Easter reading view.
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Have I become that person who purchases a book because of its embossed cover and glorious end papers? Yes, yes I have.
Have I become that person who purchases a book because of its embossed cover and glorious end papers? Yes, yes I have.
I have quite a low tolerance for body horror, particularly mishaps involving teeth. So the fact I‘ve now hit my third book of the year where a character‘s teeth start dropping out en masse has left me worried about what‘s yet to come😩
Because who doesn‘t need some perversity on a wet Sunday morning.
An examination of romantic male friendship in early American literature as an expression of sympathy: “There is something mysterious about sympathy. It allows us to bridge a gap that seems as though it ought to be unbridgeable. It allows us to feel emotions that are not ours.” 🤓 #sundayreading
I had minimal interest in reading anything by Amor Towles, but was in the mood was some Gatsby-esque fiction and picked up Rules Of Civility on a whim. And LOVED it. I‘m currently making my way through A Gentleman In Moscow and so far it‘s even better.
The world may be in a state of disarray (aka going to hell in a handbasket) but on the upside: Murderbot 😍
#saturdayreading
I‘ve been for an early walk along the river, had an almond croissant for breakfast, opened some book parcels, and am now catching up on the adventures of Merrily Watkins. It‘s been years since I read one, and I‘d forgotten how engrossing the series is. With excellent dialogue.
Last weekend I tackled Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (558 pages), now I‘m soldiering on through Arcadia by Iain Pears. I‘m enjoying it very much indeed, but still. All the pages, just all the pages.
#sociallydistantwalking
Listening to Magic For Liars on audio, because I hated The Book Of Joan by Lydia Yuknavitch but loved the narration by Xe Sands.
Somewhere in the multiverse, Thoreau wrote The Secret History; Or Millennials On A Commune.
Tuesday night it was announced that haircuts would be limited to 30 minutes. Since there‘s no way I could maintain my existing hair, I shaved it off on the Wednesday. Lockdown ready. Thursday the government removed the 30 minute rule again. Answering questions about my hair just leveled up to the length of Wolf Hall: “Okay, so you know on Tuesday night when...”
Nearly finished this one, and it‘s both beautiful and terrible. Edmund Burke‘s concept of the “sublime” springs to mind.
The great shelving project of 2020 has begun...I was going to wait until Easter break, but the empty shelves were whispering “fill me” and since I‘m not keen on having my life descend into some sort of bad pseudo-erotica novel, here I am. Shelving. 😁
Goodness, long time no post. Work has been insanely busy and on top of that I bought an apartment. Which has been great, but also kind of exhausting and stressful. But...on the upside: my new bookshelf 😁
Favourites from the first half of 2019...a surprising amount of backlist!
Slightly less thrilling are the curlews that spend the night wailing back and forth at each other - it started off as a single bird, however it‘s now found a friend. 😑
An unsettling combination of the brutal, obsessive, beautiful, and tragic...and so very, very good. The protagonist, Jacob Cullen, is a man you‘d sprint a mile from in real life (and bolt the doors behind you, quick smart), but as a character he hooks you in.
TW for sexual violence (and just violence generally, tbh).
One of my goals this year is to try and reduce the number of unread books I own, because it‘s reaching epidemic proportions. This one has been hanging around for far too long, so the time has come to pick it up.
#saturdaymorning #yoga 🙃
Now I‘m going to try and finish The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle, which is proving a more arduous endeavour than I initially anticipated.
A fascinating look at the historical / sociological function of ghosts. So much love for Colin Dickey. Although in my mind, there‘s now a crossover universe between Ghostland and Afterlives of the Saints. The ghosts of early Christian hermits, maybe...that no one quite remembers, because hermits.
I don‘t even remember ordering this, but in any event voila! It arrived in the post today - an experimental novel consisting of various parts which are intended to be shuffled and read in random permutations.
I just happened to wander into a bookstore and The Binding followed me home. It‘s found a relation in The Chimes by Anna Smaill.
