Beautiful and brutal books about bearing witness

Plus the greatest villain in literature and contemporary authors on classic writers

Last week was taxes week and birthday week for me which means I’m arriving at the weekend feeling old(er) and tired. It is very fun to have an exuberant preschooler around to get excited about your birthday. I was feted with sprinkle-covered cake and lots of pink balloons (from Louise), a delicious surprise dinner with friends (from Miles), and a good night sleep (courtesy of my mom taking Lou for a sleepover). All of these treats were completely delightful. I also treated myself to several decadent food deliveries as I worked through tax paperwork.

The books this week were also top notch which was particularly pleasant after some disappointing buzzy books last week. In addition to the two I’m sharing today, I read a perfect gem for the Paperback Summer Reading Guide and have been immersed in two classics that have me riveted. I find I’m getting many of my best book recommendations lately from Substack both from other newsletters writers and from reader comments, so please tell me what you’re reading and loving in the comments below!

This week in books.

This week I read…

We Do Not Part by Han Kang and The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. This year I promised myself that I’d allow for more freedom in review writing. If I have a lot to say (like last week) I’ll lean into that and if I don’t, I won’t force it. Ironically, last week’s books are novels that won’t stick with me, but I felt compelled to write more than I typically do. This week I read two books that were brilliant, and yet, I don’t have much to offer on either—yet. That yet might be part of the issue I’m having with review writing. Some ideas and opinions take a while to percolate. And some books are so beautifully done, it seems improper to read and write about them in the matter of a few mere days. Today, I’ll tell you a bit about them nonetheless.

I spent this week reading both FictionMatters book club and buzzy book selection, and they turned out to be a rather remarkable pairing. These are wildly different books in terms of tone, plot, style, and and sensibility. But there are connective threads bridging these novels. Both books deal with the experience of bearing witness to trauma. Both are set in the aftermath of unspeakable violence. Both writers give as much weight to subtext as to what is on the page. Both are meticulous in their word choice and passionate about language. And both somehow still depict and believe in the fragile beauty of human connection. It was difficult to be in the midst of two such books at the same time, both because of the content and because both require a lot of their readers. But I also found it rather mesmerizing to read these back-to-back. It’s fascinating to witness how two writers of different ages, locations, languages, time periods, and perspectives explore similar questions, even if they arrive at different understandings. The fact that the questions each woman asks are about large scale trauma is devastating, but also moving in their dedication to depicting these lives and events with such artistic mastery.

These are difficult books to recommend for different reasons. The sheer brutality of Kang’s work is hard to bear. Hazzard’s prose is complex and sometimes impenetrable. But these are the kind of narrative experiences I crave, and I’m so grateful to the FM Literary Society for reading these alongside me. If you’re questing for books that feel challenging, timeless, and essential, you might find these two books well worth the effort.

We Do Not Part on Bookshop | We Do Not Part on Libro.fm | The Great Fire on Bookshop | The Great Fire on Libro.fm | Join the FictionMatters Literary Society

Now I’m reading…

Paradise Lost. Really! While I’ve read excerpts I’ve never read this epic poem in its entirety so now I’m taking a class and loving it.

New on my TBR…

I have been convinced by all the positive reviews that I will definitely be reading the new Hunger Games at some point.

Links I love.

The Lit Hub Villain’s Bracket is complete. Find out who won and see the entire bracket.

I’m very worried for museums and libraries, and it’s going to be important to pay attention to what’s happening with their funding. (NPR)

I’m feeling some schadenfreude now that Meta’s gag order on this book catapulted it to best seller status. (Vulture)

I liked seeing this positive but nuanced defense of audiobooks. (Wash Post, gift link)

Here are the winners of the National Book Critics Circle Awards. Is this the literary prize most closely aligned with my taste?? (Book Riot)

How Mr. Darcy became one of Jane Austen’s most memorable creations. (Lit Hub)

You know I love learning how the classics have influenced contemporary writers. Here’s Anthony Doerr on Italo Calvino and Jesmyn Ward on William Faulkner. (Lit Hub)

Why Black satire is the art form of our absurd age. (NYT, gift link)

Here are the best reviewed books of the week, fiction and nonfiction. (Lit Hub)

The Trans Rights Readathon is happening now! (Book Riot)

I bookmarked this detective fiction starter pack because I want to develop an appreciation for this genre. (NYT, gift link)

I really would like to read this modern classic horror novel one day. This review makes it sound particularly timely. (Wash Post, gift link)

End Notes.

What I’m watching, listening to, making, and loving this week.

• Traci Thomas
  ’s interview with Torrey Peters is fantastic.

• I ordered doughnut deliver while working on tax stuff and truly there is no treat I love more than a good maple frosted cake doughnut.

• We watched Jurassic World Dominion. It is truly awful, but during my post-viewing internet browsing, I learned that there is a new Jurassic Park series starting up this summer. It stars Scarlett Johansson, Johnathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, and Rupert Friend, and I could not be more excited.

• I’m taking an online seminar on Paradise Lost. We’ve only had one meeting, but I am so happy to get to be the student version of me for the next six weeks.

• Voice notes with friends are making me incredibly happy. It’s such a nice and more intimate way to catch up.

• This episode of The Bookshelf discussed two of my recent reads and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations.

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Happy reading!

Sara