New Web Address: readsreading.com.

WISHING YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR FILLED WITH MANY GREAT BOOKS!!!

VISIT MY BOOK BLOG AT ITS NEW ADDRESS 

http://www.readsreading.com

My Six Favorite Books From 2022!

Another great year of reading. Thanks for visiting my Blog. In the new year, you can find me at my new website: readsreading.com

 

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

‘Migrations’ was one of my favorite novels of 2022. Charlotte McConaghy published this exquisite story in 2019. Suspenseful, gripping and atmospheric, the novel stunned me with its ability to immerse the reader in a different world. Characterized as a CLI-FI (climate fiction) McConaghy certainly comprehends the implications of climate change, but she is also an insightful interpreter of the human soul. 

 

The protagonist of the novel, Franny Stone is a thirty-year-old Irish woman with a troubled past. The details of that past slowly reveal themselves in each chapter, like puzzle pieces that create a full picture by the end of the story. 

 

The novel take place in the not-too-distant future where most wild animals are extinct. No food for one species means no food for the animals up the food chain. So now animals are bred in farms for food, but the natural world as we know it has ceased to exist. 

 

Though not formally educated, Franny’s knowledge about birds is voluminous.  Scientists in the story believed that the Arctic Wren a species of bird was still alive and making their long migration from the Artic to Antarctica.  Franny wants to follow the Wren to their destination. She talks her way onto a fishing vessel where the crew hopes to take in one last big catch. At some level, she thinks that if she saves the birds, maybe she can save herself.  

 

As we learn about Franny’s life, we can see she is running toward the natural world and away from her traumatic past. Like her mother, she is restless soul who wanders during the day and sleepwalks at night.  She says, “It isn't fair to be the kind of creature who is able to love but unable to stay.” It feels like she is punishing herself for some unnamed transgressions which we lean in a slow cadence of revelation.  Franny’s painful experience of her younger days has nestled into her soul and she feels that she cannot change and must be punished, and yet her resiliency and growth.

 

‘Migrations’ is heavy and heartbreaking, raw and wrenching. It is a character driven story about a woman wrestling with her past while living in an eerie world without the sound or sight of animals. No fish, no birds, no mammals. This story aches with the fallibility and majesty of human choices both individually and globally. McConghay is not didactic, just factual. if we don’t make changes The world we know will no longer exist. 

 

 

 

 

The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff

‘The Fortnight in September’ by R.C. Sherriff beautifully portrays the emotions of an English family anticipating their annual holiday by the sea. Written in 1931, RC Sherriff captures the slowness of a time without technology. The plodding plot might not appeal to every reader, but after a few chapters, I was hooked. R.C. Sherriff takes us to an era before televisions, computers, and cell phones and reveals the beauty and dignity of a simpler life. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stevens and their three young adult children are in a state of high anticipation about their upcoming trip. After two decades of making this journey, their travel plans have evolved with military precision. Each family member knows his or her responsibilities for their departure and happily visualizes the Inn where they will stay and the beach where they will wade. 

Like layers of paint, the memories of this year’s trip will be coated onto prior trips, and their sparkling recollections will sustain them in the coming year. The novel offers insights, observations, and reflections about what the family members see and feel. One theme is that when they are on Holiday, they have time to reflect on their lives. For example, Mr. Stevens likes to take solitary walks on vacation, “He liked to have a good think – a good, connected think without anything to disturb him, and almost always he came back from his lonely walk with a firmer grip upon himself, and renewed confidence for the future.”

Discretionary money is scarce. All but the youngest child contributes to the family’s finances.  Mr. Stevens is a middle manager, and his children are on a similar path, a known but unspoken truth. Yet, the Stevens make the most of what they have. Their Holiday routines are also a way to anticipate every expenditure.  Spontaneity, after all, is a luxury of the upper classes. And when the family visits a wealthy business associate at his grand home overlooking the sea, the Stevens family appreciates all they have. As Fitzgerald said, "the rich are different from us." '

The trip goes off without a hitch, and nothing bad happens to any characters! Not a common theme in today’s novels. Though I don’t want to romanticize the limits of this family’s life, they have created a sacred space from the sameness of their daily routines. There is a quiet dignity to these characters.  R.C. Sherriff’s The Fortnight in September is time travel and writing at its best.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

 

I confess I was skeptical about Bonnie Garmus’ wonderful debut novel, ‘Lessons In Chemistry.’  Initially, I was put off by the bubble gum orange and pink cover. But thanks to my DJKKS book group, I not only read the novel but couldn’t put it down. ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ is witty, quirky and wise. Garmus has created unforgettable characters who are authentic to themselves and others. 

 

 The novel’s protagonist is Elizabeth Zott. She has a master’s degree in Chemistry from UCLA and her sole goal is to be a research scientist. But the year is 1952 and at every step of her academic journey, men hold power over her progress. They copy her work, call it their own, demean her and suggest she make coffee or take dictation. And, of course, they simply would not promote her.  “Men wanted to control her, touch her, dominate her, silence her, correct her, or tell her what to do. She didn’t understand why they couldn’t just treat her as a fellow human being, as a colleague, a friend, an equal, or even a stranger on the street.”

