62 Comments

Woah, I'm so intrigued by In Thrall! Will definitely be adding that to my list :))

January has been a great reading month for me as well, and I've fallen in love with two books already 🍃‼️

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Oooh! Which ones!!!

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I adored Intermezzo! I miss reading it during my commutes to and fro university. And the second book was martyr! It was so thought provoking and validating 🍃

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I loved both of these books too! Martyr! especially... it must have felt magical reading it while commuting!

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When I read Anna Karenina I didn’t expect to be funny at all. But it was and I loved it. I read it in the course of three months and every time I come back to it it’s like meeting an old friend for a Friday night hangout or something. It’s truly comforting. And I agree with you that it feels modern and contemporary! I think maybe because we are still having the same problems as those of 19th century Russian society 😂

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I am scheduled to read it over the course of the entire year but I don't know if I will be able to wait. I will try not to rush through it but it will be hard.

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Pond sounds very Ali Smith escq - is that a fair assessment or would you disagree? I am trying to decipher if I would like it 😂 I am really interested in both Ayşegül Savaş's works though - they sound really beautiful. I'm so glad you enjoyed Elena Knows so much - I always think about the genius of Piñeiro pacing the book across a long day to reflect the experience of those with Parkinsons when you have to stop/start/rest/take meds all the time because it is truly crippling. What a great month!

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Oooh. I am not sure. They are similar in that the writing feels quite experimental but Bennett's is way more so. And I kind of think of Smith's work as very outwardly directed while Bennett's is all interiority. Both authors to me feel very high effort, high reward... and definitely just odd and specific in a way that is bound to not appeal to everyone.

I found POND hard to read several times but then there would be a joke, a line, an observation that would just have me totally delighted... It was kind of maddening to read because my brain kept trying to "figure her out"... and that should have never been a goal. I haven't read Proust yet but I think Pond feels Proustian in the way that term has entered public discourse: deeply concerned with memory, perception, and the minutiae of everyday life. The narrator’s reflections unfold in long, meandering sentences ...then something random interrupts her train or thought and she bops in and out of reality... you really get a feel for the texture of thought, what it feels to be a thinking person living in isolation....There is also a lot of attention to sensory details—objects, landscapes, and the act of eating or inhabiting a space ...

I never want to tell you not to read it but I would say, find the opening chapter online and if you don't find it intriguing on SOME level, don't read it. It's just like that the whole way through.

The Piñeiro was so hard at times... the timing of the pills and the feeling of suspended existence while waiting on the medication to kick was just devastating to read.

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Ok I really appreciate the detail at which you went to here! I love the phrase 'texture of thought' ! I will find a opening chapter online and see how it makes me feel. Yes thats it - that suspension of existence will waiting on medication. It is a situation I am deeply familiar with that is hard to communicate to others but Piñeiro did it so well!

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Oh my, Petya! So much to take from this first review of the year- you have really read abundantly in January!

So firstly: as we both said at the end of last year, neither of us had yet read Ernaux- does she live up to the hype?? I have already ordered A Simple Passion and A Woman's Story from the library. After reading your review today, I have also placed The Anthropologists on hold (which sounds amazing!) and have put Walking on the Ceiling (as soon as you mentioned Lauren's book, I was in) and In Thrall on my to buy list (they don't have copies in the local library, unfortunately).

Secondly: I am SO glad you are doing a month of Cusk in March because, to be frank, I have never been able to get into her novels...despite borrowing a couple of them several times and then DNF'ing them...I need you, Petya, to show me where I'm missing the point!! I want to like her books, it feels as though they would appeal to me, but I have some kind of resistance.

Finally...can't wait to read about your experiences of keeping a Commonplace Book! :)

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Ha!!! So glad these notes gave you enough substance to want to read them. The Annie Ernaux was definitely a romp, I liked it a lot but I can't say that just based on that one book I "get the hype"... But I know she has a massive body of work so I want to do a little bit of digging into how to approach it so I get the most out of it. I hope that Regan will see this and tell us!

God knows I don't need any new projects but the commonplace book has been really meaningful in so many ways, including being super helpful in writing these book notes!

