January Books

It’s been a slow start to the year in terms of reading, but I have nevertheless enjoyed all of the books I read this month, which doesn’t usually happen!

A Handful of Dates by Tayeb Salih

I read this super short story…like really super short (it’s 5 pages!) by Salih because I fell in love with his writing style last year after reading Seasons of Migration to the North, a powerful post-colonial novel set in Sudan. Again, he manages to evoke a sense of setting and lifestyle quite vividly, even in just 5 pages! Can’t wait to read The Wedding of Zein and any other translations I can get my hands on

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

I listened to The Bell Jar on audible, and I must say Maggie Gyllenhaal’s narration is perfection. I so was immersed in the story, and I really enjoyed her intonation and how she performed this very conversational and confessional text. As for the narrative itself, wow, it was dark…and uncomfortably relatable in some places. I’ve been through some dark times in my life and the toxic thought patterns and destructive behaviour that Esther partakes in felt a bit too close to home! But overall The Bell Jar is a powerful story and is perhaps overshadowed by the tragedy of Plath herself, she, unlike Esther, succeeded in taking her own life. Is succeeded even the right word here?

The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson - Book Club Pick

Norse Mythology has interested me for years, and it’s almost ridiculous that I have only just read it now. The main and one of the only surviving collections of Norse myths! Because Vikings, like the Greeks and other “ancient” civilisations, had a largely oral tradition, it is often many years later that the stories are written down. Such was the case with The Prose Edda; the believed author Sturlusson was a Christian and writing perhaps 400 years later! This makes the reading of Edda rather intriguing…or is that just my English Lit brain firing up again…ooh authorial intent…what can I infer from this.

It’s also worth noting that this text has inspired so much from J.R.R Tolkein’s legendary Middle Earth books (fun fact many names like Gandalf and Thorin (from The Hobbit) are taken from The Prose Edda!) to the wonderful American Gods by Neil Gaiman (and its fantastic TV adaptation which is currently airing its 3rd season on Amazon Prime). And, of course, you can’t forget Marvel, which with its hilarious and playful spin on the original mythology, has made Thor, Loki, Odin and Heimdall household names.

I enjoyed dipping in and out of The Prose Edda (which was the first Book Club pick, February’s selection will be announced soon!) while bundled under a blanket with a fire crackling…on my tv screen and sipping coffee. To borrow from the Danes, reading this book has been a wonderful dose of Hygge these past few weeks.

Disclaimer: The above links are affiliate links, so I do make a small commission if you make a purchase through them.

Let me know in the comments section what books and short stories you’ve read this month.

December Books + Top 5 Reads of 2020

These are my final reads of the year and a Top 5 of the best books I read in 2020.

December Books

The Invention of Love by Sara Schaff

This Ok, but completely forgettable collection of short stories was an advance copy I got from Netgalley, and tbh I feel like maybe one story out of the lot was interesting. I feel like recently my reading choices are very hit and miss. Schaff’s stories focus on women, and quite a few of them have no dimensions at all, and some are just completely dull, like the story about siblings trying to sell a rundown house. Yawn.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Das Parfum. Die Geschichte eines Mörders) by Patrick Süskind

What a disappointment. I felt like my expectations of this book couldn’t be further from what it actually was. I thought I would get a creepy Paris set novel that follows a warped murderer as he terrorises the city. Instead, it was a boring story that flirted slightly with the creepiness but felt more like something Flaubert would write (which isn’t necessarily bad in itself I just didn't expect this tone). I nearly gave up when he was in the cave for years, and then the weird perfume induced orgy was a massive eye roll moment. All in all, I don’t get the hype it was a complete waste of my time, and I could probably have read a few other books in the time it took me to force myself to finish this one!

The Englishman by Douglas Stuart

I read this short story by recent Man Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart for the very reason of seeing whether I like his writing style enough to read his award-winning book Shuggie Bain. Short answer, Yes, I do. The Englishman was published in The New Yorker and follows a young gay Scottish man who takes a trip down to London to stay with the eponymous Englishman as part of an “arrangement”. The short story is beautifully written and explores the naivety of the narrator wonderfully. I will most likely be picking up Shuggie Bain very soon as a result.

I Have the Right to Destroy Myself (나는 나를 파괴할 권리가 있다) by Kim Young-ha

This is my 3rd re-read. I don’t normally re-read books very often, but this concise book fascinates me. I love Kim’s writing, his imagination and how dark this story is. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it but be warned it is very dark.

Best Books of 2020

Last year I read 58 books, some of them were short stories (do they even count?) and others were absolute mammoths! Overall, these are the 5 books that stood out above the rest, the books that had me hooked and voraciously consuming page after page.

