Welcome, 2013! So far it’s been a kind of a trash month for life in general, but a very efficient one for reading. Upsides! Anyway, the completed literature (broadly speaking) below.

House of Mirth, Edith Wharton
I read Age of Innocence last year, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it, how slyly snarky it could be. Mirth is a little broader, the emotions not as subtle as in Innocence, but there is still plenty of Wharton’s excellent observational sense throughout, both for the niceties of society, and their failings. Her failing: a nasty, pervasive streak of anti-Semitism. 

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, Nathan Englander
A collection of short stories that center on interpretations and explorations of Jewish identity. The most enjoyable story, for me, was the one featuring the narrator’s delving into the obscured, mythologized history of his various family members. I am a sucker for stories about a) the way we relate stories and trick ourselves through narrative, and b) complicated family dramas.

Interesting Times, Terry Pratchett
A quick read, Pratchett’s broadly-drawn, satirical take on East Asian culture, and also old age. Not as deft as some of his other novels. Plus, it’s protagonist is Rincewind, which instantly lowers it in my opinion. Not enough Vetinari.

Terrier, Tamora Pierce
I had been looking at books to give to one of my younger cousins, and had remembered how excellent Pierce’s Alanna series was—great unconventional female heroine, well-realized fantasy world. Alas, my cousin is still a little young for that series. However, in remembering my fondness for the series, I picked up one of her more recent books from the world of Tortall. It also features an unconventional female heroine, however, the book is written in first-person diary form. That tends to grate on me, as does the tendency to pepper a book with made-up language and slang. On the upside, interesting enough story and neatly tied up at the end, so I don’t feel the need to read the rest of the series.

Trickster’s Choice, Tamora Pierce
Picked this one up at the same time as Terrier. This leads to one of Pierce’s blindspots—when she introduces other lands in her Tortall series, she tends to write a broad, nearly-stereotypical sketch of real world cultures. In this case, it’s Southeast Asia (their food is spicy! they wear sarongs!) melded with a slavery/uprising plot. There’s also an unfortunate Magical White Girl element to this; the main character appears from Tortall and is clearly set up to be the catalyst/instigator of the oppressed islanders’ revolution. Ick.

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
I had seen the movie version of this before I read it, which took some of the surprise out of the reveal. Ishiguro is very good at evoking the nostalgia we feel for our childhoods, for our youth, even through a vaguely sci-fi lens.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, Cheryl Strayed
I’ve enjoyed Strayed’s writing as advice columnist Sugar on the Rumpus. She’s warm and straightforward, compassionate while being honest in response to her readers. Her memoir offers more of the same, except turned inward on herself. Strayed walked the PCT when she was in her late 20s, and more or less a mess following the death of her mother a few years earlier. Strayed is honest about her feelings, about her inexperience as a hiker, about the decisions both good and bad that she made. It’s an incredibly relatable work, even if your life has been easier, your losses less harsh.

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, Emma Straub
Straub’s first novel, about the life of a golden age movie star in the studio system. Entertaining, well-researched, but felt a little bit light. For all the time you spend with Laura, you never feel fully engrossed or embraced by her character. The idea of a living a split-personality life, of finding your place when your job has faded, these should inform a richer interior life of your main character. Instead, it feels like you’re merely gliding on the surface of her thoughts.