Book a Week 2017 - BW19: W. Somerset Maugham

[Mom-ninja.]

 

Presumably, this is a safe space for admitting to buying books that I don't need in a language that I can't read...

 

 

:lol:   Yes, we totally get it!

[Matryoshka]

Presumably, this is a safe space for admitting to buying books that I don't need in a language that I can't read...

 

I absolutely support this behavior. :D

[Penguin]

Finished book 52 yesterday!

 

Secondhand Time  by Svetlana Alexievich is an oral history of the fall of the Soviet Union.  It's long, but really interesting.  She interviews tons of people, some who are nostalgic for the Soviet Union, some even for Stalin, many who were joyful about the fall of communism but are now disillusioned.  Short snippets, long detailed stories.  Varied and very interesting.  I'd highly recommend it, but definitely get the audio.  I'm not sure it would have read as well - it's transcripts of people talking.  The audio is very well done and has a number of voice actors reading different people.  The interviewer/author also interjects some background or her own opinion, but largely lets her subjects speak for themselves.

 

I've just dipped my toe into Razor's Edge, and I've downloaded but not started my next audio, Pachinko.

Congrats on reaching #52!

[Loesje22000]

I absolutely support this behavior. :D

:D

But Tonke Dragt is available in German too!! :D

[Loesje22000]

Loesje, thank you for the help. :001_wub:

Tonke Dragt looks amazing. I have never heard of her. Here is an article from the Guardian about her:

 

Tonke Dragt Interview: I was born a fairytale teller

 

ETA: It looks like a few of her books have been translated into English

The Letter for the King

 

--

As for the Dutch, it is a language that has interested me for years, but I have never studied it. I think I will start in 2019 or something like that. :lol: But this is likely my last trip here, as my son will soon no longer live here. And thus I feel compelled to buy some books in Dutch before I leave.

 

Presumably, this is a safe space for admitting to buying books that I don't need in a language that I can't read...

You're welcome!

The letter for the king has been made into a movie several years ago.

'Twin Brothers' is a stand alone sequel

 

Most important for Dutch culture is 'de zevensprong' based on a Dutch Children song it has a lot of intrigues :)

 

Torens van Februari

Ogen van Tijgers

Are both more science fiction and about telepathie

 

We have always hoped she would write part 2 of:

https://www.goodreads.com/series/148359-zee-n-van-tijd

So unfair when a story stays unfinished...;)

[Karen A]

Thought of this group of readers, esp. Amy, when I got a brochure in the mail today.

 

A (somewhat local to me) Chicago theater is premiering an adaptation of  Georgette Heyer's "Sylvester: or the Wicked Uncle" in September.  Since being introduced to Heyer here, I've read a few fun ones.  I'll have to see if I can get a girlfriend to go with me to the show in the fall.  And I should read that book beforehand too!

[Mom-ninja.]

Ok, I need a favor. A few weeks back someone posted a book series that was similar in flavor to Aubrey, and said that Aubrey even made a small debut in the first book. What book was this? 

[Kareni]

Presumably, this is a safe space for admitting to buying books that I don't need in a language that I can't read...

 

Absolutely!

**

 

 

Finished book 52 yesterday!

 

Congratulations!

 

Is that three people who have announced reaching 52?  Or am I forgetting someone?  I'm thinking Rose, Heather, and Matryoshka.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Ok, I need a favor. A few weeks back someone posted a book series that was similar in flavor to Aubrey, and said that Aubrey even made a small debut in the first book. What book was this? 

 

Ah, that was me talking of books that my husband read.

 

The first book in the series of three, Sails on the Horizon: A Novel of the Napoleonic Wars by Jay Worrall, features Hornblower.  It is the second book, Any Approaching Enemy: A Novel of the Napoleonic Wars, in which Aubrey appears.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Penguin]

Do you have a Dutch connection that draws you to The Netherlands/the language? I hope you enjoy the remainder of your visit!

 

Regards,

Kareni

My son has been living here, so I have been here a bunch of times. It was easy to come when we were living in Europe.

 

But even long before that, I had developed my own interest in the country and culture. I am a bit of a "Dutchophile," which is probably not a real word but it should be.

 

(Oops! thought I had answered your question the other day, but I had not. I'll blame the time zone brain-fog.)

Edited May 11, 2017 by Penguin

[Jane in NC]

Tip of the day for my bookish friends (courtesy of my husband): How to gird your loins. I know some of you have worried about how to go from ball gown to battle...

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

Congratulations!

