What Am I Reading Wednesday - May 29

What I Just Finished Reading

Kabbalah – Tim Dedopulos
Meh. The chapter on Kabbalah and tarot was too superficial to be worth the effort and the final chapter, which repurposes a bunch of other practices (e.g. kinhin, positive affirmations) in a kabbalic "context", was clearly filler.

The Familiars – Stephanie Hall
One of the best books I’ve read this year. Hall’s novel walks the deeply tricky historical fiction tightrope with aplomb: her characters are multidimensional, relatable without being anachronistic, and don’t fit neatly into expected categories. Give this one a read.

Women Talking – Miriam Toews
Another good book that also avoids pat characterizations and gimme endings.

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut
One of my favorite books by Vonnegut, and one the one I think is best suited to the current political climate.


What I Am Currently Reading

Airman – Eoin Colfer
Colfer’s novel is clearly an homage to authors like Wells, Verne, and Stevenson and I suppose it would be entertaining, except the single female character has just been relegated from “interesting, independently minded person” to “love interest who is cruelly mistaken in her misunderstanding of the male lead but whom he will win around with his virtuous deeds” and god help me, I’ve already read this story in approximately 10 billion other novels.

The Shadow Cabinet – Maureen Johnson
I really dislike the device where the novel’s prologue sets the stage by introducing characters and situations of which the actual protagonists have no knowledge, but oh, what a creepy stage Johnson sets.


What I'm Reading Next
Eddie Izzard’s memoir is still first in the queue.


これで以上です。