Previous installments of “This Week in Reading” can be found here. Most recently: Samantha Irby and Tom Kizzia.
Before we get into our actual books for the week, I wanted to do a last-minute plug for Dorothy Baker’s Cassandra at the Wedding, which we’ll be discussing with Emily Gould on Thursday (discount code below). I’m counting down the minutes until my actual conversation with Emily, because I read it in two sittings and it’s MAYBE ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I’VE EVER READ, and I have a lot to say about it, and I think…okay, I’ve never loved Joan Didion’s fiction, and I think that Cassandra at the Wedding is the novel I’ve always hoped Joan Didion would write, based on the quality of her non-fiction, if that makes any sense? It’s clear and brilliant and the main narrator is unpleasant and it’s wildly accessible and delicious and I want all of you to read it. I promise you will enjoy it and, if you are a writer, be filled with self-loathing and envy by it. How lucky for you, writers.
The Innocents! Much, much better than it had any right to be. One is always so pessimistic about novels based on other novels, and for good reason. Edith Wharton is dead, go write your own book and make up a new story. This, again, surprised me by being a good book in its own right. As I mentioned briefly last time, it’s The Age of Innocence, but set in modern-day Jewish North London, and Segal manages to create a perfect little insular world in which the themes of near-infidelity and shame and mistrust and belonging and shunning within a closed community are not dated, but absolutely vital and gripping. It’s worth your time.
And then I read Choire Sicha’s novel, which was really good. I think the first half is AMAZING and the second half is good, so it shakes out to really good. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the second half, it’s just that the best part of Very Recent History is this incredible portrait of NYC in the relevant year, and this perfect anthropological tone (“Cigarettes were made up of tobacco, a nightshade…”), and capitalism-unpicking, and then once that groundwork is laid, the characters begin to seem more interchangeable and less compelling than the horrible city he’s constructed or unveiled around them.
Okay, what are you reading? Besides Cassandra at the Wedding?
Works Referenced:
Dorothy Baker, Cassandra at the Wedding (Emily Books*)
Francesca Segal, The Innocents (Indiebound | Amazon)
Choire Sicha, Very Recent History (Indiebound | Amazon)
*Readers of The Toast can take 20% off purchases from Emily Books — subscriptions or individual books — by entering the code CASSIETOAST at checkout until 9/19
Tags: books, choire sicha, dorothy baker, francesca segal, reading with nicole, this week in reading
I am reading A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. I am sure I could have finished it in a day, but I am trying to pace myself. It is magical realism within Japanese/American culture, the tale of a diary of a young girl washed up on the shore in the NW. The narration alternates between a teen’s girls troubles with family, bullies, and self discovery in Japan and an author stuck in a small coastal town who finds the former’s diary.
I do not have a background in literary critique or anything, but if that sounds interesting to anyone I would recommend it.
I read that a few weeks ago and I loved it with my whole heart. That sounds cheesy, but it was just such a special book and I enjoyed it so, so much.
That sounds amazing. Adding to my totally overwhelming reading list.
Yes! Yes! YES! This was the first truly great book that I read in 2013. I loved it so much that I mailed my copy to a friend and immediately went out and bought another copy for myself. I had read Ozeki’s two previous novels and had lukewarm feelings about them, but this one totally blew my mind and I did my fair share of crying at the end.
Oh, please say more about what made The Innocents good! I’m a sucker for reimagined classics, and I love Edith Wharton, so I was completely prepared to go along for the ride. . . but I downloaded the sample and couldn’t get into it. The updated characters just seemed so flat compared to their models. Some books don’t hit their stride until past the length of a free sample, though.
That’s the situation here. It really builds, and if Ellie seems like a cipher, it’s clear that it’s because the narrator loads her with his own stuff.
I’m reading Virgin Soul by Judy Juanita, which came out this year.
