Faves of 2019 #adventrecommends Dec 6

I fear that the title might put people off. It's not a how-to, but a slow, detailed meditation on screen damage and the commodification of attention. Detailed, textual, factual, and philosophical ... I love a book that makes me consider the mundane in a different way.

@emilyrose_x

Faves of 2019 #adventrecommends Dec 5

Mind-blowing, kind of devastating, but also life-affirming. If a book could reach into your mind and shake things about in there, this one is it.

@emilyrose_x

Found on twitter. Can't not love Russian novels 😂

Faves of 2019 #adventrecommends Dec 4

A quiet, intimate novel by Danish author Ida Jessen, translated by Martin Aitken. Told mainly in diary entries, the book chronicles the life of a woman after her husband dies. Starting in the 1920s & going over the course of the years, primarily in the small rural environment of Thyregod, this book doesn't make a splash but leaves you with many beautifully-observed moments & feelings. Much like life itself.

I feel bad to have missed the first two days of #adventrecommends but I love the idea @emilyrose_x so I'm jumping in! I'm focusing on books I read in 2019 & highlighting the ones that were special.

This was a monster buddy read with @Lindy & friends & it was a totally bewildering, frustrating, complex, & beautiful experience from start to finish! I read the Dennis Washburn translation. I felt like I was living another life while reading this 💫

"Consciousness is a horror show" ?? I'm typically not a fan of AI/robot stories, so I was wary of this. But I was swept along with the premise & enjoyed it. It made me think of Shakespeare's "There are more things in heaven & earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy", from Hamlet. It made me think about the existence of god(s), the nature of their consciousness, & if they look at humans & ever feel fear. It's that kind of a story ?

#BookReport

Finished Judith Hearne for #NYRBbookclub & loved it ❤️💔

Also squeezed in these two novellas, Summer Frost & The Last Conversation & enjoyed both. Though I preferred the latter; Tremblay is an interesting writer & I will have to read more of his work.

#WeeklyForecast

Will attempt to read Year of Lear 👑

Not sure what else I'll fit in this week but I hope to start on my fun month of Christmassy mysteries🎄💀

@Cinfhen

An #amazing book made all the more amazing with the #littleraskols 😈 This is a great episode of In Our Time, with useful insight into both the writer & the book: https://bbc.in/2R271T0 One of the guests is Oliver Ready, whose translation is the version I read.

Thank you for an amazing era of musical photo challenges, @Cinfhen ! When I first joined Litsy it was how I felt welcome & made new bookish friends. I appreciate that so much ❤️ #MOvember

Just finished this read that's perfect for the #IllRemember prompt. This is the first I've read anything by Paul Tremblay & it's quite astonishing the levels of dread he managed to convey in a short story/novella. A person wakes up alone in a room, trying to remember, & it's slowly revealed the condition they're in. I felt a keen sense of desolation as I read this. The confusion & the low-key creepiness felt wholly dystopic. #movember @Cinfhen

This is #spinsterlit that rains on my one-woman spinster parade: bleak, dismal, & very affecting. Moore is a writer of many gifts & his characters practically leap off the page. Judith is a single, genteel Belfast woman now descending into less-than-genteel poverty. There's a cast of memorable characters, but this is about her abject descent & there appears to be no salvation in sight. Devastating, yet shot through with black humour. #nyrbbookclub

Had this on my wishlist after reading King Lear & kept thinking about it every so often—i.e. should I just go ahead a buy a copy online—when I popped into my favourite remainders store & saw it at a discounted price today. A mini #celebration when you find the book you want 😁🎉 And who am I to argue with the Book Gods when they practically put a book in your hands 😂

#MOvember @Cinfhen

The best #holiday book I've read. Joy, delight, quiet, rest, arguments, sadness, messiness, conviviality, & solitude. So beautiful.

