We’re just past the midpoint of the year, so I thought I’d recap some of my noteworthy reading so far. To decrease my fixation on Americans, and specifically American Literary Hype, I have chosen not to read any books by Americans this year. This has definitely meant more books from other Anglophone countries – the UK, Canada and Australia in particular – and also lots of translated books.

American books that have tempted me: Strangers Drowning (talked extensively about this on a tramp despite having read only one article about it), What’s Left (knowledge via the Drilled podcast), Why Fish Don’t Exist, How Infrastructure Works, Dayswork, Extraction, The Fifth Sun. Lots of non-fiction! Funnily enough, even though I am allowed to read American books I already own, I have simply not been tempted: sorry to Debt: the first 4,000 years, The Hindus, Pathologies of Power and Dinomania.

Extremely good books I’ve talked about a lot

A Piece of Red Cloth by Leonie Norrington, Djawa Burarrwanga and Djawundil Maymuru and Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs | Definitely the most unique book I’ve read this year! It’s a story of pre-colonial Australia, based on oral Yolŋu histories. Three elders worked with novelist Norrington to tell a story. Somehow hits the perfect balance of being pacy and compelling, extremely evocative (clear beaches, dugong, fires at night), thrilling, and also very different stylistically to any other novel I’ve read before. A truly astonishing demonstration of the novel form working across cultures, and I loved the focus on the women and girls and the ways they resisted patriarchy.

The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon | She’s done it again! Simply the most riveting, sophisticated plotting, utterly gripping and also emotional. I don’t know any writer who can handle stories this BIG like Shannon; it makes me seriously want to reread Priory and start A Day of Fallen Night. After finishing this I wanted to explain the layers of double crossing to basically anyone I saw, which made for a very annoying (to everyone else) road trip to a party.

Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker | Weird blend of genres here but especially enjoyable as someone who has recently moved to Waitaha. Using Haast’s Eagle as a jumping off point, Walker looks at mythology, land theft and colonial history. I would have loved to know a little more about him (my journalism brain was pinging at all the references to the newspapers where he’s worked) but it’s a classic case of ‘I’m obsessed so you are too’.

Ducks by Kate Beaton | I’m interested in oil workers! This exquisitely illustrated graphic memoir is about Beaton’s years (in the mid 2000s) working in the Alberta oil sands to pay off her student loans. She’s very good at focusing on the specifics of her own experience, while gesturing at the theft of indigenous land and environmental destruction which enable this to continue. She also did a very interesting lecture about working class writing which I listened to after finishing the book, would recommend. Next up: Tabitha Lasley’s Sea State.

The Chthonic Cycle by Una Cruickshank | Ohhhhh this bright shining weird essay collection. Cruickshank uses gems like pearls and jet as avenues to explore time and people, leaving you with the sense that everything is connected. I especially appreciated how she drew connections between culture in the UK and in New Zealand during the Victorian Era, and her perfect scientific descriptions of how jet is formed from a single tree trunk. It made me want to wear pearls. Also, it was a treat to get to see the original collage that makes up the front cover when I was in Pōneke in February.

Quarterlife by Devika Rege | Up there with A Piece of Red Cloth for my novel of the year thus far, except it’s a bit more self conscious, Rege shows her work a little more. Quarterlife is about three key people intersecting with the new India: Amanda, an American; Naren, a consultant home from the US to make money; and Naren’s younger brother Rohit, interested in excavating his Hindu identity more fully. What Rege does best is show how every character is an insider and an outsider: by passport, by education, by class, by religion, by gender, by sexuality, by old or new money, by location, by wealth. There’s an excellent, dizzying set-piece at the heart of the novel which reminded me of the community billionaire meeting in Catton’s Birnam Wood.

Also good:

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney + all the other Sally Rooney’s | I read Normal People years ago then let Rooney hype pass me by. But (victim to hype as always) I read Intermezzo in early January and realised that Rooney is excellent at complex social relations and hierarchies, and reading about people’s lives is a lot of fun. I read Beautiful World Where Are You a few months later (really makes one want to email one’s friends) and then Normal People again and Conversations with Friends for the first time in the last week. All good, but I think Intermezzo and BWWAY are more compelling – perhaps just because the characters are sad in a way that I find easier to understand.

The Wall by Marlene Haushofer | Okay another ‘cool Americans reading it’ book. Listened as an audiobook, which works well because you are so stuck in the interiority of the character. I think scifi fores best for me when it’s not *really* sci-fi. It’s an Austrian book fro the 60s about a woman in a bubble in the forest, trying to stay human even when seemingly every other human is dead outside of a transparent wall. I liked how she connected with nature.

Potiki by Patricia Grace | Loved the way Grace uses voice in this novel, the setting is beautiful. Going to read some early Ihimaera next.

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Best reread: Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude get a Life by Maureen McCarthy. Still hits! lots of emotional intelligence in this one

Best podcast: probably In Our Time? Enjoyed the bickering in the Industrial Revolution episode, lots of nice tasting of academic material. I do not finish every single episode and some I don’t even start but the archive is great. I’m obsessed with the little tea/coffee orders the academics do at the end, the producer does such a great job at finding people.

Best music: I am so sick of all my music and struggling to find new stuff I actually like! please send recommendations! I have been listening to the Soweto Gospel Choir a bit (attended two of their shows in the Auckland Arts Fest) and was fixated on Lorde’s What Was That for a while there. don’t know if I *love* it as a song though? Maybe the new Duo Ruut will be what I’m looking for. How do you find something exactly like all the music you like already but also a bit different?