Next time I was in the library I remembered to check it out again and remembered to actually take it home. Which is a good sign as it turned out to be about a woman in the early stages of dementia who is having memory problems. So now I wonder if the librarians knew the subject matter and wondered about the memory status of their elderly patron (me).
I enjoyed the book and also many others in this month's list. Found a new (to me) author, Katie Kitamura, whose writing I very much liked. Happily the library has more by her. I also enjoyed some mildly creepy stuff because - October.
October is also my birthday month and of course my daughters gave me books! Forged In Fire: Stories of Wartime Japan by Montibon, Rita Tomoko and Amanat: Women’s Writing from Kazakhstan by Batayeva, Zaure. I also purchased a few hard to find ones for myself. Plus I won some ARCs so my TBR list is, well, just where it should be. Long.
And I'm liking my carry-over-to next month read: Richard Powers' Playland.
Fiction:
Suite Française by Némirovsky, Irène; translated from the French by Smith, Sandra
Life in German occupied France in WW2. Excellent.
The Mighty Red by Erdrich, Louise
Super good novel set in Red River Valley sugar beet farming area of North Dakota.
Intimacies by Kitamura, Katie
An interpretor for the International Court of Justice is searching for a meaningful life.
A Separation by Kitamura, Katie
A woman goes to Greece to confront her etsranged husband but he has disappeared.
Polostan (Bomb Light, #1) by Stephenson, Neal
Haven't read any Stephenson since Snow Crash (1992) and decided to give this a try. It's good enough to look forward the numbers 2 & 3. Maybe I should go back and fill in my Stephenson gaps.
Takaoka's Travels by Shibusawa, Tatsuhiko; translated from the Japanese by Boyd, David
Strange creatures, strange adventures in the Ninth Century as a prince/monk and his three companions (two monks and a girl disguised as a boy) travel Southeast Asia. I got bored.
The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Huynh, Carolyn
A sprawling, squabling family of Vietnamese women in Orange County's Little Saigon come to terms with a each other and their family's curse and the fun romp.
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Loigman, Lynda Cohen
An eighty year old retires to Boca Raton only to find the man who deserted her sixty years ago is living in the same retirement community. Silly, sentimental fun as they renew their friendship.
The Mistletoe Mystery (Molly the Maid, #2.5) by Prose, Nita
Not a who done it, but a sweet Christmas story.
The Night We Lost Him by Dave, Laura
Meh.
Last House by Shattuck, Jessica
A "family saga" reaching from 1953 to 2026 told in 325 pages. A "end of the world" retreat house in Vermont is supposedly refuge from the cares of mankind. We get a lot about the restoration of the Shah of Iran, a lot about the protests of the sixties, and absolutely nothing about 2001. And where was this family in 2020?
One Puzzling Afternoon by Critchley, Emily
Aging woman tries to solve the long ago disappearance of a schoolmate.
The Hitchcock Hotel by Wrobel, Stephanie
A creepy hotel...
The Haunting of Velkwood by Kiste, Gwendolyn
A creepy suburban street...
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
A creepy house in a rural town...
The Hundred Waters by Acampora, Lauren
An arty, but creepy, triangle.
A Sunny Place for Shady People by Enríquez, Mariana; translated from the Spanish by McDowell, Megan
A disappointing collection. Tried so hard to be macabre that the stories were lost.
Contents: My sad dead -- A sunny place for shady people -- Face of disgrace -- Julie -- Night birds -- Metamorphosis -- Hyena hymns -- Different colors made of tears -- The suffering woman -- The refrigerator cemetery -- A local artist -- Black eyes.
Your Utopia by Chung, Bora; translated from the Korean by Hur, Anton
Enjoyable SciFi short stories involving robots and programmed machines--one is from the POV of a car, another is narrated by an elevator....
Contents: The Center for Immortality Research -- The end of the voyage -- A very ordinary marriage -- Maria, gratia plena -- Your utopia -- A song for sleep -- Seed -- To meet her -- Author's note: the act of mourning.
There is a Rio Grande in heaven : stories by Reyes, Ruben, Jr.
Hit and miss collection. I didn't care for it.
Contents: An alternate history of El Salvador or perhaps the world -- He eats his own -- Try again -- An alternate history of El Salvador or perhaps the world -- The myth of the self-made man -- Quier Perrear! and other catastrophes -- An alternate history of El Salvador or perhaps the world -- My abuela, the puppet -- The Salvadoran slice of Mars -- An alternate history of El Salvador or perhaps the world -- Variations on your migrant life -- An alternate history of El Salvador or perhaps the world.