 

Elizabeth Zott calls out the absurdities of a social system that resists using half the population’s talents. Her brash and determined personality shows us what it could be like when women didn’t cower in the face of oppressive systems or align with their male oppressors. The book makes profound observations with humor and wit. A few times, I laughed out loud. But underneath wacky incidents and whimsical dialogue, Garmus exposes the absurdity of sexism in the 1950s, an era that many in our current political climate would like to replicate. ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ pleads with women to call out discrimination and act with courage rather than conform to the patriarchal system. I recommend this unique book. You will probably laugh while thinking about the perniciousness of sexism. 

 ****/*****

 

 

 

 

 

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

 

Despite its tranquil tone, Claire Keegan’s ‘Small Things Like These’ packs a provocative punch. In 114 pages, she delves into the heart and mind of a man questioning the purpose of his life. After witnessing a disturbing event, his past comes rushing into the present. Short-listed for this year’s Booker Prize, this novel, like its title, is small and great.  

 

Christmas is fast approaching in the small Irish town where Bill Furlong was born, raised and still lives. The year is 1985 and an economic downturn has enveloped the town. But Bill, a coal merchant, feels fortunate he can still support his wife and five daughters. 

 

One day delivering coal to the Catholic convent for unwed mothers, Bill finds a young woman locked in the coal shed. It shakes him deeply and unearths thoughts about his own unwed mother. When Bill’s mother had become pregnant at 16, her family disowned her. Because the Protestant woman for whom Bill’s mother worked invited Bill’s mother to move in and raise her child, Bill’s mother was spared the convent for unwed mothers. A blessing for Bill and his mother. 

 

What Bill saw at the convent begins to plague him. His wife says, “If you want to get on in life, there are things you have to ignore, so you can keep on.” But the image of that young, scared girl upsets the compassionate Bill Furlong.  His relationship with the nuns is cordial, but still, his conscience won’t rest. “Why were the things that were closet so often the hardest to see?” Feelings about his deceased mother and his unknown father stir inside him. Bill begins to reevaluate his obligations to himself, his family and his community. He wonders, “Was there any point in being alive without helping one another?” 

 

Claire Keegan’s sparse prose grabs her readers and places them in Bill Furlong’s heart and mind. In these turbulent times, she provokes her readers to contemplate their responsibilities to others.  If each of us does one small compassionate act, our world would undoubtedly be a better place.

 

 

 

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout is one of my favorite authors. No doubt, this Pulitzer Prize winner is a talented writer. But what I admire most is her persistent probing into the human psyche. What does it mean to be a person? Can we know ourselves? Can we really know the people we love? Strout’s books quietly invite readers to reflect on the nuances of family relationships. If you haven't read ‘Olive Kittredge’ and ‘The Burgess Boys’, I highly recommend them. 

With “Oh William!” Strout explores the dynamics of a marriage. She revisits Lucy Barton, the protagonist of her last two novels. Lucy’s beloved second husband, David, has died, and Lucy has been pondering her life while grieving. Her ex-husband William, the father of her grown daughters, asks Lucy to join him on a road trip to Maine. His second wife has left him, and he wants to investigate a recently uncovered family secret. Romance is not the motivation; William needs Lucy’s company.   Throughout their short adventure, Lucy thinks more specifically about her relationship with William and her initial attraction to him. With the passing of time and the help of a therapist, she is aware of just how little she knew about herself and William. Though her marriage lasted twenty years, she thinks, “William had always been a mystery to me. I am only saying:  I wondered who William was.” Of course, she knew intimately William’s likes, dislikes, preferences and needs. But Lucy is wondering about something more profound, more complicated about their relationship. 

 

Though Lucy is a successful 63-year-old writer living in New York City, she is still naïve and trapped within her youthful feelings of invisibility. Her voice is passive and distant. She has not psychologically moved beyond her impoverished childhood filled with neglect and disregard. Grateful for her writing career and kindhearted daughters, Lucy still doesn’t believe she deserves happiness. She tolerated William’s bad behavior in their marriage while making poor judgments herself. She reflects, “Who ever really knows the experience of another?” 

 

Driving with William for hours in a car creates an opportunity for Lucy to understand more. Lucy and William query each other about different moments in their marriage and share their perspectives. The discovery of William’s family secret enriches their conversation. 
 
When they return to their separate lives in New York City, Lucy comprehends a bit more about herself and her life with William. Without angst, she states on the final page, “Everybody in this whole wide world, we do not know anybody, not even ourselves! Except a little tiny, tiny bit we do. But we are all mythologies, mysterious. We are all mysteries.”  
 
This short novel is packed with thought-provoking insights about marriage and the complexities of human relationships. Another gem by Elizabeth Strout.