 

Is that three people who have announced reaching 52?  Or am I forgetting someone?  I'm thinking Rose, Heather, and Matryoshka.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

I have passed 52, but I am not one of the three who announced it recently - I do feel like there is someone else. ErinE maybe?

 

I finished two books yesterday. Footsteps in the Dark was a Georgette Heyer mystery that I thought I hadn't read before, but I may be wrong. It felt familiar, but that might be because it was a totally predictable English country house mystery. No surprises, but entertaining nonetheless.  

 

I also finished listening to Looking Backwards by Edward Bellamy. The reader's voice was pretty awful, but I know there is no way I'll get through the whole Utopian/Dystopian book list without using audiobooks when they are available, so I persisted. The novel's conceit is that the narrator has insomnia and is mesmerized to sleep in an underground "safe room," his house burns down and everyone assumes he's dead, and he's excavated over a hundred years later in 2000 by some modern Bostonians. This is all a frame story for Bellamy's critique of industrial capitalism and presentation of an alternative system. Bellamy called his philosophy "Nationalism" but we would call it Socialism today. It's the brand of socialism that has always appealed to me - definitely Utopian: industry nationalized, and all citizens provided free education, health care, and housekeeping services(!), and required to work in jobs that appeal to them between 25-45, after which they retire in comfort and are able to pursue their own interests for the rest of their lives.  Of course socialism has never worked out like this in practice, and I've always wondered why it's gone so wrong - if there is something about the system that is antithetical to human nature, if central control lends itself to easily to despotism, or if it's just impossible to sort-of do it with capitalism in place - but it's interesting to read a speculation, written in the late 1880s, of what it could theoretically look like. Bellamy can't escape his inherent sexism and that of his society, but he does make an effort to do so! The "romance" part of the book was its least interesting aspect.  The most interesting was probably the critique of the culture he lived in - a critique which rings true to this day, most of the issues he raises haven't been solved.

 

Next up for audio is Wells's When the Sleeper Wakes, which I think is going to be a dystopian version of the above: it's beginning with an insomniac who is put to sleep for 200 years . . . 

Edited May 11, 2017 by Chrysalis Academy

[Kareni]

A one day only currently free classic for Kindle readers ~

 

The Bostonians by Henry James

 

"Henry James’s tragicomic masterpiece pits a headstrong Mississippi lawyer against his feminist cousin in a no-holds-barred fight for the heart of an impressionable young suffragette

When Basil Ransom, a headstrong Mississippi lawyer, comes to Boston to call on his wealthy activist cousin, Olive, an epic battle of wills ensues. Basil is a conservative of the most ardent type while Cousin Olive is steadfast in her radicalism. Perhaps for a laugh, perhaps for a story to tell his lawyer friends back in Mississippi, Basil accompanies Olive to a women’s emancipation rally, whereupon he falls irrevocably in love with a young suffragette, Miss Verena Tarrant, and sets about trying to rewrite her beliefs. The problem is that Olive has been grooming Miss Tarrant as her protégé. Will Basil reform the lovely young activist orator, or will Olive win the young woman’s heart and mind?
 
Often proclaimed James’s funniest novel and regarded as his most successful political work, The Bostonians deals with love and friendship in the awkward landscape of shifting social roles, feminism in post–Civil War America, and a woman’s place in this brave new world. Funny, astute, and merciless, The Bostonians is one of James’s most successful portrayals of a world teetering between old values and the relentless march of social progress."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

My son has been living here, so I have been here a bunch of times. It was easy to come when we were living in Europe.

 

But even long before that, I had developed my own interest in the country and culture. I am a bit of a "Dutchophile," which is probably not a real word but it should be.

 

Thank you for indulging my curiosity. 

 

Tip of the day for my bookish friends (courtesy of my husband): How to gird your loins. I know some of you have worried about how to go from ball gown to battle...

 

What a fun post, Jane; please thank your husband for passing it along. 

 

I'm reminded of the time my grocery store had spelling issues and had a sale on "Pork lions"!

 

...I also finished listening to Looking Backwards by Edward Bellamy. ....It's the brand of socialism that has always appealed to me - definitely Utopian: industry nationalized, and all citizens provided free education, health care, and housekeeping services(!), and required to work in jobs that appeal to them between 25-45, after which they retire in comfort and are able to pursue their own interests for the rest of their lives. ...