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Omg I've been summoned!! Feeling very special! Of the six Ernaux works I've read, Simple Passion (though I enjoyed it!) might be my... least favorite. I'm no expert by any means, but from what I've read, I've felt that the three "core" works of hers are A Girl's Story (her childhood, sexual awakening), Happening (the story of her illegal abortion, young womanhood), and The Years ("the big one", seems almost like a fragmentary cultural and personal map of her whole life, all the decades she's experienced, though it's also the most formally non-traditional). I also think so much can be gleaned by reading A Man's Place and A Woman's Story as a pair: she dives into her father's life/her relationship to him, and then her mother's life and her relationship with her mother. They almost form a trilogy of sorts with her own A Girl's Story -- It's honestly just so exciting to me how many more books of Ernaux's I still have before me! Can't wait to hear both of your thoughts as you read more by her :)

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Thank you so much, that's exactly what I needed. So glad you saw us talking about you!!!

I think I will most likely go A Girl's Story, A Man's Place and A Woman's Story ... Or - A Girl's Story and then The Years?

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I want to add all of these to my tbr now! Also, I find poetry anthologies can be a less intimidating way to approach it. I have a few titles on my shelf I can send your way if you want, lmk!

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That is such a great idea, for discovery purposes too! I don't know why I didn't think of it on my own. My kid bought a poetry anthology in a library sale, marked up all her favorite poets with sticky tabs and then presented me with a list of authors she wanted more of! She now says that Langston Hughes is her favorite poet. She is 7. 😳

I will so happily take you up on your offer and will mail you some books too! How fun!

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How sweet! That's a smart 7 year old!

These two have horribly cringey titles but I like the concept: Poems That Make Grown Men Cry, and Poems That Make Grown Women Cry. A notable writer, actor, public figure, etc introduces a poem and says something brief about why it resonates with them.

I also found a copy of Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times in a used bookshop years ago and it's so tattered and dog eared now, I love it. The poems are loosely organized by broad theme (death, friendship, etc.).

I'm working my way through another one I recently picked up for a couple bucks at the used book store: A Book of Luminous Things. I'll let you know if it's worth seeking out :)

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Obviously, you had have a good reading month!

> Is your reading year off to a good start?

= Yes, I think so. Slow, but with interesting books.

> What are your main reading intentions for 2025?

= Read more from my shelves, especially some big non-fiction books.

> Thoughts on my reading list? Have you read Claire-Louise Bennett?

= Good mixture! No, I didn't.

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Rachel Cusk month!! I'm halfway through Parade now and can't wait to hear your thoughts & follow your journey in March. I also loved reading The Anthropologists this month; something about the movement through fragments of daily life recalled chic, aesthetic lifestyle-vlogging couples on YouTube, but once I got past that (surface-level) association, I really did enjoy the meditative pacing, emotional nuance, and like you say, the family relationships especially. Really glad to see you liked her debut, too! I'm hoping up to pick another novel by her soon. Loving that you're loving Anna Karenina!! <3

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I listened to a Savas interview on Rachel Schwartzmann's podcast which I loved and really colored my reading. I think I had more patience for the day-in-the-life scenes because I knew that Savas was genuinely interested in that.

Re: Cusk month. I think I am going to read Parade first and work backwards from there. She is such a polarizing figure that I feel nervous dedicating a whole month to her but I think the risky ones are the best ones to read in public.

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The only one of these I’ve read is Pond, which I loved - though now trying to disentangle it from her second one (Checkout 19) in my mind is a little difficult. But I’m leaning towards saying I enjoyed that one more, if only that I read it first and certain things (again, if I’m not confusing the two!) stick out more. But I love the formlessness and inventiveness of her style and can’t wait to see what she does next. (She also helped me get into Ann Quin a couple years ago when I saw she’d intro’d one of her novels - and I’m extremely glad I dove in!)

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I bought Checkout 19 the minute I finished Pond but from what I've seen online about it, I think the consensus is.... it's great but it's no Pond. At this point I will read anything she writes.

I love that you discovered Ann Quin through Bennett. That's how I read, too. If I love a writer, I will typically read their work as completely as I can... and then just go down their list of influences and favorites. Adding Quin to my list because I just learned about her from you.

