January Wrap-Up: My Favorite Reads of the Month
- The Bossy Bookworm
- 16 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Bossy Favorites of the Month
I've had a strong Bossy reading month. These were my six favorite reads of January--an intriguing memoir, a five-star literary fiction wonder, a contemporary novel about a novelist, a meditative story, a cozy fantasy, and a fascinating read (for my book club) about interconnected characters.
I hope your January has allowed for some cozy reading time.
Have you read any of these titles? What were some of your favorite reads this month?
01 Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden
I was surprised by how interested I was in the implosion of Burden's privileged life. She captures the universality of heartbreak; the chilling notion that a partner in a decades-long marriage could wake up and leave without warning or remorse; and her emergence from the trauma as a stronger version of herself.
Burden was more than twenty years into her marriage, living between posh homes in Tribeca and Martha's Vineyard, raising three children (with her own Harvard law degree largely languishing unused), when her hedge-fund-manager husband abruptly disclosed a recent affair and, seemingly without remorse or struggle, left Belle, the children, the dog, the houses--their whole life. He offered no explanation and no apology, then he set about threatening to take everything from her and the kids.
As she sorts through the past and works to find support and to function more fully in the present, she decides to refuse to be shamed as the woman who was left, who is perceived as not enough to have kept her husband. She grows more bold, finds healing in speaking her mind, and becomes determined to write her story and share her perspective. Strangers grew out of a "Modern Love" essay and is her account of her pain, confusion, and reemergence as a truer version of herself.
I was intrigued by this fast read; I finished it in a day and a half. I received a prepublication electronic version of Strangers courtesy of NetGalley and Random House.
For my full review, please see Strangers.
02 This Is Happiness by Niall Williams
This is gorgeous Niall Williams literary fiction, centering around an Irish country village, a young man searching for his path, and his unofficial mentor, zigzagging his way through life, embracing adventure, and bridging the gap between the old ways and modernity. Quiet connections and reflections make the story, with understated poignancy, humor, and heartbreaking moments that bring the book's world to life.
In the rural Irish village of Faha, in County Clare, the years-long rain (whether sprinkling, torrential, misting, steady dripping) is stopping, and electricity seems poised to finally move from "the notional" to "the actual," as Father Coffey proclaims.
Young Noe (short for "Noel") has abandoned the seminary but is unsure of his next steps, and he takes refuge at his beloved grandparents' cottage in the village.
A stranger, Christy, arrives to begin coordinating the installation of electricity in the area, and he boards with Noe at Ganga and Doady's home. He is older, kind, capable, yet somewhat lost, and he's bent on making amends for past mistakes. He and Noe become fast friends and in the span of a few months go through weighty moments with each other.
This Is Happiness explores the small moments that make up a life worth living as well as explorations of the meaning of existence, religion, spirituality, reconciliation, commitment, and facing death.
I adore this novel and its countless gorgeous passages, its understated, poignant, heartbreaking elements, and its unexpected moments of connection and beauty. When I was almost finished reading my (overdue) library copy, I bought a copy for a friend's birthday gift and ordered another for myself so I could finish reading it at my leisure and keep it forever.
For my full review of this book please see This Is Happiness. For my review of Niall Williams's lovely Time of the Child, please click this link.
03 The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan
Cate Kay is a bestselling author--and a pseudonym used by a woman who's been running from her past for decades. Cate is at times a young dreamer, a haunted lover with a hardened heart, a wildly successful author dipping her toe in the world of Hollywood, and an imperfectly healed friend ready to face the future.
The reclusive author Cate Kay has written a bestselling postapocalyptic trilogy (which is about to be made into a series of movies; meeting the star is a key part of the story later on), but Cate's extensive fan base has never seen her or even heard her voice.
That's because Cate Kay doesn't exist. When the writer was just out of high school, she was set for a big cross-country adventure and artist's life in LA with her best friend. But a tragedy the day before their planned departure changed everything--and led her to a newly imagined identity that she uses to shield herself from exposure and from vulnerability.
