A Respected Author's Picks
I am truly captivated by Namanlagh, the first verse compilation in a decade by the esteemed Tom Paulin. A exquisitely crafted meditation on sickness & recovery, companionship and writing, violence and historical neglect, it is a true masterpiece. There are subtle nods to Derek Mahon & Seamus Heaney, while numerous verses overflow with a sense of late style and unfinished business.
Autobiographies by politicians tend to be terrible, frequently screeds of self-justification and retaliation, but Nicola Sturgeon’s Frankly redefines the genre. She is a proper writer, to begin with, who knows how to consort with self-doubt, mixed feelings, regret, affection and compassion, adaptability, and many aspects which truly make people. I look forward to what she writes next.
I came across an unfamiliar author – new to me, yet cherished by Norwegians for years. This is the deceased Dag Solstad and I consumed his novel Shyness and Dignity over two sessions. It tells the story about a literature teacher of 25 years’ standing that suddenly loses his head as he attempts to handle a broken umbrella. He is having a crisis , the book charts it in an illuminating, straightforward way, creating a work of beauty.
I want to offer additional homemade treats to my friends. Soon, I’m going to run a coffee morning from my dining table laden with homemade croissants, potato bread, artisan loaves & mad cakes. I’m hoping to receive guidance on this journey from Helen Goh’s Baking and the Meaning of Life.
A Reader's Recommendation
Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions from Akshat Rathi was published in 2023. Every section describes a success story in the capitalist transition away from oil-dependent systems toward renewable energy & environmental fixes, highlighting individuals that have achieved a huge difference. It includes plenty of detail and data I was unaware of previously, even with my intensive reading on the subject.
While some issues are contentious, such as CO2 sequestration – plus Bill Gates has proved to be not quite the climate solutions man as portrayed within the text, due to his fossil fuel investments – on the whole, the progress outlined give great optimism. They show that some nations collaborated alongside businesses and are already moving toward the right direction, while innovative tools advance rapidly. The scientific explanations are excellent, as well. I was unaware how solar panels functioned, for example.
Patricia Lockwood's Favorites
Elaine Kraf’s Find Him! will be reprinted this fall, so it’s an ideal moment to explore it, or revisit her luminous, paisley-printed The Princess of 72nd Street.
Down Below from Leonora Carrington is a classic. It’s not the exact blueprint for my latest novel, Will There Ever Be Another You, but I recall reading it on a park bench during the pandemic and realizing: here is exactly what’s occurring within me. Also, it contains the closest approximation you can get of an illustration of God’s perineum.
Another major event – Airless Spaces by Shulamith Firestone first appeared over two decades ago, ten years following the author’s mental health condition & retreat from public life. She stood as a towering figure, even then somewhat remote to feminists in my age group, but these vignettes, that explore her institutional stays, seem current, intimate, rebellious.
Andrew's Perspective
Andrew Miller’s The Land in Winter provides an understated & calm layered read. It’s set during the harsh cold of the early sixties and follows the experiences of two couples who live across from one another across a field of rural England. Closed in in their surroundings, the main characters – Eric & Irene, Rita & Bill – wrestle with their past and current lives, heading towards an unravelling. It is an exquisitely penned novel that reaffirms Miller as one of Britain’s most talented authors on human nature.
