Every year at Christmas my family has a tradition brought to us my my stepmother where everyone buys each other a book then we put them anonymously into a box and we have to guess who they are for. It's called the Book Box and I love it. My mom always knows exactly what I want to read and so I knew when Erin Carlson's I'll Have What She's Having came out of the box it was for me from her. I could recite practically all of When Harry Met Sally and after Nora Ephron passed away in 2013 I read her entire canon so it was fun to have her back for a moment, if only anecdotally.
Alex Beth brought me Inheritance from Mother at my birthday dinner. She had just finished it and thought I would like it. It's a serialized Japanese novel split into two parts. The first is about the protagonist caring for her dying mother and the second is about her life after her mother passes. I found the first part kind of a slog to get through. Mizumura is so detailed and precise about what it's like to care for a dying parent that you are right there with her and it's slow, sad and grueling. While there's still sadness is the second half of the book, it's also much lighter. I found this book very emotional and memory inducing.
After reading Jackson's earlier, more meandering novels last year I was hooked from the start by The Haunting of Hill House. While I liked it's predecessor The Sundial, Hill House is much sharper and more focused. I also had a nightmare the first night I started reading which is both a good and a bad sign. My mom told me that when she read it back in the 80's she refused to read it at night and could only stomach it during the day.
There is much talk of Madame Bovary in Inheritance From Mother and it ignited my desire to read this edition that I've had on my shelf for years but never opened. (I think it was a present from my mom for the 26th birthday! Yikes.) I really loved it. Going in I thought it would be dense and old fashioned but it's actually really fun, modern and gossipy. Not at all what I'd expected. Davis' translation is stellar.
Coming off my high from Madame Bovary, I wanted more Davis and so I took her collected stories off my shelf and read the whole of her first book, Break It Down.
The First Bad Man was my book box gift from Adam. I probably never would have bought this for myself as I had a preconceived notion that I did not like the work of Miranda July but I read this book quickly and really enjoyed it.
Unorthodox was my book box gift to Adam two years ago. He read it back then, loved it and starting recommending it to lots of our friends. He lent it to our friend Kate and she returned it a few weeks ago just as I was randomly itching to read it! We live in the Satmar Community described in the book so the world Feldman describes it that of our neighbors which makes the book feel oddly personal even though our lives could not be more different than the ones described. It's an absorbing read regardless of if you live in Hasidic Bed-Stuy or not and Feldman is an unbelievably brave and engaging writer.
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