It’s a novel about a college student who gets involved with the Black Power movement and later the Black Panthers themselves in the Bay Area in the late sixties, which is a part of history I know almost nothing about. It’s REALLY interesting, but as a novel I wish it had a little more narrative shape. I really enjoy it WHEN I’m reading it, but it’s taking me ages to get through (and it’s only 300 pages), and I think it’s because every time I sit down I read about a bunch of things that happen that the narrator imbues with more or less the same importance across the board. Which is interesting in terms of how we experience big historical movements as they unfold around us, and thinking about what carries weight in a life in the moments and in retrospect, but I still don’t have a good sense of whether that’s what the author’s consciously going for or not.
I’m reading Night Film by Marisha Pessl, kind of by accident, because Lord have mercy did I HATE (what I could get through of) Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I’ve read about half of Night Film – and about half of that has been hate-reading, because her random italics on every single page are making me stabby – and have stalled out a bit, so I might quit on it pretty soon. The story is interesting enough, but her writing style, while less obnoxious here than in Special Topics, just gets under my skin. If I quit, I’ll have to go search the internet and find out what happens.
Less Literary Fiction-y, I am also almost done with Top of the Morning, about all the drama in morning television. I’m a total GMA-head, so it’s delighting me that they’re coming off so well and the Today anchors and staff are…not. It’s not particularly well-edited, but it moves quickly and ROBIN ROBERTS, so that helps.
Next up will be either a Jen Lancaster novel or the junior King’s debut.
Cassandra at the Wedding sounds EXCELLENT.
Are you doing any of the online interactive bit while reading Night Film? I like Special Topics in Calamity Physics and Pessl’s style generally, but the idea of a literary novel with and online component makes me want to throw my computer out the window.
I am not. I actually didn’t realize that was a Thing until I just saw the notes at the end (I finally just skipped to the end and read the last 50 pages or so at lunch) – if I’d seen them at the beginning, I also would have wanted to throw things.
I liked Special Topics in a sensational thriller The-Secret-History-kind of way, but I can’t decide whether it’s good/fun-bad enough to read all 600+ pages of Night Film.
I just started Night Film because I loveloveloved Special Topics in Calamity Physics, but… is it possible that Night Film is maybe, sort of… not very good? I’m so disappointed, but I’m laboring on :-/
It’s definitely possible, although the Goodreads crowd fucking loves it. I think I would have stuck it out if it had been less than 600 pages. Because that’s just a little bit ridiculous.
I also loveloved Special Topics, and I very much enjoyed (and was terrified while) reading Night Film. It definitely had many problems, though — those ITALICS, yes! and it drove me crazy that all of the blog posts/articles were written in the exact same voice as the rest of the novel, so they did not feel very authentic. For awhile I thought maybe all of this was purposeful–like the italics were a secret code? I don’t know; Code Name Verity has ruined me for all other books–but no, they are just dumb.
It might also be that I’m listening to it instead of reading. I’m spending 87% of my listening time trying to figure out if the main character is actually a huge jackass just because, or is a huge jackass/unreliable narrator in service of the plot. Anyway, will soldier on.
And oh god, Code Name Verity! (!!!)
Yeah, what is up with the random italics? They’re driving me batty & I just started it yesterday. I loved Special Topics though so I’m persevering for now.
I read Cassandra At The Wedding a couple of years ago & was just blown away. It immediately got put into my “favorites” bookcase.
They are the WORST. Once I noticed it was happening, it really killed the whole thing for me. It might actually get worse as the book goes on, or maybe I just got more and more irritated.
Also, can someone explain Special Topics to me? Because I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book that bothered me SO much SO fast.
Her father is Bill Ayers.
Special Topics reminded me of The Secret History (in a good way). I even loved all the fake citations – maybe because I read so much and three fourths of what I say either reminds me of something I’ve read or references it.
