To round out the bottom half of my Top 10, we have a novel by a best-selling author, and a rare non-fiction appearance that fed my obsession with octopus.
#6 – The Dutch House by Ann Patchett – Ann Patchett can write a compelling novel on just about any topic. In The Dutch House, she focuses on a family who becomes wealthy, and spends part of their life in a beautiful mansion in Pennsylvania. But things don’t last forever in this world, and the two adult children, Maeve and Danny find themselves unceremoniously banished from their childhood home to make their own way in the world. Danny narrates this tale, but Maeve is the powerful presence, beloved guardian, fierce force of nature. The hold the house has over this family is a strong one, even as past secrets emerge, and future lives are built.
There aren’t a whole lot of novels that focus on the relationship between a brother and a sister, and Patchett really does a great job capturing this one. I enjoyed watching Maeve and Danny grow up and deal with past regrets, new loves, the rise, fall and rise again of fortunes, and well… life. And in Ann Patchett’s hands, it also makes for one top notch novel.
#5 – The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery – I have become obsessed with the octopus. I had already decided that I just couldn’t eat them anymore because they’re so smart, someone suggested I read The Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery. I’m not a big non-fiction reader, but Montgomery’s book and the octopus itself, is so fascinating, so compelling, that I just devoured this.
As a naturalist, and author of twenty books about the animal world, when a growing interest about this mysterious cephalopod emerged, Montgomery was able to dive full-force into an investigation that yielded results she couldn’t have imagined. Commuting from her cabin in the New Hampshire woods, Montgomery became a fixture at the New England Aquarium, studying and yes, befriending a series of octopus who taught here that there are still so many things that man just doesn’t understand, not the least of which is that intelligence and consciousness housed in a creature so alien to us that they’re nearly impossible to fathom. Whether she was communing with the giant Pacific Octopus on exhibit at the aquarium, or cavorting with wild octopus in the Caribbean after learning how to scuba dive, Montgomery’s experiences changed her life.
The cast of characters, both cephalopod and human, in The Soul of an Octopus are brought so thoroughly to life by Montgomery’s writing, that I truly feel as though I know them. Never has anything made me want to explore the undersea world so much, something that is inherently terrifying for me. I don’t think I’m going to learn to scuba dive anytime soon, but you can bet I’ll be visiting the Aquarium in the near future.
10. Leading Men by Christopher Castellani – How I wanted to love this book the way I love Mr. Castellani. Critics and casual readers alike fell all over themselves praising this novel that looked back at the life of Tennessee Williams, and particularly, his on again off again lover Frank Merlo. Let me preface all of this by saying I’m not a fan of historical fiction at all, nor am I exceptionally interested in Tennessee Williams. I should also point out that I started reading this book on October 8, 2018, and didn’t finish it until February 24, 2019, which should tell you something. I just couldn’t get into it.
9. The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships and Other Freedoms in Sex and Love by Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy – Easton and Hardy’s book, originally written in 1997 and revised most recently in 2017 is been widely accepted as the bible on polyamory and open relationships. It is an easy-to-read, sex-positive book that posits lots of alternatives to the societal norm of monogamy. It addresses sexual relations for all types or relationships, both gay and straight. Polyamory is much more accepted in today’s culture, especially with millennials, and it makes a lot of sense. But it’s hard.