Oh, yes, definitely, and read Jesmyn Ward's earlier fiction too! Salvage the Bones is breathtaking. It's the powerful & poetic story of a poor Mississippi family weathering Hurricane Katrina.
Hi Meenakshi! Sorry, this is going to be a long one because I have been reading your stuff for a while now and always wanted to write you a note but I am a huge lazy ass. Firstly, no this post is not too late 😊. I literally made my new year reading list on 31-Dec and a lot of your recommendations made it into the list. Secondly, I devoured Soft Animal in the last 2 days of the year taking my reading total to 61 (my target was 50) but that’s not the point. My point is that I absolutely loved the book. It’s the first book of yours I’ve read but I’ve been following this newsletter for a couple of years now, so a really long way to say that I hope you keep writing and I’m definitely buying you some coffees this year (Happy new year by the way). Thirdly, I wish I had your job instead of the one I currently have! I also want to count reading as part of my work ☹. But since I don’t see that happening any time soon, I am so happy to read what you write. You say all the things I’m thinking in my own head which makes me so relieved to know I’m not the only one 😊. Anyway gotta go now, it’s my nightly reading time and this year's target is a 100 books.
My favorites this year were:
Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion, by Bushra Rehman (coming-of-age coming-out novel about young woman from traditional religious family)
Let Us Descend, by Jesmyn Ward (gorgeous writing, historical fiction set in slavery times)
The Light Pirate, by Lily Brooks-Dalton (apocalyptic magic realism)
These all look terrific. I've read Jesmyn Ward's non-fiction so very curious about her novel!
Oh, yes, definitely, and read Jesmyn Ward's earlier fiction too! Salvage the Bones is breathtaking. It's the powerful & poetic story of a poor Mississippi family weathering Hurricane Katrina.
Hi Meenakshi! Sorry, this is going to be a long one because I have been reading your stuff for a while now and always wanted to write you a note but I am a huge lazy ass. Firstly, no this post is not too late 😊. I literally made my new year reading list on 31-Dec and a lot of your recommendations made it into the list. Secondly, I devoured Soft Animal in the last 2 days of the year taking my reading total to 61 (my target was 50) but that’s not the point. My point is that I absolutely loved the book. It’s the first book of yours I’ve read but I’ve been following this newsletter for a couple of years now, so a really long way to say that I hope you keep writing and I’m definitely buying you some coffees this year (Happy new year by the way). Thirdly, I wish I had your job instead of the one I currently have! I also want to count reading as part of my work ☹. But since I don’t see that happening any time soon, I am so happy to read what you write. You say all the things I’m thinking in my own head which makes me so relieved to know I’m not the only one 😊. Anyway gotta go now, it’s my nightly reading time and this year's target is a 100 books.
omg i just realised i hadn't replied to this! but i read it when you first posted it and it made me so happy.
thank you!!!