Misc. July Reads
It’s a deeply hot Monday evening here in NYC, so I am sitting in my favorite winter locale - the Marlton Hotel. My laptop is on 11%, and even though I knew this because I checked before I left my apartment, I still forgot my charger, so we’re gonna see how much I can get through before we lose power. This is going to be kind of a funky post because of my inconsistency (as mentioned in previous post), I have three books sitting in front of me that I have read and not written about. Serendipitously (I recently decided that serendipitous is my favorite word), none of these three books were worthy of their own post, so I’m gonna stick them together.
Despite the fact that they will be sharing a post, they are very different books. One of them is a regency romance, one is an Austen inspired sci-fi-ish spin off, and one is…I don’t even know…a deeply disgusting, disturbing and depressing tale with no moral. Say what you will about me, but you can’t say that I don’t have range. I will be talking about these books in the order of most enjoyed to least enjoyed (loyal readers can guess how that will play out based on the brief descriptions above). We’re losing power here, so let’s get right into it.
Never Fall for your Fiancée by Virginia Heath
Surprise, surprise - this one is the regency romance, I predictably enjoyed it. It’s been a while since I read a more contemporary regency romance novel - since the Bridgerton series to be exact (which was 2020 for me). Unsurprisingly, there have been many in this genre during my break (see “A Defense of Romance Novels” for more on the Bridgerton effect), but I’ve been on the Georgette Heyer train, so I haven’t dabbled. I saw this one at The Strand earlier this month, and it intrigued. The basic setup is that our leading man, the Earl of Farnham, or Hugh for ease, has an overbearing mother who wants him married off. The meddling mother trope is made less annoying by the fact that (1) she insists that Hugh marry for love, and (2) she lives with her second husband, love of her life in the United States (somewhat newly formed - we’re in 1825 for context).
The convenience of distance allows for our hero (weakling who can’t stand up to mama, but he’s still cute) to fabricate a fiancée so that said mama will get off his back about the whole thing. He writes letters about this nonexistent fiancée for TWO YEARS, which obviously becomes a problem when mama announces that she’s hopping on a transatlantic ship. He’s a rogue, and no spoilers, but he’s that way because his father was, and there’s no way he could ever be any different. You guessed it (if you know anything about regency romance) he only sleeps with widows and actresses or whatever, and he’s sensitive enough to not want to commit to a woman when he knows he will end up being unfaithful (that’s dad coming in again). I don’t know - Hugh’s whole emotional backstory (which the man must always have) felt kind of forced, but whatever.
The other central romance trope in this baby is one of my favorites - the fake fiancée. When Hugh stumbles upon a woman on the street who is in need of a knight in shining armor and who happens to have the same name as the fiancée he fabricated for his mother (Minerva), we’re absolutely off to the races. She’s beautiful and destitute and he offers to pay her to be his fake fiancée. This involves her traveling (with her sisters) to his country estate, basically unchaperoned (love that). She’s savvy, loyal, and has been fending for herself and said sisters for far too long. She’s a strong character, though not as strong as her younger sister, Diana who is wonderful. The fake fiancée is so good because the eventual lovers are already playing lovers, so it all tends to happen that much faster, and I’m there for that. Not that steamy, which was kind of a let down. If you like regency romances - or you want to find out if you do - this is a good book. It’s not the best I’ve ever read (looking at you, When He Was Wicked), but it’s good. And it’s well written, and the characters are fun, and the second book in the series (about Diana, so I have high hopes) is already on my want to read list, so that’s my endorsement.
The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn
Okay, this one was fun. I was originally going to save it for another post, fully dedicated to Austen adaptations, spin offs, etc., but as you may imagine, those books are numerous, and I’m being slow enough as it is, so you’ll get this one now. I will write that post eventually though for my Austenites. This book is unique from other Austen adaptations I’ve read (The Other Bennet Sister (excellent), Longbourne (excellent), Eligible (so bad)) in that it draws upon the information we have about Austen’s life (and expands), rather than upon one of her novels. Maybe adaptation isn’t even the right word, but I think it’s fair to lump it in with all the others in the broader category of Austen-inspired novels. (My computer died here, so it’s a Tuesday now, but I don’t feel like changing my opening so forgive the incongruity).
Anyway, the basic premise is that our two main characters, Rachel and Liam, travel back in time to 1815 London to find Jane Austen. Where they are traveling from is some indeterminate semi-post-apocalyptic time. In this place, something that is never really described but repeatedly referred to as the “Die-off” has happened, but the technology is extremely advanced - hence the existence of full-blown time travel. This future civilization uses their great power to conduct research, and that’s what Rachel and Liam are off to do - find Jane Austen, figure out how she died, potentially save her, and ideally recover a suspected lost manuscript - presumably burnt by Cassandra Austen along with so many of Jane’s personal letters.
