Some people put a lot of stock into their first read of the year, selecting it as a reflection of the coming year’s goals, like other people choose a word (or words) to represent the year ahead. Partly because I’m a moody reader, with an unwieldly stack including many
Just yesterday I was commenting to a friend that my reading of late has felt rather disheartening. Some beautiful writing, and vitally important stories, but it was taking a toll. It reminded me that there’s been other reading in my stacks in recent weeks that could serve to balance.
When I think about novellas I’ve enjoyed this year, I recall Poulomi Sanyal’s Colour Me Confounded (2017) and Kerry Trautman’s Irregulars (2023), their settings soaked with the ambiance of their main characters’ workplaces, whether a boardroom or a diner. And I think about Helen deWitt’s The English Understand Wool
“Impatient Griselda” is just seven pages long and there are a couple of full readings on YouTube (about a dozen minutes). If you want to hear it in Atwood’s own voice, she reads it as part of this performance presented by Theater of War Productions and Toronto International Festival
The other day I wrote about the pair of Heinemann Classics I’ve read this year. Maybe you’ve seen their quintessential orange and black and white covers. They look a little like the vintage Penguins some people collect. But mostly I’ve been reading contemporary African writers. Sometimes, after Bill made
