Pleasures of Reading, 2023
By Lisa Tuttle
So far this year I’ve read 93 books – already breaking my own record.
Most of what I’ve read has been to review for my monthly SF, fantasy and horror roundup for The Guardian. I often start books that I don’t finish because life’s too short; but because my permitted word-length for the roundups is even shorter, it means that not everything I read and enjoy can make the cut. Ever since I started this gig, I have been meaning to write something about the ones-that-didn’t-make-it to post on the blog I have never got around to writing, on the website that does not exist…but that’s not happening.
So this year, in response to Timmi’s invitation, I decided to write not just one list but three, beginning with the books I read with intent to review that for one reason or another didn’t get included. In no particular order, here are:
My Top Five, Unreviewed
Nails and Eyes by Kaori Fujino, translated by Kendall Heitzman The title novella is a very unsettling psychological horror story involving a stepmother and stepdaughter, neither of whom is a sympathetic character. Along with two shorter ghost stories, the slim volume packs quite a punch.
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher.
I had been hearing a lot of praise for the odd-but-pseudonymously named author when this turned up in the post, but at first I thought it was not my kind of thing. I can enjoy a cosy mystery, but a cosy horror seemed impossible-- until invisible skeletal fingers started sending chills down my spine, and the narrative voice grew on me: yes, horror can be weird and creepy and alternate chills with the warm cuddlies. Who knew?
The Prey by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, translated by Victoria Cribb.
I had read and enjoyed a couple of crime novels by this Icelandic writer before, and found her approach to a supernatural thriller to be similar in many ways to a detective story, even a police procedural. Well-crafted, it satisfies both as a surprisingly twisty mystery and as a more traditional ghost story.
Caged Ocean Dub by Dare Segun Falowo.
A highly unusual short story collection by a writer who describes his style as “Nigerian Weird.” The stories are fabulations that range from horror to surreal fantasy and speculative fiction. I love getting any of the beautifully produced limited editions published by Tartarus Press and wish I could review them more often.
The Good Unknown by Stephen Volk.
Another collection I wish I had been able to include in this month’s roundup – or else on this list – but time got away from me (as it does) and so far I have only read the first two short stories. I look forward to reading the rest over the holidays.
Jump Cut by Helen Grant.
Apart from a few quibbles, I enjoyed this novel about a notorious “lost” film from the early days of Hollywood: finished, but never released. Fans and historians have speculated about it for decades, and suddenly Theda Garrick, a young widow who has been finding it hard to move on with her life, is invited to interview the 104-year-old star, ready at last to tell all – but she also wants something from Theda. Mystery and the occult mingle – it takes awhile to get there, but the creepy scenes are worth the wait.
My Top Five, Reviewed
These are the books I enjoyed the most of those I did review. (Reviews can be found on The Guardian website.)
Bridge by Lauren Beukes
The Grief Nurse by Angie Spoto
Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs
The Scandalous Confessions of Miss Lydia Bennet by Melinda Taub
Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward
My Top Three Bought and Read This Year
A Thread of Violence by Mark O’Connell
Nonfiction. A different slant on the true crime genre, this is a thoughtful investigation into the question of how and why someone could brutally murder two complete strangers, a question he admits may be unanswerable – but this attempt, focusing on one man who committed crimes that took place when the author was a child, is seriously fascinating.
The Magician by Colm Toibin.
A novel based on the life of Thomas Mann. It’s as beautifully written as everything else I’ve read by Toibin, and one of the best biographical novels I can recall. Somehow, Mann becomes as real as any fictional character, while remaining as essentially unknowable as any real person.
Yoga by Emmanuel Carrere, translated by John Lambert.
A memoir and reflection on life that was initially intended as brief, uplifting discussion of yoga and meditation (as he’d practiced it for many years) before the author had a major mental breakdown and was committed to a psychiatric hospital for several months of treatment. I read a review that took exception to the book because, despite the author’s claim to be telling the truth, he left out things about his real life and might even have made some things up….Well, so what? In my opinion, all memoirs are fabrications to some extent, and this book is well worth reading, full of brilliant details, some beautiful, some trivial, others shocking, and I loved it.
Lisa Tuttle
began writing professionally in the 1970s. Although she also writes novels and
non-fiction, her preference is for the weird short story. Her most recent
collection is The Dead Hours of Night (Valancourt, 2021), but she has
three books scheduled for publication in 2023: from Jo Fletcher Books, The
Curious Affair of the Missing Mummies, the third in her supernatural
mystery series set in London of the
1890s; from Valancourt, Riding the Nightmare, a new collection of short
stories, and, in NYRB’s “Classics” series, her 2004 novella My Death, previously
published by Aqueduct Press (number 21 in the Conversations Pieces list). She lives in a forest on the west coast Scotland.
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