The setup takes a minute and feels a little clunky at times, and Rachel is kind of unlikable, but Liam is hot. Once things get going it’s a page turner and an easy read. I kind of ignored the more sci-fi, future dystopia aspect, and spent some time wishing that Rachel and Liam had just fallen through a mystical hole in space and time after bending over a first-edition Austen novel and bumping heads or something like that - à la Outlander or some such. That’s my personal preference for magic over science, though, so I let it slide. It was fun to read about an imagined Jane Austen and think about what she might have been like in life. There’s also romance (no spoilers), but not enough sex. I guess I can’t complain if we’re living in Austen’s world, it makes sense, but time travel is in play so…I feel like all bets could have been off. Things become really rushed and kind of slapdash in the last quarter, but I think Flynn might have backed herself into an overcomplicated corner (particularly with all of the time travel stuff), so I was able to cut her some slack.
There are a couple of really interesting philosophical questions that run through this novel, but the one that really stuck out to me was the question of how volume impacts sense of quality. I don’t know if that’s the right way to phrase it but basically - an author who writes 20 novels over the course of her career might be just as talented as one who writes seven, but does scarcity affect our impression of how good something is? It’s a question that I find particularly interesting in our current time when everything - books, movies, TV shows, music, etc. is churned out at an almost alarming rate. FFT (food for thought).
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
Last and definitely least…I don’t mean to be crass, but the only thought that was running through my mind while reading book was: “what the fuck am I reading?” Upon finishing the book, I still wasn’t able to answer my own question. It was honestly…so unpleasant from start to finish. I can’t recommend it really at all - unless you’re like a major fan of the deeply gross (for lack of a better word). The more I think about it, the more certain I feel that I really don’t know a single person who could enjoy this novel - or at least I hope I don’t. In fairness I will say, I was quite sick (physically) when I read this book in the course of two bed-ridden days. I might have had a fever at one point or another, but no fever dream could have been as horrifying as this book, so I’m fairly confident my illness had nothing to do with my reading experience.
As far as plot goes, we have young Marek as a main character. He is honestly a lunatic without any redeeming qualities except I guess a sense of contempt for his shepherd father who is a trash bag of a human being. But even that contempt is rooted in superiority (totally unfounded) so it’s kind of moot. Anyway, they live in a vaguely medieval town where everyone is destitute except the lord in his manor on the hill - and the priest in his pocket who is legit making it up as he goes along. I honestly don’t want to get into it because I having flashbacks already, but this book includes in graphic detail: murder, suicide, pedophilia, domestic abuse, child abuse, animal abuse, rape, violence of every kind, descriptions of bodily function (i.e. blood, vomit, excrement, etc.), AND cannibalism. I can power through some pretty gnarly stuff if I’m given something valuable to think about, but in this case, I was not. It was all just…bad.
You may be thinking (if you know anything about Ottessa Moshfegh), “Eve, why did you read this book if you don’t like the grotesque and depressing? That’s what Ottessa Moshfegh is known for.” And you’d be kind of correct, but only kind of. My answer is that I read My Year of Rest and Relaxation last year and genuinely enjoyed it. With that one, I didn’t decide that I really liked it until it was over because it was in many ways grotesque and depressing, but overall, it was interesting and entertaining. I don’t know how to describe it but I came away from that one thinking, okay - Ottessa Moshfegh is a cool and interesting and gifted writer. I still think she’s a gifted writer, formally and stylistically, but holy shit, this book was not even in the same category of My Year of Rest and Relaxation. Not even CLOSE. And though I’ve only read two of Moshfegh’s novels - reviews have assured me that Lapvona is by far her most disturbing, so I feel justified in my level of disturbance.
Please reach out if you are a Moshfegh fan and talk to me about this because I really want to like her but this book made me want to never pick up another piece of writing by her again. Should I read her other stuff? Help if you can!
And so there! That’s what I’ve read in the past month. It’s been kind of a dud month honestly, and the book I’m reading now (sneak preview on what my next post might be about - it’s Howard’s End by E. M. Forster) is taking me forever, and I seesaw on whether I like it all that much every time I pick it up (I like it right now). Anyway, I’m also trying to read more poetry (Mary Oliver at the moment), so that’s something else to look forward to. I guess that’s all for now - send me your book recs and ta-ta!