Private Rites | 
pickLast weekend was the perfect time to read this book set in a future London where it rains, and rains. It is a story of 3 sisters in a drowning London, and there is an ominous tone throughout - though my one critique is that this could have been ramped up a bit. I liked that the sisters are not great people but also not terrible, you never wish bad for them but you also can find them a bit frustrating (in I thought a good interesting way)
4.25/5
"Irene had at one point found herself typing 'I basically think the one job you have as a parent is to give your kid a childhood they don't have to recover from' and then wondering why on earth she was saying this to someone she barely knew"
bailedArmfield's writing is beautiful, but this is too sad and slow-moving for me right now. I'd say I'll try to return to it, but tbh I probably won't! The #audiobook narrator has a very sexy voice, so it does have that going for it.
pickI‘m officially a fan of Armfield‘s writing after this book. Even better than Our Wives Under the Sea, which I also loved, this story is equally claustrophobic. She really knows how to get under your skin. Her theme of water shows up again here in ways that hit very close to home and form the foundation of this disturbing and compelling story. I couldn‘t put it down.
pickThe newest from Julia Armfield is a lot of things I‘m not inherently drawn to— dystopian eco-horror and family drama—and yet I ate up every moment. With lyrical, and ominous, prose Armfield returns us to explorations of isolation and water symbolism, this time with King Lear thrown in. The character study here is exquisite. And the addition of the city as a character provides a contrast to the zoomed-in domestic drama. https://youtu.be/QU4IcOFYdgo
I decided my reading goal for 2025 is to focus on reading my physical collection. I have so many books in my little apartment. This shelf alone is two deep.
Also, even though I read 100 books this year, I'm going to set my reading goal on goodreads and StoryGraph to 80 books. I'm hoping that will encourage me to read some of my thicker books that take more time.
I had planned on just getting The Serpent and the Wolf in my December #aardvarkbookclub box, but then re-read the description of Private Rites and decided I want to read that one too.
Also again expressing my love for their creativity for the Aardvark logo on the cover. I noticed while looking at this picture that the circle of the logo on The Serpent and the Wolf matches the O in Wolf. It's the little things.
The December books make their official appearance at last, including signed copies of UNDER LOCH AND KEY✍️✨
#aardvarkbookclub #privaterites #alterego #theresurrectionist #underlochandkey #theserpentandthewolf #whatitslikeinwords
What did everyone get from @AardvarkBookClub this month?? I almost picked The Resurrectionists, but I‘m really excited about these!! I‘ve been wanting to try Armfield again. The other two weren‘t on my radar but sound up my alley. #aardvark
pickThis book explores 3 adult sisters as their father has just died, looking at their current, somewhat strained relationships and their childhood. All this in the setting of a cli-fi, climate change impacted world as well as maybe something odd going on. I wish the oddness had been explored a bit more, as I feel it would have helped build tension to the ending, but this was good.
pickA dystopian climate disaster forces three estranged sisters to deal with the end of the world, society's deterioration, family dynamics, capitalism, greed, self-interest, and their own queerness in this novel inspired by the Shakesperean play King Lear.
