👆 The physical books I read this year that I didn‘t have to give back

Finally, and a bit late, my 2025 in review. Highlights here. Favorites in the comments

74 📚 617 hours 📖, 202 hours🎧

34 from 2020 or later. 5 were pre-1900. Faulkner and Wharton led to a bit from the 1930's and 1940s.

36 from the Booker Prize lists, including both longlists

+20 TBR increase ( 82 acquired vs 62 crossed off)

Gender: 31/42 m/f

Not a very exciting ebook cover, but this is the book I‘m starting next

Cat‘s getting ready. This is a reminder. Two weeks till our first chat on chapters 1-4 - Saturday, Jan 24. (I‘ll start next weekend) #whartonbuddyread

#storygraphshare

https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/graywacke?redirect=true

“she cried, as a sleeper in the night, starts and stretches a hand in the dark for help. “

—-

(I‘m enraptured by the intensity of Virginia Woolf‘s Mrs. Dalloway. Pup less so)

ok - so I want to tell you about Atwood's first novel, how the second wave of feminism plays in it, but also, mainly, the humor. This is a really fun, and funny, look at a serious problem - for Marian and for the world, relevant today.

I tried here: https://www.librarything.com/work/32423/reviews/301213285

It‘s terrific and I loved it.

Can you feel the intensity? (Apparently it gives off warmth to a dozing cold 6 lb kitty.)

But, really, this gets intense. I did not see it coming, as it opens with perfect prose and moves by the magic of Kitamura words. She doesn‘t only do cerebral. She can wound you.

Cats and books (and black on black). I‘m reading Kitamura‘s second novel from 2012. Very interesting so far.

(Pepper showing her enthusiasm for nature writing)

Not at all what I expected. A book of a free, if orphaned, childhood in a small Idaho town surrounded by the American wilderness. It's hard and confusing for these two girls, and beautiful. The prose is beautiful. Let loose by the girl's own freedom, the prose creates texture, breathes, sets pace, moves the reader. It's really special.

One of my best books of the year.

(Sleepy cat on lap review 2)

Dougal Douglas may be the devil, although realizing so won't help you any. He comes to Peckham and wreaks suburban corporate havoc. Breakdowns, failed marriages, violence. All in a day's work.

Spark has a lovely humor on the wry side, if not Rye. I think of it as a Spark-yness. This 1960 novel has extra-heavy wry humor. Is it too much? Probably not for Spark lovers.

Gurnah takes us into contemporary Zanzibar, in Tanzania, with a look at contemporary colonialism and cultural theft. I felt the drama was a little delayed. But once this gets going, I was very attached to these characters, and thought it was terrific.

#whartonbuddyread

Who is up for Hermione Lee‘s biography of Edith Wharton? It‘s a chunkster (pictured above next to a 6 lb cat for size). While the book has 900 pages, many are notes. So a mere 760 pages of narrative. Comment if you want to join.

Proposed discussion schedule:

January 24: Chapters 1-4
January 31: Chapters 5-8
February 7: Chapters 9-11
February 14: Chapters 12-14
February 21: Chapters 15-17
February 28: Chapters 18-20

Infamously unrevealing, but Wharton‘s voice was gorgeous. Her prose magnificent. What she does tell us, including extensively about Henry James, is magical. All of it. She captures a world that existed before WWI, the experience of that war, and her personal devastation afterwards as she realizes that pre-war world is lost.

I wrote a long review here: https://www.librarything.com/work/46322/reviews/261461607

#whartonbuddyread

Because some of us need more Marilynne.

The girls trying to get their aunt to tell them about their deceased mom. Then there‘s this juxtaposition!

Started this on the plane today. It‘s about time i tried it. The prose is gorgeous so far. I‘m

Toibin rewrote Antigone entirely from Esmene‘s perspective. That is Antigone‘s sister, who doesn‘t want to create trouble, like Antigone does, but also deeply loves her sister. It‘s highly regarded and free and only 1:04 on audible. But I‘m not the biggest fan. I didn‘t feel it added much to what Sophocles and his English translators have already said.

This is Antigone, but it‘s relocated to contemporary Britain. Antigone is Aneeka, and she has a twin brother. They‘re Pakistani Brit who grew up in north London. Her brother has left England to join Isis. Creon becomes a potential prime minister of Pakistani descent. His son Eamon has an unfortunate girlfriend. Esma, Aneeka‘s sister, a phd student, has a unexpected role here, and i think it makes the book. Anyway excellent

A reread. I think the power of this play lies in its implied questions and its sense of rebellion.

