Books I Read in May 2022

 “What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?”

— Anthony Trollope from The Warden

Seven books this month. 

Lucky Breaks (2022) by Yevgenia Belorusets 

This is a collection of short stories originally published in 2018 about women affected by war in East Ukraine. The stories are very short, from one to four pages. 

The stories are also quite surreal and fragmented, more sketches than actual stories. After reading a few I read the afterword by the translator. It helped me gain a better understanding of Ukraine’s history and of the author’s intentions and storytelling style. 

In the end though, the stories just blended together into a haze of random surrealness. I gather that was the author’s intention, but I enjoyed and got more out of the translator’s afterword than the actual stories.

The Year of Reading Dangerously (2014) by Andy Miller 

This book is the author’s account of spending a year reading books that he had always wanted to read but just never got around to. In between the discussion of the books, he mixes in various anecdotes. I enjoyed the stories about his time working in a bookstore and the stories about the books he read as a child.

Throughout the book he talks about the joy and the frustrations of reading with wit and humor in an uplifting way. While I found some parts of his journey more interesting than others, every chapter is filled with the love of reading. 

Pietr the Latvian (1930) by Georges Simenon 

This is the first book in the long running Inspector Maigret series by Belgian author Georges Simenon.

At only 162 pages it was a quick and enjoyable read, especially after things really picked up at the halfway point. I believe the other books are all around the same length. Apparently Mr. Simenon wrote them so each one could be read in a single sitting. I’ll be reading more. 

Full review here:

We Learn by Writing: Pietr the Latvian (Inspector Maigret #1) by Georges Simenon

Blood’s a Rover (2018) by Harlan Ellison 

This is a collection centered around Ellison’s story “A Boy and his Dog.” It won the Nebula Award for best novella in 1969.

The stories are about Vic, an amoral boy and his telepathic dog Blood, trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world after nuclear war. 

Besides the title story this collection includes the prequel “Eggsucker,” the sequel “Run, Spot, Run,” and the screenplay for the aborted television series “Blood’s a Rover.” The other stories are interesting but they don’t have the same impact as the original novella.

“A Boy and His Dog” is the strongest story in the collection. It’s dark, disturbing, satirical, and controversial. In other words, peak Harlan Ellison. 

The Complete Poems (1994) by Edgar Allan Poe 

This is a collection published by Barnes & Noble. I was familiar with “The Raven” and the titles of a few of the others but most were new to me. Many of the poems are about love, death, and despair. I had to look up a few of the poems to understand what Poe was referencing but they were all beautifully written. 

The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953) by Ray Bradbury 

This is a mix of science fiction, fantasy, and non-genre stories. While I liked some stories more than others, I liked Bradbury’s prose in all of them. Bradbury was a master of metaphor. The paperback edition I read includes twenty-two stories. Later editions include ten more.

Favorite stories: 

"The Fog Horn"

"The Pedestrian" 

"Invisible Boy"

"The Flying Machine" 

"A Sound of Thunder"

"The Great Wide World Over There"

The Warden (1955) by Anthony Trollope

This is the first novel in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series, set in the fictional county of Barsetshire and its cathedral town of Barchester, England.

The protagonist is Reverend Septimus Harding, a conscientious clergyman who is also a warden of a hospital.  He finds himself enveloped in scandal when a lawyer investigates the hospital’s charity and the amount of money it brings in.

The writing style, the humor, and the characters hooked me so I’ll be reading more. 

Full review here:

We Learn by Writing: The Warden by Anthony Trollope