Holiday reading list
I've read more than 70 books over the past year. Want to know which ones to take away with you?
I am heading off to Cornwall right now with Louise Erdrich’s The Night Watchman, Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House and Amy Odell’s Anna: the Biography in my suitcase.
But before I head off to my home county for some sun (maybe) and sea (definitely) I thought I’d pop on here and mention that the Booker prize long list is now out featuring 13 novels to pick from. Having just judged this year’s Women’s Prize For Fiction you’d think I’d be done with books for a bit but strangely reading all those novels by female writers seems to have reawakened my inner book worm, it fell fast asleep during the early mothering years (unlike my kids) and was positively catatonic by the time I hit my confusing and distracting peri-menopause. But now she is awake and thirsty for words again.
I am back to the heady days where I can’t go anywhere without a book, even the loo so the Booker list was like a long drink of refreshing water for me. And I noticed I’d read three of the books as part of my WPFF judging journey so I thought I’d mention them here to save you time in that airport bookshop.
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer is an unusual book. It was inspired by the author’s mother who died of cancer when Maddie was a child. The plot centres on Lia, her husband Harry and adolescent daughter Iris. It is an experimental novel, beautifully written, with dark comedy and lighter moments. But I did get quite tearful reading it, as it is about cancer. The mum and daughter relationship was well crafted and poignant but it is emotional stuff and all sorts of feelings I thought I’d forgotten bubbled up in me as I read it. Tread carefully.
The Colony by Audrey Magee: I really enjoyed this book, and became totally engrossed in it. It tells the story of two men, a painter and an academic who come to a remote island off the West Coast of Ireland to ‘document’ its language and landscape and it is the story of their different ways of being. But it also features some fabulous female characters who live there and interact with great wit and forthright conversations. It is bleak at times, and the memories of atrocity in Northern Ireland pepper the book like gun fire. I think you’d have to be in the right mood for this one, to spend time on it and absorb the prose and the landscape. The pace is slow and it is what I call delicately written. The ending was a little disappointing but I am glad I read it.
Booth by Karen Joy Fowler: Oh my goodness I really felt for all the women in this epic family tale about the man who shot Abraham Lincoln (so much grief and many dead children). It’s provocative and a little traumatic, it’s for those who like a strong thought provoking read. I have to say I ‘toiled’ with it often putting it down and starting something lighter to balance it out, but I am not a fan of the historical novel so perhaps not the best judge. If you are then this is certainly a fierce one to keep you occupied for a long time. I also don’t know enough about this part of history to know what is real and what may be fictional, but maybe that made it a slightly easier read for me?
Others you may want to take with you on holiday:
The Son of the House by Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-onuobia
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
Flamingo by Rachel Elliot
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
This is Not A Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
Let me know your suggestions in the comments below too. Happy Reading Everyone