The Christmas before last, I gave my mum a Tana French novel, which was a big success. Last Christmas was Ruth Ware...I‘m feeling the pressure for December already 😆
pickUgh, now I have such a book hangover (although in the best possible way).
I‘m only halfway through, and I know it‘s *way* too early to be thinking about favourite books of 2019, but I‘m LOVING this. You know those books you read at a feverish pace, unable to stop, while already anxious that in another few hundred pages there won‘t be any more? Yeah, that.
Trying to improve my short story game and hoping this one does the trick (aka: I haven‘t read a short story collection in the best part of...15 years? IDEK). Plus, the cover is gorgeous.
I loved The City & The City and Embassytown, but hit the wall with Perdido Street Station. So I‘m switching gears.
I‘ve been looking forward to this one. And since summer seems to have arrived with an uninvited bang (woe), lying in the shade with a book seems like the perfect activity for this afternoon.
I typed “Binti” (by Nnedi Okorafor) into Amazon, which autocorrected to “Hinting”, which in turn produced the hidden gem that is “Guide To Advanced Turkey Hunting”. Not just any old turkey hunting, but *advanced* turkey hunting. If the apocalypse arrives, I‘ll be set.
so-soA stylised, surreal and gothic ghost story set in a “temporary holding facility with mandatory educational elements” for orphaned boys. Lord of the Flies x The Turn of the Screw x um, Scooby Doo? It didn‘t entirely work for me, but hurrah for a commitment to the weird!
I‘m only a few chapters in, but so far it‘s quite fascinating. And also a bit alarming, when it dawns that de-extinction may in some cases involve the creation of new hybrid animals. For example, less of a resurrected mammoth and more of a genetically engineered elephant designed to flourish in the wilds of Siberia. 🐘 I‘m not sure that‘s entirely sensible, tbh.
The descriptions in this book are an utter delight. Evocative in a way that has me stopping to re-read, without becoming overblown. Another early favourite is, “[clothes made] of a wool that had never managed to look un-sheeply”.
First, I had minimal time to read because of work. And then, when work took a breath, I found myself in a reading slump. I‘d read twenty pages of this, that, and the other, and give up on all of them. At which point Clare Mackintosh rode to the rescue. Good old Clare Mackintosh!
pickAn excellent, investigative account of Theranos, a Silicon Valley startup that had supposedly developed new blood testing tech...only it hadn‘t. And what little it had developed didn‘t work properly! It‘s mind boggling. Completely and utterly BOGGLING.
At around a third of the way in, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, the pages are flying past and the writing style is engaging. On the other are passages like this one. I find it difficult to believe that a 17 year old who‘s just had an argument with her first boyfriend would, in the midst of emotional upset, stop to ponder her response as part of a “predetermined female role”. Ugh.
1. Okay, so: not a book, but Supernatural fanfic. Yup.
2. Watching the director‘s commentary on Pacific Rim, because Guillermo del Toro, even though I‘ve never actually watched the movie itself...
3. Chips from Red Rooster - all that salty, fatty goodness 😁
4. Anyone who would like to, consider yourself tagged.
And thank you @CarolynM for tagging me! #tuesdaytidbits
pickThis is just the kind of (truly) peculiar true crime I enjoy: a young flautist breaking into the British Museum of Natural History to steal bird skins. Welcome to the the secretive, underground world of men obsessed with feathers and the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. IDEK.
Squeezing in some dinosaur history before heading off to an aerial yoga class. Because dinosaurs.
I love this time of year - the weather is cool and the sky stretches huge and blue. I picked up “Relatively Famous” on a whim and at a little over halfway through, am really enjoying it. It‘s a quiet novel about parents and children, and what it means to be present.
It‘s a public holiday here, so I‘ve ordered breakfast (sweet potato fritters with avocado and salsa) and am settling in for a day of reading. I adored The Song of Achilles and am so looking forward to this one!
#newin 😍
I should be working (bleurgh, to quote the 10th Dr), but am instead reading about early Christian saints who had a penchant for climbing up tall pillars or poles and living there. On top of a pole. As you do 😧