This time reading it, the dramatic elements leapt out. How Antigone is more powerful by not making any practical sense but yet remaining true to her form. How king Creon is undermined by making complete sense, because he wraps himself in pride that gets tighter and more fragile, setting up a kind of self-destruct button. Good stuff

A Backward Glance

Chapter XII widening waters
Chapter XIII The War
Chapter XIV And After
#whartonbuddyread

I didn‘t realize how much the war broke Wharton. Nor how much great stuff she wrote during and in its wake. Arguably, she never wrote as well after this stage.

What were thoughts on Whartons take before during and after WWI? And on the book as a whole (published 1934)?

I know my Wharton buddies are waiting, but first I must allow Sir Thomas Malory to overlepyth a whyle. Then later dearest Edith and WWi and the end of her world. Morning all, from Houston.

I have a little piler of short books lined up to finish the year. This one is 1st. From 1960

Wrong time period, but at least she‘s in Paris 👆

A Backward Glance
#whartonbuddyread

Today:
IX The Secret Garden
X London
XI Paris

Dec 13: finish

On writing House of Mirth
“The answer was that a frivolous society can acquire dramatic significance only through what its frivolity destroys. Its tragic implication lies in its power of debasing people and ideals.”

I‘m smitten all. What are your thoughts?

A Backward Glance - VI-VIII
(Next, Dec 6 IX-XI)
#whartonbuddyread

Wharton‘s early works, through House of Mirth, but more about her “inner group” - with Walter Berry, and a magical section on Henry James:

“these elaborate hesitancies…were like a cobweb bridge flung from his mind to theirs, an invisible passage over which one knew that silver-footed ironies, veiled jokes, tiptoe malices, were stealing to explode a huge laugh at one's feet.”

Finally reading this 1960 novel, a classic of sorts. My 1st by Updike. He could write a sentence and drive a novel forward. 1950‘s social mores might give us quivers. But they‘re no match for Rabbit, an impulsive wrecking ball. There is a horror-fascination draw to this.

After a lot of tough books, I was encouraged to read this, and spend time in Salinas Valley, and fall in love with Sam Hamilton and Lee. I think I was supposed to worry about the two Cain and Abel stories, and sociopath Cathy Ames, but I was more interested in other things. Soul refreshing book with broad appeal. Fun and serious and so readable. Recommended

900 hundred pages of Faulkner is a lot. This is the 1951 National Book Award winner, but I didn‘t think it was good sample of Faulkner‘s stuff. It doesn‘t show, in my opinion, how could he can be. But it does occasionally show how frustrating he can be. Unfortunately I was beaten down by this. My favorite stories are at the end (some of which are his earliest stories), but i was kind of worn out by that point.

I dipped my toe into our latest Nobel winner. Yeah, long sentences with no clear purpose until later. This is a short playful one on the anxiety of fleeing. Just fleeing. No cause, no identity other than Croatian ports. No explanation until the very end. I struggled a little. I was entertained. I‘m a little intimidated about reading more by him. This one is a collaboration with illustrator and a musician.

In my review I said I liked everything about this except reading it. Terrific relatable characters, ideas, purposes with wonderful settings in different parts of India and elsewhere, and a striking story arc. Sonia and Sunny are Indians raised to be American and end up not fitting anywhere. The novel is long and wants to be read at a regular pace. The prose is maybe too safe. Not sure. A lot went into this. My last from #Booker2025

In 1525, in the wake of Martin Luther‘s call for reformation, peasants began to rebel in southern Germanic states. With no army around, they had some success and got ahold of resources and the rebellion spread - until the mercenaries came. With Luther‘s blessing, they were slaughtered in the tens of thousands. The legend had different interpretations in East and West Germany, making it a touchy topic. Too much info is available here. 🙂 🎧

👆Land‘s End - Wharton‘s Newport RI home

A Backward Glance - Chapters I-V
(Next week, Nov 29, chapters VI-VIII )

Before Newport, there is Rome, Alhambra, Paris, Bad Wildbad (Germany), old brownstone Manhattan, Florence and a yacht tour of the Aegean. We also meet Egerton Winthrop, Ogden Codman, Walter Berry, and kinda/sorta Mr. Wharton. Lush stuff, presented as natural and even middle class. The leisure class world. Thoughts?

Lush life 2 - the books! #whartonbuddyread

Lush life. The food! #whartonbuddyread

#whartonbuddyread - I‘m finally starting. Chat Saturday!

What happens when a teenager marries for the money? Edith Wharton wrote this novella when she was 14. It was published posthumously.