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What translation of AK are you reading? I want to read Brothers Karamazov and looking to find viewpoints on the best translations

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I am reading the Richard Peaver and Larissa Volokhonsky translation and think it's great. It's the Penguin edition and I only picked it up because we already had it at home.

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Claire- Louise Bennett!!! I've read Pond twice, and each time, I like it a bit more and am left wondering what it is!? It's been two years since I last read it, and I'm debating rereading it this year. I think you would love Checkout 19. It's all about books and building a life around reading, and it's incredibly imaginative and very Claire-Louise Bennett. She has a new novel coming out in October titled Big Kiss, Bye-Bye, and I can't wait!

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Listening to you talk about CLB definitely makes me want to read Checkout 19 right away. Also - is it possible by any chance that I pre-ordered Big Kiss, Bye-Bye off her publisher's Instagram account!? I feel like I bought something by her there... but now I can't find a record of it and have been trying to figure out if I dreamt that?! 🫣 🫣

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I came to the comments to say exactly the same – I adored Checkout-19 and all the other writers and books it made me want to read. I didn't know about the new book though, how exciting!

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You guys are getting me really excited to read it. Frances, maybe you already have seen this but Joan Publishing out of the UK just published an extended short story by CLB, inspired by a series of paintings. It’s called Fish Out Of Water (I haven’t read it yet but the book I will this weekend and report back on it). Here’s a link: https://joanpublishing.org/Claire-Louise-Bennett

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I hadn't seen that – thank you! I shall look forward to reading that too.

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I've had Pond on my bookshelf for ages and kind of forgot about it. Your review makes me want to read it right away. Thanks for that encouragement! In Thrall also sounds fantastic.

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If you do end up reading, please try to remember to talk to me about it, ok. I don't know if you saw Katie's note above but even if you love it... you kind of need help processing.

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Now I’m even more intrigued! I’ll definitely follow up.

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I need group therapy! 😂

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Loved reading this! I’m definitely going to look into Ayşegül Savaş.

My commonplace book is my notes app, and I wish it wasn’t so. I might try to transition it to a physical notebook, but with how much I tote books around it’s a hard sell.

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I think you would really like her. Read The Anthropologists first.

The Commonplace Book is a whole THING. There is a reason I have resisted doing it for so long... I like saving quotes in my notes app too and the ability to find/copy/paste is unparalleled.

There is definitely some paper fetishism going on in my case + a somewhat morbid sense of wanting to leave something meaningful for my daughter when I am gone and the commonplace book feels more like the kind of thing I want her to have than my whiny journals.

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I loved Elena knows so much. I am lookong forward to reading The Anthropologists

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I also keep a commonplace book - have been for years - and it's so fun! I love looking back on all my favourite quotes to remember the books I read and all the things that stuck out to me about them.

Thanks for sharing! :)

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Can you email me your thoughts and/photos of yours? Or share a link if you've already posted about it elsewhere? I am infinitely curious about this!

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https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4i-gVFAtGP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Here's a video I made about it on my Instagram. I'm also happy to share more photos and thoughts if you like! :)

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I've watched it 5 times already! Thank you so much for sharing!

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Oh, great! So glad it was helpful :)

Let me know if you have any more questions or need somewhere to bounce ideas off.

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Highly recommend HOW A POEM MOVES by Adam Sol!! It fun and helpful and made me much more confident reading poetry

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THANK YOU so much Deedi! I have had my eye on a couple of books about how to read poetry but couldn't tell where to start. I have a copy of Mary Oliver's "A poetry handbook - a prose guide to understanding and writing poetry" and it looks fantastic but I will definitely find the Sol, too.

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My favorite book of January: Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind, Maura O’Halloran’s journal, letters and novel, compiled by her mother Ruth O’Halloran. I discovered it in a Substack books group (maybe this one, I have no idea). It was quite interesting; a young woman makes her way to a Buddhist temple and becomes a revered Zen monk, teacher and saint at the age of 26. It was a saving grace for a very depressing January.

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Oh, I am so glad that you found a favorite book on Substack. I looked this up and it does sound so interesting! I think it's so much easier to be brave and travel these days -- we can do so much research to prepare for a journey, even a big one. I so admire the adventurous spirits of the 60s, 70s, 80s... who did it all on faith!

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