Greetings, book and treat people! I’m writing this on election day. I voted this morning at the town hall in my little town, population 734. There weren’t any heated or contested races on the ballot, not even for my local school board. (So many local school board races are crucial this year, with all the book banning going on.) I’m not sure where we’ll be when you’re reading this except still here, still fighting.
Shutter is waiting for me at the library this afternoon. I read a ton of mystery novels, which obviously often overlap with crime, but often crime is too dark or gruesome for me -- I find I just can't read books like that anymore. I'm going to give Shutter a try, though!
What makes me venture out of my wheelhouse to try a new genre are reviews/recommendations by people I trust or whose taste I know is similar to mine, whether I know them IRL or not -- if we usually like the same books and they enjoy a title that's out of my regular zone, I'll absolutely seek it out.
I'll be so interested to hear what you think of Shutter! I'm not really sure where it falls on the dark/gruesome scale. There were some graphic parts, but overall it didn't feel exceptionally graphic or dark. It's just, the whole book is about crimes/investigations and I just don't want to read about that.
You make a good point about getting recs from people whose tastes generally align with yours!
I don't even know, Laura, I really don't. Like you, I got about 20 pages in and was ready to set it down for good. I kept going. I almost quit at least five more times. I kept going. I agree that it was incredibly cold -- that's a good way of putting it -- and yet I found her writing to be astounding in some places. There were plenty of sentences that left me thinking, why have I never heard of Tess Gunty before and how is she this good? The writing -- wow. No, WOW. The story itself was brutal.
Yeah, I feel you. I can appreciate the writing objectively, and I can see why so many people loved it. But good writing isn't enough for me. I couldn't make myself care about it and it left me feeling so empty. Like I could not figure out what was going on underneath all the pretty words, where the human heart of the story was. (And I am pettily super annoyed it won the NBA, especially because I think there were much, much better, but less flashy, books on the shortlist.)
Absolutely also annoyed it won the NBA. I know you read the shortlist so you know way more about the other contenders, but at no point, even in the midst of my astonishment about the writing, was I like, YES, this is a NBA winner. (That it won says something to me about either of the state of literature or the state of our souls, or maybe both.)
Yes, maybe both. What's interesting to me is that ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT (my favorite book on the shortlist and probably my favorite of the year) is also a novel set in the Midwest, also about people struggling through a failing economy. The writing is also gorgeous, though less...experimental?...than Gunty's. But the difference in how the two made me feel is astounding. So much emotion and warmth in ATCBD vs. THE RABBIT HUTCH. I dunno. I'm obviously biased.
I’m not much of a crime reader either. But I’m dying to read Prairie Fires! I had not heard of that title, but I read and loved all the Little House books as a kid. The image that stays with me is Laura walking to the school house and struggling through thigh-deep snow. I also can’t think about the books without picturing the opening credits of the tv show, particularly the part in which Laura and Mary run through the tall grass and wildflowers. I’m not even sure how accurate these images are but they sure are vivid in my mind.
It's such an interesting book! I also loved the Little House books as a kid, but as adult I don't want anything to do with them and their blatant racism. I really appreciated Fraser's nuanced take, and how she frames them in context. It's so easy, looking back, to see why I loved them so much—they were created/manufactured/designed to appeal to readers like me. For me it felt like such a worthwhile and interesting and reflective way to revisit something that influenced me that I'm now ambivalent about.
Yeah. The Little House books aren’t exactly the first of my beloved childhood reads to suffer under the scrutiny of my adult self, but it’s always a little sad to add titles to that shelf.
I feel you! It's funny, though, because reading this book, I felt like I could look back on my time with the Little House books fondly, while at the same time gaining a new, deeper understanding of them. I think there's this desire (esp. on social media) to just pretend that we didn't love the books we loved, and it doesn't make sense to me. I'm not sure if that makes sense. I enjoyed revisiting the world of the books, and I felt a lot of tenderness for my younger self that loved them, and I enjoyed learning more about their origins and history, and I appreciated having the space to explore all those contradicting things.
I've gone on long enough now, but I hope you enjoy Prairie Fires if you do read it! The audiobook is excellent if you like reading nonfiction that way.
Yes, exactly, to all of this! I plan to look for it in print because that’s still my favourite way to read, but I’m glad to know the audio version is a great option too.
