January Reading Wrap-Up

Hello, friends. As the end of January approaches, it feels like this month has been at least eight or nine weeks long! We started the month with a nasty GI virus that thwarted out New Years plans, then spent most of a week with my parents in central NY. After returning to Connecticut, there was just enough time to pack and prepare for our trip south. That trip included a couple of days in beautiful Beaufort, SC where we were able to relax and catch up with friends. 

We got back to Florida mid-month. It's been nonstop hurricane clean-up and dealing with "complications" ever since. The road to recovery will be long and slow, but seeing the above blooming beach daisies last night gives me hope.

With all of this activity, I read only two books in January... both long (over 400 pages) and literary. Both were read/listen combinations.

Shuggie Bain

by Douglas Stuart

This debut novel by Scottish-American writer and fashion designer Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize in 2020. Hugh "Shuggie" Bain is a sweet boy growing up in a Glasgow public housing project with an alcoholic mother, absent father, and older siblings desperately trying to get away. 

Stuart's writing is wonderful and I was completely invested in the story, but the misery was unrelenting. This has to be one of the most depressing books I've ever read, yet I couldn't set it aside. As a read/listen combination, Angus King's Scottish accent in the audio version brought even more life to the novel.

Stuart's second novel Yound Mungo, released in 2022, is also highly-rated, but it will be a while before I'm ready for another heavy, sad tale.

Trust by Hernan Diaz

audio narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, Orlagh Cassidy

I finished Trust last night and thought it was brilliant! It tells the riveting story of 1920s-era Wall Street tycoon Benjamin Rask and his wife Helen in a most unusual way. The novel is composed of four parts, each adding depth and layers of intrigue, which allow the reader to gradually form an understanding of the Rask's lives.

The first of the novel's four sections is a novel within the novel. "Bonds" is a fictional account of the Rask's lives. Publication of that novel enrages Rask and causes him to tell his own story in the form of an autobiography/memoir. His unfinished memoir becomes Part II of Trust. In Part III, we hear from the young woman Rask hires to ghost write his memoir. Part IV is Helen Rask's journal.

I flew through this novel in just a few days... very unusual for me, especially considering its length. The audio version (this was a read/listen combination for me) was outstanding. Each section is read by a different narrator. Each is excellent.

Trust  was the winner of the Kirkus Prize and longlisted for the Booker Prize. It was also named one of the 10 Best Books of 2022 by both The New York Times and The Washington Post. I've added his earlier novel, In the Distance, to my reading list.

February plans//

February usually marks the beginning of our season of winter visitors, but things will be a little different this year. Our daughter and her fiancé are coming later this week for a long weekend to celebrate her birthday, but that's it so far. 

Hopefully, that will translate into more reading time. I've pulled several books from my shelves that I'd like to read soon and have also downloaded a couple of kindle samples. Both samples are books I'm not familiar with, but learned about while listening to podcast year-end favorite episodes. I'll let you know next time where I decide to start...

How was your month? What have you been reading?

The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.