Annie
The Forest of Wool and Steel by Natsu Miyashita and Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
If you’re looking for dreamy reads, I’ve got a couple of great recommendations this month.
First up, The Forest of Wool and Steel is a gentle, gorgeous book that follows a young piano tuner as he learns his craft. Tomura first hears a piano being tuned in the gymnasium at his high school and it gives definition and purpose to his previously aimless life. As he listens to the freshly tuned piano, a beautiful mountainous landscape appears in his mind. He commits to years of training and apprenticeship in an effort to recapture the beautiful images that were conjured by a master tuner. A Japanese best-seller and winner of the prestigious Japanese Booksellers Award, this is a meditation on perseverance, success and what makes a good life.
Helen Oyeyemi is one of my favourite writers, and her latest novel is no disappointment. Gingerbread is a loose retelling of the Hansel and Gretel story, but Oyeyemi brings her characteristic wit and quirky charm to the story, adding elements of magical realism, feminism and class to ensure it’s a completely modern take on the old story.
Harriet Lee has made gingerbread according to the family recipe for years, but her daughter Perdita has never quite believed that they hailed from the tiny, undocumented land of Druhástrana. Determined to reunite her mother with her childhood friend, Gretel, Perdita unknowingly sets off a chain of events that will force these exiled Druhástranians to confront their past and share long-hidden family stories. A funny, rollicking read that weaves an enchanting spell, give this book a go if you’re willing to suspend disbelief and indulge in some playful literary storytelling.
Kate
Memories of the Future by Siri Hustvedt
One of the best feelings as a bookseller is when you arrive at work to find one of your favourite authors has released a new book! This is a sort-of biography of Siri Hustvedt’s younger self. As 60 year-old SH clears out her 94 year-old mother’s house, she finds a manuscript she wrote for a detective novel when she was 23 and had freshly arrived in New York. She also finds her diary from that time, and pieces together the person she was. As SH communicates between her younger and older self, she meditates on memory, time, and physics.
The voices of SH patch together the story of a young writer navigating New York City, friends, relationships and intriguingly, her next door neighbour who she listens to through the wall with a stethoscope. She’s drawn into her neighbours nightly monologues and discovers a world of women who open up a door to her own self-knowledge. This was such a joy to read. I was taken into the mind of young SH and felt her pain, anger, excitement, and intelligence blossoming. I would highly recommend! And if you haven’t read Siri Hustvedt before, please do.
Lou
No Friend But the Mountains by Behrouz Boochani
Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani’s award-winning account of life in Manus Prison reveals the Australian government’s “systematic torture” of asylum seekers. It initially seems like a harrowing read: a refugee’s journey from Indonesia to Australian waters by boat, and a bureaucratic prison system whose goal is degradation and violence. But No Friend But the Mountains reaches deep into the psyche of imprisoned people, and incorporates the finest literary traditions and Kurdish storytelling to create a work of enormous dignity, beauty and power. Boochani’s voice is compassionate without being sentimental, ruthless but never cruel. Not only is this an essential read for all Australians, but it joins the ranks of prison writing and world literature, and is a testament to the transforming power of words.
Jess
Beyond the Footpath: Mindful Adventures for Modern Pilgrims by Clare Gogerty
Everyone needs time out, an opportunity to step out of a life consumed by day-to-day worries and concerns, an opportunity to rest the mind and rejuvenate the spirit. The lost art of pilgrimage provides us with just such an option if we choose to embrace it. Clare Gogerty’s beautiful book provides a modern pilgrims guide to stepping out of everyday life, whether for personal, spiritual or religious reasons and on to your own pilgrimage journey. She uses both her own personal stories and historical grounding to give the reader an understanding of pilgrimage and what it can mean today. There are practical tips and mentions of well-known pilgrimage routes, but also encouragement to seek out your own path wherever you may be in the world. A book which smudges the boundaries between travel, history, spirituality and personal growth in a wonderful way.