Booknotes 5.14

Twelve Years a Slave, by Solomon Northup (edited by David Wilson), published 1853, memoir, 292 pages. So. Good. With the thick sense of dread in the first part — knowing what’s coming — and the drive to escape later on, it felt a bit like a horror novel. Slavery: still inhumane, still unbearably evil. What a compelling and heartbreaking book. Highly recommended, along with The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass.

Foster, by Claire Keegan, published 2010, fiction, 34 pages. I normally try not to read books from the same author in such close temporal proximity, but this came in on hold and it’s so short. (I love short books.) (I also love long books.) (I just really love books.) Keegan’s writing continues to bewitch my brain.

Penric’s Fox, by Lois McMaster Bujold, published 2017, fantasy, 144 pages. Part of the Penric & Desdemona series. A murder mystery this time, and I liked it a lot, as always with Bujold.

Piers Plowman, by William Langland, published 1370s, poetry, 337 pages. I read this in Middle English (which I took a class in back in my undergrad days) with no aids, to see what it would be like. While it was fun, I sadly came out of it retaining very little, even though at the line level I kept feeling like I was comprehending everything well enough. I’ve also learned that allegories are not really my thing. Loved the crazy Middle English orthographic diversity and the utter avalanche of biblical Latin quotes, though.