Newsletter: Late Summer 2022
I promised a summer reading list and now it is fall and I got all caught up in life, crowded airports and airplanes and the 17th century. Through it all, there are quite a few books that I have added to my site. The site is turning into a very long list and feels about as cooperative as an equally long garden hose. Much needs to be done.
The whole list is very uneven. The highlights of the summer were two rereads. This left me wondering if I have drifted into a cul-de-sac of my own making. My recent “rant” about contemporary novels may have been as much an effort of reconciliation with a very different cultural landscape as much as any kind of legitimate criticism. I am still holding a map in a GPS world. A recent journey in a six-speed manual Opel through the backroads and highways of France was made so much easier by the GPS. Regardless, I missed the maps. They were difficult and much less exact. How did we do it? We did … and the map was our physical signature. It served as a footprint of sorts. Something has vanished with the GPS just as something vanished with digital photography. I suspect that may or may not be the case with the written word. It may be just my getting older and the diminishing feeling of relevance that comes with it. Or … there may be some truth in its weakening (the written word) in a world dominated by visual and aural distraction. George Miller’s new movie, a very unlikely fantasy based on a genie in a bottle, “Three Thousand Years of Longing”, includes a memorable scene where the large, all-powerful genie, living in his electromagnetic world, arrives in modern day London and hears all the roar of interminable digital communication. It will slowly make the planet uninhabitable for him. A very conservative friend of mine might respond that it is because we as a species could never really think, only react. Maybe he is right and maybe, like Roman concrete, the written word is fading into some version of historical chaos. The good news is that so many independent bookstores remain alive, that actual books seem to be resisting the e-book and audible alternatives and that I am seeing more young people holding a book. Anyway, here’s the list. I divided it into fiction and non-fiction since we are as close to the holidays as we are to the end of summer. A more extended review can be gotten by clicking the book and reading it on vaughnstackofbooks.
FICTION
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel … the third in her trilogy that began with the wonderful “plague” novel, Station Eleven. A page turning dystopic novel that can be read on its own or as a starter for the trilogy.
The Chosen by Elizabeth Lowry … a surprise all-around. Did not know how good a writer Lowry is. Did not know much about Thomas Hardy’s life. A summer highlight …
The Sicilian Method by Andrea Camilleri … there are 28 Inspector Montalbano mysteries and though I suspect you would be hard pressed to rank them, their consistency is guaranteed. Puts the “b” in beach read. An obsession in Italy (also a very good tv series) …
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To Each His Own & The Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia … Gore Vidal believed Leonardo was one of the great writers of his time. Short, tough novels that took talent and courage to write.
The Vixen & Blue Angel by Francine Prose … where was Francine Prose in my life all these years? She loves a controversial subject, writes with journalistic ease and a real ear for dialogue. Contemporary subjects wrapped in strong traditional “prose”.
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa … we are clearly amidst a rising tide of very good dystopic novels. It was after reading this book at the end of summer that I began to realize how much the baton has been passed (with the occasional drop) from a male writers’ club to its female counterpart – in fiction and memoir.
The Possessed by Elif Batumen … she is Susan Sontag Light and just like Sontag, my jury is neither persuaded nor “out”. Full of sparkle plenty …
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh … the novel of the summer. Though a reread, though a bit dated, the book’s prose is what I am missing in today’s writing. The first quarter of the book is as good as anything in the English language – really.
A reminder to read: The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa … the OTHER great novel of the summer (late spring) …
The Non-Fiction List is a bit complicated since I have two long and tough books on it that I hope to finish by the end of the year. One of them I wrote about extensively in my previous letter. The other is an even longer, equally detailed, equally revelatory account of World War II.
Dinner in Rome (A History of the World in One Meal) by Andreas Viestad … now part of a formulaic history genre that fascinates while it simplifies … regardless, you wish you could share the meal with him.
The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal … I was late to this … it will be the best memoir I read this year or, very likely, any year …
France (An Adventure History) by Graham Robb … this is FUN history but very good history at the same time … history from a bicycle seat
Sicily (A History) by Julius Norwich … going to Sicily? The perfect book … has the whole story packed into it – one of the great stories of world history … light, gracious, and funny … not going to Sicily? You might after reading it …
Global Crisis (War, Climate Change & Catastrophe in the 17th Century) by Geoffrey Parker … this is the subject of my long response I sent out at the end of the summer. I appreciate the encouragement I received.
Blood and Ruins (The Last Imperial War, 1931 – 1945) by Richard Overy
… I will reserve writing a response to this huge book until I finish it. I include it because it is an important, parameter shifting book though Overy may be kicking himself about the use of “last” in the title after Russia’s clearly imperial invasion of Ukraine …
I hope to get a letter out in December with my favorites of 2022. I also might take a stab at Overy’s tome on World War II – it is irresistibly topical though resistibly long.
Happy Thanksgiving … my favorite holiday
Peter
