I don't recall where I first heard of this book, but I know it was in the last month or so, likely on a podcast of some kind. Needing a book to fill the language category, this seemed like a timely fit, and promised (according to the cover) to describe "how the language of the... Continue Reading →
All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days, by Rebecca Donner. Pub 2021
I can't remember when or where I first heard of this book, but it would have been last fall sometime, as I bought a copy for myself and sent a copy to a friend. Rebecca Donner is the great-great-niece of Mildred Harnack, an American woman who married a German economist and moved to Berlin in... Continue Reading →
Transcription, by Kate Atkinson. Pub 2018
I have a few Kate Atkinson's on my shelf. I've "read" (on Audible) a few other books of hers, and especially enjoyed Life After Life. She is also a mystery writer, with the Jackson Brodie series (also quite good). I wanted to try her in print so see if she's as enjoyable, and delightfully, she is.... Continue Reading →
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Pub 1859
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, rendered into English verse by Edward Fitzgerald. Originally published in 1859 (1st ed.), my copy from 1960. My current favourite podcast is Backlisted, and I may shortly breakdown and get a paid subscription just so I can get some of my favourite features, including a list of all books mentioned on the... Continue Reading →
Washington Black, by Edi Edugyan. Pub 2018
I've had this one on my shelves for a while now, and recall starting it at least once but getting distracted from it as it seemed to be going in a very bleak direction. But a few months ago, another reader friend mentioned having finished and enjoyed it, so up it rose in my own... Continue Reading →
The End of Men, by Christina Sweeney-Baird. Pub 2021
This was an impulse bargain buy at the local bookshop. It looked like a companion piece to The Power, with a different premise but same subject matter: what would the world look like if men were no longer in charge. A key difference: this book was much better. Spoiler alert for the rest of this report.... Continue Reading →
Mrs. Bridge, by Evan S. Connell. Pub 1959
This was a recommendation from two years ago from my book club partner. I got it a few months later and made a few false starts on it last year. This year, I got stuck in and enjoyed it. The novel has 117 short chapters that provide vignettes and vantage points to an ordinary and... Continue Reading →
Tauhou, by Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall. Pub 2023
This was an impulse purchase last month when picking up some other books. I've been encountering situations with Indigenous communities and relations more and more in my work, and so this book seemed like perhaps a timely way to engage with those, however obliquely. However, the author herself proscribes such engagement, saying in the afterword,... Continue Reading →
Three Bags Full, by Leonie Swann. Pub 2005. Translation by Anthea Bell, pub 2006
Meet Miss Mapple, Othello, Zora, and Mopple the Whale, all members of the flock of sheep of one George Glenn, very recently deceased. Putting their sheepy brains together, these remarkable ovines detect and deduce their way to solving the mystery of George's death, while learning even more about humans and life. The people of the... Continue Reading →
Trying Not to Try, by Edward Slingerland. Pub 2014
Is this familiar? You're trying to remember something and it's on the tip of your tongue but you just can't get it. You try hard to think of it, but get more frustrated, and the answer seems even more elusive. Then, as soon as you think about something else, the answer comes to you. Or... Continue Reading →
