(almost) Everything I read in January

I'm back bitches

PSA: I know this is pretty late for a January book roundup…. since it’s March. I’ve been quiet on Substack for a while because I’m writing a book (yes another one!!!!). So my postings on here might be a little sporadic for a while, but this post has been sitting half-written in my drafts for ages, so here it is. I hope you enjoy.

I read nine books in January, but I’m only going to tell you about seven of them, because I didn’t enjoy the other two. I feel conflicted about negative reviews. As an author, although I do respect genuine criticism, I find cruel reviews upsetting and difficult to read.¹ From a reader perspective, I’ve grown pretty tired of the bland positivity of bookstagram and other online review channels, and I think the PR relationship between publishers and content creators (free books in exchange for reviews) means that there’s a heavy amount of bias in a lot of the reviews I see. Lot’s of plot summarising and not much analysis. Lot’s of vague, ‘I loved this!’ But nothing deeper. I haven’t figured out a happy medium, so I’m not going to be sharing my negative reviews on here. It’s fun to slag books off, but less fun if there’s a chance (however slim) of the author reading it. I’ll save that kind of defamation for the groupchat.

So!

1. A conjuring of light, V.E Schwab

This was the last book in a fantasy trilogy that I started in December and was very engaged in over the Christmas period. I enjoyed all three books in a similar way; they were easy to read and I felt like the setting was vivid and well drawn. I actually don’t have a ton to say about this book individually but I read the trilogy - stayed up late to finish them and kept putting off other books on my reading list in favour of buying the next in this series. I read a lot of genre stuff when I’m writing because it’s so different to my own work. Like a nice little chocolate treat in book form.

2. Martyr! Kaveh Akbar

Yooooo this book was unbelievably good. Smart but also compulsive. Sometimes literary novels sacrifice readability for a focus on poetic language and being intellectual. But this one didn’t! One of those debuts that makes me angry because I wish I’d written it. I especially enjoyed the surrealist dream sequences with Lisa Simpson…. Donald Trump…. Rumi! It was crazy but I loved it. Very creative writing postgraduate student but actually good. Brave and bold. The protagonist, Cyrus, is obsessive and selfish and desperate to write something that matters and like girl…. aren’t we all!

3. All fours, Miranda July

Hot take I think Miranda July is really talented!!! I’m late to the party here, I’d never read anything by her even though I had been recommended her work a lot, usually in the same sentence as other writers I adore. The kind of author I’d been putting off reading out of spite because I knew I’d love her…. and I love her! All Fours is sexy and funny and also deathly serious when it comes to shame and ageing and womanhood. The elevator pitch is simple: a woman takes off on a New York roadtrip and ends up spending the whole time in a motel an hour away from her house, but the concept undersells the novel greatly. Literary novels are almost never actually about what they’re ‘about’, if that makes sense. July asks questions about what it means to build a home with someone, to have children with someone, to feel like your selfhood is growing too large to be contained within a long-term monogamous relationship. She dares to be a woman who has long been part of an US and is now saying, well what about ME!!! Why does that still feel so groundbreaking? I’ve also been greatly enjoying Miranda July’s Substack recently where she has been sharing stories from her community about non-traditional marriages. I’ve been reading them in bed and they are so delicious.

4. Private Rites, Julia Armfield

This bitch loves water! I’ve been excited to read this book for a while because I enjoyed Our Wives so much and then I did that thing where I just…. didn’t buy it and forgot it existed. I ended up getting this for 99p on a kindle deal² and absolutely devouring it. I liked it even MORE than Our Wives and I loved Our Wives. It was a great second novel (third book overall from her I’m p. sure but one is a short story collection). I could tell that this was written by the same person because her voice is so distinctive but the work felt more developed and consistent. I read this over a few sleepless nights and I had to keep going to check through the curtains to make sure the world still existed as I remembered and hadn’t fallen into a rain-soaked apocalyptic wasteland… which is the sign of a successful immersive novel right??? I also love novels about sisters and family dynamics so this was right up my street in every way. Don’t read any plot summaries, just dive right in. Water pun!

5. Freedom, Jonathan Franzen

   As a certified FranzenHead, I had been looking forward to starting this for a while. I saved the beginning for a solo train journey because I knew from experience with his work that it’s best to carve out an hour or two to really get your teeth into things and then, before you know it, you’re totally hooked. His novels are long and dense - six or seven hundred pages and full of info dumping about various niche topics - but I usually get through them in a few days because they’re so much fun!!!! This might actually be my favourite of his so far. Freedom is multi-narrative and follows a mid-western family over a few decades, which is a structure that has grown familiar to me after reading a lot of his back catalogue. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!!!! His novels always have Things To Say about American Life and I’m sure a lot of it goes over my head but lucky for me they also have a lot to say about living, laughing loving etc. Take Freedom on holiday and read it on the plane/by the pool/on a long bus journey. You won’t regret it! I’d eat my own arm to be able to write like he does.

6. So thrilled for you, Holly Bourne

I’ve been a fan of Holly Bourne’s since I was a teenager reading her Spinster Club series³ and so whenever she has a new book out I buy it ASAP. A lot of the pleasure I get out of her fiction might be put down to nostalgia, but this is my favourite of all the adult books she’s written. Compulsive, well-written and chock full of insights about having babies and not having babies. It is an unbelievable skill to be able to write so honestly whilst also being soooooo readable. I’m going to buy a copy of this for my sister for her next holiday.

7. Happy Go Lucky, David Sedaris

This was a reread because whenever I feel sad I want to eat pasta and read Sedaris. This is his most recent book of essays and I decided to reread it because my partner was listening to it as an audiobook and I kept hearing him laugh in the kitchen while he was doing the dishes. Obviously his books are hilarious - like genuinely laugh out loud funny⁴, but there’s so much heart in them too, and the deep stuff creeps up on you and sucker punches you when you’re least expecting it. I read a bad review of this book saying that Sedaris is getting grumpier and meaner with age and like…. yeah that’s why he’s so funny? As well as being a provider of much comfort, Sedaris is an incredible writer, and a true example of the Nora Ephron ‘everything is copy’, thing. His commitment to honesty, whilst being aware that objective truth doesn’t exist in autobiographical writing….. just mind-blowing. Banger after banger! I hope he doesn’t get cancelled.

1. SO I SHOULDN’T BE READING THEM RIGHT???? Still working on this.

2. I feel embarrassed to admit I have a kindle and buy books on Amazon all the time, especially as an author but it’s the truth. Do as I say not as I do.

3. Buy these books for the weird teenage girl in your life!!! They were so important to me <3

4. I am always so suspicious when someone says a book is funny and then I read it and I’m like…… where are the jokes. But he actually is funny.