#MOvember @Cinfhen

Willa Cather's writing continues to amaze me with its clarity & beauty. One quality of her prose is that it evokes the space & expanse of the Great Plains she writes about, but this book surprised me for being a terse, almost acerbic novella that gave me some serious Edith Wharton vibes. An intimate portrait of a lady that is also about the loss of innocence & what seems to be keen skepticism of the materialism brought upon by the economic boom.

Interesting nonfiction read about malaria; not only about the history of malaria & its implications but for how she outlines the failures & missteps of global health programmes ruled by capital.

#fever #MOvember @Cinfhen

#BookReport

🌠 Finished Klotsvog which was interesting but didn't quite move me, & King Lear which was madness & chaos & just superb
🌚 Read Black Light, a short story collection that's on the 2020 Tournament of Books longlist, but I was left indifferent #ToB

#WeeklyForecast

🌺 Started The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne for #NYRBbookclub & I'm already charmed
❓ Hope to fit in one more book this week but not sure what—can't wait to find out 😁

Trust Emily Dickinson to flip the switch, as it were, and describe a #rayoflight as oppressive, "like the heft of cathedral tunes" ?

#MOvember @Cinfhen

I'm not sure what it is with contemporary short story collections from the North American Anglosphere, but I often feel deflated/bored. This has received critical acclaim & good reviews, & there's no denying that King Parsons can write a perfect sentence. However, despite the raw, grimy atmosphere & focus on people on the margins, it still came off like a cool, nonchalant, workshopped to death collection that left me feeling empty. #ToB #netgalley

"All's cheerless, dark & deadly"—I feel ya, Kent.

I think I say this for every play, but this is one that's relevant for our times. I'm not sure how to review or do justice to this wild, uncontrollable play about power, love, honour, death, & madness. I feel like I walked very carefully to peer over the edge of the cliff & the next thing I know, Shakespeare gave me a shove. What can I say? I'm here for it. 5 ⭐

#ShakespeareReadAlong @GingerAntics

Remember raiding my sister's shelves for this one 😈🐆

#Hollywood #MOvember @Cinfhen

My current read features one of the most frustrating papas in literature. Setting up his daughters to commodify love, then feeling wronged when two of them are unable to realise value beyond ambition and self-obsession. But somehow, as we near to the end of the play, Shakespeare manages to make me feel for him, as well.

#papadontpreach #MOvember @Cinfhen

Klotsvog is translated from Russian by Lisa Hayden & gives a glimpse of how it was to be Jewish in the Soviet Union. Maya is a unique anti-heroine; beautiful, self-obsessed, & difficult. Her struggles as a Jewish woman & mother are both poignant & hard to take: Maya invites drama & grief into her life because of her character. The end is particularly moving & while I found the book's ironic tone compelling, I didn't warm to it totally. #netgalley

? "Oops, I guess I shot ya,
My finger's on the trigger
I had a bullet with your name on it,
Click-click" ?

#revolver #MOvember @Cinfhen

Martin thanks his #luckystar when he thinks he has found a Brueghel #masterpiece but it's not long before everything descends into a madcap chaotic farce.

I really enjoyed this novel by Frayn and cackled out loud a few times ... I should read more of his work.

#MOvember @Cinfhen

I can understand why this nonfiction novel broke boundaries & continues to affect readers. Capote's writing is assured & beautiful even for such a heavy subject. Like @merelybookish I'm curious about his writing process. It left me wanting to know more about Capote as a writer & the form of male violence this book looks at. My only issue is that my attention sometimes flagged when reading, but I reminded myself that this isn't "entertainment". ⬇️

Two blue books... The one on the right, Maggie Nelson's Bluets, I loved. The one on the left a gift from the lovely @merelybookish and one that I should read soon.

#trueblue #MOvember @Cinfhen

#BookReport

Surprised myself & finished:
A Lost Lady for #catherbuddyread
In Cold Blood for #readcoldblood
Act 4 of King Lear for #ShakespeareReadAlong.

Litsy University is good for me 😆 Also started the #netgalley ARC of Klotsvog, a bleak yet funny portrait of a self-absorbed Jewish woman in the Soviet Union.

