Monday Reads Update
Dec 26
It is Christmas Day as I am writing this blog. Now that it is at the end of the year, I am finding myself not really getting into the reading mood, although I have a few obligations I have to meet.
I started a couple of books that are holding my interest for the moment, but that will certainly change as I will be working on author interview segment for the radio program I help out with that is dedicated to the literary arts.
Here are the books:
I.Q. by Joe Ide
It is the start to a mystery series following Isaiah Quintabe – a high school drop-out turned crime solver – who lives in East Long Beach, LA. So far I find it to have the voice of a male in his teens with vocabulary from Black hip hop culture. I could see the language being offensive to outsiders.
The English Agent by Philip DePoy
This is also a book from a mystery series. This time it takes places in the 16th century with Christopher Marlowe who is considered to be a rival to Shakespeare during the Elizabethan Era. The book also focuses characters from the peasant class at the time.
Monday Reads Update
Dec 19
It is getting closer to Christmas. During this time of year, I am enjoying some time reading and watching videos. I am enjoying BookTube more than holiday movies and new shows streaming online. I want to be part of the pop culture conversation, but I am finding myself clicking on small content creator channels than the more flashy and better funded programs online
I have made progress reading a couple of titles. My reading pace is going much more slowly than the lofty goals I give myself each week. Here’s what I have been reading:
Mr. Flood’s Last Resort
by Jess Kidd
Atria Books
An older man lives alone in his home. It is cluttered and full of things he does not want to give up even when they are junk piling up. Maud Drennan is there as a caregiver and is looking after him while thre is a decision being made to move to a retirement home. Mr. Flood is resisting the idea. There is a fantasy element to the book that is almost unexpected. I don’t think I have had a favourite book all year, so this book is a surprise to me and I see it as something that is a perfect read even though I was skeptical when I first started reading the book.
Severance
by Ling Ma
Farrar, Straus, Giroux
Candance leaves the big city to join a small group of office and IT workers who are making a small community to wait out a medical outbreak. The book is a literary sci-fi novel that also explores the life of a woman and her parents from China. It also provides commentary on life working in the city, finding work as part of a corporation and being able to be part of modern society and work life.
There is dark humour and satirical tone to the writing as well as the bleak future that lies ahead as the population is dwindling because of a pandemic. Published in 2018, I waited until the end of 2022 –after three years of the Covid-19 pandemic – to read the book.
Monday Reads Update
December 12, 2022
A few years ago, I read the novel, The Chosen Maiden by Eva Stachniak that focused on the ballet dancer Bronia Nijinska. The novel covered a lot of ground the biography covers in the first 20 pages of the Njinsky biography by Lucy Moore on Bronia’s famous brother Vaslav Nijinsky. The biography dives into the world of ballet at the end of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. The time when Vaslav lived was a time of tremendous political and social upheavals, with the Russian revolution and the two world wars. So far the writing gives an airy and inviting quality to a book about dance, while also giving the details of the struggles artists had at the time to make a living.
For the most part, I am drawn to the books by Jess Kidd by the covers. I don’t really know that many details about the books themselves. I have the debut book Himself in my collection, but I have decided to read Mr. Flood’s Last Resort because the colours on the cover are ones that I associate with my favourite season of the year, Lunar New Year (and Christmas)! The book follows Maud Drennan, a caregiver with the task of looking after Mr. Flood who lives in his beloved and cluttered home and is faced with the possibility having to move to a more manageable space as he is getting older. This is quiet domestic drama that seems so far to be a cozy read during the holiday season.
A few days into December, I find myself wondering away from the reading list I made a list of books to read for a Christmas-themed readathon.
I finished a book I pre-ordered when I heard it was being published. A year after getting it in the mail, I have completed the book.
That book is China Unbound: A New World Disorder by Joanna Chiu. I do pay attention when there is news from and about China, but I haven’t made it my mission to look more closely at the people, issues and concerns that Chiu has done as a reporter. I do read headlines and the news articles from time-to-time, so reading a book on current events as those are changing and developing is a fascinating experience.
I am continuing with a book I already started. That book is De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage. I can see myself reading it during the week. It is a literary fiction novel that has elements of a thriller set in Beirut, Lebanon that has been torn by war. I thought this would be a quick read, but I find myself taking my time with this. Reading the book gets me wanting to get back to reading a non-fiction title on related subjects. That book is From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman, published in 1989.
My reading proves to be dreary than cheery for the holidays. I keep putting off reading these titles in my collection until time passes and they linger on my shelves unread. I am doing my best to mix up my reading so that there is a good mix of more light-hearted tales, and thus far I think I am doing pretty well.