January Wrap Up (In November)

Disclaimer: This was supposed to be my reading wrap up for January but it’s taken me so long to finishing writing, that it is now the end of November (I do recognise that this is outrageous) And because I started writing these reviews at the start of the year and I’m finishing them now, I’m having to search my memory banks for what I can remember (not much), therefore some reviews are more in-depth than others. I’m attempting to force myself out of this writing rut by just posting what I have, so apologies if this reads as a bit disjointed/incomplete (I’m doing my best.)

All Our Yesterdays

by Natalia Ginzburg (translated from Italian by Angus Davidson)

Originally published in Italian in 1952 and translated to English by Angus Davidson in 1985 ‘Tutti i nostri ieri’ (All Our Yesterdays) was republished by Daunt in 2022 and is Natalia Ginzburg’s third novel. Prior to reading this I had read her essay collection ‘The Little Virtues‘ (1962) and her autobiographical novel, ‘Family Lexicon‘ (1983) Natalia was part of the neo realist movement and All Our Yesterdays chronicles the events of WW2 but through the lens of a family going through the motions of every day life. Interestingly, because I read Family Lexicon first, I could draw some parallels between the characters and events in the All Our Yesterdays, to Natalia’s own family as depicted in Family Lexicon, which was written more than 30 years later. It’s quite interesting because the first half of the book could be considered a work of auto fiction. What I liked – I loved the first half and I am realising the more I read that I really enjoy character driven pieces ——-

The List

by Yomi Adegoke

My mum has been trying to get back into reading so she picked this up from Sainsbury’s on her weekly food shop, she really struggled with it and about half way through switched to the audiobook. I actually really liked it. This is Yomi Adegoke’s debut novel.

Burnt Sugar

by Avni Yoshi

I found this book at the little free library at my gym and quickly realised it was an actual library book (I did return it to the local library after I read it) and although I thought it was undeniably well written I found it quite an ordeal to read because it was so deeply unsettling.