 

I'm wondering who provides the housekeeping services.  (Perhaps there are some for whom that work appeals, but enough to do  housekeeping for everyone?!)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Currently free books for Kindle readers ~

 

A STRANGE Beginning: A Novel (Book 1 of the Byron series)  by Gretta Curran Browne

 

"THE BOY - THE MAN - THE LEGEND -- Covering his earliest years to the age of twenty-three -, this fascinating novel goes "behind the screen" to tell the private and personal story of the most iconic young man of his time - Lord Byron - whose charisma, beauty and literary genius helped him to overcome personal difficulties and rise from obscurity to become Britain's first superstar."


"This fast-paced historical novel is a well-crafted telling of Byron’s troubled start on the path to poetic greatness." -- Kirkus Reviews.

"Well crafted and meticulously researched" -- Publisher's Weekly.

**

 

Any Witch Way You Can  by Amanda M. Lee

 

"Bay Winchester is having a tough week.
As the local editor of Hemlock Cove's only newspaper, she just happens to be present when a body is found in an area corn maze. To make matters worse, the police believe the murder may have something to do with the occult.
This wouldn't be a problem for a normal reporter, but since Bay is descended from a well-known line of actual witches, the town is understandably on edge.
Between the suspicious townspeople, the befuddled police presence and that random hot biker guy that may or may not have something to do with the murder -- Bay has her hands full.
When you add the typical family problems, multiplying ghosts -- and one monster of a zit that she's sure came from her aunt's curse -- Bay is just struggling to make it through the week.
Of course, when the killer sets his sights on Bay, things could get a whole lot worse.

Note: These books are full of sarcasm and are a little bit snarky -- so read only if you like to laugh and you aren't easily offended. This is the first book in the Wicked Witches of the Midwest mystery series."

**

 

Save the Date  by Annabeth Albert

 

"Randall Young has one duty as his sister’s “man of honorâ€: to ensure she has the best wedding ever. That includes an epic bachelorette pub crawl, leading him to Portland’s most popular gay bar… and into Hunter Mitchell’s well-muscled arms. A one-night stand with a sexy soldier is the perfect way to ditch that pesky V-card and get himself in the mood for a weekend of flowers, cake, and nuptials.

Hunter wants to blow off some steam before he stands up as his best friend’s best man. He's already married to his military career, not looking to settle down. He certainly doesn’t intend for the one guy he met (and, okay, got off with) in Oregon to be his counterpart in the wedding party. Or a virgin. Definitely wasn’t intending that. Luckily, they have the rest of the weekend for Hunter to show Randall what he's been missing.

The more they’re thrown together by the wedding, the more Randall and Hunter grow together outside the bedroom… which is dangerous because there’s a lot more than 2500 miles standing between them and a happily-ever-after. If they want a future beyond their wedding weekend hookup, both must find the courage to take a chance on love."

**

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Chrysalis Academy]

Thank you for indulging my curiosity. 

 

 

What a fun post, Jane; please thank your husband for passing it along. 

 

I'm reminded of the time my grocery store had spelling issues and had a sale on "Pork lions"!

 

 

I'm wondering who provides the housekeeping services.  (Perhaps there are some for whom that work appeals, but enough to do  housekeeping for everyone?!)

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Yeah, it's kind of a cool system. Everyone gets to choose the kind of work they do, and the desirability of work is rated by how many people want to do it. Less attractive work requires fewer hours. So a housekeeper or garbageman or miner might only have to work 3 hours a day, while someone in a more desirable job works 6. I think that for some domestic work - serving at table, for instance - it's also age-based, everyone has to pass through that type of service and do it for a brief period while they are still training/choosing their desired profession.  Meals are served at a communal dining hall, which makes it easier, and there are definitely unspecified labor-saving devices for housecleaning and such.

[Mom-ninja.]

Ah, that was me talking of books that my husband read.

 

The first book in the series of three, Sails on the Horizon: A Novel of the Napoleonic Wars by Jay Worrall, features Hornblower.  It is the second book, Any Approaching Enemy: A Novel of the Napoleonic Wars, in which Aubrey appears.

 

Regards,

Kareni

Thank you

[aggieamy]

Finished:  Death in Kashmir by MM Kaye - As a mystery it was okay but as a visit to India right after the war and right before the handover of power from the British, it was fantastic.

[aggieamy]

I don't know Dutch & still think it's awesome. It's mostly big-picture layouts of various civilizations or events in history shown using Playmobil.

 

Hey look. I think this is probably the same thing in English!! (Or here on amazon.)

 

ETA: Here's a blog post that shows what a typical page would look like (from the French version).

