Publisher's Weekly Top 10 Books of 2024

I haven't posted in awhile because I am reading, and very much enjoying, The Nether World by George Gissing.  He's one of my favorite writers but the Nether World is a long book and so I hope to have something posted in a week.  

In the meantime I wanted to check in and Publisher's Weekly has listed their top books for 2004.  I was glad to see My Friends by Hisham Matar made the list.  I also must read James and Travelling On The Path of Joni Mitchell sounds interesting.  Here is the full Publisher's Weekly list of their top ten books for 2024:

All Fours by Miranda July

James by Percival Everett

The Book of Love by Kelly Link

By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle

The Heart That Fed: A Father, a Son, and the Long Shadow of War by Carl Sciacchitano

Herscht 07769 by László Krasznahorkai, trans. from the Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet

My Friends by Hisham Matar

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann Powers

When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s by John Ganz.

As I look at this list I am so grateful to Libby which I discovered earlier this year.  It has really changed and improved my reading life.  So many titles are available through Libby.  It's a great service.

Hope everyone is having a great Autumn!

The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden

The Safekeep (2024) by Yael Van Der Wouden is one of six books short-listed for this year's Booker Award.  I have been on hold for this book since July and it was worth the wait.  The Safekeep is a haunting, sensual novel, beautiful prose and the fact that this is the author's debut is remarkable 

The Safekeep is set in Overijssel, a rural community in the Netherlands, and the year is 1961.  People in Overijssell don't talk about World War II as much anymore and the country has structurally rebuilt itself since the war years. 

 

And when the novel begins we are introduced to three siblings: Louis, Isabel and Hendrik.  They are in their late 20's Their mother has recently passed away.  Louis and Hendrik no longer live at home and have moved on with their lives.  But Isabel continues to live in the house they grew up in.

Isabel lives alone.  The only person she interacts with is the maid who comes in to cook and do housework.  Isabel is a recluse and she likes it that way.  She has no friends and prefers to tend to her garden.  And lately she has been counting her dishes and silverware to make sure the maid isn't stealing from her.  

And then Louis introduces Isabel and Hendrik to his latest girlfriend, Eva.  Louis tells them he is serious about Eva.  But Hendrick and Isabel have been here before wiith Louis who gets bored quickly with the women in his life.  But they agree to join Louis and Eva at a restaurant.  Isabel takes an immediate dislike to Eva and does not disguise that fact.  Eva is perky, cheerful, the exact opposite of Isabel. 

The dinner ends and Isabel goes back to her house where she is safe.  But then Louis meets with Isabel a few days later.  His job will require him to spend the summer travelling.  Can Eva, who Louis lives with, stay with Isabel?  Eva can' t stay at Louis' place because there is a third roommate who lIves with them, a man, and it wouldn't be appropriate.  Isabel's response is no:  

"It’s my house,” she said, and it was out and she knew she had misspoken, and Louis knew it as well, barely letting her finish the phrase to cut in with an “Is it, Isabel?” He took a step forward. “Yours?” Isabel’s heart gave a dull thud. She looked away. Uncle Karel had promised the house to Louis, should he ever want it. The unspoken caveat was: should he ever want it for a family of his own. Isabel never had reason to worry: ... They would allow her to stay here, her brothers. Her uncle. They had to, where else could she go?" 

Isabel has really no choice but to let Eva stay with her and when Eva moves in Isabel is rude and silent.  Despite this Eva is cheerful and friendly.  Isabel in comparison is keeping close tabs on her silverware and the other objects around the house sure that first the maid and now Eva are stealing her things.  And that is as far as I can go with this novel without giving too much away.  

After I finished The Safekeep I watched an interview with the author Yael Van Der Wouden.  She was partly inspired to write The Safekeep because of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.  And I think the connection is that in both novels a house plays a major role in the story.  Both homes, Manderley in Rebecca and Isabel's home in The Safekeep are haunted, haunted by the past. There are two significant plot twists in this novel.  One I anticipated but the second twist which comes later in the book I did not see coming and it is powerful.

I will be pleased if the Booker comittee chooses The Safekeep for this year's prize.  But regardless Yael van Der Wouden is an excellent writer to watch

Some Shorter Reviews

My plan this year is to read 60 books and I am getting there.  I have read 49 so far!  But I didn't get around to reviewing all 49 books and so I wanted to mention three which I read earlier in the year and really enjoyed.  I read these books months ago and so I can't give the detailed review I would like but here are a few of my thoughts:

The Civil War continues to be such a relevant historical event in American history.  And earlier this year I decided to check out Tony Horwitz's Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War (2011).  I was curious about the 19th century abolitionist John Brown. Who was he and what led him and 21 other men to the disastrous raid on the armory at Harper's Ferry, WV in 1859?  His fellow abolitionist Frederick Douglass warned Brown against the raid.  

