"Old Lovegood Girls," by Gail Godwin

"Old Lovegood Girls" is the most recent novel by one of my favorite writers (see my posts of 6/7/13, 8/22/15, and, very recently, 9/15/24, although these represent only some of the Godwin books I have read). The title refers to the young women at a somewhat posh, traditional, and yet, in a low-key and "proper" way, feminist women's junior college in 1958, and follows the intertwined and complicated stories, over a period of decades, of two of these young women who become friends, as well as the related stories of other students of faculty members, of family members, and of lovers and spouses. The novel addresses questions of women's friendship, social class, family, romances, marriages and other life events. There are also some secrets and surprises, some of which are life-changing. I am drawn to stories of women's friendships, and Godwin, as always, shows her knowledge of human psychology, especially women's psychology. As with all her books, this novel is beautifully written, compelling, and revelatory.

"Four Squares," by Bobby Finger

After reading and enjoying Bobby Finger's first novel, "The Old Place," in 2022, I was interested to read his new one, "Four Squares" (Putnam, 2024), and I was not disappointed. The main character, Artie, a gay man in New York City during the time after the height of AIDS but still under its heavy shadow, is in some ways introverted and self-sufficient, but sometimes feels, and regrets, that he has few friends. But those few, and the regulars at a local bar, give him increased community, connection, and support. The story alternates between 1992 and 2022, thus tracing the arc of Artie's relationships with lovers, chosen family members, and friends. Of course there are some tangled relationships and some secrets and surprises. But the overall tone of the novel is positive, hopeful and life affirming.

A Personal Note: On the Profound Consolations of Books

First, as an introduction to the main topic of this post, I want to do something I have not done before on this blog: to re-post one of my earlier posts on this blog. Posted here on 12/26/16, it is still very meaningful to me: "I loved seeing Susan Chira’s short piece, “The Comforts of Jane,” in the Christmas Day 2016 issue of The New York Times Book Review. She writes there of how in a difficult, painful, and stress-filled time (“when the life of someone I loved was hanging in the balance”), she “turned to reading for solace,” and found the perfect book to (re)read was Jane Austen’s novel “Pride and Prejudice.” She says that because she already knew the plot, she “could savor the language, satire and repartee, the cutting observations…Austen was irresistible.” She adds, “I wanted escape, but I needed moral resonance.” She goes on to describe all the reasons that this beloved novel was the perfect consolation and companion during the crisis she was living through. Fortunately her story ended well, as “life righted itself.” She, like most Austen devotees, including me, continues to re-read Austen’s novels, and always remembers “how grateful I remain for the comfort I found in her pages.” Regular readers of this blog know how central Austen’s novels have been to my own reading life, so you will understand how I definitely appreciated and connected to Chira’s story." Now I have had particular occasion to need consolations, after the illness and death of my beloved husband in late 2021. My greatest consolations have been good memories and the loving support of my family and friends. In addition, in the days-in-days-out of these harshly changed days, months, and years, one of the consolations I can most rely on is reading, especially novels and memoirs. They are almost a medicine, as well as a welcome distraction, a source of absorption, a pleasure, a support. In short, my longtime friends, books, are a reliable and ever-available source of consolation, one that I lean on more than ever, and one for which I am tremendously grateful.

"Getting to Know Death: A Meditation," by Gail Godwin

For decades, I have read, admired, learned from, and enjoyed Gail Godwin's contemplative, psychologically insightful novels (the best known of which is probably "The Odd Woman"), most of them well before I began this blog in 2010. However, I did write here about the most recent one, "Flora," on 6/7/13. I also wrote a post about Godwin's useful and revealing "Publishing: A Writer's Memoir" (8/22/15). Her very recent book, "Getting to Know Death" (Bloomsbury, 2024), is short (172 pages) but intense, describing her experiences with and feelings about age, serious illnesses and injuries (including, most prominently and frighteningly, her recent fall that caused a broken neck, and her ensuing long and difficult period of recovery), the deaths of people close to her (including her husband), and, now in her mid-eighties, the prospect of her own death. Although the author is candid and courageous in dealing with all of these difficult events, the book is less depressing that this description might suggest. It is not exactly "inspirational" either, but is matter of fact, thoughtful, and life affirming. It is divided into many short chapters, some on her personal history, some expressing doubts about her own ability to keep writing, some meditating on death, some reproducing or creating letters to and from the author, some quoting other authors, and a few unclassifiable pieces of writing. I wasn't sure how I would feel about this book, with its sensitive and difficult topics, or whether I would even want to finish it, but because of my admiration of Godwin, and because once I started reading it I was drawn in, I continued to the end, and am glad I did so.

RIP Paul Auster

“And that's why books are never going to die. It's impossible. It's the only time we really go into the mind of a stranger, and we find our common humanity doing this. So the book doesn't only belong to the writer, it belongs to the reader as well, and then together you make it what it is.”. Paul Auster Author, Screenwriter and Film Director 1947- 2024

"Life Span," by Molly Giles

I am of course drawn to writing set in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live. For a while I have vaguely known of the Bay Area writer and writing professor (at San Francisco State University and elsewhere), Molly Giles, but had read little of her work. Her newest book, titled "Life Span: Impressions of a Lifetime Spent Crossing and Recrossing the Golden Gate Bridge" (WTAW Press, 2024) caught my attention, partly because crossing the Golden Gate Bridge several times a week has for decades been part of my life too. I raced through this book with much interest. The book is a sort of memoir in episodes. There is one entry for every year, beginning in 1945 when Giles was three years old, and continuing until 2023. Entries range from one to four pages, and each is an evocative vignette. Giles always wanted to be a writer, and although she has published several books and many stories, it has been an uphill battle for her, often discouraging, yet clearly fulfilling. The other main strand or theme explored in this book is that of her relationships with family over the decades. She had a somewhat fraught relationship with her parents; she has also had a series of partners who all disappoint her in many ways (although her current partner seems better than the rest). It is somewhat painful to see how she continues to be attracted to one difficult and unreliable man after another. Her relationship with her daughters is also at times fraught, but within the usual mother-daughter range, and improving with time; these daughters are the sources of real joy in her life. Although I was not initially drawn to the idea of depicting a life through these mini-narratives, I found the structure and story quite compelling. And even though (or partly because?) Giles is open, sometimes painfully so, about her own shortcomings, insecurities, and mistakes, I found myself both admiring and liking her, as well as the book. I will look for more of her work.

RIP Edna O'Brien

The Irish writer Edna O'Brien died 7/27/24 at the age of 93. Her fiction focused on women's lives and feelings, about which she wrote with passion. Her writing was sometimes controversial, especially in Ireland, because of its frankness about women's sexuality and love affairs. Her first book, "Country Girls" (1960), for example, was initially banned in Ireland. As Hillel Italie wrote for the Associated Press after O'Brien's death, "Few so concretely and poetically challenged Ireland's religious, sexual and gender boundaries. Few wrote so fiercely, so sensually about loneliness, rebellion, desire and persecution." Nevertheless, O'Brien's writing was prolific, very popular, and prize-winning.