 

Just bought it for DD's birthday. She might be a little bit old for it (13!) but I think she'll still enjoy it. Sometimes she still gets her Playmobils out as it is. 

 

Thought of this group of readers, esp. Amy, when I got a brochure in the mail today.

 

A (somewhat local to me) Chicago theater is premiering an adaptation of  Georgette Heyer's "Sylvester: or the Wicked Uncle" in September.  Since being introduced to Heyer here, I've read a few fun ones.  I'll have to see if I can get a girlfriend to go with me to the show in the fall.  And I should read that book beforehand too!

 

How fun. I'm going to seriously talk to my DH about attending. I would love to see that.

 

And you simply must read it. It's a favorite of many here.

 

Tip of the day for my bookish friends (courtesy of my husband): How to gird your loins. I know some of you have worried about how to go from ball gown to battle...

 

I love it! Thank you!

[Lady Florida.]

Finished two books yesterday.

 

True Grit. I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would but I didn't love it. I don't get the accolades - I thought it was good but not as great as years of praise say it is (it's apparently one of the great American novels). OTOH, I'm not really a fan of westerns so the fact that I liked it says a lot I suppose. I've read three westerns this year because of BaW. The other two were The Sisters Brothers and News of the World. Of the three I read I loved News of the World and liked but didn't love the other two. I think I'm going to be done with westerns for the rest of the year now. :)

 

Heirs and Graces (audio book) - a Royal Spyness mystery

 

Oh, and True Grit was the first bingo book I read in quite a while. 

 

Currently reading:

Arctic Chill - Inspector Erlendur - because I needed a Scandanavian crime fix.

Big Little Lies - audio book

The Razor's Edge - I haven't read any this week because I don't want to get too far ahead of the group

Doctor Zhivago

[Kareni]

Here's an entertaining review by Carrie S. from the SBTB site ~

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

 

"Do not under any circumstances start reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins unless you have nothing else to do, because once you pick it up your week will be shot. This book was originally released in serial format and was a huge sensation and by golly it’s still pretty hair-raising now.

 

The Woman in White has been called one of the first mystery novels as well as one of the first Victorian sensation novels. It also works nicely as a Gothic novel, given the recurring appearance of the mysterious woman in white, the shambles of the aptly named Blackwater Park, and the sheer number of over-the-top plot devices, each one of which I shamelessly adored. It also has pastoral moments as well as reliance on logic, deduction, and evidence.

 

The book is also packed with social commentary, most of it quite progressive for its time. The book addresses, in different ways and in harrowing detail, how women are at the mercy of their guardians and their husbands. There’s a lot of discussion about “foreigners†but at least one of the foreigners in question is great (another…not so much). The book features a heroine, Marian, who is absolutely wonderful. Even the villain gets a crush on her...."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[aggieamy]

Here's an entertaining review by Carrie S. from the SBTB site ~

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

 

"Do not under any circumstances start reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins unless you have nothing else to do, because once you pick it up your week will be shot. This book was originally released in serial format and was a huge sensation and by golly it’s still pretty hair-raising now.

 

The Woman in White has been called one of the first mystery novels as well as one of the first Victorian sensation novels. It also works nicely as a Gothic novel, given the recurring appearance of the mysterious woman in white, the shambles of the aptly named Blackwater Park, and the sheer number of over-the-top plot devices, each one of which I shamelessly adored. It also has pastoral moments as well as reliance on logic, deduction, and evidence.

 

The book is also packed with social commentary, most of it quite progressive for its time. The book addresses, in different ways and in harrowing detail, how women are at the mercy of their guardians and their husbands. There’s a lot of discussion about “foreigners†but at least one of the foreigners in question is great (another…not so much). The book features a heroine, Marian, who is absolutely wonderful. Even the villain gets a crush on her...."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

One of my favorite novels of all time!  About a million years ago Mrs. Mungo recommended it to me. Funny the things you remember ...

 

Highly recommend!

[Kareni]

I resumed my reading of Sheri Cobb South's John Pickett historical mysteries after a hiatus of a couple of months.  Aggieamy kindly sent me a couple of her books when I mentioned my library's shortcomings; I would be happy to send them along to another reader here.  I enjoyed all of these works.

 

I started with a reading of Pickpocket's Apprentice which is a prequel to the series.  This is available for 99 cents to Kindle readers.

 

I then read Dinner Most Deadly.  I'll admit that this started out with a scene that was very similar to that in an earlier book and for a page or two I was wondering if I'd already read the book.  Fortunately not! 

