Booknotes 5.24

Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead, by K. J. Parker, published 2026, fantasy, 430 pages. Earthy bits aside, I enjoyed it, as I typically do with Parker’s books. Most of his (at least those I’ve read) have been low fantasy, but this had a bit more, which was a fun surprise.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, by Patrick Radden Keefe, published 2018, history, 540 pages. Quite good. Compelling and well-written. There’s the titular murder as a frame story, but overall the book is much more about the Troubles, which I was grateful for (true crime makes me squirm too much these days). Reminded me a lot of Days of Rage, about the bombings in the U.S. in the 1970s. I feel like I have a better understanding of Ireland now. (Though this is admittedly just one sliver of what appears to have been centuries of tension and strife.)

David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens, published 1850, fiction, 1,470 pages. Loved it. Agnes! Little Emily! Dora! Peggotty! And Uriah Heep. And the Micawbers. So good. This was Dickens’ favorite novel, and I can see why. Great characters, poignant in places, delicious prose, funny throughout. Very much looking forward to continuing my grand tour of Dickensian literature.

The Blue Castle, by L. M. Montgomery, published 1926, fiction, 270 pages. One of Montgomery’s adult novels (which didn’t feel all that much like Anne of Green Gables to me, by the way), about a woman who decides she’s going to live life her own way and not let her family dictate everything any longer. I enjoyed it.