#summerwater

[maddie-grove]

Little Book Review: General Fiction Round-Up (May-December 2022)

Maddaddam by Margaret Atwood (2013): In the final volume of Atwood's environmental dystopian trilogy (preceded by Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood), the survivors of a manmade eco-fascist plague, along with a population of genetically engineered humanoids, must try to make a life in the ruins. Atwood is one of my favorite authors and, while I generally prefer her non-speculative fiction, I really enjoyed the whole trilogy. She's really engaged with the ideas she explores (mostly related to GMOs and income inequality) and grounds them vividly in everyday life. I especially like the way the genetically engineered humanoids (the Crakers) process the world around them.

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (2019): In the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood tells the story of three women in the same universe: a Commander's daughter in Gilead, a daughter of Mayday operatives living in Toronto, and Aunt Lydia, first seen "training" Handmaids in The Handmaid's Tale. I liked The Handmaid's Tale in high school, but I can't say I came away wanting to know more about that world...yet, as it turns out, I totally did want to know more about the pastel horrors of an elite Gilead girlhood. The audiobook is also top-notch, with Ann Dowd, Ann Whitman, and Bryce Dallas Howard doing the three main POVs.

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link (2005): In nine "short" stories (many of them are quite long), Link writes about absurd things happening in mundane settings. Pretty Monsters, another short story collection of hers with some overlap, was one of my favorite books I read in 2014, but this time I wasn't feeling it. I'd already read the three best entries: "Stone Animals" (about a nebulously haunted house in a suburb of NYC), "Magic for Beginners" (about a mysterious TV show and a teen boy whose father is maybe trying to murder him via writing a novel), and "The Faery Handbag" (about a girl whose grandmother carries around an entire lost country in her purse). The others never really came together. I might have lost my taste for whimsy.

Dune by Frank Herbert (1965): In the very distant future, fifteen-year-old Paul Atreides has to move to a different planet for his father's work, and it only gets worse from there. I resisted reading Dune for the longest time because it sounded as dry as a desert planet where you have to reabsorb your own urine to survive. However, it fucks. I loved the layers of power dynamics and game-playing, especially in the scenes with Lady Jessica. Evil, horny Baron Harkonnen and his weirdly tragic nephew Feyd-Rautha were also great. I didn't like it so much after the time skip, though, and I think I'll give the sequels a pass.

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix (2021): Paranoid and reclusive after being targeted twice by Christmas-themed killers, Lynette Tarkington's social life consists of a support group for "final girls" (women who have survived grisly massacres that were adapted into horror movies). I never quite got on board with this one, for two major reasons. The first is that I was irrationally annoyed by the idea that horror movies were seemingly all one-to-one true crime stories in this universe. That's on me. The second is that Hendrix never managed to convince me that most of these women had ever had a significantly positive relationship with each other. This novel could've been a Toast article.

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (2014): Amy, a cash-strapped and unhappy twenty-something working at an IKEA knockoff, is offered a transfer to a better store if she'll stay after-hours to investigate some strange recent happenings. This isn't my favorite Hendrix novel; however, it is the fucking scariest. The characterization isn't as rich as it is in most of his other novels--I would describe it as efficient--but the pacing is effectively brisk and the nature of the fake-IKEA haunting almost made me shit my pants.

We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix (2018): Kris Pulaski, once a guitarist/songwriter for up-and-coming heavy metal group Dürt Würk, now lives a life of resignation as a hotel night manager. Meanwhile, her ex-bandmate Terry Hunt is still a massively successful rock star after going nu-metal...and suddenly Kris has reason to believe that he did something truly sinister to make that happen. After My Best Friend's Exorcism, this is my favorite Hendrix novel. He's unusually moderate in putting his heroine through the mill, both in terms of physical peril and self-flagellation, and balances it with the joy she finds in her creative life. The otherworldly threat she faces is nicely chilling, and I loved the bittersweet ending.

Stranger Things: The Other Side by Jody Houser (2019): In this tie-in comic to Stranger Things, we see the first season from twelve-year-old Will Byers's point-of-view as he struggles to survive in the Upside Down. There's some good characterization of Will and a few cool visuals, but overall it's pretty inessential. The writing is kind of flat and sometimes awkward, and the art style is overall muddy and unappealing.

Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim (1995): Neil and Brian, two kids growing up in the same midsized Kansas town, both have life-altering traumatic experiences in the summer of 1981. Brian doesn't remember what happened, and comes to believe in the following years that he was abducted by aliens; Neil knows exactly what went on between him and his sexually predatory Little League coach, but that doesn't mean he understands it. Several years ago, I saw the 2004 movie version, which is amazing both as an adaptation and on its own terms: nuanced, well-paced, beautifully acted and shot, and faithful to all that's good in the source material. Unfortunately, this did slightly lessen the impact of the (also stellar) novel.

