Reading Wednesday

[troisoiseaux]

Recently read

Read The Short Reign of Pippin IV by John Steinbeck, a 1957 satire in which France decides to give the whole monarchy thing another shot and crowns an amateur astronomer descended from Charlemagne, who really does not want to be a king.

Read The Mighty Red, Louise Erdrich's latest; it's a novel of small-town high drama, set in a farming community in North Dakota during the 2008 recession. There are teenage love triangles, ill-advised weddings, questionable career plans, local tragedies, book clubs as the court of public opinion, and a heist.

Read Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu, a very good short story collection I picked up after seeing a post describe Fu's stories as the kind "that doesn't answer any questions or provide you with any sort of guidance— just walks in and rearranges your photographs so they're slightly off-kilter, leaves you with that destabilization." [x]

Currently reading

Reading Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams - the new Facebook tell-all - because I love non-fiction about dysfunctional Silicon Valley companies, and HOO BOY. She opens her memoir with the time she nearly died in a childhood shark attack and it isn't even in the top five most gobsmacking moments so far.

To read next

Contemplating what to choose as my next Long Classic™ Audiobook, having finished Moby Dick; I feel like I should give Bleak House another shot, since I thoroughly stalled out on my attempt to actually read it (last... November?), but I'm open to suggestions.

Comments

[kore]

That Facebook memoir was certainly gripping! I got a little fed up with how VERY naive she claimed she was toward the end, but no wonder Zuck wanted to silence her.

[troisoiseaux]

I ended up finishing this over my lunch break today, and this is one of the most depressing books I've read in a while.

(Re: her "I was blinded by my idealism" excuse(?): I tend to take all memoirs by people in or adjacent to political/economic/social power with several shovelfuls of salt ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

[kore]

A good strategy!

[ioplokon]

The Heart of Midlothian is long and super weird. Or, you can never go wrong with George Eliot...

[troisoiseaux]

There have been a lot of votes for George Eliot!

[ioplokon]

Yes & Middlemarch is indeed good but........... The Mill on the Floss is better :3

[troisoiseaux]

Noted!

[muccamukk]

Middlemarch! (if you haven't already). It's very long and very good.

[kenjari]

I second this.

[troisoiseaux]

I have not read Middlemarch, because it is one of the many Long Classic™ Novels I've stalled out on approximately 20-30% of the way in since grad school fried my brain or something. So, also worth giving another shot in audiobook form!

[muccamukk]

I remember really liking the Kate Reading narration.

[ethelmay]

I read Middlemarch for comps, hated it and didn't retain a word. Reread it probably ten years later and liked it.

[kore]

Yes!

[lunabee34]

I love love Middlemarch.

Adam Bede is a good choice if you want to cry and be really depressed angry about the patriarchy.

[osprey_archer]

I also stalled out when I tried to read Bleak House. So that one might actually be the book and not you!

[troisoiseaux]

Honestly, I was liking it! I just... put it down at some point and never found the time or willpower to pick it back up again...?

[sabotabby]

Oooh new Louise Erdrich (tiny voice: "we have old Louise Erdrich at home").

I have a hold on Careless People.

[troisoiseaux]

It wasn't my favorite work I've read of hers, to be honest, but even a mid Erdrich novel is better than most.

I confess: I actually bought an e-copy of Careless People, because the hold queue was "several months." I'm too nosy to wait that long!

[kore]

Ooh also, MIDDLEMARCH

[lunabee34]

I loved Lesser Known Monsters; here's my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5575632131

[troisoiseaux]

It's so good!! It really deserves an actual write-up (or at least more detail than I have the bandwidth for rn). The first story, and the one with the apparently haunted doll, and the insomnia/sandman one are the ones that have been rattling around in my head since I read it.

[lunabee34]

Yes! Those are good ones.

I don't read enough short story collections.

[chestnut_pod]

Adore Louise Erdrich! My vote for next American Nobel winner, if we get one again.