But John Brown was a strict Calvinist who felt passionately that slavery was a sin against God.  He was right but the way he went about it was the problem.  It's a fascinating book and Tony Horwitz goes into John Brown's life, his family and the lives of the 21 men who joined him on the raid.  It's one of the best books I have read this year and I wish there were more books coming from Tony Horwitz but sadly he passed away in 2019.  But his books will live on and are so worth reading.

If you are interested in learning about The Florida Everglades and about South Florida, it's history and the eccentric characters who have lived here you need to check out: Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and The Politics of Paradise (2006) by Michael Grunwald. 

I found Swamp to be an interesting read that did not drag for me.  I would say though that it's a long book and needs to be listened to in audio.  That's how I read it and Michael Grunwald's writing and Adam Verner's narration are the perfect combination

"Ramona despaired. Nobody understood. She wanted to behave herself. Except when banging her heels on the bedroom wall, she had always wanted to behave herself. Why couldn’t people understand how she felt? She had only touched Susan’s hair in the first place because it was so beautiful, and the last time—well, Susan had been so bossy she deserved to have her hair pulled"

And for a change of pace I also read Ramona The Pest (1968) by Beverly Cleary this year. It's the second book in Cleary's Ramona series.  Last year I read the first book Beezus and Ramona. I liked it well enough but I finished it wondering why the Ramona series has attained such classic status.  And then this year it all became clear when I read Ramona The Pest which is excellent.

Ramona is now in kindergarten and she is learning that she can't have everything her own way.  But this is not a book where Ramona gets her comeuppance.  Instead she is learning how to interact with her teacher, her fellow students and she is still maintaining her curiosity and spunky spirit.  If you have never read Ramona you must and I advise beginning with Ramona The Pest.

Hope everyone is doing well and Happy Reading!

The Mapmaker's Daughter by Laurel Corona

"It’s a mapmaker’s job to leave people unsatisfied.” Papa’s spirit whispers as I feel him take his place next to Judah and Simona. “Look at what is not there. Don’t be distracted by what is.” Bartolomeu Dias has rounded the bottom of Africa now. If my father were alive, he would no longer have to draw a vague line to the south, nor guess at legends like islands of gold, but I don’t think that is what he means. “Look at the interiors, look at the faraway places. See how little we know?”

The Mapmaker's Daughter by Laurel Corona is the sixth book I have read for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader and Baker.  It's a very well written and researched novel about a dark time in history, the Spanish Inquistion led by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain.  These two brutal leaders are determined that Spain will be an entirely Catholic country and they issue a decree that all Jews are to be expelled from Spain unless they convert.  

And when The Mapmaker's Daughter begins it is 1492 and we are introduced to Amalia Cresques.  She is 66 and has lived in Spain most of her life.  Jehuda Cresques her father was a talented mapmaker as was his father before him.  The family converted from Judiasm to Christianity before Amalia was born to avoid persecution..  But Amalia's mother always felt guilt about that and kept her faith behind closed doors.  This was dangerous because the authorities and the neighbors kept a watch on converts to Christianity and if you were caught observing the Sabbath or practicing any of the tenets of Judiasm you would be killed

And then in 1492 under the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella and the barbaric Torquemada they issue a decree all Jews living in Spain are to be expelled from the country leaving all of their possessions behind.  Amalia Cresques sits in her room waiting to leave Spain with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  She wants to take her father's atlas with her which is a beautiful document and has so much meaning.  As Amalia ponders what to do she reflects on her life and we follow her journey.  Amalia is strong and very bright.  She is a translator and has seen alot in her 66 years and she shares what she has been through and learned with the reader.  

It was a terrible time and tragically the evil of antisemitism and a world divided by religion is still with us.  But Amalia is a character worth knowing, a courageous woman who like her mother is able to draw strength from her family and her Jewish faith.  It's a lesson for all of us.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. has an interesting topic this week: BOOKS ON MY FALL 2024 TO READ LIST.  And so I have chosen 10 books I hope to have read before the arrival of winter:

I hope everyone has a great Autumn and Happy Reading!

My Friends by Hisham Matar

"And yet I had imagined the others, the many more who attended the demonstration and then resumed their lives, able to walk away on their own two feet. I feel underwater when I think of them, because to think of them is to imagine that other, unharmed version of myself, who got back on the bus to Edinburgh, and could fly home for the summer, to sleep in his own house and swim in his childhood sea. The line that now separates me from my former self is the chasm that I remain unable to bridge".

In thinking about My Friends by Hisham Matar (lomglisted for this year's Booker Prize) I would describe it as a novel in which the narrator, Khaled Abd al Hady, reflects on his past and how one decision he made when first arriving in the UK as an 18 year old student dramatically altered the course of his life. 

My Friends begins in London.  It is 2016 and Khaled is now in his late 50's and seeing off his friend of many years, Hosam Zowa, who is moving to the US.  Hosam will not be returning to England and so this is a final goodbye.  Hosam leaves and Khaled spends the day walking around London visiting places with special meaning for him and reflecting on his life, his family, his friendship with Hosam and his friendship with Mustafa al Touny who eventally returned to Libya.

