laurent Binet, an interesting redefinition of the novel, will certainly teach you something about the Heydrich assassination in Prague in 1942.
Love reading your thoughts here. Interesting that we both have daughters who are writer-adjacent.
Take care,
Liza
Thanks for these trusty recommendations! I will check out both of them. I loved Hamnet. What does your daughter do that's writer-adjacent?
Yes, I, now 73, am reading differently than in previous years. Right after college and through those years when I was teaching English, I wanted what I read for my own pleasure to not be “serious” literature. Then there was a long period of stories centered around home, parenting, romantic relationships and marriage, and cookbooks, gardening books, personal faith growth books. Joining a book club in 1997 expanded what I read in themes, in geographical and time setting, in genre, in era of publication. But I think the biggest change was that at least some of the time I was taken back to literary fiction with its beauty and nuance of writing and it’s “big ideas.”
Now that quality of writing - lyrical language, rich imagery, dialogue that fits setting and character - is something I crave along with a story that is more than plot. I want something to think about or to have nonfiction learning woven into the story. I know what kind of person I want to be, what is important to me, what my strengths and weaknesses are. I don’t read fiction to figure out who I am. I read fiction to inspire myself and to understand other people and cultures better. A novel or short story that does all of that is a feast of pleasure.
Feast of pleasure fiction for me: Grace by Paul Lynch, The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri, Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, Matrix by Lauren Groff, Ahab’s Wife by Lena Naslund, Peace Like a River and Virgil Wander by Leif Enger, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, The Dove Keepers by Alice Hoffman, Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Miller, the Gilead quartet by Marilyn Robinson, My Antonia by Willa Cather, short stories by Eudora Welty
Which of these have you not read?
What a great list--thank you! I have only read 6 of the 14 on your list (counting Robinson and Welty only once), so I will definitely add the others.
I was on the verge of buying tickets to the Indigo Girls tour in 2020 and since I've completely
forgotten about going to any concerts.
Once I was in a reading slump and I returned to reading the fantasy that I read as teenager.
Terry Brooks and Robert Jordan.
Recently I've notice a split between new and old fiction.
I was somewhat disappointed in Constance Debre's Name because it lacked story. I'm
reading Leopard Skin Hat, almost done, and there's not much story either. This was
long listed for the International Booker Award. At the same time I listened / read Madame Bovary and now I'm on Les Misérables. The classics don't have the POV or the craft, but they have so much more story. I have to stop listening or reading because I'm caring too much about these characters. Even when I already know what will happen. Whereas with the newer books I'm counting down the pages to the end. All these books are French authors because that's my focus this month.
Next month I am focusing on Spain. I'm going to pit Cervantes against some of the recent
Booker nominees - Mac and His Problems, Like a Fading Shadow, etc.
I'm fixing on visiting those countries next summer - 2026.
So I've found that having themes and reasons behind on those themes is motivating.
Interesting thematic focus. I'm thinking of taking Proust with me to Paris soon. That seems both a bit pretentious and also like an opportunity not to miss. I would love to hear more sometime about that split between new and old fiction. Have you written about that on your Substack? Seems like a great topic for a post...