"The Wedding People" by Alison Espach (2024)

 

Branching into other genres that I normally go for sounds like it could be fun - in theory. 

And than, there are mistakes, misconceptions and simply wrong choices.

Note to myself: remember not to follow blindly any random suggestions by "The Guardian" or even "Goodreads" whose audience gave this book a "Goodreads Choice Award" for the "Readers' Favorite Fiction of 2024". In short, do not pay any attention to what other people read and simply follow your own intuition, choose your own reading path and never mind awards. I don't remember when was the last time I disliked the book so much (maybe "Behold the Man" by Michael Moorcock that I threw away across the room in disgust back in 2016), I really suffered with this one. You see, I expected something fluffy, a light summer read and perhaps something entertaining or witty that would even make me smile. After all, it earned widespread acclaim as something refreshing, clever and very funny. It was not and I disliked it immensely, but found myself stuck with it and didn't want to admit defeat so I read the darn thing to the end (halfway trough I switched to audio book just to speed it up little bit). While I understand that the author invested her time and energy into this + there are obviously readers who love this type of book, it was not for me. 

For the sake of reminding myself of what I just suffered trough, I will write down just the frame of the story, just so it never ever cross my mind to read it or this author again. A middle aged literature professor Phoebe checks in a luxurious hotel (that she admired in some brochures a while ago) with intention to kill herself. You see, her life, her career and her marriage are all falling apart and she disappears without saying a word to anyone, with only one wish, to enjoy the last night on this earth in a luxury. What she does not know is that the rest of hotel is full of week-long wedding party and somehow she got sucked into it, mostly by efforts of incredibly selfish, egoistic and self-centred bride Lila who insist that her wedding must be perfect and nothing, absolutely nothing should spoil it. Phoebe not only ends up being invited as maid of honour but - being an outsider - has a different perspective and soon everybody starts confiding in her, like she is some wise woman full of knowledge and wisdom, not a depressed suicidal frump she was in previous chapter. The book is built on totally chick lit premise but nothing here worked for me, probably because I am not a target audience - most of the plot and characters were simply either unconvincing or annoying to me. It even baffles me how on earth anybody could find this "favourite fiction of 2024" but than again, as I said, my reading path is uniquely my own and perhaps I should just continue following my own guts.

"Destry Rides Again" by Max Brand (1930)

 

OK so 2026 is definitely a year I started exploring a genre I have never ever even approached before and that is western. In the past, I associated it with a pulp novels my stepfather used to read and I guess it fits with his generation (he was post WW2 child, raised on John Wayne movies) - honestly, before 2026 the only western novel I ever read was "Betty Zane" by zane Grey. Funny enough, as I started my reading in January 2026, it was exactly revisit to that same "Betty Zane" (a few decades later) that gave me lots of joy and inspired me to explore the genre a bit more. Being systematic Virgo as I am, I made a list of what are classic examples of the genre (in chronological order) and carefully started exploring some more. I suffered a bit trough now extremely dated writing style of both "The Virginian" (1902) and "Hopalong Cassidy 1: Bar-20" (1906) although I enjoyed them both once I disciplined myself into reading - I simply knew that I have to continue until I reach something published in more recent times. So I totally skipped 1920s (something to explore?) and jumped straight to 1930 when this novel was published.

Just as I expected, writing is much more to my liking and to be honest, this might be one of the most enjoyable westerns I have read so far in 2026. Even though Owen Wister and Clarence Edward Mulford are celebrated as classics of the genre, I doubt that anyone reads them for pleasure these days. Max Brand (the pseudonym used by writer Frederick Schiller Faust) on the other hand, is a full blown western pulp fiction told in a exciting, much more modern language (I didn't get a headache like previously with above mentioned novels) and therefore easier to follow. In fact, it was just a perfect escapism, with lots of posturing, shooting, horse riding and all. 

Not to be confused with 1939. Hollywood movie of the same name, "Destry Rides Again" is basically a revenge novel, kind of western Count Monte Christo. At the very beginning we are introduced to swaggering and hotheaded Harrison Destry who is jailed for a crime he did not commit and the local jury of twelve men (all of them holding a grudge against him) sentence him to ten years in prison. Its clear they simply hate him for who he is and to be honest he was a troublemaker who loved to get drunk and fight, but surely this is not deserving ten years in prison. The novel really gets going when Destry gets out the jail and how he searches each single person from that jury to punish them for what they did to him. There is also a intriguing fact that the man he considers his best friend is secretly the main antagonist, so this works out very well. For once, we have no Indians, though they are some black slaves mentioned (in a extremely derogatory way that today we consider offensive, but it was obviously accepted in 1930). I enjoyed this a lot and read the book in a short period of time. I am also glad that I left the historical ancestors behind and now arrived at the point where I can easily follow the language. It's not a high literature, but a very very pleasant pulp fiction and a pure escapism.