1. In The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer, Sir Horace asks his sister Lady Ombersly to take in his daughter Sophia while he is in Brazil, and to find her a husband if possible. But the household hardly expects the 20-year-old to arrive with a monkey, a greyhound, a horse not fit for a lady, a pistol, and a sense of entitlement when it comes to matchmaking. Those who bear the brunt of her mischievous and well-meaning efforts are Sophy’s two eldest cousins, Charles, who is engaged to a busybody as dour as Sophy is cheerful, and Cecilia, who falls in love with a poet instead of the much more suitable gentleman to whom she is all but engaged. Sprinkle in some of Sophy’s suitors, her father’s fiancee, and her other cousins’ troubles, and Sophy very nearly has her hands full straightening up everyone’s lives. As usual in Heyer, there is a great deal of the ridiculous fondly satirized.
2. When the English Fall by David Williams was a tremendous surprise. It takes the form of a journal kept by an Amish farmer during the apocalypse. Combining the setting of One Second After by William R. Forstchen and World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler with the gravity and emotion of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, the journal tells the story of a family earnestly trying to live according to their beliefs within a greater community that is falling apart. I won’t go into the nature of the apocalyptic event, because it’s one of the highlights of the book and I’d hate to spoil it, but I will say that the hopefulness of this short novel is the complete antithesis to The Road by Cormac McCarthy, which makes it one of the best post-apocalyptic books I’ve read.
3. As a palate cleanser after When the English Fall, I plucked Euphoria by Lily King from my to-read shelf. I picked it up for $2 at Half Price Books having vaguely recognized the award-stickered cover and having an interest in anthropology as a discipline. The title comes from a quote from the character Nell Stone (inspired by Margaret Mead), who describes the feeling after spending about eight weeks with a people of perfect understanding, that they are yours, that you will be able to express their essence to the world. The book is about possession and power, about the love triangle between the intellectual Stone, her egotistical husband, and the suicidal anthropologist who introduces them to the Tam, the people they are attempting to study. It definitely merits its awards, but it is an uncomfortable read because two of its major themes are misinterpretation and loss.
4. Sundry. I’m still listening to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and it’s still wonderful. I’m going to pack my Kindle with library ebooks for Thanksgiving, so next week’s reads may be random according to whatever’s available to check out.
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