I finished Night Film yesterday. And because I am impatiently waiting for my coworker to finish so we can discuss, I will now air my feelings here (no spoilers but I might bias you so). Yeah, the italics drove me crazy–those along with a few other quirks made me feel like Pessl, or her editor, was underestimating the reader a little bit (you can see/hear where the italics go, and make certain connections without the narrator spelling them out! One of the joys of reading! Argh).
Re: the interactive stuff, I read somewhere that she intended for it to be done at the end, not while reading, and honestly it’s kind of neat but isn’t going to reveal anything you don’t already know at the end of the book itself.
Okay. I enjoyed Special Topics but did not find it to be mind-blowing or anything and have forgotten a great deal of the plot. At the time it came out, it was getting compared a lot to The Secret History, and that is a terrible thing to do to the book, because no other book is The Secret History. (OMG WHO IS EXCITED FOR THE GOLDFINCH AHHHHHHH)
I liked Night Film more, but, again, did not find it to be brilliant in the way it feels like it is striving to be. It was a satisfying thriller that deals in subjects I personally enjoy. The images/extraneous documents…I don’t know. I think King’s Carrie makes better use of that as a narrative device, and does so without the visuals (those docs appear, ahem, excerpted, in the running text).
And while I was willing to go with it for the sake of the story, I didn’t find the descriptions of Cordova’s actual films all that shocking?
I mean overall, totally enjoyed it, I just feel like it’s reaching for something bigger and not getting there, or close even.
I really loved Night Film. Flawed, sure, but I couldn’t put it down. I’m a sucker for magic and conspiracies and cults. I didn’t get into the online portion until 3/4 of the way through the book. Agreed about the italics though. They drive me nuts! I kept trying to see if they were a secret or message or something.
Special Topics I really liked while reading it but I couldn’t tell you the plot now–nothing about the book stayed with me other than the fact that I read it while on vacation visiting my friend in upstate New York (during the trip the two of us got so drunk I fell and sprained my ankle and she peed outside of the IRS building. Good times)
I just finished Night Film today aaand I don’t really know how I feel about it? I really liked Special Topics in Calamity Physics, but I also thought Pessl could write a better book, and Night Film really wasn’t it. It wasn’t as flawed in some ways as Topics, but it also wasn’t as spectacular in other ways. The ending was kinda infuriating, but there were some bits I read at night that freaked me right the hell out so… lets call it a draw, I guess. (The italics are, yeah, very weird.)
I finished Night Film a week or so ago. I liked it, but it was less…fun then than Special Topics. I’m well aware people hated ST because of the pretentiousness, the references, etc, but I liked it! So much better than hardboiled Man Detectives With Something to Prove (ugh).
That said, Night Film had magic, and that made up for a lot.
I’m partway through Ready Player One, and that fact that I’m not reading it at this very moment is killing me.
RIGHT???? I zipped through that one so fast and really loved it. After you’re done you can go and (re-)watch all the 80s movies referenced in the book and relive it a tiny bit!
YES, Cassandra at the Wedding, Thursday can’t come fast enough. I read it in a weekend and have SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT IT. It was amazing. A really remarkable lovely book. I can’t wait to talk about it.
I’m so excited to read Cassandra at the Wedding! NYRB is hit-or-miss with me, but when it hits it REALLY HITS!
I’m just finishing up Antony Beevor’s The Second World War which I’m not even going to link to because it was pretty dreadful. The man spends three pages on assassination attempts that end up never coming to fruition, and a total of three sentences (3!!!!) on the liberation of Paris. You’d never know the United States played any role in World War II except possibly lending a little assistance here and then to good ole Monty. I’m slogging my way through the last 100 pages and it’s taking forever.