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss (2018): In the early 1990s, working-class seventeen-year-old Silvie spends a summer holiday in a Northumberland village, reenacting Iron Age life with her churlish history buff father, her downtrodden mother, a pompous anthropology professor, and three of his students. It's promising to be more miserable than your average family camping trip, between the lack of modern tech/food and Silvie's father's domestic tyrannies, but are we getting into The Wicker Man territory? This is a tense, deliciously creepy, and lyrical little novella that I finished in one evening because it was so exciting.

Normal People by Sally Rooney (2018): Withdrawn rich girl Marianne, despised at home and at school, starts a no-strings-attached relationship with working-class Connell, who's handsome and bright but kind of a follower. Thus begins an on-again, off-again thing that will follow them through college and change them forever. I really liked this romance between two troubled yet essentially sensible and sweet college students, although it's a bit slow at times. I especially enjoyed the first time that Connell and Marianne's power dynamic flips; she's kind of an It Girl at university, while he's out of his depth.

Summerwater by Sarah Moss (2020): Several families "enjoy" a miserable summer holiday by a Scottish lake over the course of a rainy day. We get the perspectives of several vacationers--judgmental moms, crotchety old men, worried newlyweds, teenagers desperate for wifi and privacy, anxious little kids--with several dark hints that someone will meet a terrible fate. Moss's writing is pleasurable to read and often funny, but I needed a damn flow chart for these people.

The Brittanys by Brittany Ackerman (2021): Brittany, a Floridian high school freshman in 2004, navigates life in her gated community and her suburban high school, hanging out with her friends (most of whom are also named Brittany) and wearing low-rise jeans. Maybe I was unduly influenced by the author being named Brittany, but this novel reads like a bunch of fond adolescent memories with the occasional gesture at some larger meaning. It feels like the author couldn't decide between trying to do an emotional mid-oughts coming-of-age story (like Lady Bird) or a slice-of-life portrait of a certain type of high school experience (like Fast Times at Ridgemont High). The stakes aren't high enough for the first (the biggest through-line is that Brittany's BFF Brittany might be a lesbian but neither of them seems to know it) and the scope isn't wide enough for the second. I think the book would've been better off as, like, two short stories.

[ayearincontent]

books 2017-2021

2017

A View from the Foothills, Chris Mullin (2009)

The Noise of Time, Julian Barnes (2016)

The End of the Party, Andrew Rawnsley (2010)

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, Laurie Lee (1969)

2018

A Death in the Family, Karl Ove Knausgård (2013)

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters, Julian Barnes (1989)

Never Mind, Edward St Aubyn (2012)

Reservoir 13, Jon McGregor (2017)

In Love, Alfred Hayes (1953)

Autumn, Ali Smith (2016)

Educated, Tara Westover (2018)

The Children Act, Ian McEwan (2014)

The Only Story, Julian Barnes (2018)

Bad News, Edward St Aubyn (2012)

On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan (2007)

The Power, Naomi Alderman (2016)

Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney (2017)

Swimming Home, Deborah Levy (2011)

Amsterdam, Ian McEwan (1998)

Less, Andrew Sean Greer (2017)

Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata (2018)

Cassandra at the Wedding, Dorothy Baker (1962)

Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders (2017)

The Swimming Pool Library, Alan Hollinghurst (1988)

Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys (1966)~

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer (2005)#

This is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay (2017)

Normal People, Sally Rooney (2018)#

Asymmetry, Lisa Halliday (2018)

2019

Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe (1958)#

The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity, Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott (2016)

Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2004)#

Outline, Rachel Cusk (2014)

Florida, Lauren Groff (2018)

The People in the Trees, Hanya Yanagihara (2013)#

Things I Don’t Want to Know, Deborah Levy (2018)

The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris (2018)#

Ordinary People, Diana Evans (2019)

The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea, Yukio Mishima (1999)

The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)

Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes (1966)#

Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant, Joel Golby (2019)

Love, Nina: Dispatches from Family Life, Nina Stibbe (2013)

On the Road, Jack Kerouac (1957)

The World According to Garp, John Irving (1978)#

Good Morning, Midnight, Jean Rhys (1939)

Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1985)

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)#

Why We Sleep, Matthew Walker (2017)

This is Pleasure, Mary Gaitskill (2019)

Some Hope, Edward St Aubyn (2012)

Mr Salary, Sally Rooney (2019)

2020

We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2014)

