Throwback Thursday

“Throwback Thursday” is a meme hosted by Renee at It’s Book Talk. It provides opportunities for bloggers to share old favourites or highlight old posts. I have decided to highlight books that I read and reviewed in August 2019.

Half a Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang – ★★★★★ – SEE REVIEW

I still think Half a Lifelong Romance is a fine novel, though I have also recently discovered that Chang might have relied too much on the novel H. M. Pulham, Esq. by John P. Marquand to craft her story and characters. I have not read it, so I cannot say for sure, but I do want to read The Late George Apley [1937] by the same author, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. I have also since read Chang’s novella Red Rose, White Rose, but found it rather lukewarm.

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer – ★★★★1/2 – SEE REVIEW

I have such fond memories reading this book, and still consider it a perfect summer read – intelligent and emotional. In my review, I said that “The Interestings is almost nostalgic, slightly dreamy book filled with emotions, longings and reflections, making the reader pose and reflect as they step into the lives of six people who all first long to be better than they are – or, interesting – but whose different life choices, talent, past and backgrounds ultimately determine their place in the world”. However, since then I have not had any desire to pick up another Meg Wolitzer novel.

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim – ★★★★ – SEE REVIEW

This is a story about a fatal accident that occurred at Pak’s treatment facility that uses oxygen treatments, and one main suspect emerges. I recall I loved the unusual circumstances of the mystery case (an unconventional oxygen treatment), multiple perspectives narrative, and the focus on one immigrant family. Apparently, Angie Kim published at least two other books since then – Happiness Falls [2023], which focuses on a Korean-American family in Virginia and the disappearance of a father and his son, and A Planned Occasion [2023], which is about memories, grief and regrets, and about a woman who finds a picnic basket in a closet and is determined to recreate the picnic the family never had. I am still on the fence whether to pick up any of them.

A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick – ★★★★ – SEE REVIEW

I enjoyed this one very much. In this story Philip K. Dick blended “Agatha Christie’s infamous And Then There Were None premise with his own colourful world and perception ideas to produce an engaging story of fourteen people who find themselves on a remote and strange planet Delmark-O…and in danger – a mysterious force is also on the planet and is seemingly killing them one by one.” I have read a number of other novels by the author since then, but do not have any on my TBR list at the moment. I do want to read his short stories, though. There is a collection titled The Best of Philip K. Dick [1977], and it sounds great. I probably get to it very soon, and will treat it as a “substitute” of a sort since I did not really enjoy a similar offering from Kurt Vonnegut – Welcome to the Monkey House [1968], which I started reading, but DNFed.