What I read in January
January's online and offline reading recs. Including: Jesse Jezewska Stevens, Ottessa Moshfegh & R.F. Kuang.
Hello!
I hope your 2024 is off to a good start - I’m *trying* not to do too much book shopping before I have actual bookshelves, but kindle daily deals don’t count, right?
Books
Ghost Pains, by
I read an early copy of this and so it isn’t out until March - sorry! - but you’re going to see me talking about it a lot until then. The opening story, The Party, was originally published in The Paris Review, so you can read it HERE, and I really recommend you do. It’s basically perfect.
Death in her Hands, by Ottessa Moshfegh
Why did it take me so long to read this?? Who knows. I imagine everyone knows the plot already, but I enjoyed the very simple premise - Vesta, a recently widowed woman in her seventies, has moved to a secluded cabin on a lake with her dog. On a morning walk, she finds a cryptic note, and the novel follow as she becomes increasingly obsessed with solving the mystery. The sense of dread grows and grows, and I read the final few pages literally with my hand over my mouth. Great.
Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang
I’m really just catching up here on things everyone else has read already, aren’t I? Oh well. Maybe that’s fine for January. Sped through this on my kindle, and though I will say that the big twist didn’t feel very twisty (was it supposed to?), I thought the whole thing was done so well. I loved June’s positioning of herself vs the world, and how as more of Athena’s personality unfolded, it turned out that she maybe wasn’t an angel after all. Aside from the main thieving points, I thought this was really interesting on cancel culture and problematic faves, and the court of social media.
Online reads
Writing Blue, by Terry Nguyen at LARB - I loved this. I would like to read more long reflections on colours. (I think this was via , which I also massively recommend, if you don’t read it already.)
Rivka Galchen’s Trials of the Witchy Women.
This interview with Yorgos Lanthimos from the Poor Things issue of Little White Lies was great. I love the film and I’m so sad I didn’t get to see the costumes at the Barbican exhibition.
A very January read: How to feel a little better in 2024. “Start treating your hobbies like they matter, because they do!”
Finally, “How Do I Keep Going?” from
. Just incredible.
Re-reading Sylvia Plath
Your last chance to join us in February for (Re-)Reading and Writing Sylvia Plath - we start on Sunday!
What did you read this month?
Terri-Jane x
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