My resolution to post reviews as I finish books rather than store them up has failed at the outset. As have my other resolutions…dry January went out of the window on Monday evening when I realised we were facing at least six weeks of nagging grumpy teenagers to get off Snapchat and focus on lessons, and my “stay off Twitter after 9pm and go to bed with a book” went the same way last night as it all kicked off in DC. 2021 really needs to up its game, and fast.
1 There Are Places In The World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness by Carlo Rovelli
First, this is just the most pleasing title for a book. And the essay that contains it is a particularly lovely one in this collection of pieces by Rovelli, although it’s atypical in that it’s a short travelogue whereas most of the others are about physics or philosophy. Rovelli is an Italian physicist specialising in loop quantum gravity (nope, me neither…) and time. All of his popular science books are outstanding, and I give his Seven Brief Lessons on Physics as a gift quite often to people. This is a bit different, and it popped up on a lot of those “Christmas gift books” tables in bookshops last year. I can see why, but it isn’t a particularly easy or cheerful read, although it is illuminating, challenging and very human. Would highly recommend; I learned lots.
2 The Gifts of Reading by various authors
This was – perhaps not surprisingly – a gift. It’s an anthology of writing about giving books as gifts (largely – it was interesting to see how people interpreted the brief) in support of Room To Read, which is a charity I’ve been interested in for a while. They had contributions from lots of well known writers – Robert Macfarlane, William Boyle, Candice Carty-Williams, Philip Pullman and others. It was a gentle and inspiring read, and made me think really carefully about what giving a book to someone as a gift signifies, and how that book is chosen. Each author contributes their five “favourite books to give as gifts” and I found those lists particularly interesting.
3 Girl In A Band by Kim Gordon
I love Sonic Youth, so I’m not sure how I made it this far without reading this, particularly as I do really enjoy a good music memoir. Gordon is very candid about the people around her – particularly her ex husband and fellow band member Thurston Moore, and Courtney Love who she really doesn’t like – but there’s a strong sense that she is picking and choosing the story she wants to tell. For me the best bits were about her teenage years in LA, and the chapters about particular Sonic Youth songs and how they came about.
4 Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
Reviewed earlier today by Stokey. It’s a strange novel, about family relationships and the way in which decisions impact on these relationships many years later. I read a fair amount of contemporary fiction set in India, and this had a very strong sense of place for me. It’s not particularly self-consciously literary but it is not a particularly easy read, and the narrator is indeed a very challenging woman to like. I think it’s actually quite clever and nuanced. It was much more impressionistic than I thought it would be, and less plot driven – not the sort of thing I usually enjoy but it hit the right spot.
Need to decide what next. I'm also tempted - almost - by A Place of Greater Safety, on the basis of G&T's review, which I bought when it came out in paperback. But I have a tricky relationship with Mantel - I like a lot of her work but cannot get past the first 25% of Wolf Hall despite trying repeatedly over the years. Perhaps I will give it a go...