It’s that time of year again and, in the spirit of tonight’s Reading Hour, I thought I’d tell you what I’ve been reading since last years’ event.
Rookie Yearbooks 1 & 2 by Tavi Gevinson.
I fell in love with Tavi Gevinson at last years’ Melbourne Writers Festival and had to snap up Rookie Yearbook One at the event’s bookstore. The second yearbook I got after visiting the U.S. late last year. They both compile the best of the Rookie website for those who don’t always have the chance to check it out. My favourites were anything by Sady Doyle and Lena Dunham’s interview with Mindy Kaling.
Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger.
My former housemate bought this at a secondhand bookstore in Geelong when we went there for an exhibition and surprised me with it for my birthday. I ended up using some of the intel I gleaned from the book for an article on the dark side of Hollywood that I’m shopping around, and it informed me when I went to the Museum of Death in Los Angeles, to which Kenneth Anger is a benefactor.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.
I read this around the time the second movie came out and I think I enjoyed the big screen version much more than the print one. I liked how the film streamlined much of the at times unnecessary plot additions.
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn.
Gillian Flynn has fast established herself as one of my favourite writers, and this is not only my favourite book of hers, but also one of my favourites in general. Couldn’t recommend it highly enough. A gritty page-turner that kicks Gone Girl’s ass.
Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany.
I was unimpressed by last years’ Stella prize winner.
Inferno by Dan Brown.
I made the mistake of taking this hefty tome on my trip to the U.S., thinking I would get most of it read on the plane but I was still lugging it around for weeks after I returned home. I think because I read it pretty sporadically throughout the trip I didn’t get as into the story as I have with other Brown books. I did like the notions of overpopulation and the need to eradicate part of the population for the greater good of the human race, though.
Well Read Women by Samantha Hahn.
This is more of a picture book than anything with read substance, but I was gifted it in the States for my birthday after having mentioned it months and months before!
Floundering by Romy Ash.
I really enjoyed this debut novel from Ash, which was shortlisted for many a prize upon its release. If you like evocative Australiana in an alternative style, I urge you to pick up Floundering.
The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper by Dominick Dunne.
A sort-of pictorial autobiography of my favourite author that I picked up from New York’s famous Strand bookstore.
Reel Religion: A Century of the Bible on Film by the Museum of Biblical Art.
I couldn’t tell whether this guide to the exhibition of the same name at New York’s Museum of Biblical Art was propaganda or, as it asserts in its title, a history of the Bible on film. Either way, if you ever have some spare time in Central Parker West, check out the free museum.
How Did You Get This Number? by Sloan Crosley.
Crosley seems to have lost her allure since I last read her work in book form, I Was Told There’d Be Cake, a few years ago.
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews.
What a horror show this was! I primarily read it so I could watch the Lifetime movie of the same name starring Heather Graham and Kiernan Shipka, but I had been wanting to satisfy my curiosity for it for quite a while.
The Family Law by Benjamin Law.
Laugh-out-loud funny as Law always is.
The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle by Mary Lillian Ellison with Larry Platt.
Another one I got in New York at Westsider Rare Books and, as an autobiography of perhaps the most famous—and certainly the longest active—female wrestler, I had to snap it up.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.
This marks the third and final Flynn book I’ve read, and while the colleague I borrowed it from found it boring, I loved it almost as much as Sharp Objects. It features another eleventh-hour plot twist that Flynn has become famous for. Can’t wait to see what her next release will be.
John Belushi is Dead/Hollywood Ending by Kathy Charles.
I’d been wanting to read Hollywood Ending for quite a few years, but little did I know that the book was also published under the title of John Belushi is Dead, so there I was with two copies of the same book and no place to go. It turned out to be a spectacular waste of money as I was sorely disappointed by this narrative.
Tragic Hollywood: Beautiful, Glamorous, Dead by Jackie Ganiy.
