happy old year's :) for the book questions: 4, 6, 12, 17 + (if you wish) any books that you didn't adore personally but still find yourself recommending? where did you read most often and does it correspond to other patterns in your reading habits?
happy old year's! :)
4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?
I would say – Penelope Fitzgerald, whose Gate of Angels I started reading on a recommendation, and had to put away in early November when things got too busy. I loved the first 70 pages I read: great prose and sense of humor (necessary, for me at least, when taking on Oxbridge). Just see the opening paragraph:
6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?
Actually, it’d be Notes of a Crocodile! I almost made it in the summer, and then missed my moment. Reading this, and finishing The Gate of Angels, would be my priorities for whenever I have more time.
12. Any books that disappointed you?
Torrey Peters’s collection, Stag Dance – two of the four stories (first and last) read like juvenilia that should have stayed in the drawer; the middle two stories, while better, are still imperfect. Pulling again from the messages I sent on the subject back in the summer: “there usually is one problem character that the protagonist is trying to figure out, and their perception of that character keeps twisting in a way that becomes somewhat predictable, but in [the better middle two] stories, it still works. & it’s fun to observe that the stories I enjoyed more are both set in extremely homosocial isolated environments – as opposed to the other two, where the characters are a part of a queer community and definitely on twitter. in the two stories I liked, the characters have to invent their identity as if from scratch, which I might find more compelling, or which might be easier to do well, because it forces you to be inventive and true to a particular experience.” Still, especially looking back at this, there’s clearly enough in it to chew on...
17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?
Another answer to that question could be James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room – obviously, it’s great, but given that it’s such a widely celebrated classic, I was surprised by how affecting I found it.
As for the other questions (which are fun to think about - thanks!)... I don't think that I recommend books that often; I tend to be excessively considerate of the differences between my taste and other people's; it is only when there seems to be a very specific connection between a book and the other person's interests that I bring it up. For example, this year, I mentioned Aurora Mattia's Fifth Wound to a medievalist working with queer (trans) theory, and on Eleanor Rykener in particular. I did appreciate the book myself, but I didn't recommend it to anyone else.
When I think about where I read, it seems to me that most of my reading experiences are somewhat disembodied? Most of the time, I am just curled up on my couch (or at my desk, taking notes on my laptop...); I don't really go out to read in the park, or at the coffee shop. I suppose that it speaks to the fact that most of the reading I do is reading for work: I need to be able to focus, to annotate, and not have to swat ants and various other forms of life away. I do like reading with other people, however, keeping company & keeping each other in check.
