Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #276

Good day to you, friends and strangers. This week, it came to my attention that Cathy’s 20 Books of Summer challenge is a week away, and per usual, I did a bunch of teeth gnashing to decide if I would join. I won’t go into my reasons, except they are par for the course: what is the point of a flexible reading challenge?, what if I change my list?, what if I don’t finish?, etc. In reality, I just like making lists and crossing things off. Perhaps I share some DNA with Santa, I don’t know, because I also like to see bad people punished in stories.

Making a list of books took my mind down a certain path: I started thinking about books with books in it. Not necessarily books about books, and those are truly popular. For example, I’ve noticed more historical-fiction-secret-book-club books, magical-library-that-knows-what-you-need-to-read books, grumpy-ass-person-who-owns-bookstore books, and person-who-reads-too-many-books-and-would-“start”-her-life-if-only-she-stopped-reading-so-many-books books. What I’m talking about isn’t a book about books, but a book in which literature plays a role. For instance, The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton.

I’ve read Hamilton’s novel several times now, including one semester during which I taught it. In Hamilton’s story, young Ruth lives with her angry, heartbroken, I’ll-take-you-down-with-me mother, who also discourages Ruth from thriving. Ruth’s brother is the “genius” of the family that leaves for MIT on an academic scholarship, and their mother adores him. Ruth works at the same laundromat her mother does, is best friends with the “fast” girl of her dinky town, and falls in love with a practically illiterate man with no ambition. Once Ruth and her boyfriend get engaged, her mother convinces Ruth that two of them couldn’t make it alone because they don’t know anything worth knowing, so they should stay with the mother . . . who continues to verbally tear them down over the years.

One saving grace in Ruth’s life is a lovely elderly woman who loves novels but is now blind. The state library has “blind books” that are sent to the woman, and growing up, Ruth is exposed to books that make her think about herself:

“However, Mr. Darcy was the man I truly admired. I see him clearly. He is exceptionally tall, and his head is covered with black curly hair. He looks serious except when he smiles at you; it knocks you right straight across the room. His smile is that brilliant. He doesn’t ever do anything to hurt girls. I longed for him to walk out of his book and reach for my hand.”
― Jane Hamilton, The Book of Ruth

I think, now, the reason we that participate in 20 Books of Summer is because making a book list is like asking 20 potential Mr. Darcy’s to come into your life and change it. Who could say no to that? The following is my list for the summer (June 1 to September 1):

  • The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich (Biscuit Book Club)
  • The Women by Kristin Hannah (Biscuit Book Club and the Boozy Book Club)
  • Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby (Boozy Book Club)
  • Growing Joy by Maria Failla
  • Crip Spacetime by Margaret Price
  • The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
  • The Watchers by A.M. Shine (Huntsville Horror Book Club)
  • The Silent Garden by Paul W. Ogden
  • Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (Biscuit Book Club)
  • The Sorority Murders by Allison Brennan (Biscuit Book Club)
  • Out There Screaming, ed. by Jordan Peele (Huntsville Horror Book Club)
  • Candy and Me by Hilary Liftin
  • Twin Study by Stacey Richter
  • All About Love by bell hooks
  • At Wit’s End by Erma Bombeck
  • A Beautiful Work in Progress by Mirna Valerio
  • Universal Compassion by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
  • Faith Taking Flight by Julie Murphy
  • Mister Magic by Kiersten White (Huntsville Horror Book Club)
  • ________ (whatever the Boozy Book Club picks for August)
Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

Some quick observations: not all of these books will be reviewed on Grab the Lapels (at least 5). Most of the titles start with “The,” which I do not understand as a trend. Also, I have a balance of fat fiction, horror, humor/kindness, and essays/short stories. Six of the books are nonfiction. In conclusion, I did have fun making my list, and I took almost two hours putting it, and this post, together. And much like Ruth and her feelings about Mr. Darcy, I can’t wait for these characters and authors to step out of their pages to meet me.

