More May Reading

 A short list of monthly reads....

For Dua Lipa's Service 95 book club, I read this book - except I was actually meant to read So Late in the Day, so after being really confused about the plot for awhile (worring about my brain and how little I seemed to have taken in -ha!) I worked it out and am now in the queue for the correct one. I listened to the interview about Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead as well as I'd just seen the play. It's worth checking if she's covered any books you read as there's a lot of great interviews there.

Back to the story, it's really interesting, and I liked the male protagonist having the attitude he does. I think it makes it really intereresting (but perhaps it's more common in Ireland, or I'm being sexist in my thinking about who has harsher or more conservative opinions. Anyway, it's really just a great short story so worht checking out.

I reread Daddy LongLegs for the podcast book group - I really loved this book as a kid and I've been quite scared to go back as I just felt it aged really badly. And in many ways it has but it was interesting to see that it is an adults book, not a children's book as I thought it was (reading it from about 8 to 14). It was interesting to see that it would have been quite a feminist novel at the time of publication in 1912. Hilariously I learnt Jerusha is a name - I thought it was just made up in SuperStore. Certain aspects however, just made me uncomfortable. Overall, I was glad to revisit and see it with a different lens. So much I missed as a child, and growing up in a very different time. The bookclub podcast is always worth a listen here.

While clearing out some books, I came across my copy of this. I've decided I'm going to start reading plays again - I used to do a lot of that in my teens and 20s. This one I really 'enjoyed' (though that is not the word for it) and I'm going to track down the televion series (film?) that stars Judy Dench. I think it's on a few streaming platforms and SBS. Having read They are All My Family, I was well aware of a lot of the moments covered in the play. The lesson is watching how decisions are made and why. Or why not. War is a mess. The people in leadership are just people, with foibles. The dialogue is sparse but the impact if heavy. I look at the current state of the world and see it happening all over again in the reporting of the news. Saying one thing when we know it's another. Everyone knows.

I was looking on the library site for Cannon, the Stella Award winning graphic novel and this popped up so I thought, why not? It was written in the early 70's and it shows. As a cold war secret agent thing, the plot line is a little like RED and I'm fine with that. However, the women. I am really struggling and don't know if I can get to the end. They are always naked. Sometime naked with boots and guns. But pretty much naked and either being assaulted or having sex as a means of entrapement*. Twice so far a character has said to a naked women "There's no time to put your clothes on" to explain why they are now running through the jungle naked. It is of it's time, and while I'm no prude, the overt sexism stinks. I am still deciding if I get to the end. I'm about 60 pages in. There is often a lot of graphic nudity in comics but this is kind of stupid to the point of offensive. I can't really recommend it but I know there's a cult/historical aspect I'm ignorant of in the comic world.

I LOVED this book. I laughed out loud; I giggled at so many kooky bits. It's part gumshoe style adventure - that person unwittingly stumbles into a mystery, and at times beautifully written, almost poetic, but mainly it's a nutty absurdist romp. It was quite different to what I was expecting. He really was such a talented writer. I did spend a bit of time wondering if you could even get it published today. It's so irreverently absurd.

That is all until next month! What's been your fave book of the month?

*Can I say, I have less of a problem with the women being naked for sex. It's all the other stuff that it just seems creepy or like a 14 year old boy wrote it. It's ridiculous However, I understand the 70s had a lot of comics and even novels that were like this...just not for me these days.