August was a wild month and September has already been flying by, but I want to sit down a moment to join in An Open Book to share what I read last month-there were some really delightful books I picked up.
Water, Wood, & Wild Things: Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town, by Hannah Kirshner
In this memoir, Kirshner shares snippets from her time visiting a town in rural Japan over the course of four years. Within the personal stories that she shares, she offers the history of different Japanese practices and handicrafts, especially since the small rural town she stayed in retained a lot of traditional practices. I learned about all sorts of fascinating things, like how samurai would hunt airborne ducks with nets. The author comes from a different background than myself and said some things about Christianity that weren't exactly complimentary, and there were just a couple parts in the book that I could have done without. However, I still really enjoyed this book a lot and recommend it to people who are interested in Japanese culture and/or learning about traditional handicrafts.
Talking of Michaelangelo, by Peter Giersch
In this memoir, Giersch shares how, to celebrate his fortieth birthday, he travelled to a monastery in France to participate in a silent Ignatian retreat. That premise alone caught my attention, since I love monasticism and monasteries, and I also love travel memoirs. However, Giersch deftly tells a much deeper story; of how he was a practicing Catholic without getting too deep in his own mess, until he wound up on that retreat and experienced an intense questioning of everything he knew, believed, and practiced. The author also interweaves poetry (specifically T.S. Eliot) and his prose is just plain gorgeous. This book was excellent and I am so glad I read it!
The Supper Club Saints, by Claire Swinarski
I have to confess that I originally wasn't in a hurry to read this book, since I got the inkling that I wouldn't like certain aspects of it. But then I happened across Swinarski's substack post about Yesteryear and The Supper Club Saints, and I knew I needed to pick up The Supper Club Saints. I wound up reading it in a day or two and I really, really enjoyed it! I disliked all the coarse and bad language (really, the novel didn't need that) but overall, the story was really good. The novel basically follows a group of family members (focusing on the women) who are all broken in some way and they grapple with their wounds and some really intense things as they seek healing. One of the women had been living in a "Mommune" influencer cult, so that was part of the plotline as well and it was interesting (who doesn't like reading about weird cult groups??). This novel deals with some very heavy topics (abuse of many kinds, broken marriages, miscarriage) and the author doesn't shy away from the raw grief and heartache, but she also infuses the story with light and hope.
REREAD: The Mystery of the Transfiguration, by Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap
I read this book a couple years ago or so, and I've been wanting to reread it-so I decided to pick it up again on the Feast of the Transfiguration this year :) I really loved going through this book again; I forgot how good it is! Cantalamessa brings together different Scripture passages and saints (many of them older saints/Church fathers) to meditate on the different aspects of Jesus's Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. This is a really fantastic book and I recommend it!
Liar in the Hollow Court, by Bethany Atazadeh
In this most recent novel by Bethany Atazadeh, a high school girl, Brynn, finds her life turned completely upside-down when her mom is taken by the Fae. When Brynn's father and sisters are taken as well, Brynn follows everyone into the Fae realm so that she can figure out where they are and how to save them. Along the way, she meets a mismatched group of Fae led by Soren, a character who gives off slight Mr. Darcy vibes. Brynn has to decide if she can trust Soren and his friends to help her find her family and determine an escape plan. This book was absolutely delightful and I loved how it was a little intense at parts and kept me guessing, but it was also just a cozy, no-spice fae romance adventure book. And the cover is amazing! I loved this book and I am so excited to read the next one! (Liar is part of a series of standalone-but-interconnected-books)
Thank you so much for joining me this month! If you have any recommendations, please drop them in the comments!
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