“Read widely, and without apology. Read what you want to read, not what someone tells you you should read.” -Joyce Carol Oates
Loved:
Blonde, Joyce Carol Oates: I could not put this down. Oates's imagined "inner life of Marilyn Monroe" was so incredibly written. I kept catching things she'd do - shifts in how she addressed Marilyn, changes in pronoun, how the style of writing got progressively more scattered as Marilyn's drug addictions and spiral into depression grew...it was just a beautiful, illuminating, shockingly precise book. I loved it.
The Swans of Fifth Avenue, Melanie Benjamin: Lovely tale of Truman Capote and his unlikely friendship with Babe Paley. Just the right amount of gossipy and scandalous to make me smile, and painted gorgeous portraits of all the characters.
Enjoyed:
The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford: As covered in my 101 in 1001 recap on books I read, the two Mitfords I read were on the Listology "1001 Books to Read Before You Die" list. While I wouldn't put them quite that far up on my personal list, I enjoyed the Downton-y overtones of both.
Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford: See above.
My Not-So Perfect Life, Sophie Kinsella: Life in an Instagram world can be punishing if your world isn't picture perfect, as charmingly told by Kinsella, the author of the "Shopaholic" series. This was a quick read on the flight home from Puerto Rico and I enjoyed it for that...just a nice, escapist, light and fun book for vacation.
Primates of Park Avenue, Wednesday Morgan: This sort of ethnographic peek into the world of the Upper East Side felt very "Gossip Girl" to me. Not a diss - I love "Gossip Girl" as treadmill tv and general escapism. Pick it up if you feel the same.
Casino Royale, Ian Fleming: BOND, JAMES BOND. I love the Bond franchise unashamedly - I think I've seen all the movies at least once - and finally got around to picking up the book. Fleming's writing style is concise to a fault and you don't really get a lot of illumination into Bond's mind or the character development, but it works for a spy story from the Cold War era. A fun, super super fast read.
Tolerated:
None this month, and that's just lovely.
Re-reads:
Ditto! All fresh books and that was awesome.