Published by Grab the Lapels

I'm a graduate of the MFA fiction writing program at the University of Notre Dame, which inspired me to follow along with trends in teaching, publishing, and reviewing. I also have an MA and BS from Central Michigan University. I used to teach composition, creative writing, and literature in higher education, then did a brief stint at a civic theater, followed by two years at a references desk at a public library. I'm now working toward my ASL Interpreter license.

50 comments

  1. I’ve not read any of your list, and I’m not sure I wish that Mr Darcy should come dashing into my life, shirt dripping or otherwise. But given that we rarely manage to finish a book together I have bought bell hooks’ All About Love and will try and read it in the same week as you do.

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  2. Hope you enjoy the Erdrich, Kingfisher and Peele! I had mixed feelings about the Peele anthology but there are some great stories in it, liked The Night Watchman though not as much as The Sentence, & haven’t read that Kingfisher but generally vibe with her work.

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    • I’ve been meaning to read more Erdrich because I grew up in the boundaries of an Ojibwe reservation. I’m only 50 pages in, but I’m basically like Doris, the white girl at the factory whose family bought land. I’ve never read Kingfisher, but a girlfriend bought me this for my birthday. I’m really, REALLY hoping the Peele anthology isn’t solely focused on the horror of slavery. I tried to read a Black horror comic book anthology, and it was all slavery horror.

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  4. Oh man, I had totally forgotten about Candy and Me! I read that Waaaaayyyy back in 2005, according to Goodreads. I really enjoyed it. I remember nothing specific about it, though. Good luck with your challenge! BTW, I LOVE that Cathy’s challenge is so laid back! It’s the only kind of reading challenge I will do!

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    • I think two days after I posted my 20 Books list, I saw that a local brewery is doing book bingo with specific squares, and in order to finish the book bingo, I would need to change some of my 20 Books of Summer. My brain went, “AHHHHHHHHH.” Does this mean I have no chill???

      I’m interested in the Candy memoir because I never see anyone write about their relationship to sugar. It’s always about being fat, and in this case the author does not look fat based on her author photo. Plus, folks forget that very thin people can eat an excess of sugar and have health problems as a result. I’m just really curious about what she has to say.

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  5. Darn it … as I was reading your post who should come to mind, but Mr Darcy! And then there he was, in your post. Actually, though, who first came to mind was Jane Austen, because books appear in all of her books, and often more than incidentally. In Northanger Abbey, for example, Henry and Catherine talk quite a bit about reading, or, should I say, he gently lectures her about various things, including how to read. In this novel, Austen makes her famous defence of the novel statement.

    In Sense and sensibility, Marianne bonds with bad guy Willoughby over their reading. (Beware the smooth reader, perhaps?)

    And, of course, in Pride and prejudice, there’s the wonderful scene where Mr Darcy approves of Elizabeth’s reading (for “improving the mind”), resulting in Elizabeth immediately putting down her book and the nasty Miss Bingley deciding to pick one up!

    Books can play all sorts of roles in books!!

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    • I’ve read Northanger Abbey, and I love how the characters read Gothic novels that then change how they approach life. It’s such a whimsical way to move through the world. I had forgotten that Catherine talks with Henry about books, but it’s been several years since I read it.

      I’ve also read Sense and Sensibility, though I completely forgot there were any books in there at all. To be fair, I read this huge book that had footnotes on the sides of the pages (sidenotes??) that informed me of context, such as how much money they had and how much that would be today, clothes, proper behavior, etc. so I remember it being a rich experience for actually understanding the book as it was meant to be read when it was written.

      I still have not read Pride and Prejudice. Ack! Someone needs to make a book challenge that forces me to give it another go.

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    • I’m starting the Hooks today, and I just started the Erdrich as part of Biscuit Book Club. The Erdrich has a lot of characters, I think in an effort to give us a full picture of reservation life.