I was surprised to see something of Wharton's prose voice already. Also she was really funny. Teenager sass, but still literary.

It has problems everywhere. But it's still fun, and I enjoyed reading it. #whartonbuddyread

Whoa. Ok. I‘m a Patricia Lockwood fan. I loved No One is Talking About this. I love how she thinks. But I found this stream of consciousness work barely readable, too self-indulgent, too needlessly difficult, too difficult. There were parts i got and parts i liked, but mostly I forced my way through what was nearly incoherent to me. (Probably the cat understands).

#whartonbuddyread - how committed are you? 🙂 Here‘s the plan for Wharton‘s notoriously unrevealing autobiography. We‘ll learn what she wants us to learn about her parents and Henry James, etc - I think.

Are you in?

Plan:
Nov 22 chapter I-V Friendship and Travels
Nov 29 chapter VI-VIII Henry James
Dec 6 chapter IX-XI Paris
Dec 13 chapter XII-XIV And After

So #whartonbuddyread - what did you think?

Edith Wharton wrote this novella (or novelette) in 1876/77 when she was 14. And she gave herself a man‘s name as author - David Olivieri.

I have things to say, but i‘ll wait to hear what others thought. I will leave you with one word: ‘and‘ - one of many missing ‘and‘s in the text. Please make free use of it, as needed or desired

Getting going… #whartonbuddyread

A terrific look into the personalities around the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953. James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins split a Nobel Prize in 1962. Rosalind Franklin, whose famous stolen x-ray photograph 51 provided a critical key, had died of ovarian cancer. But she was hardly mentioned. She was written out of the story. Later, Watson villainized her. This book attempts to correct the story.

A magnificent blending of Brookner complexity and the elevated language of the self-important.

Edith Hope goes to Switzerland to hide awhile after damaging her reputation with a scandal. She's an author of "romantic fiction", who hopes to get some writing done. Her hotel on the lake is half empty. She has landed in a cozy isolation. So, of course, she gets involved with the other guests. Fun stuff.

I have an island thing. But this was lovely. It‘s also quick and fun, and sneakily informative. Ivar lives alone on an isolated island, and Scottish minister John Ferguson is sent to evict him. They don‘t speak the same language. Ivar speaks Norm (a now-extinct Shetland Island language). Still they end up bonding.

About the women authors who most influenced Austen, from the perspective of a reader reading them for the first time - who is also a rare book trader (featured on Pawn Stars)

This book made me want to read them: Francis Burney‘s Evalina. Ann Radcliffe‘s The Mysteries of Udolpho. Charlotte Lenox‘s The Female Quixote. Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, Maria Edgeworth…

Terrific on 🎧!

I have Virginia Woolf plans. Ok, more accurately, I have plans to make Virginia Woolf plans. Anyway, this was a juvenile-targeted biography. And still, the names were overwhelming. A nice quick introduction to her very remarkable life.

In 1877, at the age of 15, she secretly wrote a novella, Fast and Loose. (Here she is pictured at ~22) We‘ll discuss it next weekend, Oct 18. #whartonbuddyread

I found this on the 2025 Cundill history prize shortlist. Now listening. 🎧

Hi #Whartonbuddyread

How does a Fast and Loose discussion on Oct 18 sound?

Note: the only easy way to get the book is on amazon through their kindle edition of the collected works of Edith Wharton for $1 (usa - link: https://a.co/d/fdvZX12 )Otherwise it‘s hard to find.

While reading a 950-page edition of Thomas Malory, and the 900-page Collect Stories of William Faulkner, and waiting for The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny (came yesterday!), I‘ve started this wonderful 1984 Booker winner.

If now is everything, Pepper has chosen to use it for an afternoon snooze.

My 12th from the #Booker longlist is one to read slowly and carefully. Layered and indirect. Teresa returns to a coastal town in Greece to mourn and read Homer. And she instead spends a lot of time insinuating herself into the private lives of locals. The reader has to work out the actual story and what she‘s doing. Recommended, but know it‘s difficult.
#Booker2025

Trying a new audiobook, currently free on audible.

My 11th #Booker is one I really fell for and adore. Thomas Flett scrapes for shrimp at low tide with a horse and nets. He's feels old, but he‘s only 20. Then someone comes and gets him inspired.

That prose. We get excited when Tom gets excited, reserved when he's suspicious, won over when he's somehow won over, and we're steady and accepting when he is. And yet it's never too much.

I feel good recommending it to anyone.
#Booker2025