August 2024 Reading Wrap-up
Or how I shook off my reading slump
So far this year, I feel like I have bought more books than I have read. This is a hunch, and I am not going to make myself feel worse by actually counting because I don’t need to know the exact number. As they say, buying books and reading books are two entirely separate hobbies and I have been indulging in the former on account of a horrible and persistent reading slump that hung over me from May to the end of July. However, I have finally shaken it off and I am looking forward to getting into more of my physical TBR for the rest of the year.
To celebrate, I thought I would share the books I read in August that got me out of my reading desert. They aren’t what I would call conventional books to get you out of a reading slump, but they certainly worked for me.
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibin
In ‘Brooklyn’, we start with Eilis living in 1950’s Ireland. However, when her family realises there are a lack of job opportunities and there is an offer from a priest who is able to sponsor Eilis in New York, Eilis’s life undergoes an unexpected change. We watch her as she tries to acclimate to the differences in Brooklyn, gets used to working at a department store and learn to strike a balance between putting up with and getting along with those who stay in her shared accommodation.
Then, when she is least expecting it, she starts to fall in love with Tony. We watch them get to know each other, and Tony has big dreams and plans for them both when there is another sudden change, arriving in the form of bad news from Ireland, which sees Eilis needing to rush back.
This book is soft, subtle and subdued in the way it provides us a lens into Eilis’s life. It feels like you are looking through a window that sees back in time, as Eilis navigates the difficulties of adjusting to a new life, away from home and of the uncertainties and excitement of falling in love. In its soft way, it is still devastating and beautiful to realise the truth of adulthood - how making one choice and living one life, means forgoing the chance of another.
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
This book is one of those where you are really there for the vibes and the characters, rather than the plot. And this is not a bad thing at all.
This is How You Lose the Time War (which firstly, what a great title) is about Blue and Red who are on opposing sides of the Time War, but who somehow end up in correspondence through a series of letters which are ultimately found by one of their leaders. Over time (but not very much, as this is a very short book), I fell in love with Blue and Red, and the relationship that they were forming. They each have very distinctive voices, which makes sense as the two authors each embodied one character in the writing of the books. I won’t tell you about what makes them different, but I will talk about the characteristics that they share such as being funny, witty, curious, intelligent and so incredibly lovable. It is an unlikely series of events that leads to something quite epic, and just shows what could happen if you take that chance.
It is quite strange, as there is world building that occurs but not insomuch as we learn the ins and outs of the Time War. We know the basics and some of the specifics but it is mainly happening around Red and Blue. I really liked this book, but I wish the stakes had felt higher and we had a view of the macro, while still mainly focusing on the micro.
The Things That We Lost by Jyoti Patel
This is a debut novel from Jyoti Patel, and the winner of the 2021 #Merky Books New Writers Prize that explores generational trauma, secrets, identity and family as we look into the lives of Avani and her son Nik just before and in the days and months after the death of Avani’s father. It is a gripping, engrossing book, and so impressive for a debut novel.
We get caught up in Nik’s need to uncover reams of secrets and Avani’s need and efforts to keep them hidden and covered up. While these secrets have been an undercurrent in Nik and Avani’s relationship, when we meet them, they suddenly appear in foreground and so we feel Nik’s urgency and Avani’s pain. Nik’s coming of age is then plagued by absence as much as presence, and a quest to find out more about his father, to ultimately know himself and his mother better.
The book also explores themes of identity and belonging, which for a member of a diasporic community can be the double edged sword of feeling like they identify with two or more places, or on the other hand, feeling like you belong to none. Nik’s visit to India discusses the confusion this causes, and the ways he negotiates and connects with his Gujarati heritage and his childhood and adolescence in Harrow.
We are lucky to have a brave writer who also explores identity through what can make it difficult to feel a sense of belonging in British society when you have roots and heritage from another country. Because of the dual timelines, we are able to get a view of Avani and her brother witnessing and experiencing the racism of the 80’s, to Nik and those of his generation experiencing something similar, along with the reverence and gratitude they had for the generations that preceded them, knowing that even though things weren’t great now, they were lucky to not have experienced what their parents and grandparents had been through.
Overall, this is a powerful, engrossing book that is layered in the issues it explores and the characters that it portrays. I came away with so many reflections on how often we discount our elders and their experiences, and why it is important to honour them. The only things I wished for as a reader were: firstly, that we got to understand more Avani and her relationship to her mother as this shaped her so much as a person, and also that we could have had more time with Nik and Avani beyond the final pages, to see what the aftermath of the climax is, when multiple secrets are revealed. But perhaps we’ll get that in the form of a prequel and a sequel. All in all, so excited to see what Jyoti Patel comes out with next.
I am excited to be attending an author event today evening with Jyoti Patel, so I will definitely be asking what else we can look forward to from her.
What I am carrying forward into September:
As always, I have started many books in August (and in months prior) that I still haven’t finished.
The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom by P. Sainath
Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention by Johann Hari
For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be by Marcus Collins
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence
I am hoping to get to them in September and include them in my wrap up, but you never know when you will suddenly feel as if you’re meant to read another book instead.
Until next time!
Ishani
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