What I read in October:Stoner by John Williams: Oh man, oh man. This has been on my to-read list for

What I read in October:Stoner by John Williams: Oh man, oh man. This has been on my to-read list for years and it did not disappoint. The empathy was flowing for Stoner, a man of the best of intentions in a world he never seemed fit for.The Martian by Andy Weir: I was riveted to this book, but I’m not sure I would call it good, per se. I was hyper invested and enjoyed the voice of the stranded astronaut, but all of the dialogue and writing in the sections from the people back on Earth were so terrible it was distracting.Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal: A great recommendation from @52books! A novel composed of chapters driven by different narrators, but all connected in some way to Eva, a girl with a world class palate. It covers a huge swath of her life and is a perfect blend of moving, sweet, funny, and quirky down-home comfort.The Diver’s Clothes Lay Empty by Vendela Vida: Some very interesting things at play with this one. 1. It is written entirely in second person. 2. The lead character travels to Morocco and is immediately mugged, triggering a series of events where identity becomes slippery and mutable.The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson: Wowowowowowow how have I never read Maggie Nelson before? This memoir about her relationship and pregnancy demolished my expectations for the genre. Using her lens as a literary critic, Nelson holds up her own personal world to the rigors of theory. Definitely a literary read that might not be for everyone, as evidenced by the marginalia scrawled in my library copy that said “WTF? What is she saying in this book? Why doesn’t she say it?”H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald: This memoir has been a critical darling in 2015, but I didn’t connect with it much. A lifelong falconer, after the sudden passing of her father, she attempts to combat her grief by taking on the task of training a goshawk. The line between her own identity and the hawk’s becomes lost in her depression. The quality of writing was beautiful, but birds rank very low interest-wise for me. -- source link

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