Seasons of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

This book was introduced to me through Uni as it was on my year 3 reading list, which I will forever be grateful for as this novel blew me away. It’s dark, unexpected and beautifully written and has helped me expose how ignorant I was (and still am) about colonialism. I will forever continue to re-read this book and recommend it to everyone as it’s not only an important portrait of Black Arab culture in Post-Colonial Sudan; it’s a stunningly realised novel.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

This book is hardcore sci-fi but infinitely readable that in itself is a feat. I found The Three-Body Problem unputdownable and being a slow reader that can take weeks, months or sometimes a year to finish a book this is high praise. I love how it mixed past and present and how the layers of mystery unfolded as you read on. I have the rest of the trilogy ready and waiting, and I have actually made a start on the next book The Dark Forest.

Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter

I’ve been a fan of Carter ever since reading and studying The Bloody Chamber back in school for A-Level literature. I think she will forever be one of this country’s greatest writers. Heroes and Villains is set in a post-apocalyptic world and reads like a dreamy, nightmarish fairytale.

Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah

This book unravels like a strange dream or a fragmented film where recurring motifs become unsettling and have you guessing where the boundaries between reality and fantasy merge within the narrative. Suah’s prose is also rather magical, and this is perhaps my favourite work of hers that I’ve read so far.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

I really enjoyed Madame Bovary, and that’s probably mostly down to Flaubert’s wit, and perhaps to a certain degree, the translation by Magaret Mauldon as this book reads very easily which isn’t always the case when it comes to classics. I also think Emma is a fascinating protagonist. She almost feels quite modern the way her imperfections are laid bare and her distaste for the banality of marriage and provincial life.

Honourable mentions: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Naiv. Super. by Erlend Loe and The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

July 2020 Books

Seasons of Migration to the North (موسم الهجرة إلى الشمال) by Tayeb Salih

This book is amazing. It’s lyrical, emotive and surprising. Salih has crafted a book that is not only intriguing, it’s also educational, and it explores the dark side of colonialism (more and more I’m finding it hard to see any positives) in Sudan and how orientalism and fetishisation of a culture and its people is utterly deplorable. A must-read for anyone wanting to educate themselves on Black Arab culture and the aftermath of white colonialism.

Adèle (Dans le jardin de l'ogre) by Leïla Slimani

Well, this is one disturbing novel. Adèle tells the story of a woman who engages in extramarital affairs and flings with numerous men, some she knows, some her husband knows and others who are complete strangers. Adèle is essentially a sex addict and her life soon descends into chaos as her liaisons become more and more frequent and risky. What makes this novel disturbing is the psychology behind Adèle’s actions and then some things that happen that are quite clearly spoilers so I won’t divulge them to you. But give this a read if you're into thrillers.

The Prophet by Khalil Gibran

This is one wise book. Gibran teaches through poetry in The Prophet and I felt like I had gained some invaluable wisdom by the end of its rather short page count. If you only read one book out of this blog post make it this one as you’ll come out the other side a better person to be around. Guaranteed.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (82년생 김지영) by Cho Nam-joo

While this novel is powerful in its raw and honest offloading of gender inequality in South Korea it isn’t really a good novel. It’s very simply written and feels more like a report at times but I did find it very moving and also quite concerning as I identified (as do most women who read it no doubt) with a lot of what is discussed within it. It is a watershed book for Korea and it caused a massive uproar when published, so perhaps that is all that counts, and maybe the simplicity of it is necessary to get it into as many hands and minds as possible.

Dubliners by James Joyce

It has taken me quite the time to read this collection of short stories, I started them last year as part of my uni course and naturally only read the stories I needed to read for an essay. Seeing as I have recently finished my degree I thought it was high time to actually finish the collection. Some stories I liked, ‘A Painful Case’ being my favourite and the story I actually wrote about. But for the most part, they were well written but ultimately forgettable snapshots of life…I guess maybe that is the point and I will be reading more Joyce as I like his style.

Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton

I got this book a while back from a book subscription box and I finally decided to pick it up and read it. I mainly read it as I was going through my books and deciding what to keep and what to get rid of (after reading of course!). This book was on the get rid of pile and after reading it I feel no different, it was an average thriller with average characters. Slimani’s Adèle is a much better thriller in my opinion.

The Humans by Matt Haig

This book very much has an agenda…an agenda to make you laugh constantly at the absurdity of human life. Haig has such a brilliant way of capturing all the minutiae of everyday life and turns it into a treatise on how and why life is brilliant and should be celebrated, all through the eyes of an alien as he learns how to be human. If your feeling down then this is a book to read as it will help you recapture your appreciation for life, and it’s also powerful to know that Haig wrote this book after getting through depression and anxiety.

Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter

Every time I read more of Carter’s work I fall a little more in love with her writing, the art of writing and literature overall. She was a master at her craft and every sentence she weaves is brilliant. Heroes and Villians is 164 pages of feral poetry, it's a gothic fairytale set in a post-apocalyptic world that will leave you considering it long after you close the book. I think I just found another new favourite this month.

