What I read in April
April's online and offline reading recs. Including: Julia Armfield, Miranda Darling & Rick Rubin.
Hello!
I actually cannot believe it is almost MAY. How has that happened? Oof.
Books
Private Rites, by Julia Armfield
I cannot tell you how excited I was to read this - I have loved everything Julia has written, and had very high hopes for this, her second novel. Let me tell you now: it is worth the hype.
Vaguely based on King Lear, it sees estranged-ish sisters Iris, Irene and Agnes brought together after the death of their architect father, in a dystopian near-future where it hasn’t stopped raining for months, years, on end. In a newly flooded world, the three women try to navigate through their father’s games.
(Thank you so much to 4th Estate for sending me an early copy!)
Thunderhead, by Miranda Darling
Set over the course of a single day spent in preparation of a dinner party, you might pick up on similarities with Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. Darling’s main character even shares her name. This Ms Dalloway narrates by sharing her internal voice, the lists she makes through the day, the small stresses of food shopping and trying to be home in time for the plumber, until the small criticisms she faces from her husband spill over into something darker, her anxieties suddenly the responses to very real threat.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin
I have heard amazing things about this book since it came out, and I put a hold on it at the library and then waited WEEKS for it to come back in, and having read the 400-pages in a couple of days, it *does* read a little bit like The Secret for Artists… but that’s if I’m being very critical, and I think that’s probably also to be expected? If I’m not being critical, it’s a nice combination of a less-Christian The Artist’s Way, Oblique Strategies, Zen Buddhism, and actually good artsy advice.
Online reads
^
is doing god’s work for people affected by Muji’s (apparently) imminent closures, here:
^ More inner-artist bits: oblique strategies, Žižek and getting writing done, from
:
^ Spaces in between, from
I bought
’s The Work, and it’s been sitting on my desk waiting for me, so that’s top of the list for next month. Having read It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over (it’s May’s #nottheohcobookclub read too), I’ve also got the other joint-winner of the Novel Prize, Jonathan Buckley’s Tell, and high hopes. And I found a lovely second-hand bookshop in the city, so I have some goodies from there, too.What did you read this month?
Terri-Jane x
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Thanks for sharing my essay! I’m glad you liked it ♥️ I absolutely love The Creative Act. I have it in audio form. He narrates it himself. It’s become more of a meditation book for me. So good!