Book-review post!
This is one of those ‘sometimes I read grownup books’ posts. Mix of fiction and non-fiction.
Amy Poehler – Yes Please
This was recommended to me often, and I loved Tina Fey’s book so very much, so I was hoping for a similar hilarity-fest, but Poehler’s book is much more on the fuzzy-lovely side of things. It’s the story of a life in comedy, and has some interesting insights and advice, which I liked, but wouldn’t necessarily be pressing into everyone’s hands insisting that they read straight away. It did make me feel as though I absolutely-positively needed to heed that other bit of advice that everyone keeps giving me about pop culture, which is to watch Parks & Rec. (I know. I have never seen it. I mean to! I swear! Stop looking at me like that!)
Matt Haig – Reasons To Stay Alive
Matt Haig first came to many people’s attention when he blogged for Booktrust, and I am mainly aware of him from Twitterland, and conscious of some wise things he’s said on writing and on mental health. I’d been looking forward to this book – part memoir of depression and recovery, part observations – for ages, and while it’s good, and has some smart things to say, it’s not a radically different offering for anyone who is a compulsive reader of memoirs-of-depression (e.g. Shoot the Damn Dog, Sunbathing in the Rain, The Devil Within, Prozac Nation, etc.) But it has lists and quotable bits and although the ‘meds are not for me’ bit kind of bugs me, it is worth a read.
Jenny Offill – Dept. of Speculation
This is an interesting book about relationships and things breaking down and it is beautifully written, but also weird, and I was underwhelmed. I’m sorry, universe. Please don’t judge me.
Liane Moriarty – The Husband’s Secret
A decades-old murder comes to the fore again, shaking up the lives of three very different women. This is a page-turner and an easy read, and I liked it, but I didn’t love it enough to want to race out and buy more of the author’s books.
Susan Stairs – The Story of Before
This debut novel looks at suburban Dublin in the 1970s (I think?) and the secrets and cruelty of children, focusing on what happens when a family moves into a new house and encounters a charismatic but ultimately dangerous neighbour. Interested to see what Stairs does next.
Eimear McBride – A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing
This is clearly the ‘I am underwhelmed by these grown-up reads’ book post. I saw the stage adaptation of this a few months back and really liked it, which uses text straight from the book but has the benefit of being a) only eighty minutes long and b) performed. On the page the playing-around-with-language does become tiresome – it’s just not my thing – and the subject matter (illness and religion and sexual abuse in pre-Boom Ireland, oh my) has been covered an awful lot elsewhere.
Clearly I need to stop having thoughts on these books for adults and just go back to kidlit and YA, yes?
