A pure, unadulterated library stack today. Plus one **mystery** book I forgot to take a photo of.
06 The Door by Magda Szabó [City of Sydney Library]
Ooh boy. A very slow burn, but the tension ratchets up to almost unbearable levels at the end. It felt very similar to reading the first of Ferrante’s Neapolitan books, a slow - kind of grim - climb to start, with an absolute compulsive gallop to the finish. Didn’t expect to love a book that contained significant dog-beating content as much as I did, but there you are!
07 Small Rain by Garth Greenwell [Inner West Library]
I loved this book. Pushed me back to some uncomfortable and hard memories of when Alex was in hospital. Such focused attention on the experience of being the one in a sick body. Made me cry on the metro multiple times. Will be buying myself a copy of this one to keep (my highest form of praise!).
I wrote a full rundown of how much I loved this book over in my other newsletter if you’d like to read more about it.
08 I Heard Her Call My Name by Lucy Sante [Inner West Library]
Can’t lie, this was a bit of a letdown. It started life as an article and I think it probably could have stayed as one - felt flabby and a little flat. Maybe it just needed to be edited more?
09 The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş [City of Sydney Library]
When I finished this book it left me with a lingering sense of sweetness. Quick to read, it felt light and glancing. Very much enjoyed it in the reading - but a week after finishing it, it hasn’t left a huge impression.
10 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore [City of Sydney Library]
Eh. This was pitched as this amazing literary thriller but it was a total dud for me. No idea how the marketing team got such good coverage for it. Read Tana French instead.
11 A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers [City of Sydney Library]
Easy, fluffy sci fi. It’s the second in her Wayfarers series but you don’t really need to have read the first one for this one to make sense. Every now and then there’s an interesting concept or a moment that works on you the way good sci-fi should, but she’s mostly concerned with the relationships between the various characters. It gave off something of a fan-fiction scent. Still enjoyable, and very quick to read, but I don’t usually read Sci-Fi for deep dives into inter-species friendship.
I'm with you on The God of the Woods! Every twist was actually a dead end.
Have just reserved Small Rain. Will get the tissues ready. And have now delayed my reserve of the god one…I’m perplexed, it got soooooo much PR!