What I Read: Vacation Edition

I took 6 books with me on vacation, and managed to get them all read … with minutes to spare. Literally. I finished my last book a few hours before our plane landed back in Edmonton. I also managed to squeeze in a bit of Netflix in the evenings, so you can see that this was a very good vacation.

What I read:

• Serpents in Eden, Continental Crimes, and Bodies in the Library. All three are collections of mystery short stories. I like taking short stories with me on trips, because it’s easy to breeze through each one even if you only have, say, half an hour at a time. [I read very fast also, which generally helps but is a hindrance on vacation – I have to take a lot of reading material with me to keep occupied.] Of the three, I felt that Serpents in Eden (short stories by British mystery writers organized around the theme of “murders set in the countryside”) was the weakest. Continental Crimes (murders set in Europe) was probably the best, with Bodies in the Library (previously unpublished or lesser known works from popular mystery writers) close behind. All three collections are from the first part of the 20th century, which is probably my favourite era for mystery; I love contemporary writers like PD James, Ruth Rendell, Robert Galbraith, Tana French, etc. but I feel a strong nostalgic pull for the Golden Era of mystery writing – especially English mysteries.

• The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter. This was another collection of short stories, this time of the fantasy genre. The author was recommended to me by a reader on the blog, and I was intrigued by the collection because it is inspired by popular fairy tales. I liked it a lot – the subject matter is similar to the Tanith Lee collection I recently read, but the writing is different – more lyrical, perhaps? The Amazon blurb for the book said that Angela Carter inspired writers like Neil Gaiman, and I can definitely see that; as I adore Gaiman’s short stories, it is not surprising that I enjoyed these ones as well.

• My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Mossfegh. After loving Eileen, I was really excited to read this. It was a bit of a letdown. The writing is really good but whereas Eileen was a tour-de-force character portrait, I didn’t feel that I truly connected with the narrator of this novel … or wanted to. For a book in which not much happens – literally, it’s all about the narrator’s quest to sleep for an entire year – there is surprisingly little in the way of psychological insight into the protagonist which I would have expected to be used to fill the narrative “gap” so to speak. She talks a lot about what she is doing, but not the “why” (beyond a very superficial level). The ending was also abrupt; the story is set in the year immediately preceding 9/11 which feels like a Chekhov’s Gun of sorts – if you’re going to bring 9/11 into it, then it had better have some impact on your story – except it never goes off. I don’t know, maybe I missed something; I read this book over a couple of afternoons lying in the sun, and possibly did some inadvertent snoozing of my own.

• Frida, Hayden ****. This was, hands down, my favourite book to read on this trip, largely because of the synergy between the subject matter and my location. It’s a very exhaustive biography of Frida Kahlo, liberally sprinkled with excerpts from her own papers (diary entries, letters to friends and family, etc.), and it does a great job of bringing the artist alive on the page. Reading it, I felt Frida’s exuberance and joie de vivre, and it reignited my own creative drive. It also made me want to read more about Mexican history, so the first thing I did when I returned home was order Fire & Blood: A History of Mexico by T.R. Fehrenbach. I am excited to get it, and if you guys have any other recommendations in that direction, let me know.

What I watched:

• Fyre – I’m late to the Fyre Festival documentary party, but I’m glad I finally watched this. People like Billy McFarland always fascinate me because they represent the opposite of impostor syndrome; I would love to know what it’s like to be inside their heads.

• American Meme – along the same lines, this was a fascinating look at some “internet celebrities” (most of them unknown to me prior to this) and their microcosm. I’m old enough to remember when Paris Hilton first came to prominence, and it does bogle my mind a bit that she basically kicked off an entire sub-culture of “influencers” (using that term loosely).

• Elementary – I wanted to start watching Schitt’s Creek but suddenly couldn’t find it. Instead, I randomly came across this show … and proceeded to fall down a deep rabbit hole. I have not watched a primetime procedural show in years, and maybe my tastes have gotten worse with age, but I freaking love Elementary. Joan Watson is #GOALZ, as I say that unironically as an almost-39 year old. I also love the Watson-Holmes dynamic and the fact that it’s complex but platonic in a non-angsty way. (If that changes over the course of the series, please don’t tell me.) Side note: once I came back to Canada, I realized that the show suddenly disappeared from my “Continue Watching” list and had a near meltdown. Thankfully, I found the first 4 seasons on Prime TV, so I can continue my binge. But this made me realize that Netflix will apparently tailor your viewing options based on location, irrespective of where your account is based/registered. Anyway, I expect a separate post on Elementary might be forthcoming, so I’ll stop here for now.

• ContraPoints video on Jordan Peterson. I actually watched this last week, but I am including it here because it’s brilliant and I think it’s a must-watch. Natalie perfectly encapsulates why I had somewhat mixed feelings about 12 Rules for Living (but which I struggled to articulate myself); some of what Peterson is saying is actually reasonable enough, but it only serves as a kind of front for a position that is deeply problematic.