I Read 7 Books in 7 Days

Last week, in a great intellectual pursuit intended to thicken my already swollen mind (take a moment to picture the cycling circus animals doing laps within), I decided to straight up read seven books in seven days. 

Cover design from Leonard Smithers' Catalogue of Rare Books (1896), by Aubrey Beardsley.

Here are the books I read, and a brief note on each one:

The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman

A chirpy but haunting children’s novel about a medieval homeless girl who becomes an apprentice midwife and must grapple with the marvel and horror of birth. There’s some really lovely, straightforward writing in here and a frankness about the deep suffering of the poor and unfortunate, but the book is also really uplifting and loving. A complicated study of an old, tough world.

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Incredible, moving, and sometimes devilishly sarcastic duo of essays about the Jim Crow era black experience. James Baldwin is a very special and eloquent writer, and I hope to read MANY more of his things.

Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

I found this a quite odd and at first impenetrable novel. It’s about a guy who just can’t stop being nasty. Dostoevsky’s miserable, hideous spirit is kind of astonishing in some moments, and the exploration of this rambling, crazed character is at points entertaining and iconic, but I have to admit I kind of hated it. It was both boring and annoying.

Regardless, I'm intrigued by Dostoevsky’s particularly cold world of mechanically psychotic losers and criminals.

The Queen of Spades and Other Stories by Alexander Pushkin

It’s interesting to read my first non-verse prose by Pushkin in this ramshackle collection of short stories and poems alike. It really gave me a full, deranged experience, because I loved a few pieces and hated others. The titular story is nicely spooky, but it’s the verse that shines. I like that overall, Pushkin seems very interested in crafting unnerving narratives. Thank you Pushpush (this is my cute nickname for Pushkin - he would love it).

The Dead by James Joyce

This was a huge favourite - a very beautiful short story about the loneliness and loveliness of a life lived imperfectly and a long-lasting relationship, and where an individual fits, exactly, in both. Very rapid and touching and real. Celestial at its high points. Bittersweet in the best way possible.
 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

I was surprised by how empty this was, this famed spooky tale which is hardly really spooky, and which contains very little in the way of character. The setting is great, but it feels like the background of a story, rather then a complete work. Very intriguing. Ichabod Crane is kind of a thoughtless dunce, and that’s not quite as fun as it sounds.

Night by Elie Wiesel

I ended with a holocaust memoir, as one must, and I really liked the vivid picture Wiesel paints of all the victims he encounters throughout his time in concentration camps. There is an incredible and particular and meticulous attention given to the details of the shreds of these people’s lives, and it is, of course, deeply unpleasant to read, but very powerful.

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I’m making a video for my Patreon going over the experience in a bit more detail, but reading these books felt so exhilarating and exciting. I felt so stunned and alternately amazed, intrigued, horrified, annoyed, and pleased by these books, and it makes me hungrier to read more - especially more culturally and historically significant books.

I think The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin and The Dead by James Joyce were easily at the top of list. Two beautiful Jameses. They had such a profound impression on me and felt kind of magical and fiery. Right now I’m reading a longer book, L.P. Hartley’s The Go-Between, which has its own sense of wonder and gorgeous, misty sentences, but after that - Perhaps some more Baldwin.