Three Women, Lisa Taddeo (2019)#

Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas, Adam Kay (2019)

The Future of Capitalism, Paul Collier (2018)

South of the Border, West of the Sun, Haruki Murakami (1999)#

Smile Please, Jean Rhys (1979)

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson (2015)#

Reunion, Fred Uhlman (1971)

Night Boat to Tangier, Kevin Barry (2019)

A Little Life, Haniya Yanagihara (2015)

Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (1955)#

Boomerang, Michael Lewis (2012)#

Exciting Times, Naoise Dolan (2020)

An American Marriage, Tayari Jones (2018)#

Nothing to Envy, Barbara Demick (2010)

Calypso, David Sedaris (2018)#

Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge (2017)

Any Human Heart, William Boyd (2002)

Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion (1968)

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)#

Lullaby, Leïla Slimani (2016)#

Summerwater, Sarah Moss (2020)

Intimations, Zadie Smith (2020)

The Appointment, Katharina Volckmer (2020)

Brighton Rock, Graham Greene (1938)

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1831)#

The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken (2018)

The Order of the Day, Eric Vuillard (2017)

2021

I'm Afraid of Men, Vivek Shraya (2018)#

Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke (1929)

Why We Get the Wrong Politicians, Isabel Hardman (2018)

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, John Le Carre (1963)#

Emma, Jane Austen (1815)

News of the World: A Novel, Paulette Jiles (2016)#

Transit, Rachel Cusk (2018)

Good Behaviour, Molly Keane (1981)#

Deep Work, Cal Newport (2016)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera (1984)#

We Are All Birds of Uganda, Hafsa Zayyan (2021)

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez (1970)

Dead Souls, Sam Riviere (2021)

Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (2020)#

Hangover Square, Patrick Hamilton (1941)

My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante (2012)

The Rachel Papers, Martin Amis (1973)

Sorrow and Bliss, Meg Mason (2021)

Kudos, Rachel Cusk (2018)

Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)

The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead (2019)#

How to Write a Novel in 6 Months, Thomas Emson (2020)

Writing a Novel, Richard Skinner (2018)

Where There's a Will: Hope, Grief and Endurance in a Cycle Race Across a Continent, Emily Chappell (2019)#

Arbitration: A Very Short Introduction, Thomas Schultz and Thomas Grant (2021)

No. 91/92: Notes on a Parisian Commute, Lauren Elkin (2021)

Metroland, Julian Barnes (1980)

[antonjesus]

Summerwater: Sarah Moss in conversation with Justine Carbery

[determined-overthinker]

2, 3, and 17! 📖

Thanks for the questions 😄

2 - Did you reread anything? What?

I re-read Red White and Royal Blue right after watching the movie this summer (I had read the book when it first came out years ago), and I was surprised to realise the scenes that had stuck with me the most were so brief!

3 - What were your top five books of the year?

The best book I read this year, I read it in french, and it hasn't been translated in english yet, but I can't not mention it so: Le Désert des couleurs, Aurélie Wellenstein

And then in no particular order: Summerwater, Sarah Moss Arlington Park, Rachel Cusk The Galaxy, and the ground within, Becky Chambers A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik

17 - Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

I finished reading Gideon the Ninth a couple of days ago, and I have to be honest, I did not expect it to be this good! I really enjoyed it!

[sipwatchtravel]

One of the best things about summer is sipping sparkling rosé midday al fresco. Today’s selection: Maison Fortant sparkling brut rosé [brioche dough, white raspberry coulis, apple tarte tatin, preserved lemon, whole pink peppercorn and lemon curd] I know I keep yapping about finding everyday, enjoyable wines at grocery outlet but I’m going to continue to do so until you start listening! #summerwine #summerwater #sparklingrosé #rosé #pinksociety #sommelier #sommreels #somm #tastingnotes #RedondoBeach

[doodhvaledotcom]

Summar has a flavor like no other. Always fresh and simmered in sunshine. What you guys choose for yourself 😎🌴🌴🍹🍹

#Doodhvale #coconutwater #curd #lassi #summerwater #fresh https://t.co/tsPCRXewMt

[ecle-c-tic]

For the book questions

3, 8, 12, 20

thanks anon! <3

--

3. What were your top five books of the year?

I loved Panenka (Rónán Hession), Alec (William di Canzio), The Island of Missing Trees (Elif Shafak), Summerwater (Sarah Moss), and Dracula (Bram Stoker).

8. Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?

YES! I started at 22 -> 30 -> 40 -> 52 -> 65 -> 80 -> 100. I'm only at 95 but as soon as I write these last papers I'm just reading until 2023!!!

