Where did March go? It feels like this every year - February ought to feel short, since it is shorter, but it drags on and on while March zooms past me in a blur. I have been sewing a lot, knitting quite a lot, trying to go for walks and enjoy the weather when it’s nice, coming up with things to make for dinner (I find early spring hard, cooking-wise), all of it capped off with an Easter extravaganza that involved playing a lot of Just Dance on my sister’s Switch. I have not been reading much - or rather, I think I have, but the books I was reading were quite long and took up the whole month.
Now that it’s reliably sunny at 7pm, my reading time has dwindled. No longer do I crawl in bed at 9 and read for an hour or two before bed; instead I busy myself around the house and forget to make dinner until 8:30. This is not a complaint, it is merely the rhythm of the season we’re in. For April, I’d like to choose some shorter, sunnier books to read, which hopefully will slot a little more easily into my current lifestyle.
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What I Read
Virginia Woolf, by Nigel Nicolson
I finished this early-ish in the month and have been ruminating on it since. It is not quite a biography, but it is also not a memoir (though there are elements of that). It is simply a story of Virginia Woolf, and a rather personal one at that - though you do get the sense that Nicolson was trying to avoid it being too personal. In one chapter, he describes in some detail an argument that Virginia had with his mother, Vita Sackville-West, over Virginia’s book Three Guineas, and sides so completely with Vita that I had to laugh a little; it was rather endearing. It must have been a strange book for him to write, especially since it was first published in 2000 - at which point Vita Sackville-West already was remembered almost exclusively for her relationship with Woolf. At the time of the affair, Vita was the superstar. An enjoyable book to read, but probably most appealing to someone like me, who at this point has read so many books about the Bloomsbury Group that each new volume simply adds more color and texture to the picture I already have.
This one really came in just under the wire, as I finished it on the 31st - and I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, I don’t think. I will say, Zadie Smith as historical novelist is very fun to read, and I hope she writes another. This book has mixed reviews among general readers and I understand where that is coming from, but I do think it is good, both in a technical sense and in that vague way that means, I enjoyed reading it. So much of this assessment rests on one’s perception of the author, though - if you like Smith’s writing, I think you will like this book; if you don’t like her style, you probably won’t. Personally, I did find the main narrator of this novel, Eliza Touchet, to be a fascinating and compelling character (which I can’t always say for a Zadie Smith novel), and the real-life story that the plot is based on is deeply fascinating. I had done a rather deep dive on the historical events before I read the book, which turned out to be helpful, and I would recommend others to do the same. Smith’s interrogation of the historical context and circumstances surrounding the Tichborne case was interesting and surprisingly relevant to modern life, I felt, and it was well worth the time I spent reading it. This is one that I would love to discuss with someone else who has read it, but alas no one I know personally seems to be interested.
Currently Reading
First of all, I am still reading The House of Mirth. I am enjoying it immensely, but have also got deeply invested in it and I am STRESSING about Lily Bart, therefore I keep taking breaks to calm down. I really want to watch the movie when I am done reading this, too, and am thinking about re-reading The Age of Innocence because this book is reminding me how much Edith Wharton absolutely slays as a writer. (She and Willa Cather both deserve a much wider readership, in my opinion.)
The other book I am reading, which I literally just started and have read only the table of contents, is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I don’t know why I’ve done this, as the ebook is 1000+ pages long, but I wanted something twisty and plotty and atmospheric, and everyone says this book is that. We’ll see how I go with this one.
DNF
I always wonder if I should call out the books I didn’t finish, but I do find it useful when other people describe what they don’t like to read, so I suppose I’ll do the same. I borrowed Naoise Dolan’s Exciting Times on rather a whim, as I thought the cover was interesting and I’d heard good things about it, but had to give up after a few chapters. There is a certain type of narrator that I really don’t like reading about, and this book featured exactly that character: someone who is self-aware enough to know that they are kind of a crummy person, but refuses to change, while deeply judging other people for also being crummy. This also kind of felt like a Sally Rooney rip-off - her characters are always like that, too - without having the compelling writing style that always makes me hate-read Rooney novels. It made me feel very blegh and after 50 pages I was still so un-invested that I just returned it to the library early.
TBR
I actually don’t have anything specific lined up to read this month, as I’m working my way through two novels right now and don’t like thinking much beyond that. I am on the lookout for an audiobook though, and would love some recommendations on that - I specifically would like fiction, as I can never get through a nonfic title on audio.
Well, I suppose that’s it from me this week. After a few months of being quite uninspired when it comes to reading (and writing), I feel myself coming back to life a bit - I have some ideas burbling away in the background and am hoping to bring them to fruition soon! I hope you all have a lovely week and I will talk to you soon.
Best,
It's interesting what you say about 'Exciting Times'. I bought it for my daughter (who enjoyed it) and then I borrowed it (one of the many pleasures of having a grown up daughter who loves reading!) I actually liked the writing style but also found the narrator annoying. I did actually manage to finish the book but I have to say, it took such a random turn and the narrator never really improves, so you didn't miss anything! My daughter conversely really enjoyed it, so much so that I bought her Dolan's second novel, of which I couldn't even get past the first few chapters!
I haven't been here long enough to know if our tastes are similar, but I can offer two fiction audiobooks I've really enjoyed in recent months: When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill and Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Narrators make or break an audio for me, and I liked both of these.