The Three Lives of Cate Kay is built upon a gap in knowledge. It's necessary for the reader to sustain a suspension of disbelief so that this hole in our main protagonist's understanding feels at all plausible, and for the circumstances of the book and Cate's phases of identity to therefore exist and feel warranted. I typically strongly dislike a miscommunication plot point, particularly an extended one, but I didn't mind rolling with this one.
For my full review, please check out this link.
04 Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
Charlotte Wood's literary fiction is quiet and meditative but packs a punch. Stone Yard Devotional concerns a woman who leaves her Sydney life behind to live among nuns as an unbeliever committed to the community. The past crops up in significant ways, and external judgment seems to be cast upon them all.
The main protagonist (who is not named) in Charlotte Wood's literary fiction Stone Yard Devotional is a middle-aged woman who leaves Sydney for some respite in her rural Australian hometown. Although both of her parents have passed away (they are buried nearby), she has little else to connect her to this place. She seeks out a small nearby religious community, although she does not believe in God and has not attended church.
Despite her unbelief, she finds herself drawn to the structure of the nuns' days--prayer, church services, hymns, and a meditative life within simple surroundings. Without intentionally choosing to stay, she simply never returns to Sydney. She lives within the nuns' orbit, taking on gardening and cooking duties for the group. She remains agnostic and therefore exists spiritually adjacent to the nuns yet in daily tasks and time spent together, she is fully entrenched in their world.
This is a quiet story with deep wells of significance and meaning beneath the peaceful surface. I loved it.
You can read my full review by clicking this link.
05 Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz
This debut cozy novel showcases many of my favorite elements--magic, banter, a grumpy-sunshine hard-won romance, and a quest--within a charming, surprising story that I loved.
The powerful dark lord Shadowfade is dead, and Violet Thistlewaite is determined to shed her identity as the Thornwitch, Shadowfade's right-hand woman, and start anew.
She decides to settle in the nearby town of Dragon's Rest and open a flower shop, attempting to use her magical powers for good and to create beauty and inspire joy.
But it's tough to tame her power when she's been trained since childhood to be expecting attacks and enacting dastardly deeds. Another new arrival to town seems bent on hooking Violet to her past. And Violet is really distracted by the handsome, grumpy alchemist who's renting her the space for her shop.
Violet Thistlewaite has lots of my favorite elements: magic, a grumpy-sunshine matchup, a fresh-start promise, and a quest.
This is charming, funny, and adorable. Violet has a secret that seems destined for revealing, but the sequence of events surrounding it and the reactions were wholly unexpected. I loved every bit of this book!
I listened to Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore as a library audiobook.
Click here for my full review.
06 Playground by Richard Powers
Powers's novel is an exploration of the wonders of the ocean and also of the capacity of the human mind and imagination. The marching toward destruction of both of these makes for a nerve-racking, heartbreaking story. Playground's final section held surprises I did not anticipate, and their exposure colors the entirety of the story that precedes them.
Four people are connected across time and geography in Richard Powers's sweeping story of their lives and unlikely interconnectedness.
Evie Beaulieu becomes obsessed with marine life and diving when as a young girl she tests her father's invention, the first aqualung; Ina Aroita grows up moving from naval base to naval base in the Pacific, crafting art as her only constant; two friends at an elite Chicago high school, a privileged young man and a scholarship student, bond over an ancient game while one leans toward literature and one toward AI development.
While tracking these characters' lives, Powers explores issues around technology, ecology, humanity, responsibility, and interconnectedness.
Each of the main characters drives the story in a different way, and I was invested in the struggles and settings for all of them. Their eventual, late intersection wasn't wholly satisfying: one of the characters, the one I was most intrigued by, is essential earlier in the book but served as only a minor force at the end (this is due to the surprise aspect of the story that ultimately shapes the book).
I listened to Playground as a library audiobook.
For my full review, please check out the page at this link.
Comments