The cruelest month is nearly over, and it was quite a lovely one in Buffalo. We’ve burst suddenly into spring over the past few weeks, and I write this sitting in the sun on our balcony, listening to the trickle of waterfalls and birdsong in our back garden.
I read five books this month and started several more. I’ve also begun listening to audiobooks while sewing or knitting, and I find that paying attention to them is a kind of muscle that I need to strengthen - as I practice, I’ve gotten better at listening. There’s a lot to talk about this month, so let’s go.
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What I Read
The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton
After putting this down a few times because I was getting anxious, I finally knuckled down and finished it. The ending was as devastating as I remembered it. Wharton is so good at building a feeling in her writing, and the dread that I experienced as I approached the last pages of the book was deeply unsettling. This book is so sad, and rage-inducing, and brilliant. I read this as part of a read-along hosted by Haley Larsen of Closely Reading (an excellent Substack) and her weekly write-ups were so edifying. She’s doing a read-along of The Age of Innocence next and I’m seriously considering joining that one, too. There’s something about early 20th-century writing that I find so compelling - Wharton and Willa Cather are two of my all-time favorite authors and I can return to their books again and again.
The Murder of Mr. Wickham, by Claudia Gray
This is a novel that I listened to the audiobook of, mostly inhaling it over one weekend as I cut out several sewing projects. I believe this was recommended to me by Jodie Morgan several months ago and it was the perfect light accompaniment to a craft project. A murder mystery featuring almost every main character from Pride & Prejudice to Emma, it was fun to imagine all of Jane Austen’s characters in one place (even if I didn’t entirely agree with this author’s portrayal of some of them) and I found myself dreaming up my own versions of what the Darcys, Knightleys, Wentworths, et. al. may have gotten up to in the years after their respective novels ended. I will almost certainly listen to the next book in this series, as soon as the audio version becomes available at my library.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie
Generally speaking, I prefer Miss Marple to Hercule Poirot, but after watching an excellent three-part Lucy Worsley documentary about Agatha Christie, and learning that she named her own first home Styles after this book, I decided I should probably read it. (In my defense, I have read other Poirot novels, but I hadn’t gotten around to the first one.) It was, of course, perfectly enjoyable and deliciously compelling. I love Agatha Christie so much - there is something specific to her mystery stories that really gets me. In the documentary, Lucy Worsley interviewed a couple of archaeologists who are big Christie fans, and they described the way that she holds up every clue, presenting it as an important finding, almost a treasure unearthed from the ground, and I think maybe that’s what I love so much? Reading her books feels like solving the mystery yourself, rather than like being led down a twisting path by a clever author. Anyway, this book reminded me that I want to go back through and make sure I really have read every single Marple novel and story, so that may become my project for this summer.
A week or two after finishing this one, I’m really not sure how I feel about it. For one thing, it has hardly remained with me - I actually forgot that I’d even read it. It was an enjoyable read, rather light and amusing, a bit like a Nora Ephron book if she wrote about gay men. I wonder what was happening in publishing in 2018 if this won the Pulitzer Prize? Maybe I’m being too harsh. This wasn’t bad, just kind of forgettable. A bit like the Messy Young Woman novels I was reading so much over the winter.
The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
Then again, maybe Less was just completely blotted out by this book, which fully consumed me as I read it - one of those ones that I found myself picking up at every possible second. What a read! I can’t remember where I found it, but I borrowed it from my library on a whim and then became absolutely obsessed with it. A vampire novel featuring Dracula and, yes, a cast of mostly history professors throughout the 20th century, I didn’t expect to love this but did. It’s one of those backlist gems that I feel like should really be talked about more - it came out in 2005 and deserves to become famous on BookTok but, alas, probably won’t. Screw The Secret History (I am a hater), all the dark academia girlies should be falling over themselves to read this. I felt deeply sad when I finished it, and very nearly just started it over from the beginning. (Now I’m saving it to re-read in the summer, when it will be the perfect spooky antidote to the blazing sun of July.) Can’t recommend this one enough.
Currently Reading
A long, long time ago I listened to a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of this novel - starring James McAvoy, Natalie Dormer, and Benedict Cumberbatch - that was so compelling that I can still remember the actors’ voices in it, how terrified James McAvoy sounded sometimes. (I highly recommend listening to that if you can find it, by the way; I think it’s on Audible and sometimes BBC Sounds.) A few weeks ago I was at the library browsing the sci-fi section with my brother, and when I came across Neverwhere I decided to go ahead and borrow it, since I haven’t read any Neil Gaiman in a while. So far I’m slowly making my way through this - enjoying it, certainly, but I’m not racing through it. Sometimes physical books are harder for me to read, to be honest - I don’t tend to pick them up as frequently as I would an ebook on my phone. I don’t like what this says about me, but I’m also finding it hard to change. This novel is my priority for the next few days, though - I want to finish it soon!
Sonia Delaunay: Artist of the Lost Generation, by Axel Madsen
This is a sort-of biography that I’m reading sort-of as research, though I’m also just enjoying reading it. Sonia Delaunay is an artist who really fascinates me - she worked across many different mediums, including fashion and textile design, but came from such a deeply traditional background that it’s almost hard to imagine how she became one of the most important abstract artists of the 20th century. So far I’ve only gotten to her art-school years in Germany, but I’m looking forward to reading more about her friendship and working relationship with Sophie Taeuber-Arp.
This is my current audiobook, which I’ve been listening to as I sew. I wanted to pick something that I’d read before, so that if I stop paying attention briefly or the book gets drowned out by my sewing machine, I won’t have to go back and re-listen to anything. Also, this is available on Spotify, which made it easy to just jump right in. I really like this book, though I know it’s somewhat polarizing, and I also LOVE the narrator - Perdita Weeks is probably the best audiobook reader I’ve ever encountered and I wish she would do more books! Circe herself is a dyer and weaver, so I’ve really been enjoying listening to this as I craft.
TBR
The only thing I definitely have on my to-read list right now is Woman, Eating - another vampire novel! I’m not normally into vampire stories but I’ve been finding them particularly interesting, ever since reading The Historian. I also might preemptively start reading The Age of Innocence, or maybe just watch the movie ahead of the readalong.
Okay, I’m done talking about books for now. I’m really pleased with what I read this month, and happy to have finally found a groove with audiobooks. I’d love to know what you are reading lately - what did you love, and what did you hate?
I’ll be back next week with more thoughts on art, creativity and making. Talk to you soon!
Best,
I lived through so many of those cruel Buffalo months! Great list... I'll be taking it with me to the library. I did LOVE Less, but there are some books that blot out others! thanks for your recco's. Enjoy spring in WNY!
Mirth was so sad...it was my first encounter with Wharton, and I was worried from the outset that it was going to end in tears. I wasn't wrong! Haley's read-along and the work she put into the extensive discussions was amazing though!