HOWEVER, I am so excited to continue my WWII learnin’ with Lizzie Collingham’s The Taste of War. I’ll let the description speak for itself: Food, and in particular the lack of it, was central to the experience of World War II. In this richly detailed and engaging history, Lizzie Collingham establishes how control of food and its production is crucial to total war. How were the imperial ambitions of Germany and Japan – ambitions which sowed the seeds of war – informed by a desire for self-sufficiency in food production? How was the outcome of the war affected by the decisions that the Allies and the Axis took over how to feed their troops? And how did the distinctive ideologies of the different combatant countries determine their attitudes towards those they had to feed? I read her excellent history of curry so I’m really looking forward to this book.
You don’t like “Play It As It Lays”? I haven’t loved any of Joan Didion’s fiction like I’ve loved her nonfiction (though I keep trying!) except for “Play It As It Lays.”
I’m reading a review copy of “Hyperbole and A Half” and it’s amazing!!!!! /humblebragsorryi’mjustreallyexcited
I just finished reading “Tropic of Cancer” for the first time and my reactions are….mixed, I guess? I found it really engrossing and liked the writing but couldn’t get past all the racism/sexism/anti-Semiticism/rape. I found it disappointing because there are a few people that I know/admire/think are brilliant who love Henry Miller but I don’t think I can really get on board.
I am re-reading ‘Salem’s Lot, because for some reason, since my very bad spring/very bad summer, all my brain has been willing to focus on (aside from textbooks and cookbooks) has been Stephen King, so I’ve been working my way steadily through my dad’s bookshelf of his old works. I just finished The Tommyknockers, and after the Lot am aiming for IT, of which I am terrified (for many reasons).
Hm. That’s a lot of parentheticals up there. Oh well.
I just got Me Before You by JoJo Moyes out of the library because someone recommended it to me. I read one of her earlier books and liked it but it didn’t stick with me long.
Also re-reading all the early Inspector Wexford books by Ruth Rendell and enjoying them immensely. They are classist and, weirdly, occasionally sexist, but the writing is great and the psychological aspects are enjoyably creepy.
Get ready to love Me Before You and then to get really sad!
I just finished reading ‘The Casual Vacancy’ at 1am and now I have all these feelings and not a lot to do with them.
I finally read American Gods this week; I loved it, and also I thought, well, a lot of this is a bit Pratechetty, except Pratchett is funnier and nicer, though Pratchett doesn’t have this coke-can carousel Americana thing going on that I like a lot. Also, my favourite narrative thing of all time: if a con trick is being described by one person to another in a book (or a movie), the con trick is almost certainly also being played by the person revealing the trick to the person listening. It’s a classic meta slight of hand, to cover what you’re doing by showing what you’re doing. No, I think on balance I really did LOVE American Gods, actually.
If you are ever in Wisconsin and you have the chance to do so, DEFINITELY visit the House on the Rock. It is mindbendingly weird and Gaiman’s descriptinos don’t get to the half of it.
I know that “descriptinos” is just a transposed-letter typo, but it is now my favorite word.
Items In Shirley Jackson Stories I Have Longed For and Feared in Equal Measure made me want to re-read either We Have Always Lived in the Castle or The Haunting of Hill House, but neither were at the library, so I got The Tremor of Forgery by Patricia Highsmith, which I’m really liking so far. If you’re a fan of either Shirley Jackson or Patricia Highsmith, I’d definitely recommend checking out the other, because they’re writing on the same slow, creepy wavelength.
I am FINALLY reading American Wife, after years of wanting it and never being able to get it easily in Canada (thank you, Kindle!) and I’m really, really enjoying it. I’m just about through the last part of the book, and though I agree with most commentary that it slows down and loses some charm after Charlie’s political career takes off, I still lurrrve it. Mostly I love Alice.
Although I’m now unsettling attracted to the young George Bush? Like as per their early family picture available on Wikipedia? I don’t really know what to do now. Please tell me I’m not the first person this has happened to.
I LOVED EVERY MOMENT OF IT AND WILL HEAR NO WORDS AGAINST IT. Your disturbance will end, and soon you will simply be unsettlingly attracted to young Laura Bush instead.