Hallo, it's me, Laura King. I've had some lovely literary outings this month, beginning with the visit to the Lighthouse Cinema to see Pride and Prejudice for its 20th anniversary, which I wrote to you about a few weeks ago. I also attended a packed out launch for Oona Frawley's incredible, thoughtful This Interim Time at Books Upstairs, launched by another brilliant writer, Emilie Pine.
I managed to make it to one rainy evening of the International Literature Festival Dublin in Merrion Square, and despite not getting the sunny experience other days saw, I had a really nice time. I went to the launch of Tolka Issue 9, and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the readings from various contributors who covered wide ranging topics of activism, housing, the genocide in Gaza, identity, food writing and ghost hunting, all united under the umbrella of the great, “formally promiscuous” non fiction writing that Tolka prides itself on.
I then joined a huge, reverential audience for Rebecca Solnit’s appearance at the festival. I had read a number of her books but this reminded me to read her famous A Field Guide to Getting Lost, which was on a list of books from my shelves that I wanted to get to this year. She spoke on really wide ranging issues, particularly about politics and the climate crisis, but the underpinning message was that of hope backed by action, when it sometimes feels like the only options are being overly optimistic (and so not doing anything) or overly pessimistic (and thinking there's no point in doing anything). I still can't believe my luck that I was in the same room (tent!) as her.
Run Out and Read
Our Song by Anna Carey (out June)
I love love love this book, out this month, from Anna Carey. It's about Laura who recently lost a job and a boyfriend when she receives a surprise email from her old bandmate now superstar Tadgh, asking to meet and discuss a song they wrote together years ago. In many ways, this is a love letter to being in a band, and it's a love letter too to music and creativity and songwriting. Imagine how happy I was when I learned the author is recording the songs Laura and Tadgh work on in the book!
This Interim Time by Oona Frawley
These essays are concerned with the double sided coin of grief and love, and underlying all of these essays is the knowledge that you can't have one without the other. Her losses feel fresh and devastating - her father to cancer, her mother to dementia twenty years later, a treasured friend and peer to cancer not long later, and the trauma of a miscarriage which was particularly harrowing to read - but they are counterbalanced by an overwhelming love for her parents, her children and husbands, her friends and herself. The last essay, about how the fleeting present can always feel like a treasured memory in an imagined future, is a breathtaking and masterful conclusion to a wonderful collection.
Highly Recommended
Will There Ever Be Another You by Patricia Lockwood (out September)
If Lockwood’s last book put into language the brain experiencing the world through "The Portal" (the internet), then Will There Ever Be Another You articulates the brain through the fog of illness (specifically long Covid) and confusion. It blends the profound with the ludicrous, with humour that is so bleak that I found myself weak with laughter while also feeling like I wanted to apologize for it. I think I wanted something more from the ending, but I don't think the point of this book is to entertain (though again, I can't remember when I've laughed as hard as a book) - it's to expand - how we think about language and the brain and the reconstruction of the self after illness.
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit
I tore through this in two days, which is definitely not the right way for this kind of book, which should be poured and pondered over, but I was just so inspired after seeing her at the ILF event. These essays are about the idea of opening yourself up to the unknown, and that unknown and the journeys into it are mapped spacially, in terms of city writing versus writing about the American West, historically, both in her own history and of groups of people in the past, and socially, in her friendships and relationships. I have so many notes and so much to think about, and I'm excited to read more of her.
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book on audiobook (the narrator is Julia Whelan, who can do no wrong in my eyes), and looked forward to getting to listen each time. The premise is great, about an old, famous woman who was a recluse for many years and now finally wants to tell her story, and the two journalists vying for dream job of ghostwriting her memoir (and falling in love!). However, I don't think this is my favourite from her, and I think it suffers because of the two stories going on, which are both really good, but I wanted either one of them to be the “main” story and be fully fleshed out, rather than two “part” stories. Still, I'd happily recommend it to any existing fans, while recommending you start elsewhere if you're new to her.
Recommended
The Bridge to Always by Lynda Marron
I really love how Lynda Marron writes, and this is true for her two novels so far, her excellent and insightful book reviews on Instagram, and presumably shopping lists too. This novel, about a young mother trying to reunite her daughter with the man she loved years ago, is great on small town dynamics, and is a good read if you like ensemble casts like I do, I just unfortunately couldn't gel with the main character, Maeve, so it wasn't my preferred of her two so far, but I'd still recommend it.
Let the Bad Times Roll by Alice Slater (out July)
This is a really vibey mystery, set in large part in New Orleans, where a charismatic young man called Daniel goes missing. His overbearing older sister Caroline hosts a dinner party with his close friends and a psychic (!) he met while travelling to attempt to find some answers, and the novel is structured in the courses that she so meticulously puts together. It's brilliant on New Orleans, the occult (and people who make money off it), food and cocktails, but I wasn't as concerned with the actual mystery.
Not for me (this time!)
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
Unfortunately, despite how addictive I found this on first reading five years ago I had to drag myself through the reread, I think because I just couldn't hack the audio narration which is a great pity. Of course I'm a Hunger Games stan, and there's still so much lore to uncover on a reread of this prequel, but it definitely doesn't have the spark of the original trilogy, or the heart of this year's Sunrise on the Reaping. I do still plan to gather my thoughts on these prequels, so bear with me!
Currently reading
Physical book: Swept Away by Beth O’Leary
Short stories: In the Movie of her Life by Claire Hennessy
Audiobook: A Girl is a Half Formed Thing by Eimear McBride (reread)
Thank you for reading, and I hope you join me soon for another installment of LauraEatsBooks.
Honoured to see Tadhg and Laura in such good company! Thanks so much, and thanks for your original review which was so perfectly what I hoped for when writing the book. 💖