Hi all. I just wanted to touch base that I’ll be taking a bit of blogging break while we’re away on our bike trip in Italy. We leave soon and I have my e-reader stacked full of fall reading for the plane, including one novel for PW to read and two advanced copies I haven’t gotten to yet, which include Canadian authors Sarah Bernstein’s novel Study for Obedience (out Oct. 10) and Marina Endicott’s novel The Observer (out Sept. 12). I’m a bit surprised to see that Study for Obedience just made the shortlist for the Booker Prize announced a few days ago. I’ve heard it’s quite strange, but I’ll give it a shot. Also Paul Harding’s novel This Other Eden made the Booker shortlist and I was listening to the audio recently, but I think I’ll switch to the ebook as I might like it better in print.
I wanted to take Jhumpa Lahiri’s new book Roman Stories (out Oct. 10) with me, but I didn’t get an early copy … so I’ll wait. When I return home I’ll try to put together a Preview of October release picks as there’s some good upcoming novels to make way for. Meanwhile I bought tickets to the upcoming book festival Wordfest (Oct. 11-15) and plan to see journalist Susan Casey talk about her new book The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean (out Aug. 1) and Mary Trump on her book The Reckoning. Not sure why she’s here, but I’m sure Canadians are very wary of her uncle running for reelection. There’s also a slew of other authors coming including: Ashley Audrain, Patrick DeWitt, Michael Crummey, Emma Donoghue, and Anne Berest, whose novel The Postcard I read earlier in the summer. I’m not sure how many I will see as I live far from the city these days.
And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately.
The Furrows: An Elegy by Namwali Serpell / Hogarth / 288 pages /2022
As it opens, a biracial woman named Cassandra Williams recounts her brother’s death in a tragedy at a Delaware beach when she was 12 and he was 7. Thereafter the story relates how the grief affected the later lives of her and her parents. Her white mother, who’s long denied that he died, goes on to form a nonprofit for missing children; while her black father leaves to remarry; and Cassie, who’s seen many therapists over the years, has had trouble processing the reality of the tragedy and her memory of it. At the time, she blacked out and his body was never found.
The short-ish novel starts pretty straightforward, but the second half gets sort of kooky: when things turn up casting some doubt whether the boy actually died or has just been missing. Cassie, or C as she’s called, becomes involved with a man who thinks he went to school with him. Uh-oh. That’s not all that’s odd, but I will leave the rest to you.
This is my first time reading this author who is Zambian. Her 2019 debut The Old Drift received a lot of recognition as did this one, but I wasn’t that enamored with the story. It was just a bit odd and trying to be elusive, though its exploration of grief and how it can blur reality and memory is an interesting theme. I gave it 3.5 stars.
The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis /Norton /320 p /2021
As good as this nonfiction book might be for a person in public health, it was not really what I expected and not really the book for me. I think by picking it up, I was trying to get a grip on the recent pandemic and what went wrong to control it and why some leaders seemed so dangerously irresponsible. But the book doesn’t get to the recent pandemic until quite late in the book — and a lot of the book seemed to be data analysis of various other pandemics, crunching the math, disease modeling, and genomic sequencing. I didn’t really feel the human element of the victims in the hospitals as it wasn’t that kind of book.
Two people who are mostly talked about throughout the book are: Veterans Affairs official Carter Mecher and California deputy chief health officer Charity Dean — who both did a lot to wade through government bureaucracy and complacency to sound the alarm about the disease threat and spread and to come up with plans of containment and to get leaders to implement them. I admired their fortitude and years of commitment in fighting communicable diseases. I’m sure they’re public health heroes and saved numerous lives, but a biography of their careers was not really what I expected this book would be. Still I was interested when it talked about the various ways the previous Administration or the CDC blew it in protecting the public; how they downplayed the disease and threat in various ways.
But generally the book was more a numbers and modeling kind of book in understanding pandemics and what to do; and less the human side of pandemics inside hospitals, or a political one. So you just need to beware of that going into it, which unfortunately I wasn’t. I found it at times a laborious listen on audio, though admirably its information tells a true tale of these two people in particular who made a difference fighting disease and its spread in public health against major odds and bureaucracy. I think wonks might like it more.
