Finished since last post: Dracula, Bram Stoker The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik Mansfield Park, Jane Austen Her Majesty's Royal Coven, Juno Dawson Blame it on the Brontes, Annie Serano Shipwrecked, Olivia Dade Infamous Bodies, Sam Pinto Dracula and Mansfield Park were rereads, Her Majesty's Royal Coven was amazing, thorougly enjoyed Blame it on the Brontes,... Continue Reading →
November plans
This month is going to be nuts, but a plan gives me a bit of stability. Finish Sam Pinto's Infamous Bodies. (Loving this so so much.) Continue The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens. I've been reading a chapter before bed, will be done around Christmas. Continue with Virginia Woolf's A Writer's Diary. Reading a bit every... Continue Reading →
September/October blur
Last post here was September 3, book 121) The Starless Sea. Now (November 1), I'm at 133. Most of these were in October (I don't remember what happened in September, probably Netflix.) But here's what happened since then. 122) Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel. Definitely 5 stars, but, like her others, I need... Continue Reading →
121) The Starless Sea, Erin Morgenstern
Loved this-- so much that I read it in two days, and it was maybe too long to read it that fast. Had trouble turning off my predictor brain, trying to make all the connections. I think that's the point-- that there are too many variations to predict, you just have to enjoy. About stories... Continue Reading →
120) Learwife, J. R. Thorp
Picked this up after an email from the Folger about their bookclub, which is happening next week. Yay! Loved this. Echoes of Matrix. Lauren Groff, which also about a noblewoman in a convent. Need to reread King Lear, because it's been a while-- Finished it in a great gulp, started yesterday, up at 5 to... Continue Reading →
119) Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art, Cliare Wellesley-Smith
Enjoyed this. Heavy debt in thought to Wanderlust (or to the logics of Wanderlust)-- moving, and stitching, at the speed of thought. Meandering, in an intentional way. Read this on my Kindle, should have moved to ipad-- so many pictures, and Kindle is black and white. But still, the textures and the detail were beautiful... Continue Reading →
118) The Devil and the Dark Water, Stuart Turton
So good I got up at 5 to finish it. A ship departs from 17th c Batavia (Jakarta) for Amsterdam, carrying some colonists, soldiers, sailors, a very clever detective in chains and his assistant/bodyguard, a witchhunter and maybe a demon. The ship is cursed, with first a demonic sign on the sail, then various other... Continue Reading →
117) Lady Audley’s Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon
I've read this before but I DID NOT REMEMBER IT. Felt like it took forever to read, it was a periodic pick-up during July and August; primarily revisiting it because a scholar I've been reading talks about the Victorian storage of paper/archival crisis in all the cubbyholes here. Such a rich area-- so many scraps... Continue Reading →
116) Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr
Started this yesterday afternoon, didn't come up for air until it was done last night. One of my favorite ways to read-- a big gulp, faster and faster, nothing else important. Loved this. Reminded me of Iain Pears The Dream of Scipio in scope and structure, and Barbara Kingsolver's Unsheltered (and maybe Richard Powers' The... Continue Reading →
September plans
I started this list a few days before the new month, and then finished three of my choices early: Learwife, The Devil and the Dark Water, and Slow Stitch. So, updated September list, all tentative, no real requirements, just a direction. Literary fiction: Sea of Tranquility, Learwife, King Lear, The Starless Sea Fun fiction: Cackle;... Continue Reading →
Bookish Bedlam 