Recent Reads 240927: Eve Babitz, Calixthe Beyala, Dewi Anggraeni

[@lindysmagpiereads]

Ali Smith has a brilliant mind. I know what you mean about feeling stupid while reading Artful but please go easy on yourself. It’s okay not to know all of her references, and not to be sure if it’s fiction or nonfiction. I was glad to have discussed Artful within a bookclub, because we all brought different perspectives to the text. Anggraeni’s novel sounds great. I enjoy fantastical elements within otherwise realistic stories. As for Babitz’s word vomit… well, thanks for the warning!

[@SluggishReader]

@@lindysmagpiereads I think Ali Smith is brilliant in the sense that her writing is able to capture my interest even when I don't understand much of the references. I felt that way about How to be both too but it's one of my all-time favorite books 🧡 I hope you'll (and everyone) be able to try the Dewi Anggraeni book. I picked it up from a used book shop without much expectation. I think the fact that I just visited Indonesia for the first time some weeks prior helped with the reading experience. 😁

[@PageTurnersWithKatja]

A shame about LA Woman. I love that all of these were knew to me, so I enjoyed your thoughts on them. I'm most intrigued by Your Name Shall Be Tanga

[@SluggishReader]

@@PageTurnersWithKatja Thanks Katja! I hope you'll get to read Your Name Shall Be Tanga one day!

[@sarah-roadworthy]

I read Eve's Hollywood which is Babitz's memoir. I'm getting the sense that LA Woman is a fictionalized version of what she was describing in her memoir. Give her non-fiction a go.

[@SluggishReader]

Trying her nonfiction is definitely my plan! Actually, that was what I felt when I read LA Woman... there was strong lack of coherence that one would probably find when one recounts something from real life. Fiction or novels I find tend to play by that "novelistic" rule but LA Woman was just messy and did not have that novelistic character to it.