We are halfway through the year and I’ve read 45 books, so here’s a quick check in of what I’ve read and what I’ve liked. I am intermittently on storygraph (username mostlyshanti) but mostly just track my reading through a Google Keep note… a messy system it must be said when I used to use 70 or so different goodreads shelves. In general, I’ve noticed that I read less non-fiction (only 16/45 books) but maybe I’m just choosier because lots of my stand-out books are non-fiction. Another factor here is that I very rarely reread non-fiction, whereas about 8/45 books were fiction rereads (lots of Madeleine L’Engle). I’ve also noticed that almost all of the books I most liked were by women – yeah the girls – and that I haven’t read very much book-length poetry this year.

Shreyas and I have vague plans to make a separate books page for Mostly Good Ideas – after all books are full of ideas – so let us know if that’s of interest or if there’s any specific recommendations you’re after. Also note that this doesn’t count cookbooks (if it did, Meera Sodha’s East, Please to the Table, and both Ottolenghi Test Kitchen books have given me lots of happiness this year). Because I’m a retired book blogger for a reason most of these are ‘why i liked it’ not ‘what the book is about’. Sorry!

Notable books

The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes

I read this because an ARC was lying around at work and liked it so much that I bought a copy for one person and gave my copy to someone else (neither of whom have read it which sucks despite me having no hard feelings – I am desperate to discuss!). It’s a very ‘ideas’ book: slow food, geology, climate change, chronic illness, precarity, direct democracy, migration, family… I think the conversations in the second half between each sister was most important but I felt most gripped by the scenes of each sister in the first part. All very well-educated, four orphaned sisters are now adults: Olwen a geology lecturer desperately worried about climate change, Rhona a professor of politics with a baby son, Nell a philosophy adjunct lecturer wobbly and wading through life in the US and Maeve a celebrity chef. Although stuffed with ideas, it’s also very curious about relationships and so beautifully written. I liked that it’s about women as people but also women at work. Pairs well with Notes From Deep Time by Helen Gordon.

All Day Long by Joanna Biggs

Max Harris recommended this to me at Ōtaki Summer Camp and it’s probably the book I’ve recommended most this year. Biggs interviews different people about their jobs: cleaners, mums, ballerinas, small farmers, fishmongers – and by doing so meditates on the nature of work, and the social and economic forces that have changed and are changing how we work. Most of the interviews were done in 2013-14 which made me realise how big the recession felt a decade ago when now it’s not really something people my age think about. It’s structured as lots of short sections which also makes it delightful to read if you only have time to read in bite-sized chunks.

Strangers to Ourselves by Rachel Aviv

This is a bit of a horse whisperer, as I finished it this week, but these five stunning case studies of people with mental distress, and the societies and families that produced and received them is immaculately reported, so crisp and clear and thought-provoking.

Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

I first read Klein’s No Logo when I was 15 – I’m probably due another reread really – and it’s fascinating to see how her thinking has evolved since. Doppelganger maybe overplays the ‘mirror world’ stuff a bit (why does everyone need a neologism?) but it’s so compassionate and insightful and well researched. I especially loved seeing a slightly more playful side to Klein’s writing.

How to Sew Clothes by Amelia Greenhall and Amy Bornman

The End of Drum Time by Hanna Pylväinen

Far north Sweden/Finland. Sámi reindeer herders encountering evangelical Christianity, mid 19th century. Long cold winters. Glimpses of lust. Alcohol. The reindeer nibbling at lichen. I think my latent anthropology student loved this historical novel for its deep research, and the thoughtful way it shows how people have always been affected by political decisions far from their homes. The descriptions of the natural world, snow and trees and rivers, also totally sparkle.

Honourable mentions

Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs by Kerry Howley – This made me watch Citzenfour, really elegant writing about people in the midst of surveillance.
There is a Future by Amy Bornman – As above; petite, sometimes borderline twee but mostly just hugely attentive, poems
Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang – Book length journalism about ordinary people in the middle of interesting countries never fails to inspire me. See also: Karachi Vice; A Moonless, Starless Sky; the Drum Tower podcast (linked below). Another good score from work!

Slightly less honourable mentions (but still good!)

Wasteland by Oliver Franklin-Wallis (talk more about rubbish!)
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (people are complicated and fraught!)

Worst book:

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert or The Sparrow Sisters by Eileen someone which I didn’t even finish because I can’t root for a romantic interest who is a US military veteran. I’m still learning how to identify what kind of romance novels I enjoy I guess! Might expound further on the notion of ‘taste’ as a skill in a future post. Not linking because it’s not worth it sorry!

Most recommended to

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson: Yes it reads like a policy brief with plot added but lots of cool ideas and it did kinda make me tear up at one point – hope you’re happy Mika, Oscar and like 3 other Earnest Lads At Parties.

Best reread

Uprooted by Naomi Novik. Mostly just reread this one because the colour of the vest I was knitting was soooo atmospheric like a magical forest I simply Had To. I am always always open to more recommendations of fantasy novels that are like Uprooted, Tess of the Road, Sabriel, Priory of the Orange Tree – once again I think I need to work at articulating the kind of fantasy novels I like.

Bonuses: other forms of media

Best songs:

Keeper of the Shepherd or Ndikhokele Bawo

Best films:

Joyland (sad), Perfect Days (tranquil)

Best podcasts:

Juggernaut or Drum Tower