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Joy of joys! The building gym has reopened on a reservation system. For the first time in four months I've been able to partake in physical activity that goes beyond slow walks around the neighborhood dodging all the people who aren't wearing masks. It is wonderful.
As my activity level improves, so have my energy and concentration, and thus, my reading output.
What I Just Finished Reading
Making Friends with Alice Dyson - Poppy Nwosu
Making Friends with Alice Dyson opens as Alice arrives at school during her senior year to learn that someone has uploaded a smartphone video of her spontaneously dancing with the school thug to the Internet. Now she's a viral meme.
Introverted and laser-focused on getting good grades, Alice wants to find out who took the video so she can return to social obscurity. Her best friend May wants to bask in the attention and make the most of their senior year. And scary Teddy Taualai, Alice's impromptu dance partner, won't leave her alone.
This novel is a spiritual successor to My So-Called Life, with which it shares that series' sweetness and a keen eye for teenagers' interior worlds and the social hierarchies and everyday crises that shape their lives. Nwosu avoids taking her novel in easy directions, be they a whodunit search for the video's uploader or a morality tale about the dangers of partying (or, conversely, of letting your parents' rules keep you from maturing). Instead, she's penned a compulsively readable novel with nuanced portrayals of capital-I issues that never descend into the overbearing or cartoonish. And there are Issues: race and class prejudice (particularly the subtle varieties perpetuated by parents in the belief they're "doing what's best" for their children), sexism, bullying, standing up for people who need it, dating, and forming an adult identity independent of parents or childhood friends. There are a few weak points, most notably, a Big Reveal that hinges on highly intelligent Alice somehow forgetting, and then recalling in perfect detail, a pivotal conversation that took place three years before the novel's start, but these barely make a dent in the otherwise excellent story. This book is tightly plotted, funny and dramatic in equal measure, and has so. Much. Heart. I definitely recommend this one.
Death in the East - Abir Mukherjee
One of the most enjoyable things about reading Mukherjee is watching him improve with each book; Death in the East is the best and most ambitious he's written yet. The novel comprises two interwoven narratives: one in 1922 in which protagonist Sam Wyndham undergoes an opium detox in an Assamese ashram; the other a flashback to Sam's early days as a cop in 1905 London. Both feature atmospheric settings and an intriguing mystery attentive readers should be able to solve without too much trouble. Wyndham is an amoral protagonist who makes frequent major mistakes--both refreshing attributes in a genre littered with preternaturally astute, anachronistically enlightened main characters. That said, the book is not without its weak points.
There are frequent typographical errors.
We have not one, but two dead women in fridges, and the execution of a falsely convicted Jewish immigrant into the bargain. I go back and forth on this; Mukherjee makes a clear--and topical--point on the deep roots of racism and xenophobia and how money and social status let the privileged get away with murder, but at the end of the day, he still uses three plot device deaths to do it.
Mukherjee is also not the most astute observer of human psychology. Wyndham never seems particularly troubled by the horrific events he causes or that happen to those close to him, even when Mukherjee's informed attributes insist Wyndham is. Wyndham also thinks of characters in terms of their narrative roles instead of their personal significance to him, as when he inexplicably refers to the love of his life, for whom he still carries a flame, by her married name while she essentially dies in his arms.
Mukherjee's poor grasp of human psychology is most evident in the setup of the novel's whodunit. To whit: You are a young, lower class woman who has vowed revenge on the rich, connected man who murdered your aunt. Do you: a) use your military training to exact said revenge efficiently and quietly, or do you b) marry your aunt's murderer, resigning yourself to years spent fucking him while you try to come up with a complicated, symbolically laden way to kill him? In selecting b), Mukherjee joins a long line of male writers who opt for a one-dimensional idea(l) of feminine suffering and sacrifice over writing actions an actual, thinking human woman would take. In sum, the book has some big flaws, but it does other things quite well, and I enjoyed the read.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Angel of the Crows - Katherine Addison
After Death in the East I faced a fork in the road between more Victorian London (i.e., this novel) or more colonial India (i.e., The Satapur Moonstone). Colonial India won out.
House of Leaves - Mark Danielewski
Basically, I can only read this one when it's 90-odd degrees and blindingly sunny out; otherwise, the narrative's alienation and creeping horrors are too much for me.
The Satapur Moonstone - Sujata Massey
Massey's keen depictions of her characters' psychologies and motivations are a breath of fresh air after the Mukherjee. I've already inhaled half of this novel and am very much enjoying it.
The Bone Key - Sarah Monette
As if House of Leaves weren't already enough. Why am I doing this to myself?
The Drunken Botanist – Amy Stewart
This week I finished "Herbs and Spices" and moved on to "Flowers".
The Sisters Grimm - Menna Von Praag
I've read just far enough to be introduced to our four (five?) main characters and am eager to read more.
