I came back from holidays in a bit of a reading lull. While away I was not able to find a nice, fat novel to immerse myself in as I’m usually lucky enough to do, and so upon arriving home felt a little like someone had pressed a ‘stop’ button in my psyche. I questioned my abilities not only as a reader, but as a consumer (“Come on, how hard is it to choose a book?”)
This was kind-of put to right after a fruitful visit to the local library. To get back some momentum I picked up The Uncommon Reader and it was the perfect choice. Cheeky, playful and easy, it is Bennett’s case for reading – the act, the benefits – in tidy novella length. I felt much better after I finished.
Then I got discouraged again when I picked up Autumn Laing. I’m about 80 pages into it, and am enjoying it, but it feels so “worthy” (“serious”? “commanding”?) that I think I need to put it off until I’ve got some of my, I guess, psychic self-confidence back.
Which is why I turned to David Sedaris’s Holidays on Ice, a perfect anti-holiday (of a kind) read; the sort of book you’d take if you were pressed into going away with unloved or disliked relatives and you need some laughter to help get through. The strongest piece is the opening essay ‘SantaLand Diaries’ where Sedaris accounts of his time being an elf in Macy’s, where he sees the good – but a lot of bad – of mankind on display.
I’ve seen Will Self’s books in the shops, but found Psycho Too in the library, along with Umbrella (not pictured). After twenty minutes of reading Psycho Too, I had a couple thoughts: 1) He is a very talented writer 2) I’m pretty sure he has the entire English language memorised 3) The illustrations of Ralph Steadman are amazing.
(Confession: I discontinued Umbrella. It’s a bit Joycean for my liking.)
What are you reading this month?
