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September reads at a glance

We’re deep into October. Snow is on the ground, jack’o lanterns are frozen in place; it’s downright spooky. But here are September’s long lost reads!

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Like last month when I mentioned the emerging/taking over genre of the WWII historical fiction romance for women, the genre “family drama with weird plot twists and moral relativism” is everywhere right now. Naturally, it is a genre that the celebrity book clubs flock towards with a catnip-like magnetism and at least once a year I succumb and read a couple just to feel hip and current.

This book very loosely took inspiration from Little Women and told the story of four sisters from Chicago and their various searches for love and family. The writing wasn’t bad, and while I sometimes felt emotions for the characters I never actually felt like I cared about them. They all felt like creations of an author who had no desire to even disguise where the story was going to end up. I have a hard time understanding how these become such “emotionally profound stories that stay with the reader forever” or whatever the back cover blurb reads, but I am fairly heartless. Also, a good smattering of very uneducated and basic anti-Catholic biases sprinkled throughout, probably just to remind everyone of how cool and trendy this book is.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Not quite a thriller, Yellowface tells the story of two writers who, although friendly towards each other, are at opposite ends of the publishing success spectrum. When the successful friend meets accidental death, our protagonist may walk out of her house with some of her writing and then publishes it in her own name. But the scandal doesn’t centre on simply plagiarism, but the cultural appropriation of a white writer writing a novel about Chinese soldiers in World War I. A Twitter scandal ensues and many twists and turns happen. A very online book, we see things through the perspective of the woman who is passing off her friend’s writing as her own, but also wanting to navigate the incredibly sensitive world of contemporary publishing. I couldn’t tell if the author wanted us to pick sides, remain ambiguous to the entire scandal, or lean hard woke. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that the book didn’t work, but it did make me always leery that I, as a reader, was maybe being manipulated by the story depending on the page. What surprises me the most is how popular this book has been since it is very insider baseball when it comes to publishing and the online world, I happen to have an interest in both those things just because I find them interesting, but I didn’t think so much of the reading public did. Maybe I’m wrong here. And was this a Reese’s Book Club pick just so she could telegraph to everyone that she is very self-aware?

Charis and the World of Wonders by Marly Youmans

A Well-Read Mom Book Club pick, this book does not fit into neat genre categories as it is at once historical fiction, taking place in Puritan New England, and an almost mythic fairy tale. Charis is our title character who loses her family to an Indian raid at the beginning of the novel, and then goes on an Odyssey-like journey facing challenges of an astonishing nature, yet maintaining her dignity with a profound and simple courage. I liked this book much more than I anticipated I would since I am not usually drawn to Puritan anything in literature, or the idea of a hero’s journey written by a contemporary author. Both those things usually wave giant red flags in my reading life. But the writing is lovely and kept me turning the pages, and the story, while simple, is one which engages us on that fairy tale level where we just need to see what happens to this woman. Youmans does a wonderful job creating a believable yet sacramental vision of a world that includes great suffering, injustice, and human ignorance but never one where the grace and wonder of beauty and grace is absent.

Caryll Houselander: That Divine Eccentric by Maisie Ward

I’ve read a lot of Houselander, but have never read a full length biography so finally I stuck in with this highly recommended one by Maisie Ward. Ward is a fantastic biographer, I’ve loved her biography on Chesterton, she has such a light touch when it comes to openly sharing her opinions at times that are necessary to understanding her topics. Houselander herself is completely fascinating; she had mystical experiences, conversions, fell in love with a spy, lived through the Blitz, lived most of her adult life with her dear friend, loved gin and writing. So much to love in one person. I always appreciate when I read the lives of the saints or other holy people how holiness appears differently even in their own lifetime. Not many saints are holy in the same way for the entirety of their lives, and that’s something that is so good for us to remember, because I think we get one impression of a saint and just jump to the conclusion that was all they did or were. If you enjoy Houselander’s writings this book is highly recommended, or if you’re looking for imminently readable religious biographies, do yourself a favour and pick up anything by Maisie Ward.

On audiobook: this month wasn’t too heavy in audio listening, even though I was spending what seemed like hour upon hour cleaning out the garden. I did finish That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis, along with the Close Reads podcast and I feel so good having read the entire series over again. It had been at least ten years since I’d read them, and one pandemic, and let’s just say that Lewis only gets more prophetic. Reading That Hideous Strength in 2023 explains so much about why people have thought and how they have chosen to act in the last few years, and I don’t mean that in a good way. In so many ways from bureaucratic dehumanization to gender confusion, this book lays out in a frighteningly realistic way how a world without God looks. I do hope Jack is praying for us as he sees so much of what he predicted come to pass.

I could go on, but I’ve got to drive a kid to an appointment. Hope you’re having a good week!