 

My library had a copy of Too Hot to Handel which I happily borrowed and read.  I then continued with the now final book in the series namely For Deader or Worse.  I believe more books are to come.

 

Along the way, I also read two very short stories "I'll See You in My Dreams" and "Finders Weepers" both of which the author provided for free.

 

I will happily pass along Dinner Most Deadly and For Deader or Worse.  If you are interested, please let me know.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Violet Crown]

Finished my book of plays by Karel ÄŒapek: R.U.R., The Insect Play, The Makropulus Case, and The White Plague. Retrieved The Razor's Edge from bookstore clearance limbo but reading it will be tricky - it's all packing and traveling for the next few days.

[ErinE]

I've finished 52 books, but I don't think I announced it.

 

I'm halfway through Don Quixote. I used the trick of running an index card under each line and moving it down the page as I read since the print is very small. I'd normally read this as an ebook, but I've tried to read the electronic version for years and I couldn't do it. Still 450+ pages to go. This is my white whale. I will finish this book! I'm enjoying it more, but the latter half of the first volume is essentially a collection of other characters' stories.

 

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers has absorbing moments then spends several paragraphs on a series of unfamiliar battles so I keep putting it down.

 

I picked up the The Razor's Edge from the library and halfway to finishing Part I and II. I also borrowed News of the World on OverDrive. I think these will be my focus books before next Sunday.

[Butter]

#65: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell.  I liked it a lot.  I really didn't know how it was going to get resolved and have a happily ever after ending until it finally unraveled.  I really, really like happily ever after endings.

[mumto2]

Somewhere on one of many lists I saw The Safest Lies https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26192557-the-safest-lies and requested it. It was apparently YA so for a thriller telling a really violent tale it was mild in terms of description. The main character was homeschooled until high school. It's one of those could have been worse home ed portrayals....she was well educated at least, disaster of a home life but she was safe until she wasn't. This is my L for Emerald.

 

I also finished my D with Pushing up Daisies, the new Agatha Raisin, which was decidedly blah.

 

I have started quilting with my September quilt show in mind. I have 5 partially complete quilts which I am hoping to finish so I am back to audio books. Decided to listen to all 43+ hours of Tom Clancy's The Bear and the Nightingale which works for the Bestseller in child's birth year square. I have never read or listened to Tom Clancy. I have seen some of the Jack Ryan movies. Only 40 hours to go! :lol:

[Kareni]

A one day only currently free classic for Kindle readers ~

 

Adam Bede by George Eliot

 

"George Eliot’s debut novel tells a story of love in rural eighteenth-century England

Adam Bede is an upstanding, hardworking, intelligent young man, the kind of person who knows what he wants—and what he wants is the incredibly shallow Hetty Sorrel. Though Hetty is a milkmaid, she harbors dreams of becoming a dignified member of the upper class. To that end, she has set her sights on Captain Arthur Donnithorne, a squire and heir to much of the town’s wealth. Meanwhile, Dinah Morris, Hetty’s compassionate cousin, harbors irrepressible romantic feelings for Adam.
 
This love rectangle forms the character basis for one of the greatest English novels of all time. Upon its release in 1859, Adam Bede was immediately lauded as a seminal work for its depiction of English country life at the turn of the nineteenth century, garnering the praise of Charles Dickens. Eliot’s deft mixing of the fictional with the real has made Adam Bede a timeless classic."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[aggieamy]

And now for something completely different. I just started Starship Troopers for my bookclub read. (My husband's pick.)

 

Also a few pages into our BaW read along the Razor's Edge.

 

 

[Kareni]

Here's a new book that looks as though it may be of interest to those with an interest in gardening as well as those with an interest in Japan ~

 

Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto by Leslie Buck

 

Here's the Publishers Weekly blurb.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[JennW in SoCal]

Here's a new book that looks as though it may be of interest to those with an interest in gardening as well as those with an interest in Japan ~

 

Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto by Leslie Buck

 

Here's the Publishers Weekly blurb.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

It was fascinating to see the gardeners at work in the castle grounds in Kyoto. They were carefully tending the pine trees as we went by, pulling out dead needles and carefully tending to each branch.  Looks like this will be an interesting book to read -- thanks for the link and the heads up!

[Laura in CA]

I first read 'Of Human Bondage' when I was 17 ... and later heard someone's opinion that 17 is the optimal age at which to read it – it will have less appeal to readers much older or younger. I do remember enjoying it, and feeling that it was an important work. I recently read 'The Moon and sixpence'.