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  7. ‘I think, now, the reason we that participate in 20 Books of Summer is because making a book list is like asking 20 potential Mr. Darcy’s to come into your life and change it.’  – this sums the challenge up perfectly! Love it. Thanks for taking part again. I loved Under the Banner of Heaven so I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of the Krakauer and I have Mister Magic, so will be good to get your thoughts on that too!

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  9. Making the lists and the potential that it represents is definitely a big part of the enjoyment! Funnily enough, I don’t enjoy books about books much but I do like books in books like what you’re describing.

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    • I’ve tried some books about books, and they just make me wish I was reading a different book. Basically, I don’t want to read about someone else’s experience of reading, I want to have my own experience of reading.

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  10. I so much love making lists and checking things off of them! You’ve put together a good one. I read bell hooks’ All About Love last year and it’s good and thought provoking. Also, Into Thin Air is a real page-turner, and if you like audiobooks, it’s a good one to listen to.

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    • I wish I had read Into Thin Air first. I read Into the Woods, and Krakauer references Into Thin Air over and over. Oh, well! I’ll get to it now!

      I was searching the library for books about self-esteem, and bell hooks came up, so I’m hoping this isn’t just a self-help book, but something more substantial.

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  11. Yes, I love making the list! (And I enjoy having some direction to my reading over the summer – it reminds me of the summer reading challenges my local library used to do when I was little). The first books I thought of when I read “books where literature plays a role” were Reading Lolita in Tehran and A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, which are both non-fiction about the authors’ relationships with certain texts. The other one that came to mind was Diary of a Provincial Lady, which I had mixed feelings about, but I did enjoy the parts about her trying to read and understand whichever book was “in” with the Bloomsbury set at the time.

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    • Remind me, did you like Reading Lolita in Tehran? I did not enjoy it, and when I posted my review, a few people seemed to sigh in relief that I said it first. I think people are worried that the oppression the women faced would be undermined by not liking the book.

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      • I read it a long time ago, but my memory is that I found it interesting rather than enjoying it. I expected it to have more actual discussion of the books. There are quotes that I remember about ten years later, though, especially about the way she read in the face of the revolution and her grief – and I remember the image of the blind censor – so it clearly had an impact on me.

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  12. I always do this challenge, but I went through a lot of the same questioning you did. How many to put on my list, should I add alternates or leave placeholders, and does it count if you read but don’t review? Still, I enjoy making the list and trying to finish it. I loved The Night Watchman! Enjoy your summer reading.

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    • One summer I read and reviewed 20 Books, and I swear that is ALL I did that summer because it was so much work. Since then, I have no qualms about reading books that I will not review. I used to take this challenge so seriously, including divvying up how many pages were in all 20 books to figure out how many pages I needed to read per day. I mean, it was a lot.

      So far, I’m 75 pages into The Night Watchman, and I’m surprised by how much it jumps around in characters. I’m guessing it’s to give a fuller picture of reservation life.

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    • I’ve read a few “crip” ______ books recently, and they’re empowering. I think people forget that the accessibility needs of the disabled community benefit everyone, and their theories are basically fighting back against the consumerist culture that makes us want to work ourselves to death. There is no time for kindness in capitalism.

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  14. This sounds like a fun list, with a great mix of books. Perfect for the summertime! I’m assuming you knew this already, but The Watchers by AM Shine was made into a movie that’s coming out soon. It looks very scary – I watched the trailer a few days ago. Sometimes I watch movie trailers on youtube just to break up my work while I’m on the computer. It gives my brain something to ponder for a little bit, it’s a nice reset.

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    • I’m hosting a horror book club that is doing both the book and the movie. So far, everyone says they are going to read the book and then watch the movie. I prefer to watch the movie so I have some pictures in my head and THEN read the book. If I do the book first, all I’m doing in the theater is comparing. I don’t have time for that because I can’t pause the movie.

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