Shutter is waiting for me at the library this afternoon. I read a ton of mystery novels, which obviously often overlap with crime, but often crime is too dark or gruesome for me -- I find I just can't read books like that anymore. I'm going to give Shutter a try, though!
What makes me venture out of my wheelhouse to try a new genre are reviews/recommendations by people I trust or whose taste I know is similar to mine, whether I know them IRL or not -- if we usually like the same books and they enjoy a title that's out of my regular zone, I'll absolutely seek it out.
I'll be so interested to hear what you think of Shutter! I'm not really sure where it falls on the dark/gruesome scale. There were some graphic parts, but overall it didn't feel exceptionally graphic or dark. It's just, the whole book is about crimes/investigations and I just don't want to read about that.
You make a good point about getting recs from people whose tastes generally align with yours!
As long as I am here catching up...
Re: Shutter: MEH.
We agree on that!
Coming back to this post to discuss The Rabbit Hutch. Did you finish it on audio?
I did! I did not like it at all. I found it very cold.
I don't even know, Laura, I really don't. Like you, I got about 20 pages in and was ready to set it down for good. I kept going. I almost quit at least five more times. I kept going. I agree that it was incredibly cold -- that's a good way of putting it -- and yet I found her writing to be astounding in some places. There were plenty of sentences that left me thinking, why have I never heard of Tess Gunty before and how is she this good? The writing -- wow. No, WOW. The story itself was brutal.
Yeah, I feel you. I can appreciate the writing objectively, and I can see why so many people loved it. But good writing isn't enough for me. I couldn't make myself care about it and it left me feeling so empty. Like I could not figure out what was going on underneath all the pretty words, where the human heart of the story was. (And I am pettily super annoyed it won the NBA, especially because I think there were much, much better, but less flashy, books on the shortlist.)
Absolutely also annoyed it won the NBA. I know you read the shortlist so you know way more about the other contenders, but at no point, even in the midst of my astonishment about the writing, was I like, YES, this is a NBA winner. (That it won says something to me about either of the state of literature or the state of our souls, or maybe both.)
Yes, maybe both. What's interesting to me is that ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT (my favorite book on the shortlist and probably my favorite of the year) is also a novel set in the Midwest, also about people struggling through a failing economy. The writing is also gorgeous, though less...experimental?...than Gunty's. But the difference in how the two made me feel is astounding. So much emotion and warmth in ATCBD vs. THE RABBIT HUTCH. I dunno. I'm obviously biased.
I’m not much of a crime reader either. But I’m dying to read Prairie Fires! I had not heard of that title, but I read and loved all the Little House books as a kid. The image that stays with me is Laura walking to the school house and struggling through thigh-deep snow. I also can’t think about the books without picturing the opening credits of the tv show, particularly the part in which Laura and Mary run through the tall grass and wildflowers. I’m not even sure how accurate these images are but they sure are vivid in my mind.
It's such an interesting book! I also loved the Little House books as a kid, but as adult I don't want anything to do with them and their blatant racism. I really appreciated Fraser's nuanced take, and how she frames them in context. It's so easy, looking back, to see why I loved them so much—they were created/manufactured/designed to appeal to readers like me. For me it felt like such a worthwhile and interesting and reflective way to revisit something that influenced me that I'm now ambivalent about.
Yeah. The Little House books aren’t exactly the first of my beloved childhood reads to suffer under the scrutiny of my adult self, but it’s always a little sad to add titles to that shelf.
I feel you! It's funny, though, because reading this book, I felt like I could look back on my time with the Little House books fondly, while at the same time gaining a new, deeper understanding of them. I think there's this desire (esp. on social media) to just pretend that we didn't love the books we loved, and it doesn't make sense to me. I'm not sure if that makes sense. I enjoyed revisiting the world of the books, and I felt a lot of tenderness for my younger self that loved them, and I enjoyed learning more about their origins and history, and I appreciated having the space to explore all those contradicting things.
I've gone on long enough now, but I hope you enjoy Prairie Fires if you do read it! The audiobook is excellent if you like reading nonfiction that way.
Yes, exactly, to all of this! I plan to look for it in print because that’s still my favourite way to read, but I’m glad to know the audio version is a great option too.