 

Currently I am reading 'The Passing of the Armies,' by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, about the end game of the Civil War (the Appomattox campaign) – fascinating and in places lyrical; and 'Der kleine Nick und die Schule,' by Goscinny & Sempé – funny as usual.

[Mom-ninja.]

And now for something completely different. I just started Starship Troopers for my bookclub read. (My husband's pick.)

 

 

 

That is my dh's favorite movie. He made me watch it. Oi. 

[Kareni]

A one day only currently free classic for Kindle readers ~

 

The Hollow Needle: Further Adventures of Arsène Lupin by Maurice Leblanc

 

About the Author

Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941) was best known for his tales featuring the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. Born in Rouen, France, Leblanc was inspired by the success of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories and invented Lupin as a French adversary for the great detective. Lupin appeared in dozens of novels and short stories and was the basis for several films. Of his great antihero, Leblanc once said, “Lupin follows me everywhere. He is not my shadow. I am his shadow.â€

 

 

 

"A boy detective takes on the most brilliant thief in Europe

In a country manor, a terrible noise awakes the household. Downstairs, the estate’s secretary has been murdered. There are signs of a break-in, but everything appears to be in its proper place. What kind of thief would commit murder to steal nothing?
 
The first detective on the case is Isidore Beautrelet, a precocious teenager who wears a fake beard to disguise the fact that he has not yet graduated from high school. Although the other investigators do not take him seriously, Beautrelet is the one to pick up the trail of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief. Lupin, it is soon discovered, is chasing the most valuable object he has ever had the opportunity to steal: the Hollow Needle. Passed down for generations by the kings of France, it holds a secret that could undo the republic. No one has ever managed to foil one of Lupin’s fiendish plans, but Beautrelet is counting on beginner’s luck."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Jane in NC]

Has anyone else mentioned this series of books from Bloomsbury, Object Lessons? I started reading Dust last night. 

 

 

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

No matter how much you fight against it, dust pervades everything. It gathers in even layers, adapting to the contours of things and marking the passage of time. In itself, it is also a gathering place, a random community of what has been and what is yet to be, a catalog of traces and a set of promises: dead skin cells and plant pollen, hair and paper fibers, not to mention dust mites who make it their home. And so, dust blurs the boundaries between the living and the dead, plant and animal matter, the inside and the outside, you and the world (“for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou returnâ€). This book treats one of the most mundane and familiar phenomena, showing how it can provide a key to thinking about existence, community, and justice today.

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/dust-9781628925586/#sthash.dVh4t7CY.dpuf

These are little books, sufficiently weird for Stacia, I presume.

 

And thanks to Kareni for mentioning another Arsène Lupin book.  My husband has downloaded it.

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Ethel Mertz]

I reached 52 a week or so ago. Can't remember whether or not I announced it. Congrats to all who've reached 52 books!

 

I've been abandoning books lately. The latest book to be abandoned was Splinterlands by John Feffer. It was too weird for me and I wasn't in the mood. I did, however, finish and enjoy The Road from Gap Creek by Robert Morgan. Set in western North Carolina, the novel enfolds the story of a family during the Depression and WWII.

 

I'm still reading Madeleine Albright's Prague Winter and am just about to get started on The Million-in-One-Boy for my IRL book group.

 

We're very distracted these days with a long distance move that will happen in the next six to nine months. We have a lot of clutter to get rid of before we move. 

[ErinE]

Finished News of the World. What a beautiful book! Highly recommended if you haven't read it yet. It was on my BAWx2 Goodreads shelf (meaning it was recommended twice or more here). I'm so glad I took the time to read it.

[mumto2]

Seems like I have to do this as a public service announcement for the BaW group.

 

To celebrate Murakami's newest book release, Powell's Books has every Murakami title they sell discounted.

I can remember if I mentioned it or not but I have started reading the new Murakami. So far just the first story which I enjoyed.....I don't think I managed to read or listen to a single page all day! The plan is to read parts 1 and 2 of Razor's Edge before the new thread tomorrow!

 

VC, I hope your migration journey is a smooth one.

 

Ethel, :grouphug: on packing and moving. It's so much work and so very easy to achieve an incredible amount of clutter. We spent some time yesterday and today cleaning the garage in case of an eventual looming move.

[Mom-ninja.]

Happy Mother"s Day!

[Robin M]

Link to week 20 - please continue conversation in new thread