pickAfter reading Water I moved immediately to this book and for a short book (148 pages) it dealt with a lot of big issues such as sexuality, sex work, abuse, and guilt. Again, a difficult read (and at times I struggled with the timeline of this book and how it fit with the previous, loosely connected book). Still, I am interested in finishing the series.
pickI‘m kicking myself because i had almost finished this book and then the library insisted i bring it back 😂 But it was probably the best collection of short stories I‘ve ever read! That is - if you like authors like Barbara Pym, Anita Brookner, maybe Penelope Lively. These are frequently bittersweet stories where the main character is a woman, often an older woman, and they focus on love and grief and ageing and mistakes and chances lost and ⬇️
You logophiles and Francophiles might like this story:
I was at my coffee shop in this sweater today and the barista asked me what it meant
After I taught him to pronounce the word I say "Ennui, French for sort of morose..."
Him: "Isn't morose French?"
Me "It is but this is like, more so, but without the anger."
?
Let me be your French teacher! I am on the ball
pickIn this installment a pair of famous footballers are on trial for rape. We follow our MC, Evan, as he takes stock of his life and how he ended up in this situation.
As always, Boyne makes us take a hard look at the consequences of life‘s choices, be it those that we make or those that have been made for us.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
On to Fire! 🔥
pick3.8/5 🌟
Not as good as the first book, but still engaging and worth the read.
pickHaving opened her short review of English diarists by categorising them as bores, O'Brien proves to be a lively guide to those of us who omit no detail of an anecdote, commenting that those qualities which in person are deadly dull as we have no polite escape, in written form are fascinating as we have the choice of reprieve & of skipping over.
The only diarist I'm inclined to explore further is 19th century governess Ellen Weeton, though her 👇🏼
I'm a day late, but I couldn't miss the final AP List for #threelistthursday!
6 that had an impact (and all have stories attached)
🩵 The Waste Land
🩵 Things Fall Apart
🩵 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
🩵 The Stranger
🩵 A Separate Peace
🩵 Waiting for Godot
1 Confession:
I've never read To Kill a Mockingbird. Nor have I seen the movie. (I know, I know. On both fronts.)
#tlt @dabbe
"Let me begin with the hard saying that the best English diaries have been written by bores."
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
A brief (48 pages) overview of some key diaries and journals from English history up to contemporary (i.e., 1943) times by Irish writer, Kate O'Brien.
It has 8 colour plates and 19 b&w illustrations, and is number 55 in an extensive series of books covering many aspects of English culture and history. Trying *very* hard for this series not to become a collecting "special interest"! ???
