My Reading Month: October
With the year wrapping up, I have been trying to tackle the last books on my Around the Year in 52 Books challenge, which has been difficult as many of them have be delving into the “classics”, which is a realm I dread. Sometimes these books lead to surprising and wonderful discoveries, but quite often I end up bored, and frustrated by archaic world views and writing that (at least to me) doesn’t hold up in today’s world. I feel like this is a challenging point of view, and I want to make it clear that there are classics that I absolutely LOVE, so this is not a blanket statement. I actually really love Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Shakespeare, all of whom were incredible storytellers, but not all the “classics” hold up quite so well.
Overall, this means that although I read quite a bit, I have less to report this month as many of the books I finished were fine. I did finish an amazing book called To The Bright Edge of the World, which may become one of my new frequent recommendations and I also read a very interesting book about the science behind flavor that was in my microhistory wheelhouse and definitely made me think about eating in a different way.
To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
This is one of those books that just has everything! Told in journal entries and letters, this is the story of a marriage, the story of an artist, the story of an exploration and the story of a native people losing their way of life all wrapped into one. I loved everything about this book, from the framing of the story as an exchange between an old man trying to save the history of his family and a native LBGTQ+ museum curator living in rural Alaska to the descriptions of the challenge of early photography to the fantastical, enchanting world discovered by the exploration party in 19th century, pre-colonization Alaska.
I honestly don’t want to say much more, but I do hope that folks go out and pick this up as I think it is a masterpiece that deserved to be read. The format may be difficult for people who like straightforward narratives, but if “found documents” are something you enjoy, I encourage you to check this book out!
Flavor: The Science of Our Most Neglected Sense by Bob Holmes
This was a great audiobook to listen to. I have discovered recently that I retain a lot more information when I listen to nonfiction, and this was just a fun read. I was especially fascinated by Holmes exploration of industrial flavor manufacturing, and loved getting to understand a little more about how “natural” and “artificial” flavors are created (if you are interested, the actual chemicals are the exact same, so you are basically paying for a very expensive extraction process).
I hope to have some more content coming your way this month, but I am a little busy for the next few weeks. Happy November!
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