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| Claire Keegan |
What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in December
Critics and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments
Lucy Knight, The Candid Book Club and Guardian readers
Wednesday 4 January 2023
In this series we ask authors, Guardian writers and readers to share what they have been reading recently. This month, recommendations include a Booker-longlisted novel, excellent short stories and heartfelt memoirs. Tell us in the comments what you have been reading.
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| Claire Keegan |
Tim, Guardian reader
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is one of those books that follows you around long after you have read it. It is short and uncomplicated. You may find yourself putting the book down after finishing it, and wondering what to do next. The atmosphere and characters keep popping up in my head with such vivid clarity that it is quite unnerving. A beautiful book.
Lucy Knight, Guardian staff
Sales of romance novels reached a 10-year high in 2022 apparently, so I decided to end the year by re-reading one of my favourite love stories of all time: The Price of Salt (now more commonly known as “Carol”) by Patricia Highsmith. The tale of aspiring set designer Therese who becomes besotted with the older, richer Carol is in some ways the perfect festive read – it begins just before Christmas – but don’t be fooled into thinking it is in any way cosy. Homosexuality was illegal in 1950s New York, the novel’s setting, and Carol and Therese’s relationship could ruin the former’s chances of gaining custody of her daughter (she is in the throes of a divorce).
The Price of Salt was in some ways revolutionary – it differed from other gay romances of its time in its hint of a happy ending. And as ever when it comes to the author of The Talented Mr Ripley, the novel is beautifully, thrillingly told – even on second reading I could barely tear myself away from its sensitive, confused, desperate characters. To quote the book itself, “A classic is something with a basic human situation.” I agree with Val McDermid, who wrote the foreword to my edition, that The Price of Salt fits this description. Read it, then watch the stunning 2015 film adaptation, in which Cate Blanchett performs the somewhat miraculous feat of rising from the living room floor hands-free, all the while looking impossibly elegant.
I am now reading something I thought would be quite different – Saba Sams’s debut short story collection Send Nudes. Yet several of the stories, including Blue 4eva, which won 2022’s BBC national short story award, take on themes of queerness, coming of age and friendship, so the collection is perhaps not so far from Highsmith’s novel after all. And, happily, it is just as captivating.
Symon, Guardian reader
I’m reading Ulysses by James Joyce. It is my fifth attempt – previously I have never got further than page 40. This time – inspired by a recent trip to Dublin – I made a commitment to finishing it, however hard the struggle. And it has been a struggle, but I am halfway through and have reached the episode that caused the book to be banned for obscenity. Now I finally understand what all the fuss is about. In an odd way, the fact that it is such a challenge is what I have enjoyed the most. It is a bit like running a marathon. Only more difficult!
The Candid Book Club
Although we’re a book club, the five of us have unique tastes across a spectrum of genres. December was a month of comfort reading: we immersed ourselves in epic stories and memoirs in order to forget about the bleak outdoors. Omma has just finished Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, a love letter to the author’s mother who died of cancer. The simplicity of the language lends an honest and personal tone to this memoir. Jess is currently switching between two books. The first is Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord; a deep meditation on the anguish of a modern heartbreak, where Lord’s unique writing helps the emotions fly. The second is The Secret History by Donna Tartt, with its mixture of darkness and intrigue making it a perfect winter read.
Tanya has jumped on the BookTok trend and is reading It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover, although she’s not enjoying it as much as the popular author’s previous novel, It Ends With Us. Mimi has just finished what she’s calling one of the best books she’s read in a long time, All My Mothers by Joanna Glen, a novel about motherhood, grief, and love. Both Mimi and Linda are looking ahead to some of 2023’s big releases, in particular, Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai. Her beautiful descriptions of characters and places are always effortless.
As a book club, we recently read We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan, a debut novel about what it means to belong and to find a home, going back and forth in time from the south Asian expulsion from Uganda to the present day.
The Candid Book Club is led by five women of colour. It runs regular author events at Waterstones Piccadilly in London.
THE GUARDIAN
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