What I read in November
New Jesmyn Ward, a narrative nonfiction epic, and another Irish coming-of-age banger
This month’s newsletter is a few days late because on November 29th my Grandpa Elliot Jaffe passed away.
He was 97 and lived a truly incredible life, which I keep reminding myself because I really, really hate that he’s no longer around. He was the storyteller of our family who held court at family dinners and would never tell us if his stories were true or not. He was married to my Grandma for a whopping 71 years. They raised three kids and started a company together and made each other laugh until the end. Grandpa took me to art museums and Shakespeare in the Park (where he fell asleep and snored so loudly we were asked to leave at intermission), listened to my ideas and supported even the bad ones, left me voicemails when I got published, and taught me the importance of giving back. He was simply the greatest. I’m going to miss him so much.
He taught me that stories are how we remember the past, share our history, and process the feelings along the way—in his case, usually with humor. He really loved a well-told story. Which bring us back to our regular programming.
I read five books in November—they were each very different but all outstanding. Here’s what I read this month:
A heartfelt, harrowing, and poetic story of slavery and maternal love
Jesmyn Ward is one of those rare voices in contemporary literature where each of her books feel essential, singular, and visceral. She’s a two-time winner of the National Book Award for her novels Sing, Unburied, Sing and Salvage the Bones (she’s the only woman to win the award twice). Her latest, Let Us Descend, follows an enslaved teenage girl in the American South on her hellish journey to be sold. She wrote this book in the aftermath of personal tragedy: her husband died suddenly of respiratory failure in January 2020 before Covid was widely understood (he was only 33). She pours grief and sorrow into this story, but also hope—in the depths of despair, she finds light.
A coming-of-age novel that once again proves Irish writers do it best
The best part of having a friend who loves the exact same books as you is that when Sara texts me, “this one is so our shit,” I run out and buy it immediately. Once I started The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue, I couldn’t stop. I cancelled plans to read it. It’s Irish, relatable, funny, and low-key sexy (in good company with Trespasses and all of Sally Rooney). There are Frasier references. It’s compulsively readable and also very good—and, frankly, books that are truly both are rare. I simply loved it.
The riveting true story that will probably be the reason I never get on another boat
From David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon (the nonfiction book the new Scorsese film is based on), comes another thrilling epic so enthralling you won’t believe it all actually happened. The Wager is about an ill-fated British warship in 1740 that ends up shipwrecked off the desolate coast of Patagonia. When two separate groups of survivors finally make it back to England, they have conflicting accounts of what happened—with accusations of mutiny and murder. Personally, had I been there, I would’ve preferred dying of scurvy early in the voyage rather than living through the rest of this page-turning nightmare.
A new edition is putting this 1980s gem back on everyone’s radar
Writers go wild for this modern classic Australian novella from the 1980s that was just republished in hardcover. The Children’s Bach by Helen Garner is a portrait of a young family in Melbourne, about the domesticity of life and how new friends can destabilize even a happy marriage. It’s a special little book that’s quiet and gripping at the same time. Nothing shocking or devastating happens, it just captures…life. But probably for that reason it has lingered with me.
A poignant memoir about friendship and grief
I’m sorry to do this but I have to rave about a book I just read that doesn’t come out until February. Sloane Crosley’s forthcoming book Grief Is for People is a memoir about loss—in her case, a home burglary and the death of her close friend to suicide. It takes a talented writer to make this potentially very depressing story relatable and even, actually, funny. She remembers a real person and takes care not to saint him. But what comes through most is her love for him. You’ll probably want to text your best friends after you finish. You can’t read it for a few more months, but you can preorder it now!
READING LIST
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
The Wager by David Grann
The Children’s Bach by Helen Garner
Grief Is for People by Sloane Crosley
Happy reading!
Love,
Ali
100% agreed that The Wager was crazy. Hard to believe it’s real. I wonder which character they will give to Leo