12. Any books that disappointed you?

Exciting Times (Naoise Dolan) and The Guest List (Lucy Foley). I think both of these books can be summed up by "rich people with rich people problems" thanks I hate it. Also Galatea, that was a fucking cash grab $20? for 40 pages? nope.

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

The third Thursday Murder Club book

--

year in review book asks 📚

[adayinbookland]

Aug 28th, 2020 • weekend reads . I haven’t been very active here but i’ve been reading and have 4 new reviews that will come eventually. . last night i started Summerwater and so far, so good. only 25 pages in true that i like what i am reading. i am also planning on reading Letter from Birmingham Jail and Bad Feminist. will probably pick another fiction novel but i am indecisive about it: torn between The Year of the Witching or Saving Ruby King. . what are you all reading? • • • #currentlyreading #readingupdate #letterfrombirminghamjail #badfeminist #nonfiction #summerwater #literaryfiction #martinlutherkingjr #roxanegay #sarahmoss #booksandmugs #bookpile #stackofbooks #unitedbookstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CEbc5cJA1Uo/?igshid=1tu3iief52f8p

[nathanlarsonphoto]

Hidden Falls. There is so much energy created when the flow of a river is interrupted. It is not surprising that so much folklore centers on waterfalls as sacred homes of the gods. - - #waterfallscollective #waterfallhike #waterfalllovers #waterfallchasing #forestriver #hiddengems #hereforthestills #vermontartist #sepiamood #summerwater #photoemotiongallery #wheredoyougo #riverwalks https://www.instagram.com/p/CgQmIx7O8bP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[judgingbooksbycovers]

Summerwater: A Novel

By Sarah Moss.

​Design by June Park.

[maddie-grove]

My Top Twenty Books I Read in 2022

I haven't had a ton of time or concentration available to write book reviews this past year, or even to read nearly as much as I usually do, but I thought I would post my top 20 from last year.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2020)

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (2019)

Unmask Alice by Rick Emerson (2022)

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss (2018)

Wahala by Nikki May (2022)

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (2014)

Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas (2004)

Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)

Isabel: Jewel of Castilla by Carolyn Meyer (2001)

Maddaddam by Margaret Atwood (2013)

We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix (2018)

Summerwater by Sarah Moss (2020)

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll (2014)

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel (2020)

Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas (2006)

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas (2006)

Devil House by John Darnielle (2022)

The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman (2022)

Normal People by Sally Rooney (2018)

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (2014)

[bfarchive]

for Summerwater Rosé

[socialsf]

#summerwater #roséalldamnday @bighandwines #knowyourwinemaker #itswineoclock #roséseason #drinkpink #washingtonwines #winelife #patiostyle #98daysofsummer https://www.instagram.com/p/CSgVvZLryUC/?utm_medium=tumblr

[booksthatfart]

[bibliobethblog]

Hello bookish friends! And happy Friday to you all. I’m here to celebrate (in my usual way 😂) with the second part of my birthday book haul! Thank you so much to @keeperofpages @tarheelreader @chrissireads Mr B and my family for spoiling me rotten in a tough year. I’ve already read Circe with @keeperofpages but I read the paperback edition. She knew I was cursing myself having not bought the hardback so she eased the pain and bought it for me! 🤣😍 The other books I’ve been coveting for a little while apart from Of Women And Salt which I hadn’t heard of but as soon as I saw it and read the synopsis, I knew I had to have it. I’m also planning to read Hot Stew at some point with @tarheelreader (we have a VERY long buddy reads list) as we enjoyed Elmet so much when we read it together a while back. So, tell me all the things!! What do you think of any of these books or authors? Have you read any? Do you want to read any? Let’s have a chat in the comments! Have a lovely weekend everyone 🤗😘 #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #birthdaybookhaul #allthebooks #booksimexcitedtoread #buddyreads #openwater #calebazumahnelson #summerwater #sarahmoss #ofwomenandsalt #gabrielagarcia #hotstew #fionamozley #circe #madelinemiller #failosophy #elizabethday #dreamland #rosarankingee #bookobsessed https://www.instagram.com/p/CO3JX1-L8xT/?igshid=ch1gzpzbon6t

[ecle-c-tic]

3 & 17 for the book asks <3

hello hello! thank uuuuuuu for the ask

--

3. What were your top five books of the year?

I loved Panenka (Rónán Hession), Alec (William di Canzio), The Island of Missing Trees (Elif Shafak), Summerwater (Sarah Moss), and Dracula (Bram Stoker)

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Heartstopper! I actually loved them and sometimes the hyped books aren't actually that great.

year in review book asks 📚