Books I’ve Read - summer 2014
It’s been a summer of amazing books, including some that I read twice. I usen’t to allow myself re-read books, thinking that it was inefficient to re-enjoy something while the ‘to read’ stack grows higher. Thankfully, I’ve gotton over that nonsense and enjoyed a couple of these twice. There’s great comfort in visiting in an author’s world for a second time, everything seems familiar but not quite right. I love it. To the books..
Friendship, by Emily Gould
After reading this wonderful piece by Emily Gould, I fell into the Emily Gould rabbit hole inhaling both her books, a chunk of her blog and many of her articles. ‘Friendship’ is a great read - a keenly observed & quietly funny of modern female friendship. Much of the hooplah surrounding its release distracted from what is a quality book. I read it twice.
And The Heart Says Whatever, by Emily Gould
I read this, after absorbing so much of the scandal which was created around it which (in hindsight) is a bit of a pity. I still really enjoyed it, found it uncomfortably true to life and Gould’s voice is both clear and strong. The comparison to ‘Girls’ is an apt one I think. That said, I think Friendship is the better book.
The Love Affairs of Nathanial P, by Adelle Waldman
This was the best book of the year so far (though The Empathy Exams was a close second). It’s about a successful Brooklyn writer and his relationships with women. It honestly felt like a public service for an author to inhabit that particular kind of man (well to do, post-feminist, a little self-involved) and excavate his opinions of women. I learned a lot from living in it. Read it twice.
New Years (a prequel to The Love Affairs of Nathanial P), by Adelle Waldman
This short prequel explores one of the key relationships in the book between Nate and his best friend, Aurit. It was an interesting morsel to add to story and certainly gave me a fresh insight and symapthy for Aurit, but as a stand alone book, I’m not sure it stands up.
An Untamed State, by Roxane Gay
This was harrowing. So harrowing in fact that I haven’t been able to finish it. I don’t think I’ll be able to return to it (at least not now), but it’s a powerful and important book about a Haitian woman being kidnap and tortured. This is the kind of book the world needs. Highly recommended.
Not That Kind of Girl, by Lena Dunham
The most-hyped book of the summer largely lived up to it’s promise. It was especially interesting to read stories from the first year of her Girls experience - navigating men and Hollywood and going from a nobody to a cultural icon. The therapy essay excerpted in the New Yorker was probably the strongest of the book, along with the story of her sexual assault. It’s funny and real and feels intimate, without ever verging into the preachy. I read this twice too.
Graduates in Wonderland by Jessica Pan & Rachel Kapelke-Dale
This is a book I’d never pick up on my own but after seeing the authors speak in NY, I was intrigued by their stories. An epistolary novel, it’s made up of the emails shared between 2 friends who moved abroad after college. It has that flighty excitement of youth, together with the blind terror of trying to figure things out when you’re 20-something and lost.
The Empathy Exams, by Leslie Jamison
This book deserves it’s sleepy hit status. A series of essays exploring the limits of empathy, I think I underlined something on every page. The muscularity of Jamison’s thought work was fascinating to behold, and I’m still mulling over some of her ideas. Many of the essays are available for free online if you want to do some google stalking and find them. Highly recommended.
The Gin Closet, by Leslie Jamison
After reading and loving The Empathy Exams, I devoured pretty much everything Leslie Jamison has ever written including this novel. It’s darkly wonderful; an exploration of addiction and family. I also adored this short story Jamison wrote about alcoholism, which I ironically read in a bar.
52 Blue by Leslie Jamison
This kindle short produced by the Atavist, felt a little flat compared to Jamison’s other work. An exploration of loneliness and despair that brings together a Blue Whale and an elderly lady in the Bronx.
The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
There was so much hype about this over the summer that I had to read it. It was lovely and enjoyable, though I didn’t cry and it hasn’t really stuck in my mind.
Really Really by Paul Downs Colaizzo
It’s years since I read a play, but this one intrigued me. It’s about “generation me”, that moment right before you graduate college and a suspected sexual assault. While I’d have loved to see it on stage, it was a quick and enjoyable read too.
My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff
A recommendation via Jessica’s instagram feed. A great story of a 20-something book buff finding her feet in the publishing industry. Her stories of renting and living in NY while poor rang true for me too.
I have a bazillion books on my nightstand at the moment, including: Women in Clothes, Hillary, Americanah, A Girl is a half-formed thing, Bad feminist, Brothers Emmanuel, Gone Girl & many more.
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