reads on my radar: the ripping open of envelopes edition
I receive many books, yet rarely are they good, or rarely are they the kinds of books I enjoy reading. Publicists tend to load me up with vampire romances, diet books, science-fiction and books with stiletto heels on the cover. Don’t get me wrong — I love a good bloodbath like anyone else, and I own several pairs of fancy shoes, however, I don’t fancy curling up to tales of carnal vampire lust or women trying to find love in the big city whilst stomping around in Blahniks, after a long day at the office. No judgment. I just know what I like and what I don’t like.
So color me surprised (are the publicists gods finally reading!) that on day two of my “stay-cation” I’m greeted with a pile of books that I’m just dying to read. Picture me tearing envelopes with my teeth. Sassy, isn’t it?
Last year I was smitten with Grégoire Bouillier’s charming, slim memoir, The Mystery Guest. This hilarious, yet endearing story chronicles all the events that lead up to a mysterious birthday party. Here’s the set-up: Bouillier’s girlfriend abandons him without saying goodbye. Years later, still confused by the abrupt loss of his great love, the phone rings (it’s her!), and she calls to invite him to the birthday party for her husband’s best friend, the artist Sophie Calle. Every year Calle throws a birthday party and invited as many people as she was years old plus a ‘mystery guest’ who stood for the year she was about to live. Bouillier’s ex is in charge of the mystery guest - hence the one and only reason for her phone call. Thus the stage is set for the unraveling. I was not only charmed by Bouillier’s deprecating, neurotic, honest prose, but I was taken with the way in which he reclaims his story after a great heartbreak.
Perhaps this is a bit of a long set-up, however, one has to understand what a wonderful memoir writer Bouillier is, and I was chuffed to receive an galley of his new memoir, , where the author tells the “whole crazy story of his life, from his conception in wartime Algeria to his gritty Parisian boyhood at the mercy of his working-class bohemian parents; he illuminates his life through the stories of his four love, including the relationship that nearly destroyed him, the aftermath which is chronicled in The Mystery Guest.” Pre-order my friends, for I cannot wait to read this book.
Quickly moving up the TBR pile: Tom Stoner’s The Comfort of Our Kind, David Ebershoff’s , and infectious pooch-lover, Alison Pace’s City Dog. I don’t even care with this book is about; I’m sold on that fox pooch on the cover. Delish!
Dually Noted: Nam Le’s story collection, , is a must-read. I haven’t enjoyed a story collection in quite some time and I was pleased with the depth & scope of Le’s work.
