white picket fence

what reading a book I hated taught me about the books I like

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler (not providing a link because I don’t want to endorse it in any way) must have had an amazing marketing team. I encountered it constantly this summer/early fall: I saw it on blogs, Instagram feeds, and featured at a few bookstores. So when I saw it on the new books shelf at the library, I checked it out immediately. I love reading books about New York City, I love food writing, so it seemed like an easy choice.

Guess what? This book was terrible. If it's supposed to be a love story, I pity the author and her conception of love. Almost everything about it felt cynical, bitter, and self-serving. None of the characters seemed to have any real regard for anyone beyond themselves. Also, I kind of feel like Maude Flanders talking like this, and I’m usually not a prude when it comes to the books I read, but all the physical relationships in this novel felt gross and gratuitous, not to mention completely empty of any real lasting emotion. Maybe it’s because I skimmed the last few dozen pages because at that point I was so pissed I was even reading this book… but it seemed there was no redemption, no clarity achieved, no satisfying denouement of any kind.  And may I add: reading about endless days and nights of young people doing drugs/being hungover is straight up NOT INTERESTING. 

After finishing, I thought about some of the novels I’ve read this year that I have enjoyed. (You know how I appreciate a good compare and contrast / turning everything in my life into a self-improvement lesson.) The common thread in all these books I love? Well... love. Characters who care for each other despite their flaws. Characters who overcome obstacles and their own personality defaults with the help of those around them. Messages of real solidarity within struggle. Spoiler alert: All those things were completely devoid in Sweetbitter. 

So here are a few of my recommendations: 

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt was a nice surprise. A sweet coming of age story, quite free of cliches and just an overall pleasant read. 

Lila, one of the Gilead novels by Marilynne Robinson (stories about 2 pastors in small town Iowa in the 1950s) is almost unbearably earnest and tender. Robinson writes with such force that each sentence, each word feels crucial, weighted, necessary. (I'm a very fast reader and her writing forces me to slow down in a way that feels almost mysical to me.) It's a story about love when love is not easy. I can't even tell you anymore because I can't do it justice. Read her books!

Last of all... and obviously this doesn't need my recommendation, but: I read the Harry Potter series for the first time as a 35 year old and I was completely surprised at how much I embraced it. It’s FULL of love in all it’s forms: friendship, romance, reverence, respect, fellowship. Harry and Hagrid, Harry and Sirius, Harry / Ron / Hermione, Harry & the Weasley family: each of these relationships demonstrate a different kind of love and make the series so enjoyable. Plus, after getting super into these books, I realized it's never worth it to dislike or avoid something just because it's popular, or look down on people who do.

So yeah, that's my literary lesson of 2016: Give things a chance! Don't be cynical! Never apologize for liking things that some other jerk may think is corny or dumb! Consume media joyfully!

bookstack

A few recommendations from my April/May reading. 

An Altar in the World, by Barbara Brown Taylor. I've been reading a lot of things that fall into some kind of "spiritual/autobiographical essays" category lately, but this book is the clear winner. It's full of wisdom, how to live in a fulfilling way, how to connect with God and the real, good things of this world. Here's a favorite passage:

Most of us spend so much time thinking about where we have been or where we are going that we have a hard time recognizing where we actually are. When someone asks us where we want to be in our lives, the last thing that occurs to us is to look down at our feet and say, "Here I guess, since this is where I am." 

Next, Karen Russell. I heard Russell interviewed on Fresh Air a few weeks back and was smitten. Allow me an analogy here... have you ever met a new person, and just immediately felt a thrill of "yes, this person gets me and I get them, we have so much to talk about, I just want to hang out for hours and hours"? As I get older I find this doesn't happen anymore, which is kind of a bummer, since it's one of the most exciting things about being young. BUT. When I started reading Russell's books, I felt a bit of that same buzz. I just wanted to check out all her books and look up all her interviews online. Her work resonates with me, I feel like she understands exactly what I want as a reader. 

I read Swamplandia! in about a day and a half (apologies to my kids for basically ignoring them for a couple hours, oops), since I tend to read novels pretty voraciously. And now I'm taking my time going through her collection of short stories, Vampires in the Lemon Grove. 

Last, I checked out this Flowers of the World book to use as a drawing reference. (As always, trying to improve my drawing skills.) At some point in my life I'll actually buy one of these because I feel like I'm constantly checking them out of the library. 

What have you been reading lately? Have any suggestions for me?