Mixed genre Anthology:
Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices edited by Brew-Hammond, Nana Ekua
Includes essays, poetry, and short stories. I read most of it but skipped a few stories and essays.
Contents: Introduction -- Nanyuman / by Ayesha Harruna Attah -- So long and Fuji-san / by Mogolodi Bond -- Body is more than a landfill and less than all that I am / by Sarah Uheida -- To the woman who accused me of breastfeeding the madman's child and by any other name / by Phillippa Yaa de Villiers -- Ezouga and post mortem / by Bahia Mahmud H. Awah -- Daughter of a bedouin chief / by Miral al-Tahawy -- God's plan / by Boakyewaa Glover -- Her sweetie, her sugarcane / by Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda -- Krifé / by Chiké Frankie Edozien -- Queens and sleeping beauty (of Borehamwood) and waterstones and ode to a discarded face mask and denouement/ by Dami Ajayi -- Finding Descartes / by Reem Gaafar -- Fulbright / by Rémy Ngamije -- Dirty money / by Kim Coleman Foote-- Kilmonger doctrine of color and humanity / by Joe Robert Cole-- Churai / by Fatima Camara -- [Coolitude: ce balisier-mirador] / by Khal Torabully -- This tangible thing / by Yejide Kilanko -- In a yellow dress with red flowers / by Lillian Akampurira Aujo -- A honey-headed child / by Nana Nyarko Boateng -- Napoleao / by Conceiçāo Lima -- Atat / by Arao Ameny -- Sontem and Ne na'a mpurí haalo and en la puerta primavera / by Recaredo Silebo Boturu -- Lagos wives club / by Vanessa Walters -- I am lost! / by Richard Ali a Muti K -- Poor men have too much ego / by Edwige-Renée Dro -- Sundays in Nairobi / by Jacquelynn Kerubo -- Mbuya Baines / by Makananka Mavengere -- Swagger stick man of June fifteen / by Chuma Nwokolo -- Heart of the father / by Enuma Okoro -- Trophy / by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond -- Célebrons la culture / by Salma Khalil -- Word maker. / by Ayi Renaud Dossavi-Alipoeh.
Nonfiction:
Other Rivers: A Chinese Education by Hessler, Peter
Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting by Hood, Ann
Essays on the joys (and pitfalls) of learning to knit, knitting, and teaching knitting.
Contents: Knitting pattern: "Banks" fingerless mittens / Helen Bingham -- The pretend knitter / Elizabeth Berg -- The perfect gift / Lan Samantha Chang -- Blood, root, knit, purl / Andre Dubus III -- To knit a knot, or not : a beginner's yarn / John Dufresne -- Home ec / Hope Edelman -- Knitting pattern: "Bingham" cabled head wrap / Helen Bingham -- Soft, warm, and fuzzy / Janice Eidus -- Looped yarn / Martha Frankel -- Teaching a child to knit / Sue Grafton -- Knitting in Kathmandu / Jessi Hempel -- Ten things I learned from knitting / Ann Hood -- Knitting pattern: "Bowden" coffee cozies / Helen Bingham -- Judite / Kaylie Jones -- Where to begin / Barbara Kingsolver -- The one-year marriage / Jennifer Lauck -- Knitting a family / Anne D. LeClaire -- Knitting : epic fail / Marianne Leone -- I bought this pattern book last spring / Elinor Lipman -- Knitting pattern: "Ashworth" ruffled slipper socks / Helen Bin(qham -- The supernatural power of knitting / Alison Lurie -- Straw into gold / Joyce Maynard -- Failing better / Bernadette Murphy -- How knitting saved my life. Twice. / Ann Patchett -- The clothes make the dog / Taylor M. Polites -- Knitting pattern: Clovis's perfect-fit sweater / Taylor M. Polites -- High-strung knitter / Elissa Schappell -- Knitted goods : notes from a nervous non-knitter / Elizabeth Searle -- What are you making? / Ann Shayne -- Crafty critters / Suzanne Strempek Shea -- Found objects / Anita Shreve -- Why bother? / Jane Smiley -- Knitting pattern: "Fisher" lacy wrap / Helen Bingham.
Online:
Early June by by Flora Qian (in Asia Literary Review, No. 32, Winter 2016)
and I add a journal to my TBE (to be explored).
Brightly, Brightly a short story by Latham, Kathleen (in The Ilanot Review, Parents: Prose Edition, Spring, 2024.)
another journal for the TBE.
Farmland by Conway, Elizabeth (in New Flash Fiction Review, Issue 33, May 15, 2024)
and yet another journal TBE...
