I may not have mentioned this, but December was my version of spring break. Not in the jello-shots-sunburn-sleep-on-the-floor way, but in that I read only what I wanted to. It’s not a month with a lot of new releases so I spent a lot of time at the library, browsing shelves, and looking at my to-be-read list of recommendations from other bloggers to find backlist books I didn’t read when they came out. By and large it made for great reading! Here are just a few of the books that worked and didn’t work.
Published by Penguin Audio
Publication date: July 17, 2017
IndieBound, Amazon, Powells
Who hasn’t fallen in love and thought their relationship was perfect? Only to wake up and find that reality is bit more complicated. Multiply that times ten and you’ll have some understanding of what Jen Waite went through. I listened to her memoir A Beautiful Terrible Thing and was as engrossed as I’ve ever been by nonfiction. She meets and falls in love with the man who becomes her husband and it isn’t until the months after the birth of their daughter that she discovers his deceit.
What follows are years of trying to get the truth—and to get free. The chapters of the memoir are divided into Before and After and in doing so, Waite frames each stage of her relationship with either the harsh light of reality or the soft golden glow of a woman in love. The reality is that her husband is a psychopath. Most of the charm and emotion is manufactured to suit his own needs and vanishes when a new object of desire appears. Waite narrates which gives a sense of immediacy to this fascinating listening.
Priestdaddy: A Memoir by Patricia Lockwood
Published by Riverhead Books
Publication date: May 2, 2017
Priestdaddy is probably right for someone but not me. Johnson’s style of writing was unusual in a way that did not work. Far too confusing, mixing metaphors, too many descriptors…read as jumbled. I realize this is a true story, but at 15% it was too far out there in a way that left me disinterested.
Publication date: November 15, 2005
IndieBound, Amazon, Powells
Wow. I know people who have raved about Joan Didion’s talent, but I had never read anything written by her. When I saw Play It as It Lays at the library I knew it was time to see what all the fuss was about. To put it in book terms: Play It As It Lays is the child born from Jacqueline Susanne’s 1960s Valley of the Dolls and the parent to Brett Easton Ellis’s 1980s Less Than Zero. If you’re not familiar with those books then what I mean is: it’s a depressing encapsulation of Hollywood and the desiccated lives of the people who live there and work in the world of film. Didion’s prose is as detached and enervating as the people who move through this slender novel. Powerful reading.
Published by Ig Publishing
Publication date: June 13, 2017
IndieBound, Amazon, Powells
Ash Falls is a book that encapsulates the atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest, each page exuding a feeling of damp wool and a grayness that sinks into the bones. The story is about an escaped murderer who is likely on his way back to Ash Falls the small town where his ex-wife, teenage son, and an entire community wait to see what he will do. It’s a big premise but author Warren Read makes it less thriller and more expansive, wondrous, human narrative. His writing is evocative in the way of Kent Haruf (my go-to author for perfect prose).
Have you had any great backlist reading recently?
I’ve never read Joan Didion either…think I probably should! And, I couldn’t do Priestdaddy either…tried audio and print. Neither worked.
It almost felt like weird for weirdness’ sake.
You might like Didion. Her writing is very spare and cuts to the chase.
Priestdaddy wasn’t the book for me either. I don’t think I even made it to 15% . I do remember feeling liberated to dnf. It was back when I was learning to dnf. Clearly the book was really liked by some. It goes to show how different we all can be in what we like.
It took me a long time to DNF, but now I’m at the stage in life where it’s too short and there are so many other things to read!
Oh, this post is just FULL of things I want to talk about. Jen Waite. I loved that book and got the assignment to interview her for Shelf. She is really a fantastic lady and a good person. That story fascinated me.
Ash Falls I also really liked, especially when it took a left turn after the prison escape and turned into something altogether different. Loved it.
Joan Didion. I have never read her, but she is a big part of the crazypants book I just finished, Hollywood’s Eve. A friend went to the author event and got me a copy and I flew through it. It’s non-fiction, Los Angeles in the wild 60s-70s party days, a bio of Eve Babitz. I’m still processing that thing. Crazy. I spent a lot of my childhood down there (my father’s mother was old Hollywood) so it resonated with me. But seriously, just go for the crazy.
You’re the reason I read Ash Falls! I read your review and knew it sounded like something I’d like.
You have an “old Hollywood” connection?! Do tell!
I was stunned by Jen’s story. The only ‘problem’ I had was I couldn’t tell when (or even if) she divorced him. I was listening to book so I probably missed it, but it made me wonder why she didn’t break things off more quickly (after she found out all the lies etc and had a baby).
Oh, sweet, good to know. My one success! Glad you enjoyed it.
Not a real interesting one, though it provided certain avenues. My father’s mother was a script reader for one of the studios back in the day.
It’s been so long I don’t recall that issue, but I don’t remember having that question, though my interview with her went more in depth, so maybe my clarification was from that aspect.
Same! I’ve had Ash Falls on my list since I read Lauren’s review.
It is right in your wheelhouse, Rory. I think you’d really enjoy it.
Play It as It Lays is a classic from 1970. I used to read everything by Didion but it’s been many years since I read her early books. I could use a reread on this one. She writes about bleakness so well.
It is remarkable. I was literally emotionally numb by the time I finished.
The only one of these I’ve tried is Priestdaddy, nd like you I DNF’d it. I think I may have been listening, but either way, I just could not get into her story or the way it was told. Ash Falls looks interesting in that it’s set in WA, but I’m on a thriller diet!
I hear you! What is going on?! I’ve never had such interest in thrillers before.
The Only Didion I’ve read is Slouching Toward Bethlehem. It teetered back and forth between interesting and boring, from essay to essay. Really liked some of it, zoned out on other parts. But I’ve wanted to read Play It and I’d really like to read her more recent memoirs. The documentary on her, (I hope it is still on Netflix) is really great though.
I’ve never read anything else by her. Given that I’m not a nonfiction person, I’m glad I tried her fiction!
Ash Falls sounds really good. It’s one I’ve never even heard of.
I only discovered it through my blog reading and because I keep track of well-reviewed books from bloggers I trust. When I decided to go with backlist reading in December it was easy to find at the library. It’s stuck with me and now I want to read more by the author.