#WeeklyForecast

👑 To finish Act 5 & complete King Lear
💄 Continue with Klotsvog
🌸 Start Judith Hearne for #NYRBbookclub

Double Teenage is about two American girls coming of age in the 90s, in a town close to the US-Mexico border. The reality of the killings of women in Juárez haunt their lives. The Femicide Machine is a searing piece of theoretical nonfiction on the systems in place that enable these murders. Making a Killing is an anthology of academic essays on Juárez covering a wide range of aspects. All are brilliant reads.

#borderline #MOvember @Cinfhen

This book left an impression on me when I was young. The snowy landscape & series of events leading to misunderstanding, heartbreak, & hate made me feel so sad for Lucien. I was looking it up & don't know how I'll feel about it if I read it now because of the religious message. But thinking back, the story affected me & brings back some visceral reactions: the cliffs, accidents, those wooden figures. So many memories! #frozen #MOvember @Cinfhen

"I dine, I play a game of backgammon, I converse, and am merry with my friends; and when after three or four hours' amusement, I would return to these speculations, they appear so cold, and strain'd, and ridiculous, that I cannot find in my heart to enter into them any farther."

David Hume on #PhilosopherProblems ?

Today's prompt apparently took me back to college philosophy class ??

#HumanNature #MOvember @Cinfhen

"Enough, my lord.

Invite me over, says Kabir,
Or come over yourself."

I love this book of devotional poetry by a 15th-century Indian mystic of the bhakti movement, rendered in a fresh, modern idiom in the English translation.

#LikeAPrayer #MOvember @Cinfhen

I'm not sure what the #future holds—and much of it is too scary to contemplate—but I think this much will remain true... 📚📚📚

#MOvember @Cinfhen

It's a classic for a reason & a lot different than what I expected! Riveting, cleverly-constructed Gothic fiction that also works as a mystery. Love the forms of text incorporated into the narrative. Underlying it are issues percolating around womanhood, female sexuality, & fear of Others. One of those interesting novels that is a compelling read despite the author's iffy politics (that was in view in full force in The Lair of the White Worm).

Not quite apocalyptic fiction, but these two noir novels about intense, doomed love/obsession convey a particular effect, like these couples exist all on their own in a #GhostTown. Both are brilliant reads heavy with mood and atmosphere.

#MOvember @Cinfhen

#BookReport

Finished Dracula & really enjoyed it! Dense & atmospheric.

Started A Lost Lady for the #catherbuddyread & continued on with King Lear for #ShakespeareReadAlong

#WeeklyForecast

To continue with both the Cather & Shakespeare, & to start In Cold Blood for the low-key buddy read with @merelybookish @readordierachel @Texreader (sorry if I missed anyone!)

Will try to start a Net Galley ARC, the tagged book, *if* I can 🤞🏽 @Cinfhen

The charms & dangers of Prospero's #laislabonita in The Tempest is sustained by magic & sprites doing his bidding.

#MOvember @Cinfhen

Some writing and creativity books that I found very helpful in the past. I need to revisit some of these and incorporate some of this advice now. #ExpressYourself #MOvember @Cinfhen

#GuessWhat is this #iconic cover?

Cool idea by @BarbaraBB to post a close up detail of a memorable cover to see if we can guess what book it is ... Share your answers with a spoiler tag.
(The answer is below under the spoiler tag.)

Please join in if you'd like to play 🙂

Sherlock Holmes' look—the pipe, the tweeds, long coats, and deerstalker hat—has now become #iconic. But it's less about how Conan Doyle described him and more about how Sidney Paget illustrated him, and the look that developed in the various adaptations that came after. This is a good read about his sartorial style https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/10/the-life-and-fashion-o...

#MOvember @Cinfhen

Thanks for the tag @Leftcoastzen !

1. Charlotte Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Fernando Pessoa
2. I'm not sure, but with the first two I'd love to know more about how they've been viewed: eccentric, introverted to the the point of social anxiety, & the thought of whether the drive to monetise oneself & "sell yourself" in 2019 makes them want to run back to their graves. Same for Pessoa, I guess.
3. I honestly haven't a clue.

