An excellent reading month! Only one nonfiction book this month: The Island of Extraordinary Captives, by Simon Parkin which was a fascinating tale of a World War II internment camp on the Isle of Man. The British sent thousands of Jewish refugees there in fear that they might be nazi agents. Parkin tells the stories of several artists, writers, and others, including one man who did work with the nazis, but the main character is a teenager whose internment provides him with mentors for his art.
A few good mysteries: 1989, by Val McDermid, which I enjoyed. Desert Star, by Michael Connelly, which I bought at his Mysterious Bookshop signing. Not my favorite by him, but of course I'll keep reading until he stops writing about Bosch. And finally, Under a Veiled Moon, by Karen Odden. I was looking forward to this, the second of her (hopefully long) Inspector Corrovan series. This gives Anne Perry vibes, and I felt the second book was much stronger than the first. This one dealt with Home Rule and Irish revolutionaries, and she gave more background on Corrovan's story. I look forward to the next book!
One book of poetry by Saeed Jones: Alive at the End of the World. Just heartbreakingly beautiful.
The only slightly disappointing book of the month was The Cloisters, by Katy Hays. It wasn't awful, but I just think dark academia isn't for me. I find it irritating to read about so many stupid decisions made by smart people! But I did like revisiting The Cloisters through the book.
One very sweet and quick read: The Reading List, by Sara Nisha Adams. Did I mostly know what was coming? Yes. Did I enjoy the characters and their discovery of the library, and the books on the list? Absolutely.
And finally, some solid literary fiction. Ian McEwan's Lessons got lackluster reviews, but I enjoyed it. Maybe I'm the right age for a novel that reflects on life toward the end of it, but I loved how he showed the impact of historical events on the main character's life. Some favorite sentences:
Describing the main character shortly after his wife leaves him and their baby without an explanation:
One-handedly he fetched a mop, filled a bucket and cleared up the mess, spreading it widely. This was how most messes were cleared up, smoothed thin to invisibility. Tiredness turned everything to metaphor. (And connecting this to Margaret Roach's The Backyard Parables, which I'm reading now, and which speaks of everything in the garden as metaphor.)
And toward the end of the book, and possibly the end of the main character's life:
By what logic or motivation or helpless surrender did we all, hour by hour, transport ourselves within a generation from the thrill of optimism at Berlin's falling Wall to the storming of the American Capitol? He had thought 1989 was a portal, a wide opening to the future, with everyone streaming through. It was merely a peak.
The Night Ship by Jess Kidd gave me such vivid nightmares I had to restrict myself to reading it only during the day. Two timelines, one in the 1600s and one in the 1980s, both menacing and claustrophobic. Mayken is a young girl on a ship from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies with her maid after her mother dies. Gil, a troubled and secretive boy is sent to live with his grandfather on a remote and haunted Australian island after his mother dies. I grieved for both children, but Kidd gives a glimmer of hope in the end, and exquisite writing throughout.
A novel about a governess in the Austen family? I grabbed Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby off the new books shelf at the Doylestown Library for the cover alone. Anne Sharpe was a real person, and even if Hornby had to embellish the relationship between her and Jane, it was a delight to read.
Our Missing Hearts, by Celeste Ng is a dystopian novel dealing book banning, done to protect "American culture." I never felt connected to Bird, and wished we had more of his father. Who's the hero--the parent who stays to raise a child or the one who leaves thinking she can save the world? It did keep me thinking for days after, which makes it a better book for me.
Finally, and one I'll be thinking about for months: The Trees, by Percival Everett. I cannot describe it well (I've tried, and failed, to convince three different people to read it, so I know I'm missing something in my pitch!) Set in rural Mississippi, the book quickly gives us three brutal murders of white men, all lying next to the same Black corpse. While the MBI investigates there, similar murders take place across the country, all white supremacists (or descendants of) and all with the body of a lynching victim beside them. This short satirical novel had me wincing and laughing, often on the same page. I can see why this was on The Booker shortlist. It's a brilliant book!
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