I want to get back into writing monthly life and reading recaps, so even though we’re halfway and a day through May (like, WTF?!), let’s try and remedy that for the month that was, shall we?
As I wrote about in my last post, April was rather busy on the work front. We had a big project which involved several late nights, a few weekends, and most of my birthday (originally scheduled as a vacation day, but I was able to make it up later).
On my actual birthday, I took an online workshop with Kelly Corrigan, one of my favorite writers. She talked about imposter syndrome and procrastination AND READ FROM HER CURRENT WORK IN PROGRESS. It was the motivating boost I needed for my own writing.
Also during birthday week: a friend treated me to lunch!
College Girl finished her junior year. I took off a few hours early to move her out of her dorm, and then we did a little shopping in Shadyside. We got pizza from Mercurio’s to celebrate. (Oh, and a few weeks earlier she went to her college’s formal with friends.)
What I watched: the Love Is Blind Reunion, Top Chef, and The Former Guy’s Arrest and Arraignment on 34 Indictments. (Or should that be 34 counts?)
On a very sad note, we virtually attended the Celebration of Life for our longtime friends’ son who died in a car accident on the 12th. A devastating, heartbreaking loss. They’ve been on our minds a lot.
Our cat Ilsa had an unplanned vet visit. She was peeing right outside her litter box and kind of crying out afterwards, so we were concerned that something was wrong. They did x-rays and bloodwork, checked for a UTI and parasites, and fortunately everything checked out. This all started when College Girl came home from school, so we think Ilsa was particularly stressed. (She’s a skittish, anxious cat to begin with.)
The month ended with one of my favorite events, Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon. Even though I never read for the entire duration (I like and need my sleep), and I extend it for the entire weekend, it’s such nerdy, bookish fun. I think my total was somewhere around 7 hours and 200 pages, give or take.
What I Read in April
I finished 5 books—slightly less than my monthly average. Most were from the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist selections since, for some reason, I decided to try and read all 16 nominees. (In addition to having a healthy case of FOMO, I’m also an Aries, so…heeeellllllooooo, impulsivity! After all, what if my newest favorite book or author was among them and I passed them by?! The horror.) I’ve since reconsidered this idea, thanks to watching several BookTube friends’ synopses. There are some great-sounding books in the list but upon taking a second look I had to admit that there are some I wouldn’t otherwise pick up.
Here’s what I read last month:
Your Writing Matters: 34 Quick Essays to Get Unstuck and Stay Inspired by Keiko O’Leary (Thinking Ink Press, 2022, 160 pages)
A writerly kick in the pants that delivers exactly what it promises. My therapist and I have been talking a lot about my writing (or lack thereof) and this was a helpful motivator. O’Leary offers a fresh encouragement beyond the trite and overused maxims (write every day! get up at 3 am!) every writer has heard ad nauseum. Some takeaways:
Life is short, and you’re the only one who can make the work that’s important to you.
You deserve to create what’s in you to create.
We are all trying to do something that matters, and we can’t do it most of the time. But still, sometimes we can, and that’s the part that all the other times are for.
Most of O’Leary’s essays conclude with a prompt suggesting another connected essay, making the structure of this quick read feel like a fun throwback to the old Choose Your Own Adventure books—remember those? You’re in charge here, just as you are in your writing life. 4 stars out of 5.
The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie (Penguin Press, 2023, 336 pages)
If you think your life is a disaster, meet Penny Rush. She’s in her mid-30s, unemployed, and separated from her husband. Her mother and stepfather went missing in Australia more than five years ago, and her feisty, eccentric grandmother is a retired physician who keeps experiments in the fridge. After her grandmother’s unwell accountant alerts Penny to a hoarding situation, her quest to investigate the situation results in one extreme, madcap situation after another. (The novel takes its title from the name of the accountant’s van. This will make more sense if you read the book. And there is an actual dog.)
I was initially a bit skeptical of The Dog of the North and even more perplexed at how the hell this fluffy-sounding book landed on the Women’s Prize longlist. (It did not advance to the shortlist.) To my delight, I found myself enjoying what I’d describe as “escapist dark comedy.” It’s one that would be good when life is a bit too intense and you need something lighthearted and requiring little thought. (I read this during my aforementioned hectic workweeks earlier in April.) Is it a little too extra at times? Yes. But that’s part of the fun. 4 stars out of 5.
Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin (Henry Holt and Co., 2023, 240 pages)
Another book I probably wouldn’t have discovered if not for the Women’s Prize longlist. Alas, this didn’t make it to the shortlist either. Cecile Pin’s debut takes us to a small Vietnam village in 1978 after the last American troops have departed. Three siblings—Anh (the oldest at 16), Minh, and Thanh—are chosen by their parents to travel by boat to Hong Kong, with the expectation that the rest of the family will eventually join them; once reunited, the family would make their way to America where an uncle lived.
As you may guess, that’s not what happened. After learning that their entire family died at sea (not a spoiler; it’s in the description), Anh cares for her brothers as the trio are shuttled from a Hong Kong refugee camp and later, to the U.K. For a relatively short novel, Wandering Souls covers much ground, both geographically and emotionally. It takes its title from the Vietnamese belief that if someone dies away from home, their restless soul lingers on earth; it also references the very real wartime campaign Operation Wandering Souls, where U.S. troops played recordings of wailing voices and noises to scare villagers into believing the sounds were their dead relatives. (I hadn’t heard of this before reading Wandering Souls.)
While I was invested in the characters, cared about their well-being, and liked a particular spiritual element, the writing ultimately felt a bit flat. This is a debut novel, so I’ll be interested in reading what Cecile Pin writes next. 3.5 out of 4 stars
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf, 2022, 355 pages)
I was thrilled to see Maggie O’Farrell’s latest book make it onto the Women’s Prize shortlist because I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her—including this historical fiction novel set in Florence during the 1550s. A talented artist and curious young girl, Lucrezia di Cosimo de’ Medici lives a privileged life inside her father’s court. When her older sister Maria dies right before marrying Alfonso II d’Este Duke of Ferrara, their father decides Lucrezia, age 12, should be given instead. Her protective and loving nurse stalls the inevitable by secretly hiding evidence of Lucrezia’s menstrual cycles but by age 15, Lucrezia is married off.
Less than a year later, she would be dead.
(Not a spoiler — it’s in the description and first sentence.)
O’Farrell brilliantly immerses her reader in all things Renaissance Italy amidst Lucrezia’s increasing desperation as she realizes Alfonso, the ultimate gaslighter, intends to murder her (she hasn’t produced an heir). Suspenseful, shocking, and gripping with gorgeous descriptive writing, The Marriage Portrait is my second choice for the Women’s Prize award. 5 stars out of 5.
Empty Wardrobes by Maria Judite de Carvalho, translated by Margaret Jull Costa, introduction by Kate Zambreno (Two Lines Press, 2021, 184 pages)
Originally published in 1966 and recently translated from the Portuguese, Empty Wardrobes is a story of several women spanning approximately 10 years. Dora Rosário is in her mid-20s when she’s widowed with a young daughter, Lisa. Practically destitute, Dora begs her husband Duarte’s friends and family for money. (He was the epitome of lazy and unambitious.) Despite keeping her world small and isolated, she eventually lands a job working in an antiques store that Lisa calls “The Museum.”
It’s a fitting description. Empty Wardrobes has an introduction by Kate Zembreno who writes, "What you need to understand is how a woman can become a piece of furniture. The kind of woman who lives in a house like a museum, filled with artifacts of her past relevance."
In that sense, Dora is no different than the furniture she sells in her shop -- immobile, heavy, outdated -- and views herself as such. She is, in fact, an empty wardrobe. I kind of wanted to shake her a bit, tell her to live her life already. Then again, this was written in 1966….
When her mother-in-law reveals a secret that Duarte shared before his death, Dora’s world unravels one fateful step at a time, leading to a surprising and shocking ending (and, before that, the reveal of the story’s unreliable narrator).
I discovered this book on our library’s new World Fiction shelves, a section I don’t take advantage of nearly enough, and picked it up because of the intriguing cover. There were times it felt a bit repetitive but it was an interesting read. 3 stars out of 5.
And that’s it — the 5 books I read in April. Have you read any of these or something good lately? Do you need a book recommendation? Let’s chat in the comments. Thanks, as always, for reading.