Friday Reads

Kinda went off on a few tangents this week, despite the ever-growing stack of books in my TBR pile. I’m taking two cross-country flights next week, so I figured I’ll have plenty of time to work my way through my Kindle library on the plane. I spent some time reading one new book and one old book instead.1

First, I got We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby from the Los Angeles Public Library2 on a whim. Irby writes humorous essays about very serious moments in her life, which has nothing to do with any of my ongoing projects, but I love a good essay. She’s a big believer in the run-on sentence, while, as a writer, I am a member of The Church. Of. The. Sentence. Fragment. But Irby is funny and earthy and honest. Her essays on the death of her alcoholic father and growing up poor were heartbreaking and unsparing.

Next, I went back to an old favorite, Claire North’s The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. This made me a believer in the Church of Claire North as well. It’s a brilliant twist on the time-travel conceit: a man relives his life, over and over, dying and being reborn in the same body but with the accumulated memories of his previous lives. That was a new idea in sci-fi when I encountered it, and that alone is rare enough to recommend the book. But it’s North’s execution that makes the novel work. Her prose is lovely and clean, and she builds characters living through their extraordinary situation as best they can.

I also picked up Victor LaValle’s Lone Women, out this week. I love LaValle’s work, which uses horror to examine its characters and their world, and through them, our own. He had an excellent Q&A in the New York Times. I was particularly impressed by how he refused to rag on any other authors, instead talking about what he’s gained from books — even the ones he initially dismissed. He’s a brave and intelligent writer, and I urge you to check him out.

What are you reading? Suggestions and reviews always welcome in the comment.