My Quarantine Reading List

These are all the books I’m going to be reading while in Quarantine, some for Uni but many others for the sheer pleasure of reading seeing as I have much more time to do both.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (82년생 김지영) by Cho Nam-joo

Kim Jiyoung, born 1982 became a sensation in Korea when published with it becoming the first million-selling Korean novel since 2009’s Please Look After Mom. It follows Kim Jiyoung as she navigates the trials and tribulations of being a female in a mostly misogynistic world. The book also recently got a film adaptation starring Train to Busan’s Gong Yoo and Jung Yu-mi, which I’m looking forward to watching if and when we get it in the UK.

The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino

A Uni book, but the book I have been looking forward to the most this year as I have already read Invisible Cities by Calvino which I loved. The Complete Cosmicomics collects all of the Cosmicomic short stories together in one volume; they are bonkers, comically absurd and totally wacky tales of science, family and politics set in space.

Dune by Frank Herbert

A Sci-fi classic that influenced many that wrote after him, Herbert’s Dune has been on my bookshelf for ages, but I will finally get into it while I’m stuck at home for the foreseeable future as I really need to escape reality and be transported to a far off land right now (like most of you too). Also, Denis Villeneuve’s film adaptation starring Timothée Chalamet is coming out later this year, so that’s another reason to read it.

Pride and Prejudice & Persuasion by Jane Austen

Two more Uni reads, but everyone loves Austen, and I can’t wait to delve into her world, I’ve seen many a film adaptation of her works such as Autumn De Wilde’s recent lavish and stylish Emma. but I am yet to read her novels! Yes, I am fully aware that it is a literary crime to have got to 26 as a self-proclaimed book worm and to have never read a single Jane Austen novel. Thankfully Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion will put an end to that, and then I really want to read Emma (as I loved the aforementioned movie), and then I’ll probably end up reading the rest of her books.

The Uncanny & Other Essays by Sigmund Freud

I’ve always been fascinated by Freud and his theories, and in my Modern Lit course for Uni he is kind of required reading if you want to get a look into the socio-historical context of modern and post-modern lit. I also read Civilization and Its Discontents recently, and I found that rather interesting and helpful for an essay on Ford Maddox Ford’s The Good Soldier. The Uncanny can also be applied to many other periods and genres of literature, especially the Gothic, which is a genre I absolutely love.

Seasons of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

Another uni read, although this one didn’t manage to find itself in the stack of books for the post picture as I have misplaced it in the frightful mess that is my bedroom. But I am really excited to read this book as it’s another piece of translated fiction, and it will be the first translated from Arabic that I will read. Seasons of Migration to the North is the story of how colonialism and orientalism can be extremely destructive to a society as a whole and to the individual’s within it. Being set in Sudan also means that the novel explores the interconnectedness of African and Arabic cultures within the country.

The Three-Body Problem (三体) by Liu Cixin

Liu is China’s master of Hard Science Fiction, I’ve read most of his short story collection The Wandering Earth (the title story is also a Netflix movie!), so I want to get started on his critically acclaimed Remembrance of Earth’s Past (地球往事) Trilogy ASAP. I also have a signed copy of The Supernova Era that I got at Forbidden Planet right after it came out in October last year with all intentions of reading it immediately. Alas, it is still waiting on my bookshelf, perhaps I’ll read that one too…it really depends on how long this Quarantine thing is going to go on for!

Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Another Uni book, but again it’s one I’m interested in as I read Weight (a retelling of the myth of Atlas) when I was a kid and enjoyed it, so I’m intrigued to read something else by Wintersonson. Also, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a semi-autobiographical Bildungsroman (anyone else just love this word?) aka a coming-of-age novel about a young lesbian growing up in a Pentecostal Community.

The City of Words by Alberto Manguel

Uni required reading. There is a quote somewhere in this work that will be the subject of an essay I have to write so I feel like I should read the whole (or most of) this book to get the gist of the subject and maybe find more parts to quote from. The City of Words was originally a lecture that was turned into a book.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

I recently read Between the Acts for Uni, and I am rather intrigued by Woolf’s writing style, which is famously challenging due to her use of stream of consciousness. Also while studying another text, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s The Turkish Embassy Letters it was claimed that Montagu was part of the inspiration of the main character in Orlando, which is cool and the other part being Woolf’s female lover Vita Sackville-West. Orlando has also been described as ‘the longest and most charming love letter in literature’ by Sackville-West’s son Nigel Nicholson, which sounds absolutely romantic.

I clearly have a lot of reading ahead of me, and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into this eclectic mix of books, reading may just be the only thing to keep me sane in these coming weeks of Quarantine.

Let me know in the comments what books you’ll be reading during Quarantine and whether you have read any of these books.