We learn that Khaled first arrived in the UK from Libya in 1983.  He had a scholarship to the University of Edinburgh where his plan was to earn a degree in literature.  Colonel Qaddafi ruled Libya at the time and you did not criticize the Qadaffi regime or your life would be in danger.  And though no fan of Qaddafi, Khaled wanted to stay in school, earn his degree, return to Libya and get on with his life.

But then in 1984, Mustafa, a fellow student, tells Khaled that there is going to be a demonstration in London in front of the Libyian Embassy and that they should go. Mustafa is a rebellious and impulsive young man.  Khaled in comparison doesn't want to go but he doesn't want to seem cowardly.  And since everyone at the demonstration will be masked what is the danger?  They can protest for awhile, show their support, and leave.

This demonstration at the center of the novel was a real event that occured on April 17, 1984.  We know of it because on that day Libyian officers stationed at a window inside the embassy opened fire on the demonstrators.  Eleven of the protestors were wounded and a young British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher was tragically killed.  Britain broke off all diplomatic relations with Libya after that.

And in the novel Khalid and Mustafa are among the eleven wounded.  They recover but because they had to spend weeks in a London hospital the Libyian government knows who they are and they cannot return to Libya.  They are granted asylum in Britain.  The novel progresses from there and in 1994 Khaled while visiting Paris meets his boyhood hero, the writer Hosam Zowa, who is also living in exile due to his opposition to Qadaffi. 

The three men, Khaled, Hosam and Mustafa form a bond and as the years go by their lives take different routes which Khaled shares with the reader as he walks through London reflecting on his life, his family, his friendships and what it means to live in exile.

I would say that My Friends is a political novel and a very good one.  The writing is first rate and thought-provoking.  And the author Hisham Matar has first hand experience with the subject matter. His father, Jaballa Matar, a vocal critic of Qaddafi was living in Cairo and abducted in 1990 by the Libyian secret police.  Hisham Matar never saw his father again and his memoir The Return about his search for what happened to his father was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2017.  A previous novel by Hisham Matar, In The Company of Men, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2006.  

So having never heard of Hisham Matar I am glad I paid attention to this year's Booker Prize nominees.  I strongly recommend My Friends and now on to The Safekeep and Enlightenment which I have high hopes for as well.  

Rules Of Civility by Amor Towles

"In our twenties, when there is still so much time ahead of us, time that seems ample for a hundred indecisions, for a hundred visions and revisions—we draw a card, and we must decide right then and there whether to keep that card and discard the next, or discard the first card and keep the second. And before we know it, the deck has been played out and the decisions we have just made will shape our lives for decades to come.”

Amor Towles is a critically acclaimed internationally best selling author and so I have been meaning to read him.  I thought I would begin with A Gentleman In Moscow but Rules Of Civilty is a shorter read.  And Olive from ABookOlive has raved about Rules of Civility on YouTube.  She has read this book nine times and always finds something new.  And so I was curious.

Rules of Civility is set in NYC.  And when the novel begins it is the 1960's and Katey Kontent and her husband are at the Museum of Modern Art viewing a photography exhibit by Walker Evans that he took of people riding the subways during the late 1930's.  

As Katey (who is the narrator of Rules Of Civility) looks at these photos she spots a photo  of someone she once knew, Tinker Grey. The first photograph of Tinker is from 1938.  He is handsome, young and wealthy.  But then she spots a second photo of Tinker from 1939 and it's clear that in the space of a year Tinker has come down in the world financially. He's poor but paradoxically he also looks younger and more at peace with himself.  

The rest of the novel transports us back to 1938 when Katey was 25, living in Manhattan and rooming with her friend Eve Ross.  Both girls decide on New Year's Eve, as 1938 approaches, to go to a jazz club which is where they first meet Tinker (Theodore) Grey.  As Katey tells us:

"He was terrific looking.  An upright five foot ten, dressed in black tie with a coat draped over his arm, he had brown hair and royal blue eyes and a small star-shaped blush at the center of each cheek. You could just picture his forebear at the helm of the Mayflower—with a gaze trained brightly on the horizon and hair a little curly from the salt sea air. —Dibs, said Eve" 

It will be through meeting Tinker that Katey and Eve enter NYC's high society.  Wealthy young people who live on Central Park West, drive expensive cars, wear the latest fashions and dine at The El Morocco, The Rainbow Room, 21, The Explorer Club.  Amor Towles through his narrator Katey Kontent goes into great detail describing this world.  Katey is both critical of it but also hooked.  

And to be frank the book by going into so much detail about the expensive restaurants, the clothes, the beautiful apartments, the parties etc was dragging for me.  I wasn't sensing a plot.  But its around page 240 that a truth is revealed about Tinker which for me was worth waiting for and the rest of the novel was a very fast read.  

Tinker Grey went from a character I liked and felt bad for at times to a fascinating character that I ended up being smitten with.  I finished the novel wanting to know what happened to him and how his life turned out.  I hope Amor Towles will one day tell us and because of Tinker I am giving Rules of Civility 4 stars.