#dj servo

Thiefs Journal by Jean Genet

theeeee most challenging book i've ever read i think. it was like doing a boss fight where you're 5 levels below the recommended level and you can get through it but it's hardfought. stellar, though. there's a lot that went over my head on this initial read, but i loved reading this book even when struggling through it. Genet's candidness was so refreshing i admired his voice and how unashamed he was to hold positions and opinions that were hypocritical, even. i saw this was added to your tbr recently, and i think you'll love it too!

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

no reprieve! jumping right into another difficult book. one of my long term reading goals is to continue seeking out more non-english fiction, and coming across this book (i think it was in the list of recommended reading at the back of Let It Come Down by Paul Bowles as suggested by Penguin) was kind of serendipitous. i wish my reading had credited me more Big Words for discussing books like these but it's one of those ones where i'm itching to hear someone else's perspective on this so i'll do some googling. enjoyed it though!

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley

my barcelona read. i took my mom for her birthday, so it was only fitting i read another book giving voice to disjointed mother-daughter relationships. i loved this. i'll never get bored of this subject matter, and i think Riley did a commendable job at presenting something well-balanced between real emotional turmoil and humour. what stuck out to me most was holding yourself back from expressing yourself wholly to your mom in the same breath that you expect her to be vulnerable and the kind of. dance you do back and forth to test who'll blink first kind of thing. second plane read that's blown me away this year

The Portrait of a Mirror by A. Natasha Joukovsky

i just finished this today so thoughts may be a touch too fresh, but this was really like reading a character study on the main four in gossip girl if we'd followed them through to their 30s (big 4 being blair, dan, SVDW and nate). that snobbish upper-middle class art and literature intellectualism with high society expectations as a measure for acceptable behaviour. i appreciate books that are well researched and go the extra mile, and this did it for me. shame i got stuck with the ugly cover version.

august reads

i've already picked out my next read! rue (of okruee fame) and i will be buddy reading The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde and if the weather gets better i will finally pick up ferrante #3. i'm 27/35 books towards my reading goal and feeling pretty good tbh <3