Quick Lit November 2023 Archives

The Bee Sting

by Paul Murray

The publisher's descriptions of this Booker-shortlisted book are quite misleading, as they made the book sound considerably warmer than I found it to be. (And "funny," what?) Instead expect a multi-generational family saga about the unrelenting and unending troubles and ultimate demise of the ill-fated Barnes family. I listened to the full cast audiobook narration, and while audio isn’t my best reading format for discerning style and structure, it’s still easy to see that character development, structure, and symbolism are brilliantly done. If you can believe it, the book's 700 pages felt like a page-turner closer to half that long, all the way up to the jaw-dropping ending. This is a book that would well reward a re-read, if you can bear it. Please note countless content warnings.

The Personal Librarian

by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray

Confession: I haven't been to New York City's renowned Morgan Library (yet), and before this book's publicity campaign I knew nothing of the woman crucial to its existence and current collection. Belle da Costa Greene was born Belle Marion Greener to a prominent African American family; her father was Harvard's first Black graduate and a noted attorney and activist. When her parents separated, Belle's mother Genevieve moved Belle and her siblings to New York City, where the family decided to pass as white and changed their last name to Greene. (Belle added “de Costa” to her professional name, to substantiate the family's claim that they were of Portuguese ancestry.) This was the backdrop for Morgan's hiring Belle as his "personal librarian," where she enjoyed great and nearly unprecedented power as curator of his precious personal art collection, which became the public Pierpont Morgan Library in 1924. (Belle served as Director until 1948.) This is gripping, fast-paced biographical fiction, narrated by Robin Miles (which definitely influenced my opting for the audiobook). This is our February 2024 selection for MMD Book Club; its flight pick is Belle Greene by Alexandra Lapierre.

Belle Greene

by Alexandra Lapierre

For obvious reasons, this book made an amazing pairing with The Personal Librarian. I actually read Belle Greene first shortly after Tina Kover's English translation was published in September of last year. (The novel was first published in the original French in January 2021; The Personal Librarian was published in the U.S. in June 2021.) It was fascinating to read these two biographical accounts of the same woman nearly back-to-back. The books are markedly different in tone and structure, for one: Belle Greene is longer, more literary-leaning, and more tragic than its American-authored counterpart. Even more so, the authors made disparate decisions about how to fill in the historical blanks of Belle's life, particularly regarding Belle's personal and workplace relationships. Don't miss the authors' notes on either book! They give illuminating insight into the research and writing process, and the authors' respective experiences of "discovering" the heretofore untold story of Belle Greene.

The Christmas Appeal

by Janice Hallett

Lovers of epistolary tales, take note: this fun little holiday caper is told entirely in law firm correspondence, text threads, community message boards, and Christmas letters. In this snarky, snappy holiday story, the members of Lower Lockwood's Fairway Players are staging a one-night-only performance of Jack and the Beanstalk to raise money for the local church. But between the power-hungry leading couple, competitiveness over roles, and small town drama, the performance is already on shaky ground—and that's before signs of an unsolved murder pop up on set. This novella is also beautiful in print if you're seeking a gift for Anglophiles or Agatha Christie fans.

The Light Pirate

by Lily Brooks-Dalton

This adroit sophomore novel from Good Morning, Midnight author Brooks-Dalton is a notable addition to the growing canon of dystopian climate change fiction. Wanda takes her name from the powerful hurricane that swept across southeastern Florida on the day she was born: to Floridians, her name has always been synonymous with death and destruction, and it's true that the storm visited both upon her family. As Wanda grows, Florida's landscape grows ever more precarious, and Wanda learns what it means to survive as one epoch of human history comes to an end and another begins, always with the help of her older survivalist neighbor Phyllis. I found myself rooting for Wanda as she sought love and safety, found improbable ways forward, and struggled to come to terms with her world as it is now. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Rosemary Benson.

Self-Care for People with ADHD

by Sasha Hamdani

I've been seeking out books to better understand ADHD; readers frequently recommended this title as a companion to books that better explain the actual diagnosis. I appreciate how the sheer variety of suggestions on offer—grouped by emotional, physical, mental, and social self-care—highlight the numerous ways ADHD impacts those who live with it. Some of these suggestions will no doubt strike many readers as painfully obvious (see: Practice Deep Breathing, Get a Therapist, Take a Walk) but I appreciated the specificity of others, like Leave Time Between Commitments to Recalibrate, Incorporate Hobbies into Social Activity, and Arrange Your Workspace for Reward. My favorite tip is included in #93, Deal with the Mess!, and that is to "pick up thirteen things" when you know you need to declutter, but don't know where to begin.

Quick Lit November 2023

The Bee Sting

The Personal Librarian

Belle Greene

The Christmas Appeal

The Light Pirate

Self-Care for People with ADHD

a gateway

to reliable joy this summer

Buckle Up!

summer reading starts May 16th