That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and what did you think? Ciao for now.
Enjoy your trip, Susan! The Furrows sounds interesting, though I checked out other reviews on Goodreads and it seems some people agree with you that the second half was a bit odd. Michael Lewis tends to write from economics and mathematics perspective; I think he’s the author of Freakonomics, which made waves a few years ago, and I have had on my TBR for a long while.
Thanks Carmen. Yeah both of these books weren’t the best for me. I misgauged the Lewis book pretty completely. It does have a lot of info about the rates & spread of pandemics. I’m sure Lewis’s books are good but just might not be for me. I’ll chat with you when I get back. I’m glad you’re on GR these days. Happy reading.
Safe journeys and enjoy!
Thanks Dorothy. Happy gardening & reading. Ciao!
Hi Susan,
Have a great time in Italy and let us know what it was like when you get back.
I was curious about The Premonition by Michael Lewis. I’ve heard some critics praise this book and that’s why I am glad to have read your review because if the pandemic is left till the last part of The Preminition and there are too many statistics and spread sheets that’s not for me. I want to know about covid not the years before covid and above all too many statistics belong in a medical journal, not a book for the public.
Thanks Kathy, hopefully I’ll get a few good pics while there.
The Premonition had much about other pandemics before Covid — so it might not be for you. And it had much data analysis and how these two people in particular tried to piece things together. I found it pretty exhausting. If I were more a numbers kind of person, I’d probably have liked it more.
Enjoy your week.
I hope you enjoy your trip and your reading!
Thanks AJ. Plane reading can be the best. ha. Have a great week.
Two of the last couple of books I’ve read were written during the pandemic, and—who knows why?—I found I didn’t really want to read about the pandemic.
The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths is a book I’d like to read as I really enjoyed Susan Casey’s book, The Wave.
I’m delighted that you are about to head off on your bike ride. You’ll be happy to know that we arranged some glorious weather for you just before we left Puglia. Enjoy!
Thanks Deb. The weather looks perfect for the forecast in Puglia. 🙂
If you like Susan Casey’s books … definitely read her first book Devil’s Teeth about the great white sharks around the Farallon Islands. Oh my! so good too.
After the Lewis book — and a few others — I’m pandemic’d out in the reading department. No more for a while. I found this one exhausting.
Cheerio. Enjoy your week.
Beautiful fall colors in those photos. I wonder if the trees will be bare by the time you return from your trip. Have a great time! May your luggage arrive with you on both ends of the trip. 🙂
Ha. Thanks Lesley. Yeah we’re pretty sure our luggage will be lost somewhere between Paris & Rome … but we hope to get it back. It took me forever to pack.
I think the leaves might be gone by the time we get back … because the wind has been whipping every day. Hmm. The poplar trees are taking a beating.
Enjoy your week. Chat when we return.
Have a wonderful time on your trip!!!
Thanks Lark. It went well and now I’m back resting up. Hope you are having a great October!
I hope you have a wonderful time on your cycling vacation! Looking forward to hearing about it. Safe travels!
Thanks Iliana. We had a fun trip …. & I hope to update soon. Happy October!
I recently read a narrative nonfiction set in Zambia about street children. I thought it was really interesting (and not weird, so that’s a plus).
Have a wonderful time biking through Italy!
Thanks Helen. We had a great trip and now have returned back. Hope to post soon. Happy October.
I hope you are having an amazing time, Susan. I bet you are seeing such beautiful sights on your ride through Italy.
Thanks LF. Seeing the Puglia part of Italy was very interesting and fun. We are back home now — albeit sick so we’ll rest up for a bit. Hope all is well there. Happy October.
Did you manage to read Study for Obedience? I’ve seen mixed reviews, with some people loving it and some not getting on at all. Nothing in between, it seems. I look forward to hear your views. 🙂
Hey Stargazer. I have not yet read Study for Obedience but I am about to start it. I’ve heard people saying it’s Weird. I sort of can’t believe it made the shortlist! Is it really that good? Hard to believe. I will see what the fuss is …. and let you know. Cheers.