As I flip back through my reading journal, it seems time for an update on what I’ve been reading this fall. It’s very satisfying to have a spread like this one, with two books that I’ve rated with five stars, so it seems worth sharing. But to be honest it’s been a slow reading season, so this will be a quick update.
Fall Reading Update
1. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell: Five stars. I enjoyed reading this so much. The writing is beautiful, visceral, and complex without making the story complicated to follow. O’Farrell treats each of the characters with such respect, I had to love each one of them at least a little bit. Warning that it does take place in pandemic times if that’s not something you care to read about at the moment.
2. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel: Five stars. Again, a warning about pandemic content. Mandel’s writing style is quite lovely and I copied several well written sentences into my journal and other places. I’ll include one of them here because I thought it was typical of the vagueness surrounding the understanding of migraine:
Not to trouble anyone, but I did consult a doctor, who is confident in his diagnosis of migraine. Seems a peculiar sort of migraine that doesn’t involve any pain in one’s head, but I suppose I’ll accept it in lieu of an alternate explanation.
Emily St. John Mandel, Sea of Tranquility p. 126
3. Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel, narrated by Kirsten Potter: Four stars. I rarely read two books by the same author so close together but my hold came in for the audiobook on Libby. Again, pandemic content, I’m so sorry. The story is incredibly clever with a such an interesting cast of characters. Miranda was my favourite. Parts of the story were hard (for me) to follow and I didn’t feel like things got resolved in the end. But maybe I shouldn’t listen at 1.5 x speed? Still, I thought the narration was excellent and this is worth a read. Especially if you are going to watch the miniseries, as I intend to do. (It’s currently streaming on Crave in Canada.) This one was still from my summer reading list, finally done.
4. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland, Dion Graham. Five stars. I would give it six stars if I could. I enjoyed listening to this book so much. The narration was excellent, I loved every one of the characters, the writing is thoughtful and articulate, and the storyline is compelling. So so good. I’ll be searching out a good hardcover version to keep on the bookshelf for lending and re-reading.
Currently Reading
In my reading stack at the moment I have Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr on the go, which is almost 600 pages. Also I’m re-reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer for the book club. On the Libby app I have Circe by Madeline Miller on hold and my turn is coming up soon. That should keep me in reading material until winter.
Wishing you lovely things to read and enough time for savouring them. xx
Stationery in the photo
P.S. It truly is a gorgeous fall here weather-wise, no complaints!
