book recap (july-october)

and my little thoughts

We are here today to discuss books. Specifically, the ones I've read in the last few months — an eclectic little collection that has helped make my life bearable. As always, all the books are linked to Bookshop, sales from which help support independent booksellers (any resulting sales are not commissioned to me). 

Below:

• my one-woman Maggie O'Farrell fan club continues;

• one of the coziest romances I've read in years; and

• why I usually wait a few months before reading Very Buzzy New Releases.

Oh, and as a reminder, we're having our first Missed Classics live chat this evening, 8-9pm EST! I'll be there a few minutes early, ready to discuss the first ten chapters of The Bell Jar with everyone else reading along. 

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Following Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait earlier this year, I advanced my O'Farrell coursework with This Must Be the Place (2016) in August and Instructions for a Heatwave (2013) earlier this month. I loved them both. On and off for months now, I've been working on an essay about O'Farrell's writing, mainly in an effort to understand why I find it so personally moving. The conclusion I've drawn thus far is that she writes about the home and about family relationships with a sort of openness I don't see often in contemporary fiction. 

People have asked me which of her novels they should start with, if they're new to O'Farrell's work, and to be honest, they've all been excellent for different reasons. If I had to rank them, though, the order I gave a friend a few weeks ago was: Hamnet, This Must Be the Place, The Marriage Portrait, and Instructions for a Heatwave, although honestly the second, third, and fourth spots are in a state of pretty constant flux. 

I also read four buzzy new releases (I guess five if I'm counting Intermezzo, but enough ink has been spilled about Sally Rooney's latest, and you can read my thoughts on that here if you're so inclined), and while I enjoyed all of them, I couldn't help thinking that there's something to be said for my usual practice of ignoring popular new releases until a few months after the excitement has died down.