This book nicely elaborated on much of what I learned on my visit to the Museum of Death and a Tragical History tour of L.A. but, as a self-published effort, it was riddle with spelling and grammar mistakes and continuity errors.
Audition by Barbara Walters.
While I think Barbara Walters gets kookier and more conservative with age, she was once a pioneer for women in broadcast journalism, and her autobiography was fascinating if, expectedly, long.
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent.
Another one I’d been putting off, but it lived up to the hype. I’m excited to see how the story of the last woman executed in Iceland will play out on the big screen as it has been optioned for film.
2Pac VS. Biggie: An Illustrated History of Rap’s Greatest Battle by Jeff Weiss & Evan McGarvey.
Didn’t tell me what I didn’t already know about Tupac Shakur, but I’d never really been a Biggie fan, so this book did shed some light on one of rap’s biggest stars.
An Inconvenient Woman by Dominick Dunne.
I picked this up along with Dunne’s autobiography at The Strand, and it was quite enjoyable.
Mary Ann in Autumn by Armistead Maupin.
I always enjoy Maupin’s stuff, and this marks the likely second-last installment of his Tales of the City saga, in which he revisits his beloved characters from 1970s and ’80s San Francisco in the modern day.
Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang by Joyce Carol Oates.
You never know what you’re going to get when it comes to Joyce Carol Oates, which can be thrilling and disconcerting. I’d have to go with the latter in this instance.
Changed for Good by Stacy Wolf.
Two of my favourite things: feminism and Broadway musicals. For anyone who’s got an interest in either of these things, this is a fascinating look at both, with a particular focus on Wicked, which I went to see for the seventh time on the weekend!
The Fictional Woman by Tara Moss.
Perhaps the Aussie book of the year, Tara Moss can be seen everywhere promoting her latest book—part memoir, part exploration of female tropes and stereotypes—and talking about everything from the Bechdel test to her rape and miscarriage. She writes in accessible terms and makes strong points.
The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas.
This book, a present from my housemate, has been languishing on my to-read pile for three years, so I thought it was high time I see what all the fuss was about. I’d watched the series so I was familiar with the premise and its aftermath, but I was quite taken aback by the misogyny and racism of pretty much all of the characters. Whether that was impeccable storytelling by Tsiolkas or the author’s biases I’m not sure; I guess I’ll have to read more of his work to find out. Next of his on my list: Barracuda.
The First Stone by Helen Garner.
Speaking of ingrained misogyny, Garner attempts to unpack the alleged sexual assault of two female students by a male authority figure at Melbourne University in the 1990s. What she actually ends up with is an out-of-touch, victim-blaming, second-wave VS. third-wave piece of misogyny. I would direct all readers away from this and towards Anna Krien’s Night Games: a much more balanced take on similar events.
Animal People by Charlotte Wood.
I’d been wanting to read this since I saw Charlotte Wood as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival a couple of years ago, and I devoured it in the space of the day. (I was without electricity so there wasn’t much else to do!) Pretty easy reading with a nice juxtaposition between human idiosyncrasies and animal mannerisms.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.
I’ve already read this book, but I’m rereading it currently as research for a piece about the upcoming film adaptation. This is the third Flynn book I’ve read in the past year.
What are you reading for the Reading Hour?
Related: The Reading Hour 2013.
The Reading Hour 2012.
Tavi’s World at Melbourne Writers Festival.
Taking a Bite Out of the Big Apple: My Guide to New York City.
Cherchez la Femme Fatale, Take 2.
Stella: A Prize of One’s Own at The Wheeler Centre.
The Slap & Men Who Cheat.
Why Young Feminists Still Have “A Long, Long Way to Go” in the Eyes of Second-Wave Feminists.
Night Games by Anna Krien Review.
You Animals.
Elsewhere: [Rookie] Sady Doyle.
[Show & Tell] Tara Moss On Ner Latest Novel The Fictional Woman & the Bechdel Test.
[SMH] Under the Skin.
The Scarlett Woman 