What I'm Reading Next
I didn't pick up any new books this week, which is fine as I have plenty to read as it is.
これで以上です。
As my activity level improves, so have my energy and concentration, and thus, my reading output.
What I Just Finished Reading
Making Friends with Alice Dyson - Poppy Nwosu
Making Friends with Alice Dyson opens as Alice arrives at school during her senior year to learn that someone has uploaded a smartphone video of her spontaneously dancing with the school thug to the Internet. Now she's a viral meme.
Introverted and laser-focused on getting good grades, Alice wants to find out who took the video so she can return to social obscurity. Her best friend May wants to bask in the attention and make the most of their senior year. And scary Teddy Taualai, Alice's impromptu dance partner, won't leave her alone.
This novel is a spiritual successor to My So-Called Life, with which it shares that series' sweetness and a keen eye for teenagers' interior worlds and the social hierarchies and everyday crises that shape their lives. Nwosu avoids taking her novel in easy directions, be they a whodunit search for the video's uploader or a morality tale about the dangers of partying (or, conversely, of letting your parents' rules keep you from maturing). Instead, she's penned a compulsively readable novel with nuanced portrayals of capital-I issues that never descend into the overbearing or cartoonish. And there are Issues: race and class prejudice (particularly the subtle varieties perpetuated by parents in the belief they're "doing what's best" for their children), sexism, bullying, standing up for people who need it, dating, and forming an adult identity independent of parents or childhood friends. There are a few weak points, most notably, a Big Reveal that hinges on highly intelligent Alice somehow forgetting, and then recalling in perfect detail, a pivotal conversation that took place three years before the novel's start, but these barely make a dent in the otherwise excellent story. This book is tightly plotted, funny and dramatic in equal measure, and has so. Much. Heart. I definitely recommend this one.
Death in the East - Abir Mukherjee
One of the most enjoyable things about reading Mukherjee is watching him improve with each book; Death in the East is the best and most ambitious he's written yet. The novel comprises two interwoven narratives: one in 1922 in which protagonist Sam Wyndham undergoes an opium detox in an Assamese ashram; the other a flashback to Sam's early days as a cop in 1905 London. Both feature atmospheric settings and an intriguing mystery attentive readers should be able to solve without too much trouble. Wyndham is an amoral protagonist who makes frequent major mistakes--both refreshing attributes in a genre littered with preternaturally astute, anachronistically enlightened main characters. That said, the book is not without its weak points.
There are frequent typographical errors.
We have not one, but two dead women in fridges, and the execution of a falsely convicted Jewish immigrant into the bargain. I go back and forth on this; Mukherjee makes a clear--and topical--point on the deep roots of racism and xenophobia and how money and social status let the privileged get away with murder, but at the end of the day, he still uses three plot device deaths to do it.
Mukherjee is also not the most astute observer of human psychology. Wyndham never seems particularly troubled by the horrific events he causes or that happen to those close to him, even when Mukherjee's informed attributes insist Wyndham is. Wyndham also thinks of characters in terms of their narrative roles instead of their personal significance to him, as when he inexplicably refers to the love of his life, for whom he still carries a flame, by her married name while she essentially dies in his arms.
Mukherjee's poor grasp of human psychology is most evident in the setup of the novel's whodunit. To whit: You are a young, lower class woman who has vowed revenge on the rich, connected man who murdered your aunt. Do you: a) use your military training to exact said revenge efficiently and quietly, or do you b) marry your aunt's murderer, resigning yourself to years spent fucking him while you try to come up with a complicated, symbolically laden way to kill him? In selecting b), Mukherjee joins a long line of male writers who opt for a one-dimensional idea(l) of feminine suffering and sacrifice over writing actions an actual, thinking human woman would take. In sum, the book has some big flaws, but it does other things quite well, and I enjoyed the read.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Angel of the Crows - Katherine Addison
After Death in the East I faced a fork in the road between more Victorian London (i.e., this novel) or more colonial India (i.e., The Satapur Moonstone). Colonial India won out.
House of Leaves - Mark Danielewski
Basically, I can only read this one when it's 90-odd degrees and blindingly sunny out; otherwise, the narrative's alienation and creeping horrors are too much for me.
The Satapur Moonstone - Sujata Massey
Massey's keen depictions of her characters' psychologies and motivations are a breath of fresh air after the Mukherjee. I've already inhaled half of this novel and am very much enjoying it.
The Bone Key - Sarah Monette
As if House of Leaves weren't already enough. Why am I doing this to myself?
The Drunken Botanist – Amy Stewart
This week I finished "Herbs and Spices" and moved on to "Flowers".
The Sisters Grimm - Menna Von Praag
I've read just far enough to be introduced to our four (five?) main characters and am eager to read more.
What I'm Reading Next
I didn't pick up any new books this week, which is fine as I have plenty to read as it is.
これで以上です。
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It's very awesome your gym was able to open up again and you were able to work out!
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