It's Gonna Be May (but April book reviews)
months are confusing
Was April my most literary reading month? No.
Am I embarrassed by this? Mostly no, though a little yes. It’s like how I feel about having been swayed by Ayn Rand’s ideas for a month in college.
Just kidding! I’m deeply, 100% embarrassed by that, along with at least fifty other things I did in college!
Okay, who’s ready for my overview of April’s reading — the good, the meh, and the “really, don’t bother”? Of course, this is but one humble person’s opinion, your mileage may vary.
Also: I confess to spending substantially more then a necessary amount of my one wild and precious life debating whether this newsletter, which you are presumably reading in May unless you are alarmingly behind on your email, should titularly reference the month of MAY (in which I’m sending it) or the month of APRIL (reviewing April’s books.) Both felt wrong so I went with the option that permits more foolish wordplay, which frankly is how I live my life generally.
I Capture the Castle: One part Anne of Green Gables, one part the sister in Atonement, a little bit of Austen and one part of some more melancholic, adult tale I can’t quite place right now and you have this book! Published in 1948, this is a story of an English family in genteel but desperate poverty, told through a series of 17 year old Cassandra’s journals. It’s so sharply observed (really, every single one of these characters is SO well defined), hopeful but realistic, complicated in the blush of first loves, and a love letter to writing itself. And also quite funny and sweet. I’m grateful to my friend Danielle for telling me that “everyone on TikTok and also Ann Patchett recommend this book.” 4/5 lambs.
The Motherload: Apparently the internet HAAAATES this author and her memoir but you guys - I thought it was searing, provocative, brutal, and unblinkingly honest about the author’s experience of pregnancy, her first year of motherhood, and her severe postpartum trauma. Like, yes, is she a privileged art brat who is a little out of touch and might not parent the same way you would? Sure! And SHE will be the first to tell you that. It’s, to me, kind of the whole point of the book - that motherhood is hard in the best of circumstances. Anyway, I thought it was a gut punch, in a compelling way. 1.5/5 lambs it’s really quite graphic.
The Wedding People: Loved this book, which is both a romantic comedy about a woman who inadvertently gets roped into a wedding of people she doesn’t know, and also a surprisingly serious and weighty reflection on life, mortality, and friendship. Very funny and tender, a fresh take. I was surprised how much I liked it and still think of it. Not just your average beach read. 4/5 lambs but also TW: self harm, so please take care.
Knife: Okay, I actually read this a few months ago but we haven’t discussed it and I want to add SOME heft to this so! I perhaps was expecting this memoir of his attempted assassination to be … more surreal? A little intellectually performative? But instead it was clean, spare and elegant, ridiculously human, even darkly comic. On paper, it’s a conversation between Rushdie and his attacker, as well as a meditation on friendship and love and free speech. But also it’s an interesting dialogue between Rushdie the Great Writer and Rushdie the fallible man. 1.5/5 lambs.
Do you think this is the absolute first time Rushdie has been mixed in with The Wedding People and/or given a lamb rating? Let us not say that there are no new ideas, people!!
The Tell: I was really moved by this memoir of a woman whose “perfect” life was becoming so untenable that she took great strides to face, and then try to resolve, a deep secret of her life. I know that’s vague but the unfolding is part of its power. I’ve put it in the “maybe” category not because *I* was ambivalent about it - both Oprah and I loved it (hair toss) - but I think the power is in its story and candor, not necessarily in the writing itself. So see if the topic appeals to you. 1/5 lambs, more TWs but I don’t want to say what they are in case it’s a spoiler? Message me if you really want to know.
Big Magic: You might love Elizabeth Gilbert or hate her, and you might love or hate “self-improvement” books. (I’m a ‘love her writing’ on the former, typically ‘NFW’ on the latter.) But in seeking to live a more magical, sparkling life, I picked up this ten year old book, which contains mostly ruminations and short essays on how to live a creative life. You’ve heard the concepts all before (“be brave! just start! Don’t judge yourself!”) but through her chatty, referential style I found a lot of tidbits, thoughts, and stories that stay with me. So, if you too want to stop being a brown rock and instead crack open like a geode, creatively speaking, maybe you’ll like it too. Also the cover is pretty, no? Are lambs even the right measuring stick for a book like this? Probably not. What’s a correct shorthand for a self improvement book? Therapy bills? Gant chart bubbles?
How to End a Love Story: Is this the best romcom you’ll ever read? No. It’s not even the best one I read this month. BUT - some good/fresh/maybe relevant to you elements: Set in a Hollywood writers’ room. Asian daughter struggling with her family history and expectations. It’s forgettable but enjoyable. 3.5/5 lambs.
Unlike last month, where I had some STRONG WORDS for some books, none of these books were particularly objectionable. But are they worth your time? I don’t think so, and here’s why:
Dogland: This is a sportswriter’s deep dive into the world of AKC showdogs (i.e. Westminster Dog Show.) I mean, it was fine. It just wasn’t enough of any one thing, you know? It wasn’t deep enough into more than one specific dog so as to be particularly narrative. It wasn’t deeply researched nor acutely anthropological. It wasn’t a particular commentary on society as told through this niche. It was just - a book about dog shows. You can skip it.
Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave: I actually quite like this series about a single mother/author who gets accidentally caught up in a series of murders. The first three, maybe even the fourth, held up pretty well as a corpus of work. But at this point even the author seem to be caught in her own web of back stories and like, is anything this character does even remotely legal or ethical, and at some point doesn’t even a silly mystery have to address that? Like, come on. So - read the first one. But you don’t need to go this deep in the series.
The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells: It’s about a woman who returns to her childhood mountain home, inherits her aunt’s book of spells, meets a mysterious man who may or may not be real, and confronts her past. It’s okay. It’s sort of a vibe, as the kids used to say. But again, for me, it wasn’t magical enough for it to be an interesting plot point, but also not special enough to be a character study. I guess people like the “light magic” genre, though. I wanted this to even be more like Practical Magic (which, if we’re just throwing caution to the wind, I liked but didn’t love and kept wondering what all the fuss was about CUE THE PITCHFORKS!)
All links this month go to Nantucket Book Partners, supporting two charming independent bookstores. Because reading is what? Increasingly under threat from all sides, administratively, scholastically, capitalistically. So let’s support indie bookstores mmkay?
If I got any of these wrong, or very right, leave me a comment and let me know! Or share this with a friend who might want terribly subjective, non-comprehensive book discussion!
Otherwise, see you next month for May/June books (oh no I fear I have painted myself into a confusing Gregorian conundrum.) Thanks for reading ILY BYE!
Embarrassingly I have nothing to say on the books except that I hope to read one this month. Just came here to confirm that this subject line is indeed an NSYNC reference ...?
In a rare bout of engaging in debate in the comments: hard disagree on Dogland! Was it everything you’d want to know about the bizarre history and present of dog shows? No. Did I walk away from it knowing much more (anything) about dog breeds or taxonomies or… whatever? Nope. Did I laugh a lot, cry a little, and feel like immediately rewatching “Best in Show”? A MILLION TIMES YES.
Do you have to be a dog person to love it? Maybe. If you are, I guarantee you’ll at least enjoy it.