And The Year's Reading Began Well: January Books

And so it begins. . . A new Reading Journal for 2021, a small notebook received at a Creative Mornings event, back when those were still in person (sigh). . . I used one of these for 2019's reading, and again last year (when I had to add a few pages). . . We'll see if I run out of space again this year.

January's titles:

1.  At the Pond: Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies' Pond. Essay collection; women's lives; swimming

2. Virginie Grimaldie, Quand Nos Souvenirs Viendront Danser. French, contemporary fiction, aging, married life, parent-child relationship, mother-daughter

3. Anthony Horowitz, The Word is Murder. Mystery, Meta-fiction,  Writing/Publishing, London

4. Ian Rankin, A Song for the Dark Times, Mystery, police procedural, Aging detective, Scotland

5. Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain, literary fiction, poverty, addiction, coming-of-age, Scotland, Glasgow, mother-child, Booker prize

6. Diane Cook, The New Wilderness, literary fiction, dystopic, mother-daughter, environmental writing, American contemporary, speculative fiction, Booker shortlist

7. Denise Mina, The Less Dead, mystery, women's lives, poverty, prostitution, Scotland, Glasgow

And my quick handwritten responses after reading each. . . 

Ignore that crossed-out scribble at the top -- a book title I long ago made a note to remember

First title of the year is one I began last December (seems so long ago already!). A gorgeous, diverse collection of essays about "wild swimming" at the Hampstead Ladies' Pond in London. This really is one to own, although I borrowed mine from the library. 

As you can see, I got a bit scrambled here with numbering. Might not be the last time -- thanks for your patience ;-). Book #2 somehow ended up on the next page -- (I retro-numbered to match the list I've already started of 2021 books read, but forgot to synchronize with the journal). On the page pictured above, 

Book #3 is Anthony Horowitz's The Word is Murder. Not sure how I'd never known his writing until late last year when I read a review of his Moonflower Murders and realized I needed to start with first in that (Susan Ryeland) series, Magpie Murders. That was the last book I read in 2020, and now I've begun a parallel series. Both, at least as indicated by their first volumes, are clever, engaging, and very well written. Have you read any?

Below, Book #4 of the year was Ian Rankin's A Song for the Dark Times. Some transitional work happening in this and in the last volume or two of the Rebus books has me hopeful that it will continue to hold my interest -- bringing his personal and family life to the fore might do that -- but I was a bit ho-hum about it. Undeniably good writing, though, always, from Rankin. 

And finally, Book 2,  Virginie Grimaldi's Quand nos souvenirs viendront danser (When our memories come to dance). If you read French, this novel is both engaging, funny, and surprisingly resonant in spots for those of us with adult children. Verges close to caricature at times, and it's easy to imagine it as a French film that keeps its audience laughing, but there are some astute, tender, and sometimes painful insights about aging as well. A good way to practice my French. 

I also posted about this novel on Instagram.

#5, Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain is my year's first entry for Recommended Reading from my Books Read in 2021. Yes, it's dark, but I also find it redemptive in the observation, the witness, as well as in the writing itself. The insistence on complexity, on love and hope and effort -- and humanity -- that is too often, too easily, ignored in our perception of poverty's ugly grittiness. 

I will admit that following Shuggie Bain with Book #6, Diane Cook's The New Wilderness was not the best strategy for mood enhancement during January's rainy grey days. This dystopic novel, set in a near future whose urban environments poison children's health, may have you mentally brushing up on your wilderness survival skills. But the story-telling is gripping, and besides the interest of the mother-daughter relationship, I was also pulled along by the ongoing narrative of group politics. 

Still, after two of these weightier "literary" novels in sequence, I was relieved when my public library let me know that my hold on Book #7, Denise Mina's latest novel, The Less Dead,  was available. Mina's novel was not as light as I might have hoped -- in fact, her setting and theme intersect significantly with those of Shuggie Bain -- but as mystery/crime fiction, it's faster paced, and it provides relief through its professional-class protagonist, Margo.  I'm such a fan of Mina's writing, and in some ways, The Less Dead's ending (which I initially found frustrating, if not annoying) has me admiring her even more. She doesn't play to the crowd, doesn't defer to expectations of the genre. If you've read this -- or if you do -- I'll be curious to know what you think. IG post here.

And that's it for January reading. Because February's a short month, and because I'm two or three days' later with this than I llike to be, we're already almost halfway through the second month of the year, and I've already got a few entries under February in my Reading Journal.  And it's snowing, here in Vancouver, perfect weather for curling up on the couch to finish my current book before I have to return it to the library on Tuesday (If you're curious about what I'm reading right now, check this Instagram post)

So now it's your turn, if you wouldn't mind. I'd love to know what you've been reading, good or bad or indifferent. Have you set any particular reading goals for the year, and if so, did January's reading bring you closer to meeting those? Or do you generally take a more random or flexible approach to your TBR lists? Time to chat, if you can spare a minute or two from that chapter. . .