the second quarter of 2019 in books
Jul. 2nd, 2019 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sea_changedI haven't posted here in a while, though luckily for only the best of reasons: namely that I am free of academia for the summer and wolfing down as many books as I can get my hands on, in between eating a lot of Twin Cities-specific food and doing a lot of Twin Cities-specific things that I cannot get and do in the Southern hellhole to which I've consigned myself. (It's really not that bad, but sometimes it is, actually, that bad.) Nonetheless, I do miss posting about what I've been reading, so I'm hoping to use this as a kind of reset and then start in on Reading Wednesdays again next week. We will, however, see how long that resolution lasts.
27. Portrait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World, Zara Anishanslin
28. A Seditious Affair, K.J. Charles [reread. obvs.]
29. Queer/Early/Modern, Carla Freccero
30, A Lady’s Desire, Lily Maxton [the worst of the f/f cliches, trite and badly written]
31. Imre: A Memorandum, Edward Prime-Stevenson
32. Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic, Richard McKay
33. Tin Man, Sarah Winman
34. A Gentleman’s Position, K.J. Charles [the plot structure only gets weirder upon rereading]
35. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg [academia f/f, obviously appealing, though it ended up leaving me somewhat flat]
36. Darius the Great is Not Okay, Adib Khorram
37. Wanted, a Gentleman, K.J. Charles [reread, but I wasn’t counting novellas last year. Remains a delight.]
38. Proper English, K.J. Charles [alas, disappointing. would love KJC to start writing pairings with interpersonal drama again. also, the sex was boring.]
39. An Unnatural Vice, K.J. Charles [a dnf the first time around, better than I remembered, though as far second-installment opposite-attract pairings go it obviously can’t compete]
40. Release, Patrick Ness [YA books that don’t read as patronizing are so rare, so kudos on that]
41. The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai [the farther from this I got the less I liked it, though the reading itself was compelling]
42. Washington Black, Esi Edugyan
43. Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles, Fran Leadon
44. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst [I don’t get Hollinghurst, though the man can write an absolutely devastating one-liner]
45. Artful, Ali Smith
46. O Pioneers!, Willa Cather
47. American Histories, John Edgar Wideman
48. American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, Victoria Johnson
49. Murmur, Will Eaves
50. How to Be Both, Ali Smith [I want to like Ali Smith more than I actually do, but this did have its moments]
51. The Faraway Nearby, Rebecca Solnit [possibly my favorite of 2019 so far. Solnit’s prose is hypnotizing]
52. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton [reread]
53. Mystery and Manners, Flannery O’Connor
54. Lie With Me, Philippe Besson (trans. Molly Ringwald)
55. Interior States, Meghan O’Gieblyn [disappointingly pedestrian]
56. The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson
57. Astray, Emma Donoghue [can I use the comment “disappointingly pedestrian” twice in one book list?]
27. Portrait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World, Zara Anishanslin
28. A Seditious Affair, K.J. Charles [reread. obvs.]
29. Queer/Early/Modern, Carla Freccero
30, A Lady’s Desire, Lily Maxton [the worst of the f/f cliches, trite and badly written]
31. Imre: A Memorandum, Edward Prime-Stevenson
32. Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic, Richard McKay
33. Tin Man, Sarah Winman
34. A Gentleman’s Position, K.J. Charles [the plot structure only gets weirder upon rereading]
35. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg [academia f/f, obviously appealing, though it ended up leaving me somewhat flat]
36. Darius the Great is Not Okay, Adib Khorram
37. Wanted, a Gentleman, K.J. Charles [reread, but I wasn’t counting novellas last year. Remains a delight.]
38. Proper English, K.J. Charles [alas, disappointing. would love KJC to start writing pairings with interpersonal drama again. also, the sex was boring.]
39. An Unnatural Vice, K.J. Charles [a dnf the first time around, better than I remembered, though as far second-installment opposite-attract pairings go it obviously can’t compete]
40. Release, Patrick Ness [YA books that don’t read as patronizing are so rare, so kudos on that]
41. The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai [the farther from this I got the less I liked it, though the reading itself was compelling]
42. Washington Black, Esi Edugyan
43. Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles, Fran Leadon
44. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst [I don’t get Hollinghurst, though the man can write an absolutely devastating one-liner]
45. Artful, Ali Smith
46. O Pioneers!, Willa Cather
47. American Histories, John Edgar Wideman
48. American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, Victoria Johnson
49. Murmur, Will Eaves
50. How to Be Both, Ali Smith [I want to like Ali Smith more than I actually do, but this did have its moments]
51. The Faraway Nearby, Rebecca Solnit [possibly my favorite of 2019 so far. Solnit’s prose is hypnotizing]
52. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton [reread]
53. Mystery and Manners, Flannery O’Connor
54. Lie With Me, Philippe Besson (trans. Molly Ringwald)
55. Interior States, Meghan O’Gieblyn [disappointingly pedestrian]
56. The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson
57. Astray, Emma Donoghue [can I use the comment “disappointingly pedestrian” twice in one book list?]