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

I #crave the yummy dishes that authors take time and care to describe, and Laura Ingalls Wilder's descriptions of food always makes my mouth water! This description of Ben Woodworth's birthday party meal stayed in my mind for aaaages 😆

#MOvember @Cinfhen

It's a bright & sunny morning, & it's back to spending some time with this toothy fellow & his gang. The upside to being a broke freelancer: a tiny amount of downtime in-between assignments. Hope to read quite a bit of this. I think I was expecting a tawdry horror tale, & while there's plenty of heavy breathing in the relations between vampire & vampiree 😆 it's also layered, complex, & cleverly constructed. @Cinfhen @erzascarletbookgasm @Sace

I'm #sorry that I keep talking about the books I plan to read but don't actually seem to read 😂 But the #ShakespeareReadAlong has been immensely fun and these are four retellings I hope to get around to eventually: the top two based on King Lear and the bottom two on the Tempest.

#MOvember @Cinfhen

🎵I got that burnin hot desire
And no one can put out my fire 🎵

Anaïs Nin's journals are a fascinating read about her desires & passions. It's easy to make fun of her I think but I enjoy the effect of reading her journals. She crafts them like novels; they're propulsive, absorbing & perhaps embellished, but that only makes it all the more interesting.

#girlgonewild #MOvember @Cinfhen

#BookReport

It's been a week, so I'm sorry again for my tardiness! Finished my re-read of Tam Lin & loved it even more this time; progressed with the fascinating King Lear & made a tiny dent in Dracula!

#WeeklyForecast

💀 To finish Act 3 of King Lear for #ShakespeareReadAlong
🧛🏽‍♀️ Continue with the Dracula buddy read; I'm getting increasingly nervous for Jonathan!
👛 Read the required sections of A Lost Lady for #catherbuddyread

@Cinfhen

My face when I realise no one is coming to #rescueme 😬

I liked the first season of TV adaptation of The Terror, a show based on the historical slash horror novel about the doomed 1845 Franklin expedition to find the Northwest Passage. Doom, death, ice, & the terror that stalks them.

#MOvember @Cinfhen

Gorgeously-written portrait of an artist as a woman and her devotion to a life of #music , inspired by the opera singer Olive Fremstad.

So far, out of the Willa Cather novels I've read, this ranks as one of my favourites.

#MOvember @Cinfhen

I #cherish this book & it has held up to several re-readings. It's basically my fantasy of academia. Set in the 1970s in a small liberal arts college, people genuinely quote Shakespeare & Pope & Aristophanes & Keats at each other & discuss books & art with the seriousness they deserve. It's the 70s, so no one suffers from screen damage. They genuinely REMEMBER quotes! To add to that, dark fairy lore & Scottish ballads. Perfect. #MOVember @Cinfhen

I'm pretty late with this but I love the idea of a #weeklyforecast @Cinfhen 💜

🎃 I'm hoping to finish my reread of Tam Lin to coincide with Halloween & the end of October. I love this book 🥰

🎃 Need to finish Act 2 of King Lear for #ShakespeareReadAlong It's dense & complex & good!

🎃 Hoping to welcome November by taking a bite out of Dracula 🧛🏽‍♂️😬😂 My first time reading it & I'm looking forward! @erzascarletbookgasm @Sace @LapReader

This is a qualified pick, & a bit of a weird one. I expected to love it when I first started, but like @BarbaraBB I found the writing crowded, or overcooked in parts, with excessive foreshadowing. I saw the 1st twist coming. But I found certain narrative strands & the ending quite brilliant. Not the kind of psychological chills I get from Shirley Jackson or even Henry James, but still, compelling & grotesque. #nyrbbookclub @LeahBergen @vivastory

Good #bookmail day 🙂 Got my copies for both the #catherbuddyread and #NYRBbookclub